And somehow, fans are happy about it.
Summary:
- Reincarnated as a Slime S3 will air a recap a week before its start.
- Fans usually hate recap episodes, but they’re actually happy about this one.
- It doesn’t affect the airing schedule of the anime.
As announced previously, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken) Season 3 is going to start on April 5.
However, on March 29, Crunchyroll is posting a so-called Episode 0 of the third season — which is Episode 48.5 in total. That episode is a recap episode, but fans are somehow okay with it — and here’s why.
Fans usually hate recaps
Most of the time, recap episodes are widely disliked by the fans. You can’t really blame them: they either fill the slot of an actual episode, or delay it for a week — neither is something fans actually like.
Most recently, the recap episode for Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) caused a massive outrage in the fandom. It quickly became the most disliked anime episode on Crunchyroll, and that’s despite the fact that it was clearly stated there was going to be a recap.
Why this recap is good
Yet, despite That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime starting a season with a recap, fans are actually not upset about it at all. In fact, they are happy it will air a recap first — something that very rarely happens. However, there are very good reasons why this recap’s existence is appreciated.
First of all, it doesn’t make the anime go on break for a week — and the recap episode is not a part of the episode count. As such, the anime is still scheduled for two continuous cours, starting on April 5 — the recap episode airs a week earlier.
Moreover, some say that a recap was actually required: the second season aired quite some time ago and was split into two parts. The first season aired even earlier — half a decade ago — and a recap was needed to remind the viewers of the story. However, it’s also entirely optional: if you remember it well enough, you may skip it.
Getting prepared to watch S3
Along with a recap announcement, Crunchyroll posted a translated PV for Reincarnated as a Slime. While we’ve seen this particular trailer before, it’s nice to see it actually translated into English.
As Season 3 is airing very soon, fans are wondering if they need to watch the OVAs and the movie before it. And the answer to that is — no, they really don’t. The OVAs are nice but skippable.
The movie is even weirder, as it’s clearly not canon and doesn’t fall anywhere in the timeline: it has characters that will appear much later in the light novels — we won’t even see them in Season 3