Tensura Season 1 Episode 9 Explained: Attack of the Ogres
Full spoilers for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 1 Episode 9, "Attack of the Ogres." If you haven't watched, stop here.
This is the ninth entry in this blog's backfill series working through That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime from the beginning. Episode 8 closed on two things at once: Rimuru deciding to seek out information on Leon so he could pass on Shizu's last words, and a masked man recruiting an orc for a "great orc disaster." Episode 9 starts with Rimuru getting used to what he inherited, and then it brings trouble to the goblins' door. Per Wikipedia's synopsis, the trouble arrives in the form of ogres who think Rimuru is the one to blame.
A note on sourcing before the plot. This post relies on Wikipedia's season 1 episode list and on The Geekly Grind, a small outlet whose piece is a combined review of Episodes 7 through 9. Unlike the Episode 7 and Episode 8 entries, this time the outlet's plot summary of Episode 9 is used for scene detail, and a few of its review lines about the episode are quoted. Wherever a detail comes from that one outlet alone, the post says so. No Anime News Network review is used, and no light novel or manga comparison is made.
When it aired and who made it
According to Wikipedia's episode list for the season, "Attack of the Ogres" (大鬼族の襲撃, "Dai Kizoku no Shūgeki") aired November 27, 2018. Wikipedia credits Shin Tosaka as director, Katsumi Terahigashi with the storyboard, and Junichi Takaoka as chief animation director.
Compared with Episode 8, the only name that carries over is Terahigashi, who is credited with the storyboard on both episodes. Episode 8 lists Takumi Dōyama as director and Takashi Mamezuka as chief animation director, so those two seats change hands here. This post does not claim anything more than that about how the credits relate. As with the earlier entries, the episode table credits no writer, so the script is not attributed to anyone.
Wikipedia's official synopsis
Wikipedia's synopsis for the episode reads, in full: "As Rimuru familiarizes himself with the form and abilities he inherited from Shizu and Ifrit, he discovers that he is genderless. The goblins come under attack by a group of ogres, who claim Rimuru has been manipulating orcs to attack their village. After a show of strength, Rimuru manages to convince the ogres, with some help of the ogre princess, that he is not their enemy and invites them to the goblin village to talk things over."
Three sentences, and the sections below follow them in order: self-discovery, an attack built on an accusation, and a standoff that ends in an invitation.
Getting used to the inheritance
The synopsis opens with Rimuru "familiariz[ing]" himself with "the form and abilities he inherited from Shizu and Ifrit." That connects directly to the last two episodes. Episode 7's synopsis had Rimuru swallowing Ifrit with Predator and trapping him in his stomach, and Episode 8's synopsis had Shizu asking to be eaten, which gave Rimuru a human form. Episode 9 is the first one where the synopsis treats all of that as something Rimuru now has to learn to use.
The synopsis adds a specific discovery: "he discovers that he is genderless." The Geekly Grind describes the same moment with slightly different wording. According to that outlet, Rimuru's default form is sexless, and he can manipulate a body double into masculine or feminine forms. So there are two statements here, and this post keeps them separate. Wikipedia says "genderless." The outlet says the default form is sexless and that the body double can be shaped either way. Neither goes further, and this post does not say anything more about Rimuru's gender than those two attributed lines.
Tasting things
The Geekly Grind's plot summary also says Rimuru experiments with his new human form and celebrates that he can taste things. This is a single-source detail that does not appear in Wikipedia's synopsis.
The goblins come under attack
The synopsis's second sentence turns the episode: "The goblins come under attack by a group of ogres, who claim Rimuru has been manipulating orcs to attack their village." Two things are worth pulling apart.
First, the attackers are ogres, and they are attacking the goblins. Second, the reason they give is an accusation. They "claim" that Rimuru has been manipulating orcs, and that the orcs attacked their village. Wikipedia's word "claim" is doing a lot of work: the synopsis presents it as what the ogres believe, not as a fact the episode confirms. This post does not say who actually attacked the ogres' village, because the synopsis does not say.
A reading of two synopses
There is a link here with the previous episode, and it is only a reading of the two synopses, not something either one states. Episode 8's synopsis ended with a masked man named Gelmud recruiting an orc he names Geld "with the intention of bringing forth a great orc disaster in the forest." Episode 9's synopsis has ogres accusing Rimuru of manipulating orcs. Both mention orcs, and a reader can fairly wonder whether the two are connected. Neither synopsis says they are, so treat this as a viewer's connect-the-dots and not a confirmed plot point.
The goblin village's situation
The Geekly Grind fills in how the attack begins. According to the outlet, the goblin village is rebuilding after Ifrit's attack, which lines up with Episode 7's synopsis, where Ifrit "unleashes his flames upon the village." It says Rigur and others are set upon by a party of ogres during a supply run. The outlet then says Ranga telepathically calls Rimuru, who goes to the scene.
Per the same outlet, the ogres are humanoid in size and shape, and some of the goblins are put to sleep by magic. It calls the lead ogre "Red Leader." That is the outlet's own nickname for him, not a name the show gives him, and this post uses it only to point at that character in the outlet's account. The ogres' actual names are not covered here.
All of this is single-source. Wikipedia's synopsis says only that the goblins come under attack by a group of ogres.
The standoff
The Geekly Grind's account of the confrontation is the most detailed description of the episode that this post has. According to the outlet, the lead ogre refuses to negotiate with an evil "majin." That tracks with Wikipedia's framing of the accusation, in which the ogres believe Rimuru has been using orcs against them, though the "majin" wording is the outlet's description, and Wikipedia's synopsis does not use it.
The outlet then describes a fight. In its account:
- Rimuru takes down three of the ogre party while Ranga keeps their caster occupied.
