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 Tristan Hill.
I was sort of dreading this volume, to be honest. This series never has anything happen to it other than adding new cast, and at the moment the 28th volume is coming out in Japan, meaning we get further and further behind every time we see it. I’m sure Yen Press is trying to renegotiate its light novel contracts to say “surely we can cancel SOME titles, right?”. But if ever there was time for a really good volume, this is the time, as the second season of the anime debuted last week, and is promising more of the same, only in animated form. Great news, though, this is actually quite a strong volume, when compared to other volumes in this series. It’s strong because a) it’s run out of CD dramas to add, so has to include another “Laika’s Schooldays” short, which are excellent. Second, there are fewer, longer short stories within, and that means they have room to breathe for once.
The stories: 1) Pecora is holding a comedy competition, and non-demons are also invited to join. Laika and Flatorte, Flafa and Shalsha, and Rosalie all compete from Azusa’s team, and her daughters ask her to write them a script, because she’s the best at comedy (note this is Japanese comedy, meaning they’re all boke/tsukkomi routines); 2) While visiting a museum, Azusa touches an artifact that turns her into an old lady for a week, and while dealing with this, she’s asked to go to a witch convention; 3) Halkara suggests taking their pet mimic for a walk; 4) Goodly Godly Goddess has written an RPG, and the *entire* cast of the series is brought in to populate it; and in Laika’s side story series, her third year begins with dealing with some delinquents who are doing the dragon equivalent of joyriding.
There’s only one weak story here, with the mimic. The old lady one is also not great, but I was highly amused with its idea of a witch convention being much like a real work convention, with cute games and prizes for the winners. The comedy one I was expecting to be bad, but it really worked well – the routine Azusa wrote and Flafa and Shalsha refined was not only surreal and creepy but also funny, though I agree with the judges that Laika and Flatorte deserved to win, as they’re both naturals. Best of all is the final main story, a giant parody of RPGs like Dragon Quest III. This is the second time that Azusa has essentially tested a game for god (something she points out), but this one is more involved and involves everyone pointing out all the cliches and poor writing that go into these RPGs where you frequently have to smile, nod, and go get the fruit so that the boy will give you a clue. I also had fun trying to figure out who would be cast as what (as does Azusa).
This is not a good book as a book, mind you. It’s a good volume of Killing Slimes for 300 Years. There’s a difference. But if you like the series, this is solid.
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