Summary
Fans of the isekai hit series,That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime, are enjoying a period of immense activity from the franchise as the “Tensura 10th Project” is now well under way. Having started in February 2023, the 10th anniversary project for theThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimefranchise included a three-episode batch of OVA episodes titledThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime: Coleus’ Dream, which was released with the Blu-Ray edition of season 2; theScarlet Bondmovie which hit theaters late 2022, and finally, the third season of the anime which was announced for Spring 2024 after the final Japanese screening of the movie.
With the Winter 2024 season drawing to a close, it’s time to look to the future and see what we can expect from the upcoming third season ofThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime.
What Do We Know So Far?
The Staff at Studio 8Bit Return
The third season ofThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimewas first confirmed in the Grand Finale screening of theScarlet Bondfilm, which was in theatres in November 2022. At the time, the only piece of information was the key visual, which featuredthe Holy Knight Captain Hinata Sakaguchiwith her sword drawn, while an unknown hand that most likely belongs to Rimuru wields a sword in response. Since then, we’ve gotten a lot more information, including a trailer revealed back in February. The trailer also celebrated the series reaching a combined total of 40 million copies in circulation as it teased the brewing conflict that will take place between the Ten Great Saints, of which Sakaguchi is a member, and Tempest; with Rimuru’s fight against the aforementioned being the big event in the upcoming season.
That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimeseason 3 is expected to run for two consecutive cours, the first of which begins airing on April 5 at 11pm JST, forming part of the “Friday Anime Night” programming block on NTV and its 29 affiliates. A recap episode titled “Digression in Diablo’s Journal” is listed as episode 48.5 and will premiere on March 30, with two compilation episodes following it on April 3 and 4. 8bit, the studio behind the first two seasons as well as the movies and OVA content returns to produceThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimeseason 3, with Atsushi Nakayama, who was a director and assistant director across the various installments of the series, returning to direct the series.
Toshizo Nemoto (Series Composition;Log Horizon) is responsible for series composition and will be supervising the scripts, while Ryōma Ebata returns as character designer and Takahiro Kishida (Character Design,Haikyuu!) designs the monsters. Jin Aketagawa(Sound Director,Undead Unluck)returns as sound director while Hitoshi Fujima is responsible for the music, with STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION performing the opening theme song, “PEACEKEEPER”; while the ending theme will be “Believer”, performed by Rin Kurusu.
Brand-New Cast Members
Introducing the 10 Great Saints
As expected, the new season ofThat Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slimewill have plenty of characters we have not yet encountered in the series, and the updated cast list is as follows: Inori Minase (Hestia,DanMachi) as Maribel Rosso; Kenji Nojima (Nobuchika Ginoza,Psycho-Pass) as Leonard; Eiji Takemoto (Hajime Tsukishima,Golden Kamuy) plays Arnaud; Hajime Iijima (Gakushu,Ikki Tousen) plays Bacchus; Haruka Aikawa (Koma Sakuaraba,Otaku Elf) as Ritus; Wataru Komada (Asguiaro Ebern,BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War) plays Garde; Taishi Murata(Maruo Eiichiro, Baby Steps)plays Fritz; Shōya Chiba (Sigma,Bungo Stray Dogs) plays Saare; Mari Hino (Kojirō,The Elusive Samurai) as Glenda and finally, Masashi Yamane (Duncan,My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer) as Grigori. The main cast members are expected to reprise their roles from previous seasons.
The new characters form part of the Ten Great Saints, of whom Hinata Sakaguchi (voiced by Manami Numakura) is leader as someone who is second only to the Holy Emperor himself. The Ten Great Saints are a division ofthe Holy Knights of the Western Holy Church, and only the very strongest can enter this highly exclusive branch of the organization. Within the Ten Great Saints, the hierarchy is determined by combat prowess and ability, and as we already know, Sakaguchi is a high-ranked member of the Western Holy Church whose combat ability severely overwhelmed Rimuru the last time they met.
The Story
Demon Lord Rimuru’s Holy Enemies
In the trailer, we are shown two different meetings. On one side, Rimuru Tempest sits down with his most trusted allies in the nation of Tempest to talk about an enemy who can no longer be ignored; on the other, Hinata Sakaguchi and the Ten Great Saints of the Western Holy Church convene to discuss “the nation of monsters”, Tempest, and Hinata Sakaguchi’s assignment: to eliminate Rimuru. They will have a one-on-one battle to settle the score.
Fans will recall Rimuru’s extremely difficult last bout against the Holy Knight, who despite being Japanese, hasno interest in talking to “a monster”. Beyond the fact that she’s Japanese, Hinata’s exceptional swordsmanship is also traced back to the fact that she was one of Shizu’s students, giving the encounter a rather painful case of serendipity for Rimuru. This clash to settle the score is sure to be even more exciting than the last.
That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime is available onCrunchyroll.
