Spoiler Alert!
You look at your watch as you walk. Looks like you’re going to be a bit late.
“Over here, sempai!”
Ah, there he is! Hmm? Who’s that girl?
“Sorry I’m late, Tamura. What did you want to talk about?”
The girl bows.
“Hello, I’m Miho Sawatari.”, says the girl. “My fiancé talks about you every now and then.”
“Good to meet you. I’m Satoru Mikami.”
What’s this about? Does Tamura want marriage advice? In all your 37 years, you’ve never had a girlfriend before. Not that it bothers you.
“I’ve booked a great place for yakiniku. We can talk more there, sempai.”
You should congratulate them…
A sudden scream breaks your reverie.
Ahead, you see a wild-eyed man in a black hoodie.
The maniac’s got a knife and he’s making straight for Tamura!
You push him out of the way…and suddenly feel a sharp pain in your side.
Your legs feel so weak.
So hot…
“Acknowledged. Heat Resistance acquired.”
Getting stabbed and killed? What kind of end is this?!
“Acknowledged. Physical Attack Resistance acquired.”
Blood…oooww…
“Acknowledged. Pain Resistance acquired. Creation of body not needing blood successful.”
“Sempai! Sempai!”
Tamura?…so noisy…so cold…
“Acknowledged. Cold Resistance acquired. Thermal Fluctuation Resistance now acquired.”
Are you…going to…die?
“T-Tamura?”
You feel the warmth of his hand as it clutches yours…
“Take the hard drive…out of my computer at home…put in…bath…wipe it…clean.”
“Deletion via electric current not possible. Alternative: Electricity and Paralysis Resistance acquired.”
“Sempai…I…I just…wanted to show off Sawatari…to you…”
“Just…make her… happy…”
So you die a virgin…
If there’s such a thing as rebirth, you’ll be a lot more assertive…screw every girl you see…
“Acquisition of Unique Skill Predator successful.”
At 40, you’d have been a sage…
“Sage Skill now upgraded to Unique Skill Great Sage.”
So noisy…qui…et…
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (転生したらスライムだった件, Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken) is a web novel, light novel series, manga and anime written by Fuse (伏瀬). There are several spin-off manga such as How to Stroll in the Land of Monsters (魔物の国の歩き方, Mamono no Kuni no Arukikata) and The Slime Diaries (転スラ日記, Tensura Nikki), which will be released as an anime in April 2021. A turn-based, city-building game, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Lord of Tempest (転生したらスライムだった件 ～魔国連邦創世記～, Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken ~Makoku Renpou Souseiki~), was available on iOS and Android.
Stabbed by a mugger in broad daylight, the salaryman Satoru Mikami somehow hears a voice in his mind speaking about gaining new abilities as he dies. When he awakens again, it is in the body of a slime, inside a massive cavern on an unfamiliar world. He quickly learns about two abilities (Unique Skills) that he now has: Predator, which allows him to analyze and replicate anything he consumes, and Great Sage, an intelligence that can answer his queries about almost anything. After several weeks of devouring herbs, magical ore and wandering monsters, Satoru encounters an imprisoned dragon named Veldora. After a long talk, he offers to use Predator to devour and analyze the dragon in order to eventually find a way to free him. Faced with more centuries of boredom and solitude, Veldora agrees and, in gratitude, gives the slime a new name: Rimuru Tempest.
Eventually, Rimuru finds his way outside to the Jura Forest. He soon encounters goblins who request his aid in defending their village from a pack of Direwolves. He easily kills the Direwolf leader, consumes it and frightens the other wolves into submission. Afterwards, the slime learns that the goblins have no names, so he decides to give one to each of them. He also gives the name Ranga to the leader of the surviving Direwolves. After doing so, Rimuru falls unconscious for three days and, when he wakes up, discovers that the goblins and the Direwolves have somehow become stronger monsters, Hobgoblins and Tempest Wolves respectively. Great Sage informs Rimuru that naming a monster imparts some of the namer’s magic into it, allowing it to “evolve” into a stronger version of itself.
