, also known as ''Regarding Reincarnated to Slime'' and short name , is a Japanese fantasy

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by , and illustrated by Mitz Vah. The story is about a salaryman who is murdered and reincarnates in a

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...

world as a slime with unique powers and gathers allies to build his own nation of monsters. It was serialized online from 2013 to 2016 on the user-generated novel publishing website

Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a Japanese novel self-publishing website created by . It was launched on April 2, 2004. Users can upload their novels free of charge and the novels are also free to read. As of December 2022, the site hosts close to 1,000,000 novels, has ove ...

. It was later acquired by Micro Magazine, which published the first light novel volume in 2014. Twenty volumes have been released as of September 2022. The light novel has been licensed in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published ''Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

, who published the first volume in December 2017. It has received a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation published by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

along with five manga spin-offs published, respectively, by Micro Magazine and Kodansha and an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation by Eight Bit, which aired from October 2018 to March 2019. A second season of the anime series aired from January to September 2021, and an anime adaptation of the second spin-off manga aired from April to June 2021. An anime film was released in November 2022. A third season has been announced.

Plot

Satoru Mikami is an ordinary 37-year-old corporate worker living in Tokyo. He is almost content with his monotonous life, despite the fact that he doesn't have a girlfriend. During a casual encounter with his colleague, an assailant pops out of nowhere and stabs him. While succumbing to his injuries, a mysterious voice echoes in his mind and recites a series of commands of which he could not make sense. After regaining consciousness, Satoru discovers that he has been reincarnated as a Slime in an unfamiliar world. At the same time, he also acquires new-found skills, particularly the ability called "Predator," which allows him to devour anything and mimic its appearance and skills. He stumbles upon Veldora, a powerful 'Storm Dragon', who has been sealed for the last 300 years for reducing a town to ashes. Feeling sorry for him, Satoru befriends the dragon, promising to help him in destroying the seal. They decide to exchange names, Veldora bestows upon him name Rimuru, and receives name Tempest in return. Slime then consumes the dragon together with his prison in order to analyze the spell inside itself and eventually free Veldora. The disappearance of Veldora's aura creates a power vacuum which eventually makes Rimuru the leader of all beings inhabiting the Great Forest of Jura, who accept him as a ruler and together they found the nation of Tempest. With Rimuru's strength, wisdom and idealistic vision the new nation quickly grows in strength and influence. Soon Rimuru and his subjects draw the attention of the nearby foreign powers, from monarchs and legendary heroes to demon lords, some seeking to become their allies, while others intending to take advantage of or destroy them completely.

Media

Light novels

Fuse originally serialized the series as a

web novel Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. Unlike ...

on the user-generated content site

between February 20, 2013, and January 1, 2016. The series was acquired for print publication by Micro Magazine, who published the first

, with illustrations by Mitz Vah, under their GC Novels in May 2014. On April 15, 2017, English publisher

announced during their panel at

Sakura-Con Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. The convention, which is traditionally held over Easter weekend, is the largest anime convention in the ...

that they had licensed the series for release in North America.

Manga

Taiki Kawakami launched a

adaptation in

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Shōnen Sirius is a Japanese monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Kodansha, and first issued in May 2005. It is issued in perfect-bound B5 format and retails for 580 yen. ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' is aimed at readers aged 16–21. The magazine a ...

'' on March 26, 2015.

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...

announced their license to the manga during their panel at

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

on October 6, 2016. A spin-off manga, titled , with art by Shō Okagiri, has been serialized on Micro Magazine's ''Comic Ride'' website since July 28, 2016. A second spin-off manga, titled , with art by Shiba, has been serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' since March 2018, compiled into five volumes as of March 2021, and licensed in English by

. A third spin-off manga, titled and illustrated by Shizuku Akechi began serialization in

