Drop 300 Slimed

It might seem silly to drop a show with just three episodes until the finish line, but I had mostly checked out last week anyway. Suffice it to say I know when I’m done with a show, and it’s when I can’t even be bothered to sit down and watch it. Granted, part of that is that the weather is too nice to spend it inside.

That’s not to say Slime 300 is a bad series, just an okay one that’s a good way to pass the time when the weather stinks. It had some nice comic voice work from Yuuki Aoi, a smattering of lovable characters, and some genuine good-natured (and occasionally mildly raunchy) charm, but my interest simply fizzled out. Let’s just leave it at that!

Slime 300 – 08 – No Time to Get Boared

One aspect of Azusa now having a huge family is that there is literally never a dull moment. While trying to have a peaceful morning cup of coffee, her two dragons start going at it, competing in baking since they’re not allowed to fight.

Turns out they’re both suffering from fresh meat withdrawal (being dragons and all), but there just happens to be some trouble with vicious giant boars in the nearby forest.

Azusa, Laika, Flatorte and Rosalie travel to the forest, Rosalie locates the herd, and frustrated with getting her clothes caught on branches, Flatorte does away with her clothes altogether, demonstrating a complete lack of modesty her red cousin doesn’t share.

Even when her clothes end up in the river, she simply fights in the nude, while the other three help out. Beelz and Vania show up with Flatorte’s clothes from downstream and the leviathan prepares some sumptuous boar dishes that Azusa brings the whole family out to partake in.

The second half of the episode deals with an apparent impostor out in the world calling herself the Witch of the Highlands. Azusa has everyone split up to gather intelligence, taking Laika along with her to a town that features a rather unique bar where masochistic patrons revel in the verbal abuse of the barkeep.

She points them in the direction of the “witch” in exchange for them doling out some insults to the patrons, which in Laika’s case is very much sincere. While at first the impostor seems to be a tiny crone, it’s actually a disguise for Eno, a young and inexperienced witch trying to build up her image by “borrowing” Azusa’s title.

However, Eno doesn’t mean any harm, and apologizes profusely for what she did. She also expresses her desire to be well known only among those in the know but also generally known by the wider public as a lovely and excellent witch…in other words, like Azusa!

Being a dragon, Laika doesn’t understand Eno’s very human contradictions, but Azusa picks up on them right away, and helps Eno identify the steps she needs to take to achieve her goals. That results in Eno dressing up as a super-pink magical girl to peddle her medicines, which end up selling like hotcakes and attracting the attention of Halkara as a potential business partner.

While not nearly as strong as last week’s tangle with the Demon King, this outing was perfectly pleasant, as we learned a little more about dragons, vicariously shared in a great boar feast, and got to meet another witch. Nothing groundbreaking, but also nothing deserving of withering insults!

Slime 300 – 07 – Total Submission

Halkara is in trouble. Accidental or not, she assaulted the Demon King, who is still out cold, and the court is not forgiving about that kinda thing, so she’s on death row! Azusa and her new found family work to get themselves and Halkara out of the mess she made, because what is family for?

Laika reveals she can transform into a huggable mini-dragon, and flies off to gather some medicinal herbs. Azusa whips up an analeptic that is sure to wake Percora up—the only problem is how to get to her. Beelz sends Vania with the palace blueprints, and disguises Azusa in sexy demon doctor cosplay.

The courtiers and their burly guards are not convinced by the getup, but it matters little as the Witch of the Highlands is able to easily overpower everyone standing between her and Pecora’s bedchamber. She’s about to administer the medicine when Pecora suddenly wakes up and headbutts her.

Azusa insists the foul-smelling green liquid is not poison, but Pecora insists she prove her innocence by beating her in a duel and not killing her. The Demon King blows the side off her own palace and launches a fusillade of lightning-quick strikes, hitting nothing but air as Azusa expertly dodges.

When Peco taunts her opponent by saying an elf’s life is riding on the outcome, Azusa goes on the offensive, shooting herself high into the air, then striking Pecora’s giant sword with a satisfying BOOOONG, sending it flying out of her arms. When it comes down, it shatters into a thousand shards.

It’s at this point that the battle suddenly takes a turn for the amorous. Pecora lost the duel, but she actually won, because it was actually a test of Azusa’s strength and worthiness to be Pecora’s “Dear Sister”. For a while now, Pecora has yearned for someone stronger than her to worship and obey.

With this in mind, the Demon King makes Azusa touch her face and order her with a dignified big-sister tone to free Halkara. When Azusa does so, Pecora practically melts with satisfaction. Who knew the Demon King’s greatest ambition was to simp for a formidable domme?

