TenSura – 45 – Demon Lords “R” Us

From the battles of Benimaru, Gobta, Gabiru, Geld, and the Beastketeers we rewind a bit back to Rimuru’s palace, where he sees Shuna off before heading through the ominous portal from which an extremely powerful demon maid named Misery emerges to escort him to Walpurgis. Before heading off, Veldora and Ramiris tell Rimuru the names of the other demon lords: the giant Dagruel, the vampire Roy Valentine (and his predecessor …Milis?), the demon Guy Crimson, and the lazy Dino.

As Rimuru, Shion, and Ranga walk through the portal to a very important and potentiall very perilous meeting, Shuna arrives at the outskirts of Clayman’s castle, flanked by Souei and Hakurou. They’re surrounded by a mist that dulls their magical senses, and before they know it they’re surrounded by an undead army led by Adalman, the Index of Clayman’s five fingers.

While Souei and Hakurou buy time by battling a zombie dragon and knight, respectively, Shuna uses an Alignment Field to cordon herself and Adalman off so they can have a nice little magic battle. It seems like it’s been ages since the good princess got something to do, but it was worth the wait, as she kicks some serious skeleton ass.

Mind you, Shuna doesn’t move around much, nor does she ever raise her voice. But that’s fine; the dignified, elegant princess isn’t one to scurry around or shout. She stands with absolute confidence in her power as she calmly counters his Acid Shell with her Flame Wall and his Curse Bind with her Holy Bell. That last one surprises Adalman, who didn’t know a monster could summon a Divine Miracle.

When she rewrites his suicidal Disintegration mega-spell with Overdrive and disperses most of the undead army, she also inadvertently lifts the binding curse Clayman cast Adalman and Co. in order to have their…er…undying loyalty. But now that he’s been soundly defeated by a worshipper revere-er of Great Rimuru, Adalman is all about meeting the Lord Slime, and happily offers to guide Shuna & Co. to Clayman’s castle.

As for Great Rimuru, he encounters Guy Crimson (who definitely has his game face on), Dagruel, Guy Valentine, Milis (possibly), and Frey for the first time, and has some harsh words for Leon regarding what he did to Shizu that results in Leon inviting Rimuru to his castle…assuming the slime survives Walpurgis.

That’s when the other new kid on the block Clayman arrives, with a very out-of-it-looking Milim in tow. Rimuru surely could tell something was very wrong when Milim didn’t immediately run to him and gather him into a warm embrace—they are BFFs, after all. But what really sets Rimuru off is when Clayman, clearly drunk on power, strikes Milim in the head. Everyone is shocked by Clayman’s conduct, but Rimuru is just mad, and promises Clayman’s death won’t be painless. Can’t wait to see it!

TenSura – 43 – Harder to Lose Than to Win

After helping Treyni evolve into a Dryas Doll Dryad so she can leave Jura forest as Ramiris’ escort, Rimuru goes over the final preparations for Benimaru’s fight. Turns out after Rimuru became a Demon Lord Benimaru was gifted a rare skill that allows him to read the enemy’s every move, thus assuring victory.

Nevertheless, there’s no reason not to take certain precautions, especially where a trickster like Clayman is concerned; someone who will only get more dangerous the more cornered he gets. That’s why Shuna, an accomplished magic user, volunteers to accompany Benimaru, Souei, and Hakurou…but not before she’s done hand-sewing Rimuru’s Walpurgis suit!

When Clayman’s forces approach from the bottom of a canyon as planned, Benimaru knows that victory is all but assured. Gabiru’s lizardmen and Souei’s ninjas mop up whoever doesn’t fall down the sinkholes created by Geld’s Orc soldiers.

The Beastketeers subordinate themselves to Benimaru specifically so they can see combat on the front lines, in order to get revenge for what happened to their beloved Lord Carrion.

Gabiru and his pals team up with Suphia, presumably to face off against Father Middray and his student. Phobio seeks out Tear and Footman, who are a lot tougher than they look, but Phobio’s no slouch either, plus he has Geld backing him up. I love how arrogant the harlequins are, but again, they have the skills to back it up. Of all the foes Rimuru’s forces clash with this week, they’re the most concerning.

Less so is Yamza, who despite being one of the “Five Fingers” (such a lame name!) is far more concerned with retreating in such a way as to save face in the eyes of his master, Clayman. It’s admirable that he’s able to think many moves ahead, but his plans of slipping away are dashed by Albis. It’s clear that she, along with her fellow Beasketeers, are as eager for action as we the viewers are!