's Niconico-based ''Suiyōbi no Sirius'' manga web platform on September 26, 2018, and has been compiled into one volume as of July 9, 2019. On June 3, 2020,

announced that it has licensed ''That Time I Got Reincarnated (Again!) as a Workaholic Slime''. A fourth spin-off manga, titled , with art by Tae Tono began serialization in ''Suiyōbi no Sirius'' on March 14, 2019. On March 18, 2020,

announced their license to the manga for a print release under the title ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest''. A fifth spin-off titled , with art by Chacha, began serialization in ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' in 2019. This story differs from the main one after Rimuru's encounter with Shizu, when he learns how to mimic a human body. However, the body he creates is that of a three-year-old. A sixtgh spin-off manga centered around Demon Lord Clayman, titled (''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Clayman's Revenge''), with art by Wataru Kajika began serialization in ''Monthly Shōnen Sirius'' on April 26, 2022.

Anime

television series adaptation aired from October 2, 2018, to March 19, 2019, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

and other channels. The series is animated by Eight Bit and directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi, with Atsushi Nakayama as assistant director,

Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is a Japanese anime screenwriter. He debuted in 1997 and has worked on numerous series since, including ''Black Clover'', ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime'', and ''By the Grace of the Gods''. Fudeyasu usually spells his name with kanji. ...

handling series composition, Ryouma Ebata designing the characters, and Takahiro Kishida providing monster designs.

Elements Garden Elements Garden is a Japanese group of music composers, or a "music production brand" as they call themselves. They generally produce music for video games, anime and recording artists. They are attached to Aria Entertainment. The group was form ...

is composing the series' music. The first opening theme is "Nameless story" performed by

Takuma Terashima is a Japanese voice actor and singer born in Ishikawa, Japan. Terashima graduated from Tokyo Announce Gakuin, voice training school. He had initially belonged to Holypeak until December 2008, and then to Production Baobab up until September 2011 ...

, while the first ending theme is "Another colony" performed by

True True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * ...

. The second opening theme is performed by Terashima, while the second ending theme is performed by Azusa Tadokoro. The series is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

with

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

streaming an English dub as it airs. The first season ran for 24 episodes. An

original animation DVD , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

was originally scheduled to be released on March 29, 2019, bundled with the 11th manga volume, but it was delayed to December 4, 2019, bundled with the 13th manga volume. A second original animation DVD was released on July 9, 2019, bundled with the 12th manga volume. Three more original animation DVDs have been announced, with the third OAD being released on March 27, 2020, bundled with the 14th manga volume. The fourth OAD is being bundled with the 15th manga volume, which released on July 9, 2020. The fifth OAD was to be bundled with 16th manga volume, which released on November 9, 2020. A second season was announced to be a split-season anime, but the first half was delayed from October 2020 to January 2021, and the second half was delayed from April to July 2021 from due to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The first half aired from January 12 to March 30, 2021, and the second half aired from July 6 to September 21, 2021. Eight Bit animated the series, with the staff and cast members reprising their roles. The opening theme is "Storyteller" performed by True, while the ending theme is "STORYSEEKER" performed by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION. The second opening theme is "Like Flames" performed by

MindaRyn Natcha Pongsupanee (, born February 17), better known by the stage name MindaRyn (), is a Thai YouTuber and singer who is affiliated with Yoshimoto Entertainment Thailand and signed to Lantis. Having started gaining attention after covering ani ...

, while the second ending theme is "Reincarnate" performed by Takuma Terashima. A spin-off anime series based on the ''Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime'' manga was scheduled to premiere in January 2021 but had been delayed to April 2021 due to COVID-19. The series aired from April 6 to June 22, 2021. Eight Bit also animated the series, with Yuji Haibara directing the series, Kotatsumikan writing the script, Risa Takai and Atsushi Irie as character designers, and R.O.N composing the music. The opening theme is "Brand new diary" performed by Akane Kumada. After the airing of the second season's final episode, it was announced that the series is receiving an anime film, titled ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond''. The film premiered in Japan on November 25, 2022. Crunchyroll will screen the film outside of Asia in early 2023. A third season was announced on November 9, 2022.

