Those Approaching is the two-week countdown. Rimuru tries to fight a holy army without stacking corpses. Adalmann explains the Church org chart. In the background, Glenda and Damrada are working for the Rosso family, and a kid named Maribel already wants both Hinata and Rimuru gone.
Previous: Season 3 Episode 5 — Meeting of Both Sides · Hub: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Hook
Those Approaching is the two-week countdown. Rimuru tries to fight a holy army without stacking corpses. Adalmann explains the Church org chart. In the background, Glenda and Damrada are working for the Rosso family, and a kid named Maribel already wants both Hinata and Rimuru gone.
This page is the sequential stop after Episode 5 — not a random recap dump. Scores below are for this 24 minutes only.
Quick Information
- Anime: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
- Season / Episode: Season 3, Episode 6 (overall #54)
- English title: Those Approaching
- Japanese episode title: 迫り来る者達
- Runtime: ~24 minutes
- Studio: 8bit
- Original air date: May 10, 2024
- Kagex score: 8.4 / 10
- Where to watch legally: Crunchyroll (region-dependent)
Should You Watch It?
Watch it to see Tempest’s rules of engagement and the first named look at the Five Elders. It is a prep episode with a conspiracy cutaway, not a battle. If you skip, you will still follow the clash, but you will miss why this war has a third player who is not the Church. Worth it for Diablo/Falmuth parallel tracking.
Beginner-friendly? No as a start point. Watch from Season 1 Episode 1. This installment assumes you already know Tempest’s core cast — Rimuru at minimum.
Bottom line: sequential viewers should not skip “Those Approaching.” Fight-only watchers may feel the talkier stretches; nation-building fans will not.
Spoiler Warning
Spoilers for Season 3 Episode 6 (“Those Approaching”) follow. Stop above for a clean first watch. This page does not spoil later episodes.
Story Recap
A dead priest, a live army
Rimuru briefs the cabinet: Reyhiem is dead, Hinata is coming, and Falmuth has forces gathering to hunt the demon they think killed the messenger. He asks Adalmann for Church homework. Adalmann lays out Seven Luminaries, Ten Great Saints, and Hinata as a system, not a boss rush. Diablo explains Falmuth’s current mess. Rimuru decides to act. The important policy: do not kill the humans if they can help it. After Megiddo, that rule is the character. It is also how you know this clash will be messy instead of a stomping montage.
Two weeks, one last line
Hinata is two weeks out with an army. Albis and Suphia want in. Veldora wants in. Rimuru parks the dragon as last line of defense, which is both kind and practical: if Veldora starts, there is no “misunderstanding” left to un-misunderstand. Tempest is preparing a battlefield like a country that still wants a conversation at the end of it. That is either noble or naive. Season 3 will pick “both.”
The third player
Cut to the people who actually want bodies. Glenda, one of the Ten Great Saints, and Damrada, the merchant who fed Hinata lies, are working for the Rosso family and the Five Elders. Granville and his granddaughter Maribel want Hinata and Rimuru taken off the board. This is the season showing you the Church war is a puppet stage. The Luminaries are the visible hands. The Rossos are the older ones. You do not need the full Siltrozzo lecture yet. You need the name Maribel in your head before the festival merchants start acting weird.
Falmuth as a second front
The episode keeps Diablo’s Falmuth problem live so the Hinata march is not the only fire. A Church-shaped army hunting a demon for a murder Diablo did not commit is the same forged-mail trick with different uniforms. Rimuru splitting attention is the cost of being a Demon Lord with allies. He cannot be on every road. He can set rules and hope his people are better than the script they were handed.
Marching music, no clash yet
Nobody important crosses swords. The tension is logistics and names. Two weeks is a long time in a weekly anime and a short time in a war. The title is literal: people are approaching from Lubelius, Falmuth, and a merchant house that does not care which holy story wins as long as the slime and the Saint both bleed. Episode 6 is the deep breath. Episode 7 starts the swinging.
Story Analysis
Prep episodes live or die on whether the new information is worth the wait. This one is. Adalmann as Church Wikipedia is useful. The no-kill order is character. The Rosso cutaway is the season refusing to let “evil Church” be the whole answer. Comedy is Veldora being benched. Mystery upgrades from “merchant” to a family with a granddaughter who already thinks like a final boss.
Emotionally dry, strategically rich. Rimuru trying not to massacre paladins is the post-Megiddo hangover done right. World-building is org charts: Luminaries, Saints, Elders. Tensura loves a committee. This committee wants a double funeral.
