The Avatar Team is Formed is two origin stories taped together: Maribel as a greedy Earth noble reborn with Greed, and Rimuru’s friends learning to puppet monster bodies so they can grief a speedrun party. Then Muese gets murdered for failing, and Souei is the one who finds the body.
Previous: Season 4 Episode 2 — The Dungeon Evolves · Hub: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Hook
The Avatar Team is Formed is two origin stories taped together: Maribel as a greedy Earth noble reborn with Greed, and Rimuru’s friends learning to puppet monster bodies so they can grief a speedrun party. Then Muese gets murdered for failing, and Souei is the one who finds the body.
This page is the sequential stop after Episode 2 — 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 4, Episode 3 (overall #75)
- English title: The Avatar Team is Formed
- Japanese episode title: 仮魔体チーム結成
- Runtime: ~24 minutes
- Studio: 8bit
- Original air date: April 17, 2026
- Kagex score: 8.5 / 10
- Where to watch legally: Crunchyroll (region-dependent)
Should You Watch It?
Watch it. Maribel’s backstory is the cour’s villain thesis, and the avatar fight is the dungeon arc’s punchline. If you skip, Greed is just a word in a later title. A bit split-focus, still essential. Not a Council episode yet — it is the trap being built.
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 “The Avatar Team is Formed.” Fight-only watchers may feel the talkier stretches; nation-building fans will not.
Spoiler Warning
Spoilers for Season 4 Episode 3 (“The Avatar Team is Formed”) follow. Stop above for a clean first watch. This page does not spoil later episodes.
Story Recap
Greed has a childhood
In Seltrozzo, Maribel remembers being a rotten Earth noble who died old and woke up here with Unique Skill Greed: she can push greed in other people. She does not use it on Granville. Together they want peace through conquest, which is the ugliest sentence in the cour. This is not a Demon Lord tantrum. It is an aristocrat who thinks control is humanitarian. Rimuru’s coexistence pitch is heretical to that religion.
Avatars in the shop
Tempest’s avatar handling is messy, so they hit Kurobe for gear and train in the dungeon. Gard reports Green Fury’s progress. Raphael tells Rimuru to mess with Ramiris’s Mazecraft to read the party’s stats. They intercept. It works. Green Fury leaves after the loss. The dungeon has anti-cheat that is just the staff logging in on alts. Petty. Effective. Very Season 4.
Maribel wants a leash
Yuuki meets Maribel. Veldora makes a straight Rimuru kill look stupid, so she pitches using Greed on Rimuru himself. She also wants to use Yuuki. The lure is Seltrozzo: get the slime to walk into a trap. While that meeting happens, Muese is murdered for his failures. Souei is shocked. The festival’s debt duke is a loose end the Elders snip. Souei’s Season 3 assignment just became a homicide case.
Two ways to control a story
Rimuru controls a dungeon by becoming a monster in it. Maribel controls nations by becoming the feeling in the room. The avatar team is slapstick compared to Greed, and that contrast is the episode’s brain. One side is playing a video game. The other side is playing people.
The scout party was never just a party
Green Fury folding is not the end of Western attention. It is the end of the quiet recon. Invitations and Council sessions are the next language. Muese’s corpse is the old language. Season 4 is done pretending the dungeon is only for fun.
Story Analysis
Split episodes work when both halves rhyme. These do: bodies you wear versus appetites you wear. Comedy is avatar training. Emotion is thin except Souei’s shock. Dread is Maribel’s Earth-memory. Pacing is origin, raid, murder.
World-building is Greed as a unique skill with a targeting exception for Granville, Mazecraft as readable code, and Elder discipline as assassination. Yuuki sitting in Maribel’s meeting is the clown-adjacent human layer climbing into the Rosso plot. Do not treat this as confirmed mind-control of Rimuru — the show is staging an attempt, not handing her the win.
Character Analysis
Maribel is the new long-game lead: reincarnator, Greed, granddaughter. Granville is the former-hero partner she will not nerf. Rimuru is dungeon cop on an alt. Kurobe is the gear guy again. Gard is intel. Raphael is the hacker. Ramiris is the engine being reverse-engineered by her own boss. Yuuki is shopping for a better conspiracy. Muese dies as a message. Souei is the first Tempest person to feel that message. Team Green Fury are the scouts who just failed their stealth check. Avatar teammates (Shion, friends) are implied staff on the raid.
World Building
Seltrozzo is Elder country. Greed can steer crowds and, in theory, a Demon Lord. Veldora’s existence is now a strategic constant in enemy meetings. Mazecraft can leak party data if Rimuru pokes it. Unique skills from Earth lives are a known isekai pattern — Maribel is the ugly twin of Rimuru’s second chance. Killing a failed duke is how Five Elders do HR. Dungeon avatars are combat-legal in Tempest’s own hole.
Nothing here is later-arc homework. If a name or rule is only teased, it stays a tease.
Animation
Maribel’s Earth memory should look colder than Tempest’s dungeon slapstick. Avatar combat versus Green Fury is the action beat. Muese’s death can be implied-ugly rather than gore for gore. Two palettes, one episode. Keep Souei’s reaction readable; it is the sting.
Kagex animation score for this episode: 8.2 / 10 — peaks vs average cuts, not a sakuga clip ranking.
Music and Voice Acting
Score 8.2. 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
- Not using Greed on Granville is the tell that their bond is ideology, not just a skill.
- Green Fury’s exit after a loss is recon ending, not a random wipe.
- Muese’s murder is the Rossos admitting the festival debt play is closed.
Best Moments
- Maribel’s “peace through conquest” pitch with a child’s face.
- Tempest logging into alts to grief the speedrunners.
- Souei finding that Muese is not a lead anymore — he is a body.
Pros & Cons
Pros: Specific to “The Avatar Team is Formed” —
Villain origin plus dungeon punchline, capped with a murder. Watch it. Greed stops being a title card and becomes a person.
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: 8.5 / 10 —
Villain origin plus dungeon punchline, capped with a murder. Watch it. Greed stops being a title card and becomes a person.
- Story: 8.6
- Characters: 8.6
- Animation: 8.2
- Music: 8.2
- Enjoyment: 8.4
Maribel’s Earth backstory made her scarier than a screaming Demon Lord. The avatar raid is petty joy. Muese’s death is the cour showing teeth.
What to Expect Next
A letter from the Council, Frey collects Milim, and Hinata smells a meeting that was arranged.
Next: Season 4 Episode 4 — Invitation. Watch legally on Crunchyroll.
FAQ
Do I need to watch Season 4 Episode 3?
Yes if you are watching the TV series in order. Skipping “The Avatar Team is Formed” leaves a hole later episodes assume you have.
What is the Japanese title?
仮魔体チーム結成 — Crunchyroll English title is “The Avatar Team is Formed.”
When did it air?
April 17, 2026 in Japan. ~24 minutes. Studio 8bit.
Is this Season 4 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 75 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 3.
Keep exploring
- Tensura anime hub
- Season 1 review
- Overall review
- Previous: Season 4 Episode 2 — The Dungeon Evolves
- Next: Season 4 Episode 4 — Invitation
- Characters
- Fact and Spoilers
Your turn
Was “The Avatar Team is Formed” 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.
