That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4: A Kingdom-Sized Gamble

Few isekai franchises have committed to scale the way That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has. Season 4 is not just another cour of Rimuru building his nation, it is a five-cour commitment, roughly 60 episodes long, making it by far the most ambitious season the anime has attempted. That kind of runway lets the story slow down and dig into politics rather than pure spectacle, and the results so far have been a genuinely divisive mix.

The scale of Season 4

Studio 8-bit is handling the entire five-cour run, which kicked off April 3, 2026, with two consecutive cours airing back to back before the remaining installments continue the season later in the year. That structure alone makes Season 4 an outlier. Most anime seasons run 12 to 13 episodes; this one is stretched across roughly five times that, following Rimuru and the Jura Tempest Federation well past the point where earlier seasons would have wrapped up a story arc.

The tradeoff of that scale is pacing. With this much runway, the season has room to explore subplots that a shorter cour would have compressed or cut, for better and for worse.

What's actually happening in the story

Tempest is riding high after the success of its festival, but the goodwill does not last. A new dungeon under the nation's control brings unexpected complications, forcing Rimuru and his companions to rethink how they manage it. At the same time, the Council of the West is deliberating over whether to accept Tempest as a member state, and Rimuru quickly discovers the council's demands are far from reasonable, hinting at a deeper plot working against the nation from the outside.

Layered on top of that is a returning threat: a previously defeated dragon comes back in a resurrected form, forcing a reckoning that reviewers have flagged as one of the season's bigger swings, for both good and bad reasons.

Where the season succeeds

The political maneuvering gives Tensura room to do what it has always done well: show Rimuru solving problems with diplomacy and clever systems-thinking rather than brute force. The Council of the West arc, in particular, plays to the franchise's strength of nation-building drama, where Rimuru's patience and administrative instincts matter as much as his monstrous power level.

The animation and tone remain consistent with prior seasons, and Studio 8-bit keeps the show's world feeling lived-in even as the cast and factions multiply.

Where it stumbles

Not every subplot has landed. Coverage of the season's episodes around the dragon's return has singled out the antagonist Mariabel as a character the show oversold, building her up across multiple episodes without a payoff that matches the buildup. For a season already asking viewers to commit to roughly 60 episodes, uneven antagonist writing is a bigger problem than it would be in a shorter, tighter run, since the slower moments have more room to feel like padding rather than deliberate pacing.

Should you watch Tensura Season 4?

If you are already invested in Rimuru's journey, yes, this is still essential viewing, and the political stakes give the story a different flavor than the action-forward seasons that came before. Newcomers, though, should absolutely not start here. This is a season built for an audience who already knows the cast, the world's rules, and why Tempest's survival matters, and the five-cour length only makes sense as a payoff for years of investment rather than an entry point.

For longtime fans, Season 4 is a reminder that Tensura is willing to bet big on its own world, even when that bet means trading fast-paced highlights for a slower, more political story.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Tensura Season 4 have?

Season 4 is a five-cour run of roughly 60 episodes, making it the longest season in the franchise, produced by Studio 8-bit and starting April 3, 2026.

Is Tensura Season 4 good?

Reception has been mixed. The political arc involving the Council of the West plays to the series' strengths, but some reviewers have criticized pacing and an overhyped antagonist arc tied to the season's dragon storyline.

Are you keeping up with all 60 episodes, or waiting to binge later? Tell us in the chat.