That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

An exceptional presentation for an average anime.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an action-adventure anime series based on the popular light novels written by Fuse and featuring art work by Mitz Vah. The anime production is from animation studio Eight Bit (Tokyo Ravens, Infinite Stratos). Fans of light action-adventure stories might find it compelling for its unique concept: a character being turned in to slime.

Struggling to accept his boring life, the 37 year-old Mikami Satoru stumbles about through the city streets wondering about his unexciting circumstances. Out of nowhere, a man plunges towards him carrying a lethal-blade knife. Jettisoning the knife directly into Mikaki's chest, he is violently killed at random.

Awaking from some sort of slumber, Mikami finds that he has become reincarnated as a ball of slime. Mikami is a transformed person: a gender- less blue blob that moves across the ground at a snail pace. As the story unfolds, Mikami befriends a dragon named Veldora, who gives him a new name: Rimuru (Miho Okasaki). What new adventures await slimy Rimuru in the strange new fantasy-land he finds himself in?

"I'm blue."

The animation is simultaneously one of the best and worst components of the production. The character designs were creative and engaging. Some of the background art work is compelling and beautiful as well. Yet the animation seems to have too many repeated frames and many scenes seem to last much longer than one would hope to find. This drags out the storytelling and much of this is the fault of the team of animators involved in the production. Art director Ayumi Satô (The World God Only Knows, Sakura Quest) should have pushed the animators for more fluid animation.

Even so, there are moments where the art looks nice and crisp. The world-building is extensive and some of the conceptual ideas explored (such as the imagery of the giant dragon) are compelling. It is truly a mixed bag. One interesting aspect of the art is the visual aesthetics of cinematographer Hiroshi Sato (Penguin Highway, Dragon Pink), who gives the series a unique style that emphasizes blue and green color tones.

One area where the series seemed successful was the original music score by the team of composers: Noriyasu Agematsu (Bodacious Space Pirates), Hitoshi Fujima (Kasimasi: Girl Meets Girl), Ryota Nakano (Girls Mode 4: Star Stylist), and Yousuke Yamashita (Murenase! Seton Gakuen). The music brings a sense of calm to the series that is a nice change of pace. The score is breezy and laid-back to listen to.

Directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi (Infinite Stratos, Knights of the Zodiac), the first half of the season is a mixed-bag that starts off on a slow note. Much of this is due to the pacing. Some of the issues are the fault of the screenplays by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Claymore, Black Cover) and some of the problems reside in the editing by Yumi Jinguji (Deca-Dence, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas). The bottom line: Season 1, Part 1 is inconsistent. It takes some time to find its footing. By the end of the set, there's some promise for the series to become more interesting. Where will it head to next?

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Funimation Entertainment, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1, Part 1 features a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The picture-quality on the release is absolutely exceptional. The native HD art manages to make a big impression from episode one onward. The line art looks extremely detailed throughout. The CG effects are well mixed with the more traditional animation style and the high quality encoding from Funimation makes the experience a more rewarding one. Colors appear quite robust and engaging (with enough "pop" to make an impression). An exceptional, top-notch encoding.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release features two lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. The lossless audio presentations are impressive and are a good match to the high presentation quality for the video encodes. Though the tracks lack a little in the LFE department, everything sounds remarkably crisp, clear, and engaging. The surrounds are actively engaged on the English dub track. There are no moments of distortion to report. The audio comes through clear and precise. Though the Japanese audio might not be as dynamic as the English audio, due to the lack of surround sound, the lossless encoding ensures the highest quality presentation. Fans will be pleased.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc 1:

Episode 8 Audio Commentary

Disc 2:

Episode 7 Video Commentary (HD, 23:53)

Episode 11 Audio Commentary

Promo Videos (HD, 4:28)

Commercials (HD, 1:55)

Textless Opening Song: "Nameless Story" (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song: "Another Colony" (HD, 1:32)

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 1 - Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an inconsistent series during the first-half of season one. The animation is generally solid (though the art-work sometimes outstays its welcome) while the direction is somewhat average overall. The scripts get the series off to a rather slow start but the production picks up the pace after a while. While the series is decent enough, it never made a big impression. Established fans of the series will love the Blu-ray set, though: the video-audio are both impressive and there are some extras for dub fans. Rent It.