Video game

At the

AnimeJapan AnimeJapan is a Japanese anime consumer show held for the first time at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center in Tokyo, in March 2014. It was created from the merger of the Tokyo International Anime Fair with the Anime Contents Expo. It is organ ...

2021 special stage for the franchise, a free-to-play

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

app, titled ''Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken: Maō to Ryū no Kenkoku-tan'' (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Saga of How the Demon Lord and Dragon Founded a Nation), was announced. It is developed by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...

and will be released in 2021. The game was released in English under the title ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: ISEKAI Memories''. The Mobile Game Seven Deadly Sins Grand Cross had a crossover event where some of the characters of the series can be added for a limited time.

Reception

The light novel series has over 4.5 million volumes in print. It was the fifth best-selling title of 2018 with 539,277 and its manga adaptation was the ninth best-selling title of 2018 with 3,460,066 copies. It also became the first manga series based on a light novel with at least 20 million total copies in print. By March 2021, it has over 24 million copies in circulation. And in May 2021 it reached 25 million. The light novel ranked eighth in 2017 in

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

's annual light novel guide book ''

Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! is an annual light novel guide book published by Takarajimasha. The guide book publishes a list of the top ten most popular light novels according to readers polled on the Internet and votes from "collaborators" (critics, influencers, and other p ...

'', in the ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' category. It ranked sixth in 2018 and fifth in 2019. In 2019, Rimuru Tempest won Best Protagonist on the

Crunchyroll Anime Awards The Crunchyroll Anime Awards, also known simply as The Anime Awards, are awards given annually by the anime streaming service Crunchyroll to recognize the best anime of the previous year. Announced in December 2016, the awards were first presen ...

. The manga adaptation was nominated for the 45th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in the ''shōnen'' category in 2021; it won the 46th edition in the same category in 2022. In May 2021, ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime'' was one of five

isekai is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction—both portal fantasy and science fiction are included. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to ...

-oriented anime titles (along with ''

KonoSuba is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsume Akatsuki. The series follows Kazuma Sato, a boy who is sent to a fantasy world with MMORPG elements following his death, where he forms a dysfunctional adventuring party wi ...

'', ''

Zombie Land Saga is an anime television series produced by MAPPA, Avex Pictures and Cygames. The series aired in Japan between October and December 2018. A second season titled ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' aired between April and June 2021. An anime f ...

'', ''

Princess Lover! is a Japanese visual novel and the first title developed by Ricotta. It was first released as an eroge for Microsoft Windows on June 27, 2008, in both limited and regular editions, which was followed by an all-ages release for the PlayS ...

'', and ''

Nekopara , taglined ''Cats Paradise'', is a series of adult visual novels developed by NEKO WORKs and published by Sekai Project. The first game in the series, ''Nekopara Vol. 1'', was released in December 2014. Taking place in a world where humans ...

'') that were given a limited ban by the Russian government for their depiction of reincarnation.

Awards

The manga adaptation has won the 2018 BookWalker Award. The light novel and anime have also received recognitions. It won as "Anime of the season" in Summer 2021 anime awards with 18,990 votes (38.92%). Slime overtakes Remake our Life, The Case study of Vanitas, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maids to name a few. It also garnered six other nominations. In 2022, it won as "Best Fantasy" in Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2022.

Notes

References

External links

* at

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 2014 Japanese novels 2018 anime television series debuts 2021 anime television series debuts Anime and manga based on light novels Book series introduced in 2013 Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners Eight Bit (studio) Funimation Isekai anime and manga Isekai novels and light novels Japanese webcomics Kodansha manga Light novels Light novels first published online Muse Communication Parallel universes in fiction Novels about reincarnation Seinen manga Shōnen manga Shōsetsuka ni Narō Upcoming anime television series Vertical (publisher) titles Webcomics in print Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōnen) Works banned in Russia Yen Press titles