When Azusa and Pecora have tea together, Pecora mentions how she read (perhaps in a yuri manga) about how an older sister kisses her younger sister, and wants to give it a try. They’re all alone, so Azusa doesn’t see the harm in giving the Demon King a chaste peck on the cheek.

The thing is, from the way the scene is animated and Pecora’s reactions, it hardly appears chaste to Halkara, Laika, the twins, and Rosalie. Halkara for one is ready to immediately accept her master’s preference for women and wish her well, but Azusa clears things up by giving her two daughters their first kisses, who then kiss her back. Kisses for everybody!

Pecora isn’t done with the surprised, as at the awards ceremony she not only welcomes Laika onto the dais with Azusa, but presents Flatorte, giving all three awards for peace. That’s when things again get a little kinky, as Pecora orders Flatorte to allow Azusa to touch her horns.

For a Blue Dragon, there is no more powerful gesture of total submission, but Flatorte allows it. Little does Azusa know that by doing so, she’s bound Flatorte to her for life, just as dragon knights once bonded with dragons they bested. On the ride home aboard Vania, the leviathan laughs about an old joke, sending honey water flying.

Flatorte proves her fealty and absolute devotion to protecting Azusa by shielding her from the honey water shower, necessitating a bath. There, Azusa gives Flatorte her one and only order: that she think for herself, act of her own free will, and stop awating her orders.

To Flatorte, an order to be free seems contradictory, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s an order from her master. She obeys, and later enjoys some quality time in Azusa’s lap, later broken up by an envious Laika.

A red and blue dragon living together under one roof isn’t going to be easy, but it’s not going to be dull either, and their shared love for their master should ensure their discord will only ever go so far, and may even soften into amity. However it goes, Azusa’s harem family has grown once more.

Slime 300 – 06 – The Gang Meets the Demon King

Beelzebub shows up at Azusa’s place to announce that the Demon Realm has awarded her a special Medal of Honor in recognition of ending the conflict between the Red and Blue dragon tribes. It will be awarded in the Demon Realm, which means Azusa and her suddenly quite large family will have to take a trip. They’ll also need some nice dresses to wear.

The problem is, because Rosalie isn’t corporeal and her clothes are simply an afterimage from her life, she’s unable to change into a dress. Shalsha consults a friend who researches ghosts, and Azusa eventually uses her Create Magic to invent a spell that will enable Rosalie to wear whatever she wants. With that issue sorted, Beelz arrives with their ride to the realm: a massive leviathan.

That leviathan happens to be carrying a five-star hotel and spa on her back, making her far more hospitable than the White Whale from Re:Zero. She also has a sister in Vania who serves as chief steward in human form. The two switch off their roles, and when Azusa & Co. meet her, she’s in the baths while on the clock, irking Beelz.

But what Vania lacks in modesty, she makes up for with tremendous culinary skills, preparing a lavish multi-course meal with the highest class ingredients. After dinner, Azusa’s brood luxuriates in the baths, with the warning that if they stay in the water for too long they may melt.

That night, Rosalie, who never sleeps, is joined on the balcony by Halkara, who can’t sleep. When Rosalie thanks her and says she’s in her debt for freeing her from the factory, Halkara tells her there’s no debt to forgive; as her master Azusa would say, they’re family now. It’s why the next morning everyone is so concerned that Halkara melted when she went off for a midnight dip. Turns out she was simply sleeping under the bed rather than on it.

The Leviathan finally arrives in the Royal Capital of Vanzeld, and the group is dropped off at the Demon King’s central castle. Azusa is understandably weary about meeting someone with such a sinister title, but Beelz assures her that the Demon King is kind of heart, and will not be offended by minor breaches in etiquette.

Upon entering the Demon King’s throne room, both Azusa and Halkara mistake the diminutive child for someone other than the Demon King she actually is: Provat Pecora Allieres. Halkara is mortified upon learning this, but when Provat tells her not to bow to her and promises never to harm any of them, Halkara shoots up a bit too fast, smacking Provat in the head and knocking her out.

With that, the King’s guard swarm and surround Halkara and the others, and when Azusa appeals to Beelzebub, Beelzebub admits that Halkara will, in all likelihood, be executed for assaulting the Demon King. Hopefully Provat will wake up and this can all be cleared up—and even if it isn’t, Azusa is probably powerful enough to spring everyone. But until further notice, Halkara is placed behind bars.

Slime 300 – 05 – Who Ya Gonna Call?