All of Rimuru’s main and secondary lieutenants and allies get chances to shine, even Gobta, who saves Albis from a sneak attack and demonstrates that despite his cartoonish looks and lack of confidence, he’s pretty much a match for Yamza…he just needs to apply himself!

After being forced to sit around and wait while all of the pieces of this arc are painstakingly set up, it’s exhilarating to watch those pieces suddenly set into motion, like a wonderful piece of clockwork. I can’t wait to see what next week brings as each of these little isolated battles progress and evolve.

TenSura – 34 – The Turn of the Tide

No more talking or planning…it’s time for action! As I’d hoped, Tensura delivers with a crowd-pleasing sequence of pulse-pounding duels and battles that all pack a punch in different ways. Free of the anti-magic and demon-weakening barriers, Rimuru’s generals can really cut loose, and they do.

Working alone, it takes no more than sixty seconds for Benimaru to eliminate the entire unit guarding the device to the east. Gabiru’s unit’s aerial attack makes similarly quick work in the south while Souei’s underlings apologize for defeating the troops around the northern device so quickly and easily.

With three of the four devices destroyed, all that’s left is the west, where Rigur and Gobta handle the knights while Hakurou and Geld deal with the otherworlders Kyouya and Shougo, respectively. These two thrilling duels form the backbone of the episode, and they do not disappoint.

Hakurou, normally a pretty chill guy, is still steaming from having been jobbed in his last scrap with Kyouya, who conveniently forgets that the barriers made life much easier for him, and prevented him from experiencing anywhere near Hakurou’s true power.

Hakurou is all too happy to demonstrate that things will be a little different this time around, giving as much trash talk as he’s getting from the young cocky pup.

Again Kyouya tries to trick Hakurou by turning his sword into dozens of flying blades, but this only further disappoints Hakurou for having to deal with a “less than second-rate” opponent resorting to tricks to try to defeat him. Each of Kyouya’s blades are turned to dust, and not one lands a single scratch on the old man.

Kyouya seals his doom by relying on his All-Seeing Eye to detect Hakurou’s movements while yelling out the incredibly lame line “Rest in pieces!” Hakurou, who appears to be standing still, warns Kyouya “you can’t see nothin’ yet”, then everything goes white and blue as he unleashes Crestwater Slash.

Not only can Kyouya not dodge the strike that separates his head from his body, but his All-Seeing Eye keeps working normally even after he’s been beheaded, until his vision finally catches up with Hakurou’s movements. That means Kyouya gets to experience the singular horror of being aware his head was chopped off. Tensura is not fuckin’ around here!

Next up: Geld vs. Shougo. Shougo starts warming up by trying to get Geld to remove his armor for the sake of a “fair fight”, but Geld doesn’t take the bait; he knows more than anyone that in war you use every weapon at your disposal. Shougo thinks he’s got an easy fight when he busts out Berserker and Diamond Skin, but like Kyouya, he’s soon exposed for the overconfident,  second-rate novice he is.

Shougo’s skin may be diamond-hard, but it’s also extremely susceptible to Geld’s Rot, which attacks Shougo’s limbs and forces him to retreat. He runs into Kirara’s tent, where she’s just chilling out wondering what all the noise is…and strangles her to death. Kirara: we hardly knew ye.

Shougo uses her soul to acquire the Survivor skill, which he believes when combined with the Berserker skill will make him virtually invincible. The operative word there being “virtually”, Geld catches up to him and starts beating the ever-loving crap out of him while going heavy on the Rot.

Shougo continually heals, but he still feels the pain and horror of Geld’s attacks. Confident he’s suffered enough, Geld prepares to deliver a finishing blow, but it is blocked by Shougo’s ally, Lord Razen, who recognizes the power of both the Orc Lord and a Kijin and decides to teleport away. Hakurou reveals that had they killed Razen, it would have triggered “nuclear strike magic” that would have wiped everyone and everything in and around the city.

With the fourth of four devices destroyed, the anti-magic barrier falls, which is the signal both for Shuna and Mjurran to initiate their own barrier to replace it, and for Rimuru to begin nourishing his Demon Lord seed. Razen ends up killing Shougo’s soul with a spell and then possesses his body, which is still equipped with both Berserker and Survivor. Just like that, the three otherworlders are off the board. They were assholes, and will not be missed!

Razen believes he’s now powerful enough to face a Demon Lord, but you’d think he’d no better than to write checks he’s not sure he can cash. Just then, Rimuru places an anti-magic barrier around Falmuth’s army and activates Megiddo, AKA Armageddon.

