And it only gets worse.
Summary:
- Reincarnated as a Slime is one of the most popular isekai series, but it has its issues.
- Ultimate Skills make the power level too high.
- This is a common problem with many isekai.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken) is one of the most popular isekai series — and for many good reasons. It’s giving a pretty entertaining take on a premise that might at first look like a joke.
Moreover, it’s actually fairly long, and it doesn’t have a “read the source material” ending: the series is in its third season right now, and that isn’t even including OVAs, the movie and the spin-off season.
However, this also means it suffers from some issues that many longer series suffer from. The issue is power scaling, which, in the series, is out of control at this point.
The Show Is Low-Stakes, and That’s Fine
Rimuru himself is a very strong protagonist, gaining multiple overpowered skills in the very first season. Normally, that wouldn’t even be a problem: while the series has many antagonists, the stakes tend to be pretty low due to the protagonist being that strong.
While for some, low stakes mean the anime is uninteresting and predictable, Reincarnated as a Slime doesn’t try to be anything else. In that sense, it’s a power fantasy story, and it’s very easy to recognize it as one.
Ultimate Skills Are Too Overpowered
However, with Reincarnated as a Slime trying to justify the power level of the main character, it also raised the power level of the entire world. The result is less than stellar: Ultimate Skills are essentially cheats, and they can only be defeated via other Ultimate Skills.
This situation results in the fantasy world being a pretty horrible place to live in as a normal person — if you have no one to defend you. And your defender has to possess one of said Ultimate Skills, which isn’t always the case.
This Is an Issue in Many Long Isekai Series
Interestingly enough, this isn’t even an issue unique to Reincarnated as a Slime. Most of the time, battle shounen anime suffer from power scaling issues — Naruto and Dragon Ball Z are some of the most infamous examples.
Still, one can argue this is also an issue in isekai series that go on for too long. When they have to introduce new enemies over and over again, it’s natural for them to increase the overall power level.
After all, even if the protagonist is overpowered, there’s no better way to show it than to defeat other very powerful characters. You can’t just keep the enemies weak all the time.