Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken Discussion Thread 6

[Milly_Rocking_Bandit]

Ahh, okay.

 

[OpMasada]

Ive always been wondering , "why is slime so popular?" it's almost on the same ground as one piece u know

It's likely just overrated combined with the massive popularity of Isekai and well, you get this.

The next anime season looks like it's going to be filled with Isekai tho...

 

[NeoSuperior]

Not sure what you mean by "overrated". Slime's success can appearently be mainly attributed to the manga version. While Slime's LN version sells much less than the likes of Overlord or Mahouka, the manga version surpasses these by multiple times. There has to be some good reason why the Slime manga, despite the manga being an adaptation of a Light Novel, is as successful as it is. Other LN->manga adaptations only get to about 100k manga sales at best but Slime manga manages to get close to 500k instead.

There has to be some reason to that, right? I don't think something like that can be caused simply by being "overrated". I read something that "Geezers" might be the cause. Both young (sirius magazine primary target audience) and old (supposedly like the style of the series) are reading it, so it has a broader potential readership, or something along those lines.

 

[Doomrider7]

Not sure what you mean by "overrated". Slime's success can appearently be mainly attributed to the manga version. While Slime's LN version sells much less than the likes of Overlord or Mahouka, the manga version surpasses these by multiple times. There has to be some good reason why the Slime manga, despite the manga being an adaptation of a Light Novel, is as successful as it is. Other LN->manga adaptations only get to about 100k manga sales at best but Slime manga manages to get close to 500k instead.

There has to be some reason to that, right? I don't think something like that can be caused simply by being "overrated". I read something that "Geezers" might be the cause. Both young (sirius magazine primary target audience) and old (supposedly like the style of the series) are reading it, so it has a broader potential readership, or something along those lines.

It also apparently beat out Overlord in LN sales as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovel...t_novels_of_all_time/?st=jud9itq1&sh=cfc87b21

I was always curious to see what were the best selling series of all the time on this market and after looking for quite some time, I finally found it in a japanese website which have a ranking that is updated every year when publishers announce it. Just some details before going into it.

Some have global sales while others are just japanese sales

The first place is the To Aru series but that counts Railgun and all side stories and spin-offs including manga so I discarded it. Same thing for SAO which appeared later on the list with the japanese sales but I counted only the global sales.

Sword Art Online - 22 million (Global Sales with 13,1 million in Japan)

Suzumiya Haruhi - 20 million (Global Sales)

Slayers - 20 million

To Aru Majutsu no Index - 16,6 million

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen - 12 million

Full Metal Panic - 11 million

That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime - 10 million

Record of Lodoss War - 10 million

Danmachi - 10 million

Fortune Quest - 10 million

Kyuuketsuki wa Otoshigoro series - 9, 71 million

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - 9,2 million

Kagerou Daze - 9 million

Shakugan no Shana - 8,6 million

Kino no Tabi - 8,2 million

Hidan no Aria - 8 million

Oregairu - 8 million

Nante Suteki ni Japanesque - 8 million

Overlord - 7,6 million

Baka to Test - 7,3 million

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - 7 million

Honoo no Shinkirou - 6,83 million

Zero no Tsukaima - 6,8 million (Global sales)

Konosuba - 6,5 million

Saiunkoku Monogatari - 6,5 million

Kyou Kara Maou - 6,5 million

Seitokai no Ichizon - 6 million

Hayou no Tsurugi - 6 million

Durarara - 5,6 million

Maria-sama ga miteru - 5,6 million

Shounen Onmyouji - 5,5 million

Re:Zero - 5 million

Ore no Imouto - 5 million

Toradora - 5 million

Accel World - 4,8 million

Boogiepop series - 4,8 million

GATE - 4,7 million

No Game No Life - 4,5 million

Spice Wolf - 4,35 million

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu - 4,3 million

Youjo Senki - 4 million

Highschool DxD - 4 million

Date a Live - 4 million

Chrome Shelled Regios - 4 million

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? - 3,7 million

Maburaho - 3,4 million

Tate no Yusha - 3,3 million

Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou desu yo? - 3 million

Goblin Slayer - 3 million

Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku - 3 million

Our source guy on Reddit had a hypothesis that it was do to the appeal of having someone like Rimuru as a boss do to his easy-going and well-meaning nature along with his desire to simply relax and get along with everyone having a mass appeal with audiences.