Thousands of tiny drops of liquid spread forth from dozens of larger balls, and then a net-work of glowing white magical strings pelts the soldiers below, insta-killing them with incredible speed. By the time the episode ends, over 5,500 have been killed—more than halfway to Rimuru’s goal.

There’s no going back now. These humans and their actions convinced Rimuru beyond any doubt that there can be no peace without war, overriding his past human form’s aversion to killing. Falmuth and the church started this war, but Rimuru intends to finish it more powerful than ever. In a way, this episode marked the beginning of the end of the Old Rimuru.

TenSura – 31 – Bad News First

I never want to hear the good news first. The positive effects of hearing it would be nullified by the bad news, and who wants that? So here it is, a bad news-packed episode of the usually light and fancy-free TenSura with the title “Despair.” Subtle it ain’t, but the more serious shift in tone and heightened stakes are just the shot this show needed after a sputtering start.

First, kudos for presenting an opponent in Hinata so tough she not only makes Rimuru resort to the last trick up his slimy sleeve, but she seemingly obliterates him even in his final form with an apocalyptic Ultima-like spell. For a second there it looked like Rimuru had been taken off the board. While that was only a second, it was a wonderfully tense one!

We learn that when he summoned Ifrit, Rimuru made a doppelganger of himself to take the punishment, deeming retreat to be the better part of valor and turning out to be exactly right: had it been him under that Desintegration, he estimateshe’d have been toast, Holy Field or not. Ranga pops out of his shadow and greets his master like the good dog he is.

One detail we’ll just have to live with is the fact that someone as otherwise shrewd as Hinata simply left the scene without inspecting the crater where Rimuru apparently met his end for possible remains. Then again, she only told Rimuru she sold him short, not that he was anything to worry about. That arrogance led to her getting sloppy in this instance.

Rimuru and Ranga are perplexed when they can’t teleport to Tempest because the “destination doesn’t exist” due to the barrier. Instead they teleport to the nearby caverns, where he meets with Souei and his scouts, Gabiru, and Vesta, who explain the situation as they see it; Souei, bless him, immediately calls out Falmuth as one of the culprits.

We learn that the enemies have taken off, leaving the barriers in place, and while Gabiru’s men managed to save the young children, the city is wrecked and filled with casualties. Rimuru passes through the barriers without a problem, and is shocked by the sights he’s seen, which we must note he’s never seen…not against his capital, his nation, or his people.

Everyone seems to want to keep him away from something horrific in the central plaza, but before he can check it out he hears Benimaru’s attack. He rushes to the ally to find that Beni was attempting to capture Mjurran, but she was being protected by Grucius and Youm. Rimuru ends the confrontation before Beni can do any permanent harm, and when he’s told of Mjurran’s role, he asks to tell him exactly what she did.

She shows him instead, leading him to the plaza, strewn with dozens of dead goblins. Mjurran’s guilt over conjuring the barrier pales in comparison to the guilt Rimuru feels after having given standing orders to the Goblins not to attack humans. Mjurran seems to want to be the fall girl for everything, but Rimuru knows and the Great Sage confirms that there’s plenty of blame to spread around.

This Mjolmire guy from Blumund…he just puts off a very suspicious vibe, doesn’t he? The episode seems to go out of its way to make him far more prominent than he’d otherwise be. Sure, his task to send word to Blumund of Tempest’s situation is an important one; Rimuru should also contact Dwargon. But yeah…I wouldn’t be surprised if he betrays Rimuru at some point.

In an emergency meeting, Rimuru gets the remaining details about the situation, including the fact that the Knight Commander from Falmuth declared the capital “contaminated by monsters”, and that he’ll return accompanied by King Edomalis himself in seven day’s time to accept their surrender and dispersal from the city, or else be “eradicated.”

After his interactions with Hinata, it’s clear now to Rimuru that Falmuth and the anti-monster Western Holy Church have been conspiring to bring his nation down. Mjolmire points out the economic reasons Falmuth is determined to eliminate Tempest. Judging from that knight’s ultimatum, there could already be far too much distance between the two sides for anything other than all-out war.

But what of Mjurran? Rimuru demands to know everything she knows, and she’s happy to tell him, starting by telling him she serves the Demon Lord Clayman. As the ultimate puppet-master swirls his wine and smirks as he glances out the window of his gaudy castle, all the bad news has been laid out on the table and spilled over the edges.

