Who Is the "Hero of the Dawn"?
The episode title, "Yoake no Yūsha Gran" (roughly "Gran, the Hero of the Dawn"), does plenty of teasing on its own. Season 4's official introduction, included in the Oricon News report, centers on Granbell Rosso, a former Hero who now leads the Five Elders of the Kingdom of Siltrozzo (シルトロッゾ). Together with his granddaughter Mariabell, Granbell preaches protecting humanity through domination, and the intro puts the pair on a collision course with Rimuru.
The same intro notes that Demon Lord Leon has started moving in the golden land of El Dorado, and it closes on the line that a "Hero" is about to awaken. The episode title appears to point toward Granbell, but the synopsis stops short of confirming it.
A Music Festival on Holy Ground
Per the synopsis, episode 88 brings Rimuru and company to Lubelius, the holy empire that Demon Lord Luminous Valentine secretly rules, for a music exchange festival that Luminous herself came up with. The group gets a warm welcome. That same night, Luminous invites Rimuru for a talk.
What she wants from him, the source doesn't say. Oricon's own caption on the newly released stills sums up the mood in one word: "suspicious."
Sixty-Two Million Copies and a Five-Cour Season
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime follows Satoru Mikami, an office worker who is stabbed by a random attacker and wakes up in another world as a slime named Rimuru. From there he sets out to build a nation where every race can live together, winning allies through a mix of newly acquired skills, wits, and nerve.
The story began as a web novel by Fuse on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, the Japanese web-fiction platform. Counting Taiki Kawakami's manga adaptation, published by Kodansha, the franchise has now passed 62 million copies in circulation. The TV anime launched in October 2018 at studio Eight Bit, which has handled the adaptation ever since. Season 2 ran in two halves across 2021, Season 3 ran April through September 2024, and the franchise also produced the 2022 theatrical film Scarlet Bond, with a new theatrical anime currently playing in Japan.
Season 4 is the series' biggest swing yet: it premiered April 3, 2026 as a planned five-cour run, with the first two cours airing back-to-back.
Looking Ahead
Episode 88 airs July 24, 2026 in Japan. Internationally, Crunchyroll streams Season 4 and has confirmed an English dub. The season's current stretch also carries a new opening theme, "TACTIC" by Daoko. As for what Luminous actually wants from Rimuru after dark in her own holy city, we'll find out when the episode airs.