The Slime Diaries – The Calm Before the Tempest

Production

What can I say, it’s Slime. If you’ve seen any of the shows, you know what to expect. And considering the first season was quite successful, they didn’t have to cut too many corners for this tie-in.

It looks pretty good, the colours are great. There’s not too much action to speak of but when there is, it’s smooth and the character models stay consistent.

I do think that the characters models were tweaked. It’s not super obvious but certain characters, I would say most obviously Benimaru, seem just a little different in an uncanny way. I can’t quite describe it. Cuter maybe? And by cuter, I don’t mean I find them cuter but more rounded and softer in features. However, it’s just subtle enough that I kept wondering if I was imagining it and it drove me crazy.

I understand that this isn’t in any way the fault of the production team, but I did spend a good amount of time in the early episodes, just trying to place what was different instead of paying attention to what was happening. By the halfway point I had gotten used to the models and it didn’t bother me anymore but it honestly took up a lot of my focus in the first half of the season.

Story & Characters

I didn’t actually say it in my opening paragraph but I hinted at it. The Slime Diaries is in effect a slice of life, set in the That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime universe and with the same characters. As far as I could tell, the action takes place between seasons 1 and 2.

I had seen season 2 before watching The Slime Diaries and although you absolutely do not need to watch Slime Diaries to understand and enjoy season 2, it did add a bit of backstory and set up events that happen later. I was happy to see that. It really tied everything together and gave the Slime Diaries a sense of deeper lore.

However, as a stand-alone anime, I have to be honest, I was a little bored. Not very bored but also not utterly charmed. And this show had everything to charm me.

The structure of Slime Diaries has each standard episode broken down into a series of vignettes, Anywhere from 3 to 6 independent stories per episode. And while some are fun or honestly touching, others just felt like they were going nowhere. At times, The Slime Diaries was simply rehashing things we had seen in season 1, maybe as a form of fanservice to more dedicated viewers that would get some nostalgia from it.

Although, I wasn’t bored to tears or anything. I found the experience of watching The Slime Diaries generally enjoyable. I also wasn’t all that compelled to keep watching it. It was there and it wasn’t a chore to put on an episode or two in the evenings, but I wasn’t looking forward to it like I do for a lot of anime.

I’m not sure if The Slime Diaries has an English version available. If it does, I would say that this is a fantastic background anime. It’s pretty lighthearted, there are some moments that I think will make you smile but you can also not pay too close attention to it and follow along just fine. As long as you actually understand the language that is.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to have an unengaging anime once in a while. And I actually have a bank of background anime I like to watch while cooking or cleaning. You know, doing tasks that could be very boring if there isn’t some light distraction around.

If you haven’t watched any of the That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime franchise. I would strongly suggest you begin with season 1. I personally think it’s the more entertaining anime and although The Slime Diaries is not required viewing to follow along with the seasons, it also doesn’t set up the universe well enough for someone to just pick it up without having seen the rest. In my opinion. You can probably figure it out but you’ll be missing a lot of backstories. Heck, they don’t even explain who Milim really is and she’s pretty present.

I still think a Slice of Life Isekai is a great idea for an anime. And The Slime Diaries took a decent stab at it. I also think there’s probably better out there. I just need to find it.

You might like this anime if:

You really like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. You’ve been looking for a background anime and speak the language. You are actively learning Japanese.

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.