Character Analysis
Rimuru is in commander mode with a mercy constraint. Adalmann is the surprising expert — a Tempest undead briefing living Church politics. Diablo dual-wields Falmuth and intel. Albis and Suphia volunteer because Eurazania’s guests are not just lodgers. Veldora is last-resort artillery who hates the bench. Glenda is the Saint who is already bought. Damrada is the smiling merchant from the last war’s footnotes. Granville and Maribel are the new long-game villains, introduced without a full speech. Hinata is the approaching weather.
World Building
The Western Holy Church is layered: Saints as celebrities, Luminaries as dogma police, a hidden Demon Lord above them, and now a human Elder clique funding the confusion. Falmuth still has a civil-war army that can be pointed at the wrong demon. Tempest’s two-week clock is a fantasy version of mobilization time. Veldora as “last line” is doctrine: True Dragon deployment is an international incident, not a patrol. Merchants as intelligence agents are canon now, not flavor.
Nothing here is later-arc homework. If a name or rule is only teased, it stays a tease.
Animation
Strategy tables, a conspiracy parlor, and marching implication. Modest. The Rosso scenes should feel richer than Tempest’s meeting room; if they do, the direction worked. No combat flex. A bridge episode look.
Kagex animation score for this episode: 8.0 / 10 — peaks vs average cuts, not a sakuga clip ranking.
Music and Voice Acting
Score 8.1. 8bit’s TV mix leans on Elements Garden sting + silence. Japanese track is the reference for Rimuru’s dual register (cute slime vs office-brain). Dub timing varies by season; don’t wait on it to judge the episode.
Hidden Details
- Maribel wanting both Hinata and Rimuru gone explains why a “Church vs slime” war keeps trying to kill the Church’s own champion.
- Rimuru’s no-kill order is how Shion’s later Holy Field fight stays a beatdown instead of a massacre.
- Benched Veldora is why Luminous can still arrive to a city that exists.
Best Moments
- Adalmann casually lecturing Demon Lords on Church structure.
- Rimuru telling a True Dragon he is the emergency brake, not the opening act.
- The first clear look at Granville and Maribel as the war’s investors.
Pros & Cons
Pros: Specific to “Those Approaching” —
A countdown episode with the season’s real villains peeking around the Church. Watch it for the Rosso name-drop and Tempest’s mercy rules; do not expect a clash yet.
Cons: Requires earlier episodes. Viewers who only want climax fights may call the political / logistics scenes slow even when they are load-bearing.
Final Verdict
Kagex overall: 8.4 / 10 —
A countdown episode with the season’s real villains peeking around the Church. Watch it for the Rosso name-drop and Tempest’s mercy rules; do not expect a clash yet.
- Story: 8.5
- Characters: 8.4
- Animation: 8.0
- Music: 8.1
- Enjoyment: 8.3
The Maribel cut is the “oh, this season has a longer knife” moment. I like Rimuru sweating the no-kill constraint. Two weeks of prep would be padding without that third player.
What to Expect Next
Hinata walks a very nice road, eats too much, and still arrives at a battlefield she did not fully order.
Next: Season 3 Episode 7 — Saint and Demon Clash. Watch legally on Crunchyroll.
FAQ
Do I need to watch Season 3 Episode 6?
Yes if you are watching the TV series in order. Skipping “Those Approaching” leaves a hole later episodes assume you have.
What is the Japanese title?
迫り来る者達 — Crunchyroll English title is “Those Approaching.”
When did it air?
May 10, 2024 in Japan. ~24 minutes. Studio 8bit.
Is this Season 3 filler?
No. Tensura’s “quiet” hours are usually nation, diplomacy, or setup — not recap filler.
Where does this sit in the overall count?
Overall TV episode 54 of the main series (S1–S3 are 72; Season 4 continues from 73).
Should I watch Slime Diaries first?
No. Diaries is optional comedy. This review is the main TV track.
Where are character guides?
Tensura characters — Rimuru, Veldora, Milim, and the Tempest officers.
Where are facts / spoilers for the franchise?
Fact and Spoilers on the hub. This episode page stays inside Episode 6.
Keep exploring
- Tensura anime hub
- Season 1 review
- Overall review
- Previous: Season 3 Episode 5 — Meeting of Both Sides
- Next: Season 3 Episode 7 — Saint and Demon Clash
- Characters
- Fact and Spoilers
Your turn
Was “Those Approaching” a continue episode or a skip-risk for you? Favorite beat? Who should get the next character page?
Sources: Crunchyroll episode titles; Wikipedia list of Tensura episodes; official Tensura anime site.