 

[NeoSuperior]

Check the comments in the reddit thread. It says that it shows circulation numbers rather than sales numbers (though those tend to be close to each other). Also appearently manga sales are included for both Overlord and Slime. It's also unclear whether this just covers physical sales or also includes digital sales.

The numbers seem a bit high when compared to Oricon (physical) sales rankings. Per volume the Overlord LN outsells Slime, at least according to Oricon's physical sales rankings. It's a shame that MAL stopped updating the weekly LN sales threads.

 

[Doomrider7]

Check the comments in the reddit thread. It says that it shows circulation numbers rather than sales numbers (though those tend to be close to each other). Also appearently manga sales are included for both Overlord and Slime. It's also unclear whether this just covers physical sales or also includes digital sales.

The numbers seem a bit high when compared to Oricon (physical) sales rankings. Per volume the Overlord LN outsells Slime, at least according to Oricon's physical sales rankings. It's a shame that MAL stopped updating the weekly LN sales threads.

It's an incredibly confusing way of doing things. I do believe that a preview video for the Anime and a celebration post on Twitter listed sales or circulation of the LN at around 7 million since the Anime started so who knows. There was this thing where it beat Overlord to win the Bookwalker award.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/in...ovels-manga-win-bookwalker-2018-award/.143477

The person we rely on for this information is user wyyyyye on reddit.

 

[NeoSuperior]

https://bookwalker.jp/ex/feature/2018year_ranking/

No solid sales numbers, but in terms of ranking:

• #1: Slime (manga)
• #2: Overlord (LN)
• #9: Slime (LN)
• #31: Overlord (manga)

For reference: https://myanimelist.net/news/55377203 Overlord manages to accumulate 200k physical LN sales per new volume before dropping out of the Oricon LN rankings. Slime IIRC only reaches around 70k of those before dropping out.

On the other hand I remember comparing the Oricon manga sales (also physical only) and there it's dramatically reversed. Around 70k-100k sales of a new volume for Overlord before it drops out of the top50 rankings, while Slime's manga got it's volumes selling at 450k-500k for every new release before dropping out of the rankings.

So yea, it seems Slime definitly sells more than Overlord OVERALL, but in regards to the LN, Overlord seems to hold the clear advantage.

 

[Doomrider7]

https://bookwalker.jp/ex/feature/2018year_ranking/

No solid sales numbers, but in terms of ranking:

Seems consistent with what wyyyyye said once in terms of sales. I can't quite recall, but he said something about Slime doing better sales in one format over another. Can't remember if it was physical or digital and if he was talking about manga, LN, or both.

 

[NeoSuperior]

I finally read Veldora's Slime Observation Journal 9. It didn't have much all that much new info, though some things of note:

• Veldanava seemed to have bragged about Lucia to Veldora to the point it has become a "memory better left forgotten", but as a positive side-effect Veldora obtained a high-spec sense of aestethics.
• The Great Sage Mind Hax Resistance is not static. It improves progressively, though it's not clear whether it scales with time & experience, or with Rimuru's power level, or both. Great Sage also got better at reading Ifrit's and Veldora's minds on top of that, so there is an improvement on the offense side as well.
• Control Gravity/Gravity Control appearently also does something with barriers, though it's said rather vaguely:

Though amateurish, he is slowly learning to utilize the "Gravity Control" skill he gained by devouring Charybdis. With this he can fight in ways that are practically cheating, enact barriers, and even fly past the speed of sound. It is an excellent skill.
	~ Veldora's Slime Observation Journal 9​

 

[Doomrider7]

I finally read Veldora's Slime Observation Journal 9. It didn't have much all that much new info, though some things of note:

Spita balling, but I think the barrier thing would likely be something similar to Hell Flare except that instead of fire, it locks a small area inside a barrier and subjects that area to crushing gravity. Alternatively, he can erect a barrier around and area and the area outside the barrier will be the ones subjected to crushing force.

 

[NeoSuperior]

Would be great if someone chimes into this VS thread.

Shizue VS Meruem

https://vsbattles.com/vsbattles/2908761

 

[Sheska444]

overrated or not , it's nice to see there are so many ppl have a fetish for slime . if it was youjo senki , Id definitely say "hmmn... being x must be plotting smthn..."