Azusa and the others get the wrong idea that Halkara is preparing to move out, so they arrange a surprise party, only to learn she was only looking for a new location for her energy drink factory. The fact remains, she’s working long nights and Azusa is concerned. Turns out the reason is that there’s a ghost at the new factory that has scared away all of Halkara’s local employees.

In order for Halkara to start coming home at a reasonable time, the “bound spirit” must be dealt with. Azusa summons Beelzebub for this purpose, though because her incantation is a little off, Beelz ends up in the bathtub full of cold water (for the crops…it’s eco-friendly!) As Azusa and Halkara cower and tremble behind her, Beelz quickly finds the ghost and makes her visible.

Her name is Rosalie (voiced by Sugiyama Riho, Minare from Wave, Listen to Me!), and she’s the ghost of a girl who took her own life centuries ago after her parents were preparing to sell her off for “chump change”. In the ensuing years, she “went bad”, which explains her rudeness (and makes Sugiyama a great choice).

Rosalie has wanted to leave the factory for a while, but without success. After her offer to erase her without a trace is shot down, Beelzebub suggests that if she possess one of them, she’ll be able to relocate. Halkara seem the most suitable vessel as she has the most “weak points.” The possession is successful, and Rosalie!Halkara strikes a samurai pose as she accepts Azusa’s kind offer to live in her house.

A problem arises when Rosalie arrives at Azusa’s to find she isn’t able to separate from Halkara’s body; apparently they were ridiculously compatible! After a number of attempts to shake, shock, and spook Rosalie out of Halkara’s body, Azusa gets the idea to make her drunk (easily done with Halkara’s tolerance). When Rosalie passes out, Halkara’s personality surfaces.

That just leaves the matter of how to exorcise the dormant ghost from her body. Beelzebub has a solution: toss her into that eco-friendly cold bath water. Rosalie pops right out from the shock, and is now successfully separated from the location of her death.

With that, Azusa arranges for Rosalie to meet the townsfolk to prove she’s a friendly ghost, and she’s happy to use her ghostly telekinesis to do chores for people to build goodwill. Rosalie announces she’s Halkara’s newest employee at the factory, and nobody needs to fear her. And that’s how Azusa’s family grows by one once more.

Slime 300 – 04 – Mount Rokko Rumble

Turns out Laika’s announcement she’s returning to her home isn’t a permanent arrangement; she’s simply attending her older sister’s wedding, and invites everyone to join her. They’re all pumped for a dragon wedding, with Halkara in a particularly romantic mood (and somewhat disappointed by Azusa’s complete lack of love life).

Laika also provides transportation in her dragon form, and Halky gets motion sickness. After they land and she’s able to hurl (with Azusa lovingly holding her hair back) Halky says she wouldn’t mind a kiss, but as there’s sparkly vomit drips from her mouth, Azusa ain’t interested!

When they arrive at the village of Red Dragons on the volcanic Mt. Rokko, Azusa & Co. are dwarfed by Laika’s partying and feasting family and friends, but Azusa also learns her pupil once attended the dragon equivalent of a fancy rich girl’s school, which is a nice mental image. Laika’s mom is warm, her dad is loud, and her sister Leila and her husband-to-be are glad she’s there.

But then the festivities are crashed by the Blue Dragons and their leader Flatorte, who is bitter and envious that in 400 years she hasn’t been able to marry. She and her band of goons start ruining everything with their icy cold breath. Azusa is initially content to leave internal affairs to the dragons…but then the Blue Dragons go and make her kids cry.

From that point on, Azusa goes into full Protective Mama Witch Mode, making full use of her maxed-out stats to mop the floor with all blue dragon comers. After her significant powers have been largely underplayed the last three weeks, here we finally get to see her in action—and more importantly, motivated by her love of her family and desire to keep them safe.

Flatorte proves a slightly more challenging opponent then the grunts, but she’s still no match for Azusa’s fire magic, as well as her devastating Flying Axe Kick—all executed perfectly even in her nice going-to-a-wedding clothes and shoes!

They move on to the village to find the Blue Dragons there have already been handily dealt with by Beelzebub, who just happened to stop by to avail herself of the mountain’s famed hot springs and didn’t like how the dragons were threatening to cause trouble, so she cast a severe weakness spell on all of them. This nets Beel a big Azusa hug she claims not to want, but her blushing indicates otherwise.

Azusa then has Flatorte assume her human form and agrees to release her and the others only if they promise to cease their hostilities with the Red Dragons via a non-aggression pact…and pay for the damage and grief they caused. With that, the second dragon reception can commence, in which all the dragons are in human form, and Halkara quickly succumbs to the open bar.

