In many ways this anime is tremendously blase in terms of the frankly over-saturated isekai anime market and I think it fell through the radar for many people because of that. However, I'm a sucker for isekai anime in general, especially those that focus on more domestic or nontraditional fantasy elements in the overall story.
It's why I adore anime like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom (which I will definitely be reviewing down the line). Thankfully I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years... (as I will shorthand from here on out for my own sanity, thank you very much) fits into this nontraditional slice-of-life focus, for the most part.
The anime we look at today will prove that sometimes all a production company has to do is make a decently well-adapted show. Nothing extraordinary or ground-breaking, just well done.
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- Based on a Light Novel series by Kisetsu Morita
- Animated by Reviroot
- 1 Season (12 Episodes) as of writing this article
- Available on Crunchyroll
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SUMMARY
After corporate slave Aizawa Azuna dies of overworking at the age of 27, she is given the opportunity to be reincarnated in another world. Granted immortality and magical abilities, Azuna commits herself to a life of leisure and relaxation, never allowing herself to be engaged in overworking ever again.
To that end, Azuna fills her days with potion-making, and killing only ten slimes everyday. However after 300 years of the same routine, Azuna realizes that she has "Maxed" her level and has garnered a reputation among the more powerful creatures of the world. Now Azuna will have to deal with all the chaos around her and remain stalwart in her commitment to a calm and relaxed life in her new world.
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REVIEW
I'm going to try and keep this article relatively short, sweet, and to the point; as I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years... is a surprisingly simple anime to review and classify. First of all, the series isn't anything revolutionary or groundbreaking, coming from a relatively unknown production company known primarily for adapting visual novels.
Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I happened to catch a trailer for this anime at the right time, it might have completely flown under my radar in the sea of action-oriented isekais that have saturated television and streaming in the last few years. The shows is rather quiet and much more down to earth than some of its contemporaries, leaving little impact beyond initial viewing.
This isn't inherently a bad thing mind you. I've always been a sucker for non-traditional slice of life stories in anime. It's one of the reasons I enjoy That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom so much; the concept is so strange or abnormal that I have to check it out and see the focus on realistic world-building. Everything in the show ultimately works towards providing an overall light comedic feel and never really shifts away from the theme at its heart.
At that heart, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years... is the story of a woman desperately seeking to enjoy her life on her own terms and never allow herself or those important to her to fall into the trap of conformity or overwork. It is a message that I think is deeply needed in our late-stage Capitalist world and Azuna is the perfect vessal to promote such ideals. She isn't lazy or avoidant of difficult tasks, even going out of her way to protect her loved ones that she collects over the course of the show, but she always ultimately seeks her own personal happiness and the fulfillment of her immediate family unit.
The characters really are the highlight the story, with most of the episodes being either standalone that introduce new "family" members for Azuna to adopt and help out, or minor two episode story lines that lead into each other slowly. But there aren't really any major story arcs or high elements of drama, helping to isolate the show from your usual isekai fair. The show knows what it wants to be, a comedic and heartfelt slice of life and it accomplishes the goal with a decent passing grade.
Many of the characters are your usual isekai fantasy fair of bunny girls, dragon girls, weird kid characters, etc. But the "harem" of the show is actually very domestic and has more of a focus of a found family rather than the often questionable "romantic" element of most isekai harems. It's very sweet and heartfelt and adds a unique needed variation on an expected trope of the genre.
Moving from the characters to the animation, I had no real idea what to expect from I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years... as the production company behind it is only responsible for three other projects at the time of writing this article, none of which has had any major notoriety on Crunchyroll near as I can tell. That being said, the animation is very soft and vibrant, aiding the overall light and fuzzy tone of the show. Character designs are generally simple but remain cute and consistent throughout. In the few action scenes that are shown, the animators do a generally good job if allowing a few moments of stilted animation that is oftentimes common in isekai shows. Also the weird CGI moments can be distracting, though not as much as in other anime.
The music in the show isn't particularly noticeable, mostly serving as filler for montages as scene and tone setters. I can't really think of any spectacular standout tracks and therefore can really only rate the music as average. It's not terrible but it fulfills a purpose and little else.
Ultimately, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years... never tries to expand itself beyond what it is; a light-hearted found family fantasy isekai with largely comedic or emotional sweet moments throughout. It's the very definition of popcorn anime, for initial viewing or when you want something light and sweet on in the background. Regardless, the animation is well done, the characters solid if a little stereotypical, and the story never takes itself too seriously. I Killed Slimes for 300 Years... is the living proof that sometimes its okay to just produce run-of-the-mill above average anime that's good quality.
Not everything needs to be transformative art or a groundbreaking achievement. Sometimes it really is okay to just make high quality dessert fiction. As long as the effort can be seen and the heart endures, above average is sometimes good enough. And that is very thematic given the tone and intentions of the anime's protagonist.
VISUALS
- 7/10
SOUNDTRACK
- 5/10
CHARACTERS
- 7/10
STORY
- 7/10
FINAL SCORE - 6.5/10
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