 

[Sheska444]

whoa! sao is solid number #1 , despite the fact so many ppl hate kirito and his hareem ? r.i.p eugeo... I was expecting him to be part of kirito hareem too

 

[NeoSuperior]

SAO has much more released though, on top of already having over 75 episodes worth of anime content and further 25 after the break. SAO's LN started being published (2009) 5 years before Slime's LN began (2014).

Yet it's only a difference of about 3 million sales (in Japan)? Slime seems to be doing well enough, based on that.

 

[NeoSuperior]

I think Shizue should get Explosion Manipulation for her "Exploding Flames" Skill. She used it in basically every single battle scene that she was involved in, in both manga and anime.

Based on how it was used in anime EP6, it seemed to detonate everything the flames hit after about 1 second of delay each. She can also withstand her own explosions even at point blank range - even with her retired key.

Would this require a CRT or not? I already added the Skills in the "notable attacks" listing but I don't want to carelessly change the P&A.

 

[Elizhaa]

I don't see exploding flame being stated as a skill there:https://www.reddit.com/r/respectthr...spect_shizu_izawa_tensei_shitara_slime_datta/

I do see Explosion manipulation evidence here though: https://imgur.com/a/t7xlsoG

I think a CRT would be needed fro additions

 

[NeoSuperior]

The LN vol. 1 stat page for Shizue got an Extra Skill listed that's literally called "Explosive Flames". In the anime episode 6, every time one of her flames touches an ant, the flames themselves explode (or "combust") after a 1 second delay.

I think https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/61809 should be enough as evidence. It actually shows both of her attacks, Extra Skill Heat Wave/Inferno Flame, which launches a huge amount of fire in front of her, as well as her Extra Skill Explosive Flame, which is evidently refering to the explosions that happen everytime her flames touch something when the Skill is activated and imbued into the flames. I'll also upload her stat page while I am at it. Guess I'll make a CRT quickly... bad timing to do it on Easter though...

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

This is pretty minor, don't think you even need a crt.

Explosion manipulation is fine.

 

[NeoSuperior]

Oh that's great. I can save the troubles for myself then. I already added her stats page to her profile and

https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/61809

should be enough for proof though the explosion sounds are missing, it should be visible how the ants detonate AFTER getting hit, so it's not just strong fire doing fire things, but rather an actual explosion. I'll add it then. I mean the content of her stat page should have been there in the first place, but that stuff can be easily missed like the one from Orc Disaster, since both Shizue's and Orc Disaster's stat pages are located right next to Rimuru's own stat page.

By the way, Shizue's stats mention that she can use elmental magic and spirit magic as well, but I have no idea how to implement such a vague description into the profiles. I've got the bad feeling that Rimuru's magic in LN vol. 5 will probably be similar to that. So for magic (which is pretty much missing from everyone's profile), as far as I am concerned, I think it's better to wait for now and reach a verdict next week after vol. 5 is released.

 

[Milly_Rocking_Bandit]

Kondou should get Telepathy via is Unque Skill Reader, which allows him to read the thoughts and intentions of anyone he physically touches. He used it to kill Miranda. Course, this should extend to Rimuru (I'm sure he already has it), along with Yuuki (same with Rimuru, likely has it).

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

Btw what do you think we should do about gabiru and geld's stats?

Don't know if we should scale them to benimaru and shion, probably should be Low 7-C to be safe.

Ranga, Benimaru etc have always been relative to each other, Geld and Gabiru got named later than the others so i don't think they are as strong, they don't have the feats atm, we only know they are A rank, unless i missed something.

 

[NeoSuperior]

Effectively, despite being more physical, Geld and Gabiru needed to cooperate to defeat a single Megadolon, while Benimaru could still take one down by himself despite being weakened due to Charybdis' Magic Interference.

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

Yea, should just be Low 7-C then.

 

[GLHF22]

Velgryn Should have type 8 Immortality since she is connected with Rimuru in the same ways as Veldora, Yuuki, and Rimuru should have planetary range in their High 4C version, both observe around the world during the Tenma War.

 

[Elizhaa]

Yea, should just be Low 7-C then.

