Responses
Honestly there's a lot left out. Just think of the anime as a family friendlier version, with simpler plots. After all, they can't exactly show Ryouma drinking as a kid, right?
Fair point
And just imagine, the anime is a simplified version of this, but this manga is also a simplified version of the novel!
Not good at names but from what I remember the anime didn't introduce the slime researchers until well after he got the blood slime, the fox girls mom just doesn't show up at all (even when they eat dinner at her house) and I didn't even know that the shopkeeper had a daughter till just now. (Although you do see his grandkid so I just assumed he had a child)
And those are the ones I remember, seems like they cut out any background character that isn't relevant to the plot