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Slimes. Everyone knows what it is. They are more often than not, one of the first creatures one will encounter in video games of fantasy worlds, bar none. As such, they are easily defeated. It’s only when one faces more than a blob of slime that they can get to be a problem, because they attack in groups or in tandem with other types of monsters. In essence, simes find great power in numbers. So why does one kill them if they are too stupid to mean any real ill will? They’re not just holders of experience and loot. Some kill them because they reproduceextremely quickly. They are capable of asexual reproduction once every few minutes, and it is often used as a means of self defense (as can be seen in Secret of Mana). Otherwise, they just kind of go and do it as they please. A single slime can create hundreds of clones a day, and those clones can create further clones, and so on, and so forth.
There are mandates in most fantasy worlds to kill slimes on sight, as to help keep their populations down. It is also ill-advised to keep one as a pet, regardless of how insanely cute they may be. Without the right training, a pet slime can grow to be a big problem very quickly. There is no known way to “neuter” them; they just keep reproducing willy-nilly until they are killed. But if slimes are good, these prove that they can be noble, hardworking creatures if they absolutely have to.
In the meanwhile, one will keep coming across their brethren on the battlefield and slicing open their gooey centers for gold and EXP (mostly that). But from this point forward, one can do so knowing everything about the little creature he/she is slaying. Know that he/she must kill them to further their adventuring career and to help the environment! It is cruel, but it is the way of virtual nature.
Now take a look at Slime 300. Yet another Syosetu work, which means that it's no doubt an Isekai. But to see someone who has consciously died in real life, only to get resurrected in another world just to kill slimes for 300 years as means of protection for her village brethren, that's some insane "God"-like feature that one can only dream of grinding the monotonous way just to be OP. And all that hinges on 27-year-old Azusa Aizawa, overworked with stress to the point of humanly death, to get rebirthed and killing slimes as an immortal, and dubbed the "Witch of the Highlands" due to her expertise on medicinal knowledge. Talk about OP in the most generic and literal sense, though I'd believe that only a handful of gamers actually did MAX their levels this way. You're a genius if you could just bear grinding and levelling up with just slimes alone. I tip off my Fedora hats to you.
The basis of Slime 300 is just what it is: a fantasy, comedic, slice-of-life CGDCT. What, you only realize now that the entire character cast consists of only females? Man, you're slow on the uptake. That said though, Azusa "the Witch of the Highlands" Aizawa has had quite the objective to just grind slimes for 300 years for boredom's sake until level MAX, so much so that as low-key as Azusa wished she'd live the stress-free life, people come knocking on the insanely powerful girl's doorsteps instead. From challenging her as a sorta "Final Boss" treatment to recruitment because she is a great asset to the group, Azusa is constantly bombarded from mere humans, to even monsters and creatures. Atta girl.
One by one, Azusa's "family" gets bigger after the numerous amount of attempts to sink or reel her in, and her adoptions are as follows. Minor spoilers be warned, but honestly it's no biggie:
- Firstly, the shape-shifting red dragon Laika. Like many challengers who've come and failed at the same time, Laika is no different in this department. Getting thumped and whomped by the Witch of the Highlands is embarrassing enough, even for a dragon species, and if that's not enough, she carelessly destroys Azusa's house in the process. Seeing as though that's her fault in her first place, Laika makes amends to help repair her house, and at the same time, requests to be the Witch's apprentice/pupil. Family no. 1 adopted.
- Secondly, the slime spirit girls: the turquoise Falfa and lime-green Shalsha. Having had their brethren killed for 300 years without a cinch, the 2 slime spirit girls are noticeably sad, and one of them hatches a plan to get revenge on Azusa, which again, like Laika before her apprenticeship, fails to do so. The acknowledgement that other brethren slimes that doesn't originate from them are allowable to be exterminated, and Azusa adopts the slime daughters, which Falfa appropriately called Azusa their "mother". Family No. 2 and 3 adopted.