Even Flatorte (who is quite the cutie in human form) offers a concilatory rose to Laila for her wedding, only for the Red/Blue Dragons’ “complicated” relationship to rear its ugly head once more, as Laila can’t help mock Flatorte’s lack of success in love.

Azusa has a quiet moment of rest away from the party with Laika, who asks her master if she can use her as a lap pillow. At the episode’s beginning we saw this is what Leila did for Laika whenever she was feeling down, and Laika understandably feels a little lonely about her sister being married off. Azusa is all too happy to be her pillow whenever needed.

Upon returning to the party, Beelzebub already has a completely boiled Halkara on her back and suggests everyone stay the nightat the hot springs hotel. All are in agreement, and once they’re all in the baths Azusa basks in the light and warmth of her colorful new family. Isekai OP ass-kicking and Iyashikei-style coziness combine for the best episode of Slime 300 yet.

Slime 300 – 03 – The Elf and the Fly

Just as Shalsha and Falfa are reading about the Elves of Hrant, one arrives at the door in a state of anxiety, demanding to be let in.

Her name is Halkara, and she’s a very successful apothecary and energy drink entrepreneur who happened to make a demon named Beelzebub mad when that drink caused an adverse effect. She also has a killer bod!

While her extra witch outfit is far too tight for Halkara’s three sizes, Azusa agrees to keep the elf under her protection, casting a barrier over the house and inviting the elf to join her foraging for medicinal herbs.

Azusa ends up learning a lot about the mushrooms of the forest, as well as the existence of a condiment very much like soy sauce. Halkara also accidentally eats an aphrodisiac mushroom (due to poor sorting methods) and starts involuntarily making advances on Azusa, who isn’t interested in a drug-addled tryst!

Halkara eventually recovers, and the matter is not spoken of. Then they find that there’s a huge reward poster at the guild for anyone who can locate Halkara. Azusa preps for a potential confrontation by having Laika take her daughters to safety, but Beelzebub was there all along in the form of a bee.

Beelzebub attempts to seize Halkara, abut Azusa won’t hear of it, and the two agree to take it outside and settle it with a fair fight. Beelzebub immediately makes use of her ability to fly, but ends up hitting the inside of the barrier and gets zapped. Azusa takes her in and heals her with magic.

After recovering, Beelzebub reveals that it wasn’t Halkara’s energy drink that made her sick, but overwork. She and the other demons actually love her product and only came to meet her in person and procure more. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Laika and the kids return.

Beelzebub still wants to have that fair fight sometime, while Halkara wants to move her production to Azusa’s province for tax purposes, so Azusa’s family swells by two. Her peaceful life is as lively and fun as ever, but the episode ends on a cliffhanger as Laika declares she’ll be returning to her own home.

Slime 300 – 02 – And Then There Were Four

When Azusa tells Laika that all she did to reach her level was kill around 25 slimes per day, her pupil is a little surprised. She expected Azusa had worked hard enough to sweat blood. That’s when Azusa reiterates that if you are sweating blood, you’re doing it wrong; “it” being life. And she should know.

As for cooking, Laika’s portions are understandably dragon-sized. Azusa’s appetite shrinks before an omelette the size of an average dog, but one taste and she’s convinced of Laika’s skill. Laika also draws a magic circle for Azusa to cast a protection barrier around Flatta, earning the love of the townfolk.

Yep, Azusa and Laika’s slow life in their newly-build log mansion is pretty sweet. Then one day, a little girl with blue hair and green eyes knocks on their door, declaring herself to be Azusa’s daughter, Falfa. She’s there because her twin sister Shalsha is plotting to kill Azusa.

More precisely, Falfa and Shalsha are twin “slime spirits” born from the souls of all of the slimes Azusa killed over the years. While Falfa harbors no ill will, Shalsha has been training her mind and body to destroy Azusa the first chance she gets, and when she demonstrates her Smite Evil spell that negates all of Azusa’s magic, it looks like she just might succeed!

That is, if Azusa were all alone. Even though Azusa is ready to meet her fate, satisfied she lived a good slow life for three centuries, Laika won’t allow Shalsha to hurt her master. Shalsha folds like a manila folder once Laika hits her with a single Dragon Punch.

In her fifty years of existence, Shalsha poured all of her effort and mana into the Smite Evil spell targeted at Azusa, so she’s extremely weak against anyone other than Azusa. The spell also only lasted around an hour, which expires once she comes to, so she’s also harmless. Falfa manages to talk Shalsha down from her grudge; after all, everyone kills slimes every day!

