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Slime bread arrives in Japanese convenience stores and in our Dragon Quest-loving bellies

Casey Baseel Sep 25, 2019
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”Slime-flavored” pastry teaches us that the famous video game monsters are actually delicious!

Considering that the SoraNews24 taste test archives include entries for “dessert pastries stuffed with fish” and “instant ramen ice cream,” we understand that we don’t always seem like the pickiest, or most sensible, eaters. So odds are some of you aren’t surprised to hear that when our latest snack craving hit, it was for Slimes.

However, we should point out that that’s Slimes with a capital S, because this isn’t just any old goo, but a new line of sweets saluting the Slimes found in landmark role-playing video game series Dragon Quest.

The Lawson convenience store chain has a long-running love affair with Dragon Quest’s lovable entry-level monster mascots, having previously produced Slime-themed packaging and shopping bags. This is the first opportunity to enjoy eating the Slimes themselves, though, and there are three varieties being offered at Lawson’s Lawson Store 100 sub-chain, where all items are priced at 100 yen (US$0.93).

▼ “The Slime Bread looks at you like it wants you to eat it!!” reads the wrapper, with command prompts for “Eat” and “Guard.”

The Slime sweets are all varieties of mushipan, a popular pastry in Japan that’s basically a steamed cake. For two of them, the descriptions are pretty straightforward: the orange one is mango-flavored, and the light brown one is black sesame.

However, things get a lot more mysterious with the blue Slime, which is said to be “Slime-flavored.”

Since the blue Slime is always the weakest monster in any Dragon Quest game, a simple kitchen knife is all we needed to equip ourselves with in order to defeat our edible foe.

▼ Critical hit!

With the fight over in a single slice, we noticed that the Slime bread was leaking, with the “Slime gelatin” promised on the wrapper oozing onto our cutting board.

As is standard SoraNews24 operating procedure when encountering mysterious gooey substances, we immediately put some of it in our mouth, and were pleasantly surprised to find it was a delicious lemon gelatin.

Next up, it was time to try the bread itself, and once again, it has a citrus flavor.

We couldn’t quite place the exact type of citrus fruit at first, though, so we took another look at the wrapper, which helpfully clarifies that the Slime flavor is, more accurately, “sweet lime.” Why? Because of, as is so often the case in Japan, a pun.

▼ “Sweet lime” (スイートライム in Japanese katakana text) gets condensed down to “Slime” (スライム).

So despite the gross-sounding concept, Slime bread with Slime gelatin is actually a tasty treat with a refreshing finish. Still, if the idea of eating something that’s “Slime-flavored” is just too much for you, the mango and sesame versions, filled with mango cream and black sesame sweet bean paste, respectively, also taste great, and keep the fantasy monster-theming confined to the visuals and out of the ingredient list.

Unlike the random encounters of Dragon Quest, where Slimes will come up to you as you wander the countryside, the Slime breads are all waiting for hungry heroes to appear at Lawson Store 100 branches across Japan now.

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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he still regrets not buying the club at the start of the first Dragon Quest.