That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3

Episode 71

I'll say this for this episode: it's a good example of show-don't-tell. The first dungeon-related episode this season was basically just a series of talking heads describing what the dungeon would be. This episode, on the other hand, shows us how things work in practice. In other words, this episode shows us the beta test for the dungeon.

To start, four groups of adventurers head into the dungeon on a time limit to get all the loot they possibly can. Each group has different strategies. One is reckless and dies a lot. One is slow and methodical. One avoids fights using special skills and heads right for the loot. The last group? Well, they're just incredibly lucky.

This mix of “players” does a great job of showing off the weaknesses of the dungeon. For one, pitfall traps are basically just shortcuts, allowing the parties to skip massive portions of the dungeon and get better loot without much struggle. For another, certain skills, like the mapping skill, drastically lower the difficulty of the dungeon by removing many of its surprises. These things can be combated against in various ways, like dramatically lessening the number of pit traps or creating bottlenecks that can't be circumvented. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to fix the dungeon's biggest weakness: the people running it.

Be it the floor bosses or Ramiris' people working behind the scenes, a lot of people know a lot about how the dungeon works. All it takes is the right “gift” to the right person and it's like getting your own personal strategy guide, especially if the target doesn't even realize they're being fleeced for information. Honestly, the only counter to this is the random nature of the dungeon itself. If the layout is swapped regularly, any unfair advantage of this type would be lessened dramatically.

The other important thing we see is the stick that goes along with the “free loot” carrot. The administrators of the dungeon are more than capable of killing anyone who breaks the rules. More than that, the dungeon is set up to automatically remove any of the rule-breakers' loot as they're returned to the entrance.

Of course, the trick to this is that there's no way there are enough tree Ents to accompany every group to enter the dungeon to make sure no cheating is happening. However, it's also clear this isn't needed. The fact that every party is being broadcast on a magical screen means that they're also under surveillance. All the ents need to do is watch the feeds and step in when necessary.

In the end, this episode is rather one-dimensional. There are no big character moments or deeper themes. There's no real danger or tension. It's just a game show crossed with a video game. And, honestly, episodes like this aren't so bad every once in a while.

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That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.