I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Vol. 4 Manga Review – Maxed Out Comedy

Some manga requires you to really just turn your mind off slowly feel yourself drift into insanity. Author Kisetsu Morita almost demands this in the series I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level. With Volume 4 of the manga available, I’m beginning to enjoy myself a little more as my brain cells slowly disintegrate with each page turn.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Vol. 4 has several story beats as Azusa has firmly established herself as one of the most powerful beings in the world. With her family secure, and the dragon feud behind her, the group travels to the demon kingdom to accept an award for their diplomatic accomplishments.

As you can guess, nothing about this trip goes as planned. In fact, everything happens so quickly that I had to re-read a few pages just to catch the sheer haphazard scenario that takes place. This random rollout is unstoppable in each of the following chapters, and I slowly felt my stonewalled-serious face grew into a smile as I began to lose my mind.

There’s nothing wrong with the way this story handles its comedy. Everything happens so fast, and the characters just riff of each other during each panel. I was constantly just trying to keep up with this speed and understand where it was all going. One minute Azusa was in an epic fight, and the next dragons were selling cookies; as a reader, you’re just expected to keep up.

The story does slow down during some of the less teaching moments that typically happen when the characters are bathing, but I never felt like I learned any lessons. This fantasy world has no rules, and everything that the author wants to happen can happen with little to no explanation. The final chapter of the story involves reversing the effects of someone turning into slime, and instead of really making sense of it, we’re just expected to go with the flow.

Illustrations from Yusuke Shiba are amazing. They can be exceptionally zany, but then the characters can shit from adorable to sexy in the matter of a few panels. These illustrations help immensely with the comedic timing, and each corresponding panel had me laughing or shaking my head at how ridiculous this entire narrative is.

One of the more significant issues is just how big this cast is growing and how tough it is to make sense of who’s talking. At times, the writing tries to include everyone. Still, it’s often tough to notice who’s commenting unless you slow down and pay attention, which is tough considering the jokes rely heavily on progressing through the panels quickly.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Vol. 4 is almost nothing but fluff. However, it’s a good kind of fluff that will keep your attention regardless of anything of substance is actually happening. The meeting of the Demon King is perhaps the most significant thing that happens here. Everything else is there for the lawls.