- Thirdly, the nonsensical elf apothecary Halkara. She is easily the funniest character of the family due to her abrupt mood swings, aside from having a busty build of a body. In the real world, think of those insurance agents who go out of their way to chase people into purchasing their products, and Halkara is the exact same: marketing her products to people around her and not giving two Fs about it...until she manages to piss off someone (that we'll comeback to soon) and seeking for protection when threatened. The mushroom-knowing but scatterbrained and accident-prone elf you are, all the blame's on you Halkara. Her purpose to stick around in the family is so until her business can get moving again. Family No. 4 adopted.
- Fourth, the demon girl Beezlebub. Having been naively bought into Halkara's nonsene of a product, the side-effects caught onto her, and as such for compensation, she seeks revenge against this scatterbrain of a character, to which under someone's protection, deems that she is a potential enemy. As expected, it does not take too long for the misunderstanding to get fleshed out, and with the constant challenges that racked up more losses overtime, Beezlebub is stuck into following Azusa's growing family as well...and still purchasing Halkara's product, because that's a thing. Family No. 5 adopted.
- Fifth, the blue dragon Flatorte. Even within the dragons themselves, different beings will have different temperaments, and that's definitely the case with both her and Laika. Going out of hand to gate-crash a wedding between red dragons, this feud is unstoppable, until both Azusa and Beezlebub had to intervene by attacking Flatorte's brethren blue dragons and eventually making peace within both red and blue dragons, much to the chagrin of the latter, which stems from her discipline problems (that slowly overtime gets better). Family No. 6 adopted.
- Last but not least: Sixth, the ghost girl Rosalie. Initially, she was hampering Halkara's business, so much so that it scared workers off, and so Azusa and her indirect family has to solve this issue directly on-site. It was tough NGL, to get the restless ghost out of her comfort zone and relocate her to Azusa's house, which, you've guessed it: Rosalie eventually becomes part of the family, completing the family relations as adoption No. 7.
Phew...this is a lot to take in for a growing budding family of 8 girls, but we're not done yet.
Under Beezlebub's command are 2 girls: Fatla and Vania, both are Leviathan women, and the former is the older sister-cum-secretary. Despite very much looking like whales that stem from the myth that they are water creatures, they are in fact air dwellers, employed for living transportation with a resort on their backs. This is common in the Demon Realm that serves Beezlebub and privileged guests to their designated places, and both sisters have to work in tandem with one resting and one working as transport. Rounding this up with the Demon King: a loli Pecora, whom is like PriConne's Illya in every way with the natural kid-cum-mature adult transformation. The small, petite girl that can be interacted with informally and cheerfully, she can be a viable threat when she goes all-in. The other females (the shy immortal "Witch of the Cave" Eno, music singer almiraj ministrel Kuku) that pop by once in a while in the show aren't limited to Azusa and her extended adopted family, but are like stopgaps in the slice-of-life, comedic fantasy of a journey that just keeps the ball rolling forward into enjoyable episodic adventures. Seriously though, this is a definite CGDCT trait through and through.
If anything, this resembles a kids type of show in every way with the light-coloured pastels of visuals, and damn, does Revoroot do such a good job replicating the source material with its kiddy-like themes. Animation might not be much, but who cares when the visuals are so brightly coloured that it looks dazzling to the eye. Even that trait trickles down to the light-hearted OST with Aoi Yuuki and Azumi Waki's happy-go-lucky OP/ED songs, and need I say much that Aoi Yuuki has had quite the recent MC explosion of a reputation from "So I'm a Spider, So What?" lead MC spider Kumoko to this show, being yet another lead MC witch Azusa Aizawa. You can't deny that you can instantly recognize Aoi Yuuki's voice now.
While this may be a generic fantasy Isekai through and through, it's kiddy themes are the anime's strongest suit. Pair that with the diverse cast of female characters with different personalities, and you have the makings of a relaxing chill of a lovely Isekai to watch. So why not come in, breathe in and breathe out a sigh of relief, and just gander at a show that doesn't require too much from your brain? On-point fantasy comedy, with the slice-of-life tones, this show knows what it's doing, and it does to a very good extent while being miidly OK at best. Still though, a stress reliver of a show.
