That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

 The manga That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime was a really fun isekai to read and anime to watch.

"Mikami's a middle age hasn't gone as he as he's planned. He never found a girlfriend, he got stuck in a dead-end job and was abruptly stabbed to death on the street at 37. So when he wakes up in a new work straight out of a fantasy RPG, he's disappointed buy not exactly surprised to find that he's a not a wizard but a blind slime demon. But there are chances for even a slime to become a hero..."

General Thoughts: I enjoyed this story and am glad it's continuing onward. This is actually a series I'm interested in purchasing for myself.

Plot and Theme: Slime is a typical isekai. Going from weakest creature alive to the top demon lord that everyone is scared of so that way you can protect your friends. There are many clichés and tropes that pop up here, but what was surprising was that it was done well. There are many isekai manga that don't run through their tropes well or where the story is so bad it just flounders. Slime doesn't. Rimaru gains friends and helps lift up others along the way. It's fun to see the village going from Goblin shacks that are barely standing to a major city with a Coliseum and Rimaru as a Demon Lord. There is political intrigue, massive disasters, death, humor and comedy, battles, and road construction. I like the ideas of helping each other out and living our best lives without having the "my friends are my power" trope which has gotten very old and long winded. It's a fun adventure story. 

Setting: It is an basic fantasy setting with goblins, orcs, demons, elves, dryads, vampires, humans, and whatnot. But each of these different clans have well developed cultures. Each kingdom has it's own boarders and concerns which leads to altercations and friendships. I'm in love with a good map at the beginning of any book and this one has them throughout the story as Rimaru becomes more important in society. 

Characters and Style: Many of the characters are very unique. There a lot of them, but each are drawn differently enough and have prominent (loud or quiet) personality that they don't get mixed up with other, which can often happen in these large scale books. Rimaru is a good leader, has his flaws (though few seem to be fatal flaws at the moment), but is always looking out for the people who've come under his slimy wing. 

Spice: 2/5 Spicy Chilis. Slime is not ecchi, which is great, but, however, there are some times with the elves one other character who are big and busty or a Demon Lord who wears only panties that I have found to be uncomfortable. There is also a moment toward the beginning where Rimaru needs to decide how he is going to look and because he's a slime and technically doesn't have a gender, he gets to pick and explores that a little, technically nothing is shown, but it gets to be kind of close at times. My son, who very much enjoys this series, chooses to look away because it can get awkward. Thankfully, it happens rarely enough that we don't have to turn it off. 

Final Thoughts: I do enjoy the series. It's got an engaging plot, fun characters, and it does the isekai genre good. I have very few qualms with it and can't wait for more chapters to be made. 

In Another World With My Smartphone (Part 1)

 One of the few Isekai ("different world")  manga I've read. 

Touya Mochizuki finds himself talking with God. Apparently he wasn't supposed to die, so in order to make amends God gives him a chance to go to another world. Touya asks if he can take his smartphone with him and God says yes, and that he'll also have magical powers in this world as well. Excited to start his new life, he hitches a ride with a clothes merchant (who wants his clothes and pays top dollar for the fine pieces) and makes his way to the nearest city. He runs into twin girls who help him find the Adventurer's Guild so he can make some money and stay at the inn. The girls help and they split bounties. Touya finds that not only is his smartphone super helpful, but he has the ability to use all magics in this world. Being a helpful person he makes many friends especially among the nobles which helps him move up in society to where he eventually gets his own kingdom. But not all is as easy as it seems. Crystalline beasts are awakening and nothing, not magic or brute force, seems to be able to stop them. 

The plot of the crystalline creatures and Ende (who I think is a bad guy, though we don't know yet) has a lot going for it. The fact that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is going to help defeat them is pretty awesome, though I personally could do without the mechtechs--but that's just me. I think it has a lot of promise. 

Touya, though, is a MarySue or Gary-Stu if you like, which would normally make me grade it a bit harder, but I still gave it a 4 Star because as the story goes on he finds challenges that are really difficult to overcome. I do think there are still problems with Touya as a character besides his Gary-Stu-ness--which I guess they give a bit of an explanation for but that isn't until later in the series. He doesn't really change throughout the course of the 12 volumes that are out at present. He's completely awesome (Gary-Stu) and girls flock to him (it is a harem after all) but he doesn't change. There are no faults to over come so there is nothing too change. 

I could also do without the perv-y moments that are sprinkled throughout the series. Because Touya is the only boy who isn't a dad or king of a country, all the perv-y people are robot girls or their female creator who's gross. I end up skimming or skipping through parts whenever they are around. Ugh. It' gets tiresome. 

But over all the characters are fun and the plot is creative. I even find that I enjoyed the "building a kingdom" part of the story where much of it was just trying to straighten things out. It's well illustrated and has a good story. We just need to have the main character not be so powerful at the beginning (give him some training sores) and less "panty shots" or plain sex talk. 

The series isn't complete yet, so when another huge bunch comes out, my hubby will probably have me check it out.