With two adorable new daughters in her lap and a huge house built for her by Laika, Azusa suggests they move out of their shack in the forest and move in with their mama! The sisters agree, and the quartet hits the town for some shopping to prepare for a welcome party. On the way, Shalsha tells Azusa that there are both good and evil slimes, and she has no trouble killing the evil ones herself.

The new family of four sit down to another massive Laika feast, although this time the amount of food is more appropriate. Azusa makes sure both the sisters and Laika eat their celery soup, and while she wasn’t expecting a slow life with a big family, it’s nice in its own way, making things more fun and lively. It also means a lot more chuckle-worthy gags!

Slime 300 – 01 (First Impressions) – Living La Vida Slow-ca

Isekai Series #48,763, the obnoxiously titled I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, starts out super-dark (albeit tempered with kiddy art) with its workaholic protagonist Aikawa Azusa literally dying at her desk. She encounters an angel in heaven who reincarnates her as an immortal in some nice relaxing highlands.

Azusa is pleased with her forever-17 looks and witch getup—complete with a hat big enough to make Elaina blush. She’s also glad that the only enemies in these lush, verdant highlands are harmless slimes, which she decides to defeat at the rate of ~25 per day in order to fund her knew laid-back life.

Azusa goes on to live a slow, peaceful life in her secluded cottage, tending her field, making medicines from herbs, and basically just kicking back…all while defeating around 25 slimes a day, exchanging the crystals they drop for coin at the nearby village’s adventurer’s guild. This goes on…for three hundred years.

Before she knows it she’s the oldest and most venerable person in the village. The episode intentionally underplays this massive passage of time, comprising over three average human lifespans, but also underscores just how badly Azusa needed a long, long vacation from her hellishly busy past life.

When a guild clerk checks Azusa’s stats for the first time in three centuries, they learn she’s reached Level 99—slow and steady truly has won the race. When rumors spread of the power of the “Witch of the Highlands”, adventurers visit her wanting to test their skills against the best.

Of course, Azusa doesn’t really want to engage in such sparring, any more than she wanted to make a name for herself. She’s always been content to live her slow, peaceful life. But when the adventurers insist, she quickly dispatches them without breaking a sweat, and before she knows it a big red dragon is at her door, looking for a fresh challenge.

A short but sweet aerial battle ensues, with Azusa easily countering the dragon’s fire breath with her ice magic, which she then uses to fuse the dragon’s mouth shut. It plummets to the ground and then does exactly what Azusa had hoped it wouldn’t do: trash her beloved house, which in 300 years had gotten just the way she liked it.

Adding a slug to the face for good measure, Azusa makes the dragon promise to fix her house up, and it sheepishly departs to collect the gold it’s been hoarding in its mountain lair. Azusa’s seiyu Yuuki Aoi carries the episode with her highly versatile voice that darts from charming and sweet to annoyed and threatening at the tip of a giant witch’s hat.

While her house is in ruins, Azusa stays at a complementary guest room at the village office, and due to all of the goodwill she’s earned from the villagers and their descendants—from staunching a plague to protecting them from the red dragon—she never has to pay for a room, a drink, or a meal in that village ever again.

Azusa is surprised then, when a cute redhead with horns pays her a visit the next day and introduces herself as Laika, the red dragon she defeated. Laika has brought the gold, and begs Azusa to let her be her pupil. Azusa isn’t sure what she can teach her, but she does like the sound of someone to do all the housework, so she agrees. Laika gets to work building a larger dwelling from scratch that will accomidate them both.

When the sun begins to set, Laika assures her new master that she can work through the night to finish the house, but Azusa takes her face in her hands and delivers a “hard no” to that offer. As someone who literally died from working too hard, she’s not about to let her pupil threaten her health by doing the same. Too often “working hard” is overused in a positive light.

Instead, she tells Laika to watch the darkening sky, which is telling them she’s done enough for the day. That said, Laika is incredibly industrious, and the new larger house they’ll share is soon completed. Rather than kick Laika into the kitchen to make supper, Azusa takes her by the hand and they head into the village to celebrate.

While I wish Slime 300 had a more imaginative title, I am glad slimes were more of a means and not an end to Azusa’s story. I find her dedication to living a quiet peaceful life quite admirable, and it’s a nice contrast to more ambitious witches like Elaina, who starred in an more ambitious but ultimately uneven series.

By comparison, Slime 300’s wonderfully simple plot, lush idyllic land-and-townscapes, competent magical combat, and the all-star voices of Yuuki Aoi and Hondo Kaede (Maple from Bofuri) make it well-positioned for a low-stakes, high-comfort isekai viewing experience. It also featured more frequent and effective comedy and a more interesting heroine than The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent, so if I end up picking only one to watch, 300 has the early edge.