It’s a long, hard road ahead for Rimuru & Co., but knowing they’re in a mess was the first step to getting them out of it. Soon it will be time to start making some good news, and it will be all the more satisfying thanks to the depths of despair plumbed here.

TenSura – 30 – The Shizu Hits the Fan

Rimuru bids goodbye Ingrassia and to the kids, leaving them with parting gifts: Chloe gets Shizu’s mask, while everyone gets cool cloaks made by Shuna. He’s about to teleport home with Ranga when the Great Sage announces a massive barrier is in place preventing that. Huh…that’s odd!

One of Souei’s clones appears telling his master to run. Rimuru orders Ranga into his shadow, and another barrier goes up: he’s unable to use skills. He casts Resist successfully, but all magic skills are severely limited, which is just what his opponent wants.

Back in Tempest, things do not go well for Rimuru’s strongest generals. Hakurou steps in to save Gobta , but due to the effects of the barriers, he’s easily defeated by Kyouya. Shion hangs in longer than Shougo expected, but in her weakened state she too is no match for the otherworlder.

Falmuth’s vanguard of knights arrive in the city, and Shougo immediately accuses Shion of attacking him, leading the knights to invoke “human law” and essentially sack the city. It is truly gutting to see children crying in allies, the capital in flames, and a bloody shoe in the streets.

Rimuru needs to get back, but that’s just not going to happen anytime soon. His opponent is Sakaguchi Hinata, Chief Knight of the Imperial Guard and Captain of the Holy Knights. Titles aside, her only master is the god Luminous. Rimuru tells Hinata he’s Japanese too, but she’s not there to listen to a monster, she’s there to avenge Shizu, her dearest friend.

Both we and Rimuru soon learn Hinata is not all talk, and is not fucking around. It’s been ages, if ever, since we’ve seen Rimuru so consistently on his back foot. Hinata’s attack and defense is so quick and precise, Rimuru feels like he’s fighting the Great Sage herself—who helpfully points out that seven strikes from Hinata’s Dead End Rainbow will kill him…and she’s already struck him four times!

Rimuru’s crucial error was walking so recklessly across the Holy Field, the Western Holy Church’s “ultimate anti-monster barrier.” Even a high-level spiritual monster such as himself has most of his strength sapped, and much of what’s left is spent sustaining his existence within the barrier. When Rimuru summons Ifrit to even the odds, Hinata uses her unique skill Usurper to try to frikkin’ steal him, forcing Rimuru to call him back.

Her Usurper reminds him of his final trump card, Gluttony. Great Sage accepts his Awaken! order just before Hinata runs him through, so while he’s not dead, because he’s given way to Gluttony, he loses consciousness, which he describes as sinking into darkness.

That’s not good! None of this is good! Rimuru, his generals, and his capital are all in serious trouble, and he never saw any of it coming, while the baddies are only just getting started. If ever a Milim ex machina were needed, it’s now!

TenSura – 13 – A Brand New Beginning

When Souei locates the Chieftain’s daughter in a tough spot and reports to Rimuru, the Slime orders him to help. By the time Rimuru and his forces arrive, Souei has already defeated all of the orcs. After healing the Daughter Rimuru forms an alliance with the Lizardmen on the spot.

Rimuru sends forces to help both her overconfident brother and the father he imprisoned. Meanwhile, a pissed Treyni the Dryad slices Laplace’s arm off with an Aerial Blade in attempt to shoo him and Gelmud out of the forest.

Lord Gabiru, once more egged on by his loyal underlings, puts on a flashy display as he fights an orc general one-on-one—the combat animation and sound effects here are excellent as always and pack a great punch—but he can’t do much actual damage against the great orc, and ends up having to be rescued by none other than Gobta.

Gobta is joined by Ranga, while Benimaru, Shion and Hakurou start obliterating the orc army in large chunks. Benimaru creates massive domes containing a kind of orc-killing dark-elemental magic, Shion’s straight slices with her greatsword cleave both enemy columns and the ground they stand on, and Hakurou’s lightning-quick blade fells scores of orcs before they know what hit them.

Ranga even gets to evolve again, decimating the army with a Death Storm wide-range attack before leveling up to at “Tempest Star Wolf.” It’s basically a rout, as the orcs can’t mount any kind of resistance against the overwhelming force of Kijin and wolf.

Gelmud flees the forest to report matters to the Demon Lord. Rimuru, who only had to observe the battle from the sky this week, dons Shizu’s mask, perhaps preparing to draw from her and Ifrit’s power to defeat the Orc Lord. As with OverLord, sometimes it’s just fun to watch the good guys unleash hell on the bad.