Warning: Spoilers for the first episode of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken

Tensei Slime Shitara Datta Ken is one of the most successful isekai franchises, and for good reason. With that said, one of the most underwhelming moments in the whole story has always been the very beginning. I've seen it as untapped potential in both the novel and manga. With Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken making its anime debut last week, I thought I would analyze it. Will the anime simply ride on the coat-tails of name-recognition? Or will Studio 8bit prove that they have what it takes to fully utilize this premise?

The Attack

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken starts off with Mikami Satoru hanging out with Tamura, his work kouhai, and Tamura's girlfriend. As they prepare to get something to eat, they find themselves in the path of a man charging with a knife. What stood out to me was that in both the light novel and the manga, the killer is tightly holding onto a bag in one hand. This shows that he was a purse snatcher fleeing from the scene of a crime. In the anime, the man isn't holding anything. He's just charging with a knife for no discernable reason.

Side note: I'd like to praise the anime for giving Satoru a proper face. Not just any face either though, it's a face with quite a bit to personality in it. Compared to his generic faceless depiction in the manga, this is leagues better.

The Death

After the stabbing takes place, we get a scene of Satoru saying goodbye to Tamura. Satoru is writhing in pain and hearing strange computerized voices. The freedom of animation benefits this scene greatly compared to its nonanimated counterparts. The only way to tell the voice from anybody else in the manga is a slightly different text box and font. Meanwhile, the anime depicts the voice as this colorful digital singularity expanding and spiraling. The voice is so much more tangible because of this.

Also, I really like the little details they added in. Mainly, the lens flares and the moiré lines to make it look convincingly like a camera pointed at a bright computer screen. Not to mention how the whole scene fades out with the screen multiplying with edge blurring. That was a cool effect.

Awakening

Everything up to this point has been very solid, but it gets even better now. The previous scene flashes in Satoru's mind rapidly in a psychedelic manner like he vividly remembers the feeling of the memory. Then we see prisms generating and flying off screen as if Satoru is building some foundation of comprehension in his mind. This kind of storytelling is definitely a win over the manga/light novel since those mostly just have black panels and him talking to himself.

Satoru is shown floundering in an empty void to express his unfamiliarity with his new body. His perception of the rocks is this inverted stark contrast pixelization with a 25% fill shading. The unstable quality tells the viewer that this is only what little Satoru can discern from tactile sensation. His mental image of a plant is a crudely animated crayon drawing of a flower. When he tries to talk, a sound wave tries to form before shattering. There are so many animation styles cooperating with each other here, and all of them serve the narrative.

Exploration

Here's where I think the Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken anime stumbles a bit. Up till now, Satoru has been a fish out of water desperately trying to get a grasp of what's going on. We see all of this from his perspective and even had a fisheye lens view to really nail that in. So explain to me why Terashima Takuma's lovely manly voice is replaced by Okasaki Miho's chibi voice.

At this point, Satoru's new body doesn't even have its own voice yet, so it's a weird time to do this. We also inexplicably see everything in full color even though Satoru is still more or less blind. In a mere instant, the flawless immersion they were building gets demolished for little reason.

The manga does this way better by having the inverse stark contrast style stick around as he's navigating the cave. This is only slightly annoying for now, but it becomes a real sticking point in a few minutes. Mind you, there are still cool things being done here visually. Namely, real time-lapsed footage of clouds and some high-definition CGI renders of Satoru's new slime body.

Meeting

Next, Satoru has a run-in with Storm Dragon Veldora. Here's another stumble that I just really can't understand. As Satoru meets Veldora, he can't see him, so Satoru insults him. Meanwhile, the viewer sees the misty outline of a Dark Souls boss, so we don't get what Satoru's doing. The manga does this correctly by making us see what Satoru sees. So when Satoru is taught magic sense, we feel the same shock and fear that Satoru feels. Not to mention that we also feel the same comfort and familiarity as Satoru from seeing the colors invert back to normal again.

Even if the animators didn't want to use the inverted stark contrast style, they could have easily just made everything greyscale except for Satoru himself. Then, when he gets magic sense, colors can explode on the screen to give the same ludonarrative harmony as the manga. As it stands, we see his magic sense turn the normal scenery into the exact same normal scenery. Oh, and we see the misty profile of a dragon turn into a dragon. What a shocker. Just a lot of missed opportunity here.

Conclusion

When I see anime adaptations of existing media, my question is always if it just parrots or improves on the source. In the case of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken's first episode, I'd say it takes two steps forward and one step back. The almost psychedelic imagery being used to really get across Satoru's emotions is pure brilliance. The only place where they really drop the ball is when they turn the perspective third-person out of nowhere and become really immersion-breaking. Even if you've already read the manga or light novel, I'd say it's still worth the watch for the spectacle alone.

I considered Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken one of my most anticipated anime of Fall 2018. Time will tell if that faith will be rewarded. Even so, one of the concerns I had was with how they would weave the exposition into the narrative. Certain shows that I need to stop bullying (Death March) just have the protagonist ask questions wherever he goes. Studio 8bit, on the other hand, have proven their ability to properly utilize a visual medium.