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While this isn't a boring episode by any means, it is an annoying one. Not because of bad writing or anything like that, but simply because Rimuru is just himself. You see, Rimuru, despite his seemingly endless luck and power, is a pretty terrible ruler. The reason Tempest grew into an emerging superpower has less to do with Rimuru's leadership abilities and more to do with the fact that he has supremely competent subordinates. While giving instructions to his country, he is completely oblivious to the details and implications of his orders.
In this episode, he both strengthens and weakens his country significantly on the international stage. On the one hand, showcasing Tempest culture—the food and the art—is a good thing. After all, if the rich and powerful value things that are not man-made, then it is likely that these ideas will spread to the lower classes as well.
On the other hand, however, his lack of interest in what his scientists were doing led the leaders of nearly every neighboring country to learn how to mass produce the Hipokute herb—the main ingredient in high-quality healing potions. Now, this might not be an issue if it weren't for the fact that HEALING MEDICINE IS TEMPEST'S MAIN EXPORT. Rimuru should hope that his festival will lead to a major change in Tempest's economy as he is hoping since he has crippled it as it is. We don't know how long it will take for normal grass to become Hipokute herbs in a magic-rich environment, but that's exactly how long his near monopoly on potions will last.
Then we get the surprise conflict of last week's episode that was so neatly set up. Tempest is in a liquidity crisis. They have a lot of money, but none of it is in a form that can be used to pay the masses—that is, it's either a treasure trove or in such high denominations that it's nearly impossible to divide it into smaller denominations on the fly.
Honestly, this is a small dilemma that Rimuru faces. The merchants involved are in a win-win situation (and so are anyone who supports them). Either Tempest pays them too much in raw gold or Tempest looks like a country that can't pay their debts. Regardless, Tempest will walk away from their big celebration with eggs on their faces.
And for the first time in this series, there are no easy answers. Rimuru doesn't have any good ideas, and Raphael doesn't tell him how to fix things. However, I don't think the command “Do your best to fix things, but get drunk first” is the best way to go about things. I hope this comes back to bite him in the ass. It would be nice if Rimuru lost for once—even in a small way like this.
Beyond Rimuru’s leadership shortcomings, this episode and the finale perhaps unintentionally revealed something interesting about Rimuru as a character: his lack of real friends. Don’t get me wrong, he has plenty of companions (read: “subordinates”) and plenty of sycophants. He has world leaders and demon lords, he’s on equal terms with. I’d even argue that, with Veldora and Milim, he has a family—though most of his energy toward them is spent keeping them out of trouble.
But friends? People with whom he could be himself without a care in the world? They were few and far between. Perhaps this was why Shizu meant so much to him despite their limited time together. She could see both the Japanese man he once was and the fantasy world slime he had become. At this point in the story, there were only two people who could see him on this level—Hinata and Yuuki.
They don't see him as a divine king or anything like that—and because they share similar life experiences, only they can see him as a normal person like them. On the contrary, this allows them to be straightforward with him and criticize him for his mistakes. Keeping all of this in mind, perhaps this is why Rimuru seems to be giving Yuuki the benefit of the doubt despite the doubts placed on him. There are very few people in his life who see him as a normal person, so losing even one would be a huge emotional blow to him.
Rating:
Random thoughts:
Confession time: I feel a little orchestral. I know we have more than a few Earthlings in the story, but are we supposed to believe that all the instruments that originated in the fantasy world have been replaced by ones from Earth? Furthermore, who could make them? Just because I can play the piano and describe in the most basic terms how one works, that doesn't mean I can explain how to build a piano—let alone get one to sound the same. Now take that to the level of a full orchestra with a multitude of accompanying instruments and my doubts are gone.
→ I forgot that Hinata and Yuuki don't age at all. Not only are they immortal, but they never grow beyond their teenage bodies. That sounds like a real mess there.
$ Since Rimuru is also a person from another world, does that mean he is also immortal—even though he was reincarnated rather than physically transported?
→ If I were a dwarf, I would be angry at Rimuru. After all, do you know of any other country that makes a huge profit from poison?
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
