Review: ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond,’ an adventure anime film that continues the story after Season 2 of the anime TV series

April 29, 2023

by Carla Hay

Rimaru Tempest in “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” (Image courtesy of Crunchyroll)

“That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond”

Directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi

Available in the original Japanese version (with English subtitles) or in a dubbed English-language version.

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional kingdoms and villages, the animated film “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” (based on the manga series and TV series) features an all-Japanese cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and royalty.

Culture Clash: Heroes race against time to find a tiara that absorbs a toxin that can save the decimated kingdom of Raja. 

Culture Audience: “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the manga series and TV series on which the movie is based, but everyone else might be bored or confused.

Lacua in “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” (Image courtesy of Crunchyroll)

Whenever a movie is made out of a popular book series or a TV series, the question that must be asked is: “Will most viewers who are new to this franchise understand and enjoy the movie, without having seen any of the source material?” Unfortunately, the answer is “no” for Japanese animated film “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond.” The movie’s visuals can be engaging, but the story is too jumbled and told in a trite manner. Most of the characters are also forgettable, unless a viewer is already a fan of the anime TV series and manga series.

Directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi and written by Kazuyuki Hudeyasu (with screenplay contributions from Junichiro Okumura and Otoe Yashika), “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” is based on Fuse’s 2013 to 2016 novel series “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” which was turned into a manga series and an anime TV series. The anime TV series’ first season debuted in 2018, while the second season aired in 2021. “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” is a movie that takes places after the second season of the anime series.

In all of these stores, Mikami Satoru is a 37-year-old man who dies and is reincarnated as blue slime that is blind and deaf. But he combines two abilities called Predator and Great Sage to become a blue-haired superhero named Rimuru Tempest, who goes on various adventures. Under the Predator power, he can shapeshift into anything to disguise himself. With the Great Sage power includes several skills involving superintelligence and some psychic abilities.

In “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond,” a mercenary is wounded in a battle in the beginning of the story. He wakes up in the bedroom of the palace of the Queen Towa, the ruler of small kingdom called Raja that mines gold. However, Raja is currently devastated and is a shadow of its former self, because miners depleted one of Raja’s biggest gold dens.

Queen Towa doesn’t know the name of this mercenary, who has partial amnesia and is very concerned about going back to his village to save it. She thinks he’s a hero, so she gives him the name Hiiro. After recovering from his injuries, the newly named Hiiro (who is a survivor of the Ogre race) goes back to his village and finds it empty and looking desolate. He then returns to Raja.

Meawhile, Rimuru Tempest has been told that Geld, an orc who is an ally fighter, is under attack in a forest. Around the same time, Hiiro finds his long-lost best friend from childhood in the forest. His best friend was a like a brother to Hiiro, and he now has a new name: Benimoru, who introduces Hiiro to Geld. Hiiro and Benimoru not only treat each other like brothers, but these red-haired men also have a physical resemblance to each other.

Benimoru and Geld have become friends, even though Geld was part of the invasion that destroyed the village where Hiiro and Benimoru grew up. Geld is remorseful for his involvement, and Benimoru has forgiven him. Other people are not as forgiving.

Hiiro and Benimoru reunite with some of the people from their hometown village, including Benimoru’s pink-haired younger sister Shuna and her purple-haired friend Shion. Hiiro, Benimoru, Geld, Shuna and Shion eventually cross paths with Rimuru Tempest.

Meanwhile, Queen Towa has collapsed and finds out from a minister leader that her collapse came from toxins released from the gold mines of Raja. It’s a curse that will take over her entire body, just like what happened to other previous queens of Raja. The only way that the curse can be lifted is to wear a tiar that can neutralize the toxin. But there’s a catch: The wearer of the tiara will absorb the curse’s poison and is at risk of dying.

Rimuru, Hiiro, Benimoru, Geld, Shuna and Shion team up to help Queen Towa in finding the tiara. They travel to different lands, including the Great Forest of Jeru, which is guarded by a Storm Dragon called Veldora. There’s also a chief villain named Lacua, who does what chief villains usually do in stories like this. Also appearing in the movie is a chief prosecutor named Violet.

The voices of the “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” characters are portrayed by different cast members, depending on the version of the movie. The original Japanese version (with English subtitles) has Miho Okasaki as Rimuru, Yuma Uchida as Hiiro, Riko Fukumoto as Towa, Makoto Furukawa as Benimaru, Subaru Kimura as Lacua, Tomoaki Maeno as Veldora, Miyu Tomita as Violet, Sayaka Sembongi as Shuna, M・A・O as Shion and Taro Yamaguchi as Geld. There’s also a U.S. version, with the dialogue dubbed in English, that has Brittney Karbowski as Rimuru, Jonah Scott as Hiiro, Cherami Leigh as Towa, Ricco Fajardo as Benimaru, Tony Oliver as Lacua, Chris Rager as Veldora, Cristina Valenzuela as Violet, Tia Ballard as Shuna, Michelle Rojas as Shion and Cris George as Geld.

“That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” is not a completely terrible movie. It’s just a movie that wastes a lot of time for a story that is very basic. There is nothing clever or inventive in this predictable tale. And the characters’ dialogue is awfully generic. Most of the characters have bland and forgettable personalities. It’s not a movie that will inspire a lot of newcomer viewers to seek out the source material or anticipate any other movie in the series.

Crunchyroll released “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond” in select U.S. cinemas on January 20, 2023. The movie was released in Japan on November 25, 2022.

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