Deciding to help the goblins develop their community, Rimuru goes to the Dwarven Kingdom to recruit skilled artisans. He soon returns to the village with four of them, including the famous blacksmith Kaijin. Later, he meets Shizue Izawa, a retired adventurer summoned from Japan decades ago. She eventually loses control over Ifrit, the fire spirit possessing her, and it threatens to go on a fiery rampage until it is devoured by Rimuru. After this, the now-dying Shizue requests Rimuru to consume her as well and he does so, gaining the ability to take on human form.
Over the next two years, the goblin village grows into a small, thriving city and Rimuru invites ogres, lizardmen, orcs and others to stay as well, giving names and assigning duties to them. Under Rimuru’s leadership, the various monster races of the Jura Forest unite and found a new nation, the Jura Tempest Federation. Other nations and demon lords soon take an interest in the Federation and its unusual leader…
Main Characters
Rimuru Tempest, a.k.a. Satoru Mikami (三上 悟, Mikami Satoru), a slime, a former salaryman and Grand Chancellor (later King) of the Jura Tempest Federation. Friendly, laid-back and somewhat eccentric, he sometimes worries too much about how others will react to what he does. Although he’d rather avoid trouble if he could, Rimuru is diligent, helpful and protective to those he cares for. As a slime, Rimuru is functionally genderless, but he still identifies himself as male.
At the time of his reincarnation, he gained several types of physical resistance, such as against fire, cold and pain, in addition to his Predator and Great Sage Unique Skills. Predator allows Rimuru to replicate a plethora of Skills (e.g. Magic Sense, Sticky Steel Thread, Thought Communication) and magic spells (e.g. Water Blade, Icicle Lance, Flare Circle). It can also be used on objects, allowing him to instantly create weapons, clothes, and healing potions from magic and his own mass. Rimuru can also take the shape of any creature he has absorbed, using magic to create extra mass when replicating creatures larger than his natural slime form. After consuming Shizue’s body, he gained the ability to take on an androgynous, genderless human form that resembles an adolescent version of Shizue herself. Rimuru often uses this form to experience sensations that cannot be felt in slime form, such as when tasting food.
Veldora Tempest, the Storm Dragon and one of the four True Dragons. Proud and boisterous, he loves to show off his power. Imprisoned 300 years ago for attacking a human city, Veldora has become more patient over the long years and was considered the guardian deity of the Jura Forest by its inhabitants. After being devoured by Rimuru, the dragon remains alive within the slime’s body, where he spends his days analyzing the magical prison still holding him and watching memories of Rimuru’s past life as Satoru.
Shizue Izawa (井沢 静江, Izawa Shizue), a retired adventurer. Kind yet taciturn, her sad eyes betray an inner trauma. During the Bombing of Tokyo at the end of World War II, Shizue was summoned to the fantasy world at the age of four by the demon lord Leon Cromwell. Upon her arrival, she was possessed by the fire spirit Ifrit. Years later, she became a famous adventurer known as the “Conqueror of Flames” for her powerful fire magic. After she retired from adventuring, Shizue took a teaching post at the Freedom Academy where she taught children who were summoned from other worlds like her. By the time she met Rimuru, Shizue was well into her 70s, but the fire spirit within her preserved her youthful appearance. To suppress Ifrit’s influence, she wore a special anti-magic mask. Before being consumed by Rimuru, she made him promise to fulfill her final wishes: to take care of her students at the Freedom Academy and to find Leon Cromwell.
Personal Thoughts
In a sense, Rimuru is a fantastical example of how one can grow through adaptation and learning. By consuming other creatures and acquiring their abilities, he becomes far more powerful than a slime, traditionally a weak RPG creature. He can even act as his own factory, able to create objects he has consumed at least once. In theory, there’s almost no limit to how powerful he could become.
By demonstrating that he is the most powerful in the Jura Forest, Rimuru wins the respect and loyalty of the forest’s monsters. Former enemies such as Direwolves and orcs swore allegiance to him after he defeats them, since they believe in rule by the strong. Ogres became loyal to him when he demonstrates strength in both body and character. At Freedom Academy, Rimuru demonstrates his superior skills and experience to Shizue’s students, winning their respect. Those who underestimate the slime’s abilities quickly regret making him an enemy.
The undercurrent of this story seems to be a contest in which the strongest and the most respected is the one who adapts, whether in body or mind. And, of course, no one could adapt better than Rimuru!
Moral
New problems will always arise, so one must adapt and learn in order to live.
Isekai Eye 