Is low 7-C from this quote from the LN because I don't see small town being referred:

Next were the "magic-born people"—the catchall term for those who came into being from magic itself, monsters who experienced sudden mutation, and sentient beings evolved from animals or magical beasts. They had both intelligence and reproductive ability, but only within their own subspecies. In their upper social castes existed titans, vampires, devils, and other longer-lived species—all equally capable of having offspring, although they rarely did so, since their overwhelming magic force caused them to be nigh immortal, obviating the need to leave descendants.

These diverse intelligent, reproducing species were hostile to mankind and collectively referred to as the "magic-born race." And reading between the lines, the impression I got was that the magic-born weren't so much overtly hostile toward humans as the humans feared and coveted their powers. It remained true, though, that both sides were fighting for their own living spaces.

These sundry monsters had been classified by levels of danger. The upper ranks of the magic-born were packed with some pretty powerful buggers—all capable of leveling a human town solo if they felt like it. Not the kinds of guys you'd want to hang around.

To be exact, A rank were still stated to be threat to nation:

• Normally, an A-ranked monster alone would be dreadful enough to threaten the existence of a nation

Based on Shizue Izawa (Light Novel)'s AP: Comparable to A rank monsters who are capable of destroying small towns.

Small is not mentioned so if it Tier 7 is used and required more explanations by Occam's Razor and so I think a solid 7-C is alright for Shizue.

 

[NeoSuperior]

The "small town" came from this:

The guidepost for an A rating was being able to destroy a small town—"disaster" level, in other words. Better avoid that transformation around urban areas.
	~ LN vol. 1​

But that comment about "high-ranking Magic Born" (=high-ranking Majin) is something I must have overlooked previously. Would Gelmud-class qualify for that? He was weak but he didn't consider himself a low-ranking Majin. And I don't think we should neccessarily use Sub-Demon Lord Class like Phobio, who are stronger than Ifrit, as the baseline for that. So perhaps someone like Gelmud or perhaps Grucius? After all even the B-Rank Ogres are considered Magic-Born/Majin, so those are probably the "lower ranks".

In that case Shizue should scale, I guess? I mean she IS considered a Majin based on her stat page.

One more thing as well:

Monsters, as well as adventurers, were ranked on a system of six grades, from A to F. Pluses and minuses could be attached to these grades for extra precision.
	~ LN vol. 1​

Now I found this:

It told me that the black snake wasn't even an A, and I could win against ten of those centipedes at once, so I'd be an A-minus or so? Sounds about right.
	~ LN vol. 1​

And furthermore some back-up information from the adventurer guild:

What was the meaning of this? This tempest serpent had a tentative rating of A-minus. It was absolutely the strongest presence in the cave. Not even Fuze liked his chances much against it. It was the whole reason why he had fretted over this trio's chances of a successful trip.
	~ LN vol. 1​

So I guess A-Minus would NOT be A-Rank/Hazard Class then? Well, turns out both Rimuru and the Guild were wrong about the Tempest Serpent itself though, because they did not take the fact that it could be a mutation into consideration (or the author simply retconned it). Likewise Rimuru made the same mistake in regards to his own evluation, calling himself B-rank and in the cave and later scaling that up to A-minus and only viewing his own power as A-Rank after testing Black Lightning. But infact he was already a full-fledged A-Rank being before Veldora even named him:

By my estimation, this slime was already an A-Rank monster, going by the scale often used by humans. As it had been likely birthed from the incredible magic field surrounding me, this is perhaps not such a surprise. [...] Oh Rimuru just defeated the most powerful Tempest Serpent in the cave, has he? The beast had grown and transformed due to my mighty aura, until it was worthy of being called the guardian of this cave. The humans would classify it as A-Rank, meaning that it is quite strong... And yet it fell in just one blow.
	~ Veldora's Slime Observation Journal 1​

But regardless, even if the evaluation of the snake by Rimuru and Fuze was wrong, it still sounds like "A-Minus" seems to be considered "not even A-Rank", regardless. So I guess we have to keep the lower Ranks as unknown, as painful as it is... (Too bad Gobta (LN) doesn't get a chance to have a usable profile though).

 

[Elizhaa]

Gekmun would a maic Born.

Weak monster like goblins are not considered maic-born and this was discussed in the LN Vol 1 ith Veldora


THe Rimuru's B statement was athought and I agree it is wrong because a couple chapter later, he difeated Ifrit.

