By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.
It’s the 10th volume of Killing Slimes for 300 Years, and that means that big, earth-shattering changes are in store. OK, no, that’s not what it means. This book is exactly the same as the previous nine. Anyone reading this to see characters change or grow is a glutton for punishment. Despite that, this is a very good volume, avoiding some of the series’ usual pitfalls. Azusa doesn’t even have to point out that she’s not gay! Instead, you get a lot of cute, fun stuff happening and the cast either causing it or reacting to it. Heck, even the Halkara side stories, which I have ragged on the last two books, are better than usual. The one thing that does happen in these books is the addition of new cast members, and we see that here, as we get a fortune-telling Moon Spirit. We also see Azusa’s estranged slime daughter Wynona, who pops up several times in this book and, despite her best efforts, ends up being part of the extended family.
Stories in this volume: they all go to a sweets fair, where Falfa and Shalsha try to sell the edible slimes as sweets; they see a fortune teller who is surprisingly blunt, and she reveals she’s yet another spirit, though she’s not really sure what she should be doing; Wynona asks Azusa and Laika to party with her for a competition in a dungeon, and shows off her seemingly aloof self (and her obsession with the color white); everyone goes to a peach festival, with Momotaro references galore, an 18+ exhibit Azusa has to stop everyone from going to, and so many peaches; Muu from the ancient civilization requests the help of Flatorte to help with an encroaching plant problem; after this, due to what happened, Flatorte is suddenly extremely calm and efficient; and Beelzubub shows off her new demonic credit card… though there’s still a few bugs in the system. Meanwhile, Halkara and Flatorte struggle with local cuisine, and Halkara gets sent by the goddess to Japan, where she runs into Azusa pre-death.
I mentioned that no one expects character development, though that isn’t strictly true here; by the end of her stories, Wynona is decidedly less tsun and more dere towards her “step” mother. That said, the highlight of the book is definitely Flatorte. She hasn’t been able to fight or blow off steam in a long time, and has been getting even more eccentric as a result. The solution to Muu’s problem, which involves using her freezing breath more than she ever has before, also leads to her suddenly being polite, calm, and competent; Azusa even compares her to a butler! That said, We Want Our Jerk Back, so it doesn’t stick. There is also an amusing Lovecraft pastiche towards the end, describing events we’ve already seen as if they were the most terrible things imaginable. Halkara’s stories aren’t great, and I wish she’d actually interacted with Japanese Azusa, but they didn’t bore or irritate me. Plus, they’re the last of that spinoff – next time Laika gets the side stories.
So yes, cute fluffy, relaxing, nothing earth-shaking happens. A good book to read after you’ve read something dark and brooding.
I genuinely hated this book. Most of these books in this series overall are relaxing reads with genuinely good (for the most part) characters, but this and volume one I hated. While the group attacking another person was wrong, it likely could have been stopped had the other character apologized. But just as with volume one, Azusa never scolds her companion or “family” member for their bad behavior that lead to conflict. She only uses her might to get her way and never voices displeasure for her loved one’s bad acts. Mostly this is a fun, relaxing series, but at these two point I mentioned, it veers into being a power fantasy where might makes right instead of, y’know, right being right. I’m still going to give the series a chance, but too many more scenes like this and I”m done.