- A more seasoned ogre with impressive sword skills slices off Rimuru's arm.
- Rimuru regenerates the arm and takes the "Ogre Flame" attack effortlessly.
The attack name is the outlet's phrasing. Wikipedia's synopsis compresses all of this into "a show of strength," so the details above are the Geekly Grind's account alone, and this post cannot confirm the sequence beyond what that outlet says.
The mask and the black flame
The outlet's summary says Rimuru then removes his mask, uses his recently acquired "Degeneration" skill to produce a powerful black flame, and offers a ceasefire. "Degeneration" is the outlet's name for the skill, and the black flame is the outlet's description of it. The moment fits the synopsis's phrase "a show of strength," in that it is a demonstration meant to end the fight rather than win it, but that is a reading and not something either source says in so many words. Wikipedia does not describe the show of strength, and this post is not going to guess at what it consisted of.
What the two sources agree on is the point of it. Rimuru does not finish the fight by defeating the ogres. He ends it by convincing them.
The ogre princess steps in
The synopsis gives credit for the resolution to someone other than Rimuru: he convinces the ogres "with some help of the ogre princess." Wikipedia names no one, gives no name for her and says nothing about what she says or does, so this post does not either.
The Geekly Grind is more specific, and again it is the only source for what follows. In the outlet's summary, a pink ogre steps in front of the lead ogre and says she is certain Rimuru wasn't involved in the attack on their village. The lead ogre then apologizes, and Rimuru invites them to the village for a feast and to hear their story.
It seems likely that the outlet's pink ogre and Wikipedia's ogre princess are the same moment described two ways, but that is an inference, since neither source links the two descriptions. The shape is consistent, though. In both accounts an ogre helps resolve the situation, and in both the episode ends on an invitation to talk. The detail that she steps in front of the lead ogre and says she is certain Rimuru was not involved comes from the outlet alone.
The invitation differs slightly in detail. Wikipedia says Rimuru "invites them to the goblin village to talk things over." The outlet says it is for a feast and to hear their story. The feast is the outlet's detail alone.
What one outlet says
Only one review of Episode 9 was verified for this post. The Geekly Grind is a small outlet, its byline reads "By: Mithrandiel," and its piece is a combined review of Episodes 7 through 9, posted December 2, 2018. What follows is one outlet's opinion, in a review that covers three episodes, and not a consensus.
On Episode 9 specifically, the reviewer writes: "Episode 9 is a return to the fun energy of finding new friends, and roundhouse kicking old ones." In the outlet's layout, a screenshot just after that sentence carries the caption "Best scene of the episode." The caption does not say which scene it means. The review also says: "The highlight was definitely seeing Rimuru putting his sampling of skills to work in dismantling the attacking Ogre party."
Some of the commentary is about Rimuru as a protagonist. The reviewer says: "His increasing confidence surrounding his powers is exciting to see as a viewer." He also adds a caveat: "It did strike me that he's not so much of an intellectual or strategic MC as he is overwhelmingly powerful." And then: "It plays into the simpler storytelling: an overpowered hero finding friends and disarming enemies with his charm, ridiculous power, or both."
On the production, the review says: "The animation runs the gamut, with crisp action sequences punctured with some less-than-flattering filler scenes." It closes its comments with: "Overall, however, it maintains the quality of a top-tier show for the season, with some great character design and landscape shots throughout."
Those are the outlet's own judgments, and this post relays them without endorsing or disputing them.
How it connects back to Episodes 7 and 8
Episode 9 reads as the episode where the previous two stop being events and start being equipment. In Episode 7's synopsis, Rimuru discovers he is immune to fire attacks and uses Predator to swallow Ifrit. In Episode 8's, he gains a human form that Wikipedia says resembles a younger version of Shizu. Episode 9's synopsis opens with him getting to know "the form and abilities he inherited from Shizu and Ifrit," which is exactly the combination those two episodes handed him.
The Geekly Grind's account of the fight is consistent with that. It has Rimuru putting skills to use, which the reviewer calls the highlight. This post does not say where the outlet thinks the "recently acquired" Degeneration skill came from, because the summary used here does not say.
What this post confirms and doesn't
To be clear about sourcing: the title, Japanese title, transliteration, air date of November 27, 2018, and the credits for Shin Tosaka, Katsumi Terahigashi and Junichi Takaoka come from Wikipedia. The official synopsis, including the genderless discovery, the ogre attack on the goblins, the ogres' claim about orcs, the show of strength, the ogre princess and the invitation, is Wikipedia's. The Geekly Grind supplies the review quotes, the tasting detail, the "sexless" default form and body double, the rebuilding village, the supply run, Ranga's telepathic call, the sleeping goblins, the "Red Leader" nickname, the "majin" refusal, the fight beats, the severed arm, the "Ogre Flame," the "Degeneration" skill and black flame, the pink ogre and the feast. All of that plot detail is single-source, from one small outlet's summary.
Not covered, because it was not verified: any score or verdict from a major outlet, any comparison to the light novels or manga, the ogres' names or village name, who actually attacked the ogres' village, any viewing figures, streaming or dub information, voice actors, and anything about Episode 10's content.
There is currently no character page for Ranga, Rigur or Ifrit on this site, so none of them are linked here.
What's next
Wikipedia lists Episode 10 as "The Orc Lord." That title is the only thing checked for it, so this post does not describe its events or draw conclusions from the name. Given where Episode 9's synopsis ends, with the ogres invited to the goblin village "to talk things over," there is clearly a conversation waiting. This series will pick up Episode 10 next.
Wikipedia lists Episode 10 as "The Orc Lord." This post only checked that title, not a synopsis, so it does not say what happens in it. The next entry in this backfill series picks up there.