Of course, any place with a lot of magic also tended to have a lot of monsters. Not the run-of-the-mill kind adventurers could kill for pocket change—you wouldn't find any magic ore around them. You'd have to travel to places with at least B-ranked monsters in them.

As a tangent, Kaijin finally gave me a full description of how the ranking system worked for monsters.

"Ohhh!" I said. "So I'd be, like, a B or so, maybe?"

The commentary went on for a while. But the most important thing to learn from it was that apparently humans existed in this world, too. Then there were nonhumans, species very close to mankind in nature and similarly gifted with reproductive abilities. These included races like elves, hobbits, dwarves, and other fairy types, and generally they were allied with the humans.

Alongside that, you had races like goblins, orcs, lizardmen, and so on, which were hostile toward mankind and treated like monsters as a result. This animosity wasn't inherent to their biology, however, so crossbreeding was entirely possible.

Next were the "magic-born people"—the catchall term for those who came into being from magic itself, monsters who experienced sudden mutation, and sentient beings evolved from animals or magical beasts. They had both intelligence and reproductive ability, but only within their own subspecies. In their upper social castes existed titans, vampires, devils, and other longer-lived species—all equally capable of having offspring, although they rarely did so, since their overwhelming magic force caused them to be nigh immortal, obviating the need to leave descendants.

 

[NeoSuperior]

I am talking about "high-ranking magic born". But I see that there are two ways to interpret that. Either "high-ranking among all monsters" or "the higher ranks among the subset of magic born".

Either way, Rimuru mentions in LN vol. 2 that Ogres, who are B-Rank, are also considered magic born, so someone like Gelmud should already qualify for being "high rank magic born".

 

[Elizhaa]

Yeah, Gelmud should already qualify for being "high rank magic born".

 

[NeoSuperior]

Then Shizu - or anyone scaling to Gelmud for that matter - should qualify as well. I think Grucius - and by extention Youmu - should as well.

Not sure about Geld and Gabiru though.

I think we really are in need for High 7-C/Low 7-B/7-B feats to fill the gaps. Likewise something for A-Minus or lower. Problem is, it's hard to find such a thing.

 

[Elizhaa]

Then Shizu - or anyone scaling to Gelmud for that matter - should qualify as well. I think Grucius - and by extention Youmu - should as well.
Not sure about Geld and Gabiru though.

I think we really are in need for High 7-C/Low 7-B/7-B feats to fill the gaps. Likewise something for A-Minus or lower. Problem is, it's hard to find such a thing.

At least, in the WN version, it can be Low 7-B,

A rank have small cities level statements: https://imgur.com/a/0n4rcOE

Tactical Bombs- which the 7-C scale to can vary up to 7-B or 7-A.

Could destroy towns, on my profiles, looks to low-balled since the correct statement is destroy untold numbers of towns.

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

Being stated in one instance to be able to destroy small towns and another small cities is an issue, would have to look at the raw there, probably is referring to the same thing but for some reason is translated differently.

There is also that level town statement, A ranks power seems pretty inconsistent then. But might just be a translation issue as i said.

The stuff about arch demons destroying towns isn't in the ln.

 

[Doomrider7]

I don't know about the scaling to towns or cities, but I do know that from various bits of dialogue that Orc King Geld is stated to be equal in power to Orc Lord Geld so whatever feats from the latter can be qualified to the former as well. I believe Myulan has some dialogue bits about this in LN3 ditto for Rimuru.

 

[Elizhaa]

Being stated in one instance to be able to destroy small towns and another small cities is an issue, would have to look at the raw there, probably is referring to the same thing but for some reason is translated differently.
There is also that level town statement, A ranks power seems pretty inconsistent then. But might just be a translation issue as i said.

The stuff about arch demons destroying towns isn't in the ln.

I was talking about the WN version only.

 

[Elizhaa]

The quote about Magic born can applies to B rank monsters as well because the direwolf boss that Rimuru killed was referred a Magic-born monsters.

 

[NeoSuperior]

But the magic born/majin reference was about "high-ranking" ones. The Wolf would probably not qualify as a high-ranking one.

 

[Celestial_Pegasus]

I agree with Neo.

