Product Info

Studio

Eight Bit

Director

Yasuhito Kikuchi

Genre

Action, Animation

Rated

PG-13

Theatrical Release Date (NA)

Jan 20, 2023

Film Length

1h 54m

Purchase From

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond is the first animated film based on the popular anime, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. It is a welcome addition to the series and feels almost like a whole new season. However, viewers who are not familiar with the anime will not experience the most satisfaction possible.

A Poisonous Problem

Ideally, it’s recommended that one watch the first two seasons of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime before viewing this movie. Otherwise, you can get by with a season under your belt if you’re okay with spoilers in the second season. Those who are completely new to the franchise will mostly be able to get by in terms of the film’s basic story, but they’ll be understandably asking a lot of character and lore questions afterward.

The movie begins with Hiiro, one of the members of an ogre village, losing a fierce battle. His life is later saved by Queen Towa and the power from her tiara, an ancestral gift from a goddess. The recovered ogre now serves Towa and her kingdom, Raja, where he now looks to help bring the land back to prosperity. It currently suffers from poisoned lake water that’s plagued the kingdom for centuries. Towa uses the tiara to continuously purify the water, but doing so also adds a curse to her body, draining her life force.

Having heard about Rimuru City, an up-and-coming land where all types of monsters live in one place, Hiiro volunteers to go there to ask for aid. Rimuru Tempest, a slime and the leader of Rimuru City, agrees to help the ogre. Upon visiting the kingdom of Raja, Rimuru easily removes the poison spell that dwells underneath the lake. However, things aren’t as easy as it seems. Lurking from afar, someone isn’t too pleased with Raja’s path to recovery.

A Smooth Branch-Off

Veterans of the anime series will surely enjoy Scarlet Bond. The villains who slowly come out of the shadows to bring chaos for the heroes and the deeper story behind what’s happening makes it feel like one is watching a new season of the anime.

There are comical moments, like the running gag about Shion’s questionable cooking, but most of the time the story stays on a serious path. Hiiro meeting his lost ogre comrades, who survived and have lived in Rimuru City over the course of the TV show, is great to see.

Some characters do receive some time to shine on the big screen, especially Diablo. Those who watched the series will be excited to see this mysterious demon in action and his connections with the storyline. The ogres, more so Benimaru and Shuna, get the most screen time as the film progresses. Some characters such as Milim, a rambunctious demon lord, unfortunately don’t get much of an appearance. Still, overall, the film does give a pretty solid amount of time to the recurring characters viewers want to see from the anime.

New characters Hiiro and Towa expectedly have much of the focus in the film. Hiiro’s narrow mind and Towa’s calm and caring personality balance each other well throughout the movie. It’s hard to see the two separate for too long, especially as you dive deeper into the film. Strangely, the villain, who makes an appearance after Rimuru’s visit, is thrown in without much introduction. He’s just suddenly there, even though he’s already known to Towa and the ministers of Raja. Afterwards, he becomes an annoying figure that you wish was dealt with earlier. His goals also aren’t truly revealed until the very end, but he’s otherwise completely forgettable.

Story Swapping

Some scenes in the film could have been placed better. For example, in the beginning of the film, the audience witnesses how Hiiro falls in battle before being rescued by Towa and company. Immediately afterwards, Hiiro is recovered, but the film then switches back to where he is in critical shape and how he is then healed. It seems like the film should progress in chronological order rather than going back-and-forth in order to avoid audience confusion. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen too often.

A Familiar Vibe

Scarlet Bond is directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi, who also did the TV series. Eight Bit also returns as the animation studio, bringing with it the same quality it brought to the show. These welcome choices made the movie feel much more like an extension of the anime series than a separate, standalone entity. Maybe the visuals can be more experimental with the seventh film, but for the first one, it’s exactly what fans would want.

The soundtrack brings back familiar names from the anime as well, with Jin Aketagawa as sound director and music production group Elements Garden. They bring the tense and aggressive tracks played in the heat of battle as well as the ambient scores in between. In short, it’s in solid territory.

The Final Break

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond showcases a solid cast of characters, except the villain. Still, fans of the series should have an enjoyable time experiencing this new adventure on the big screen.

An early screening provided for this review.