 

[Elizhaa]

But the magic born/majin reference was about "high-ranking" ones. The Wolf would probably not qualify as a high-ranking one.

"high-ranking" rating might be easier to scale than I thought.

I find something in the LN 2. It seems like Soei was considered a monster beyond A ranked so likely A+, well before Rimuru fight against Geld. I guess those who scale or are stronger than Soei are A+ monsters.


The chief watched, stunned speechless. He tried to keep his mind from racing as he recalled what he had just heard. Then he turned to Soei, not bothering to wipe the sweat from his brow.

Ogre mage… He is among the ogre mages?!

He stared at him, as if looking at something his mind refused to parse. Then he recalled the power he had shown a moment ago. Now it made sense.

Perhaps I should have known. He is a legend along the lines of the orc lord. The next level of ogres…

Ogre mages were the evolved form of ogres, already high-level denizens of the forest. It made sense, then, that the force he exhibited was akin to a high-level magic-born. Well past A rank, and difficult to wrap one's mind around. So few among the magic-borns ever made it to that point.

 

[Elizhaa]

ALso, Dryad are A rank or higher.

Dryads were, indeed, descended from the fairy races, as close to a form of spiritual life as one was likely to ever witness. I later learned they served as the guardians of the treants, the living tree people that were another high-level presence around the forest. In terms of ranking, they were easily A or better—up there with Ifrit, and no doubt a terrifying presence for Rigurd and the hobgobs.

Some like all ogres like Souei were A+ rank earlier.

the top of the A-ranked range. But now that they were obtaining skills and getting used to their new bodies, their individual ranks were changing. Head and shoulders above the rest of the village in strength, but still, changing.

I had the feeling that my assigning jobs, or "classes," to them had helped cement the exact amount of magical force each had to work with. The same had happened with the hobgoblins who were assigned classes.

Who's this? I thought. But another look confirmed it—it was Benimaru, the ogre referred to as "young master" by his cohorts.

Two horns, smoother and more beautiful than obsidian, poked out from his crimson locks. They used to be thicker than elephant tusks, but now they were honed, polished, and as thin and beautiful as a work of art. The Benimaru I knew was a hulking figure, but this guy was maybe just under six feet tall, and his body was taut and well-defined.

The amount of energy I felt from him, however, made him seem like a completely different person from before. He wasn't quite as strong as Ifrit, for example, but that was the first comparison that came to mind. He might be past A rank now.

How the hell did naming someone unlock this much force? was my honest reaction.

 

[NeoSuperior]

Gazel estimated the Orc Lord with his army included as a whole to already be Special A as is, and Gelmud was confident enough to send the army to raze a city after the Orc army ate all the Lizardmen and Goblins. Fuze also mentions that a fully matured Orc Lord would be comparable to Ifrit (but not a freshly born one like Geld), though I am not sure if "maturing" refers to becoming an Orc Disaster, or just a stronger Orc Lord in that case.

Keep in mind that a lot of stuff was obfuscated by the fact that almost no one knew that what Rimuru defeated was a Special A-Rank Orc Disaster instead of just a regular A-Rank Orc Lord. Aside from Milim (who instantly saw through Rimuru's power with her Dragon Eye) and Carrion (who Rimuru showed his Aura to), almost everyone is ignorant about Rimuru's actual strength. The Charybdis battle itself is not really a good source of information either due to its magic interference messing up any measurements of Rimuru done by spies from Clayman and Frey, or even the Dwargon allied forces that were present at the time. It might sort-of cause a continuity error for the anime because they actually saw the Orc Disaster battle there, for some reason.

Myulan is really the only one with a chance to see Rimuru's true power, but I feel like Milim would not want her BFF's power levels to be discovered because of him going all-out on her. So she'd make sure Myulan doesn't get too much info on him.

@Elizhaa Be careful about statements involving "higher than A" or "above A". In the High 7-A CRT we discussed that a lot and all we got is headaches because "above A" has previously refered to "above the neccessary threshold of being a A rank" (i.e. baseline), or "a bit stronger than an average A-rank", or "a really strong one among A-ranks", or "An A-Rank so strong that they are already on the border of Special A", or "An actual Special A-rank" or "Special A-Rank monster that's stronger than another Special A-Rank". Basically "above A-rank" can mean pretty much anything, so it's not a good source of information in regards to scaling.