Chloe Aubert

Chloe Gets her Happy Ending

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 24 Review

Chloe, when I do my list of best girls of the year like I always do, you’re going on it. I know she’s technically ineligible due to her physically being a kid, but I don’t care. You’ve earned it after what you did for Rimuru and the rest of Tempest. And now, you get to enjoy the reward you’ve waited eons to experience: a happy life with Rimuru.

SAVE CHLOE, RIMURU!!

So, Rimuru managed to make it inside of Chloe’s mind and has made contact with Chronoa, showing her that he’s fine and that she can chill out. The whole reason she even crashed out is that she has the vague memories of seeing him die in the future, and frankly, I don’t blame her. The bad news is that Chronoa wasn’t joking about Chloe or Hinata’s status. Chloe is someplace that Rimuru might not be able to reach. And Hinata? She did die when Granville impaled her. The reason why we saw her with Chloe is that she pulled in the last remnants of her soul in the form of her Unique Skill. Which, according to the very detailed rules of Magic in the series, is ingrained in a person’s soul. It just goes to show you how well thought out the author was with the story.

So, Hinata’s Unique Skill, and the remnants of her soul along with it, are still inside of Chloe and Chronoa. So, after getting admin permission from Chronoa, Rimuru (or rather, Raphael) gets to work. She take Chloe’s Unique Skill out, evolves into an Ultimate Skill, Yog-Sogoth, and then reconstitutes Hinata’s soul and separates it from Chloe’s. And she also evolves Chronoa into what’s called a Manas. Basically, it’s like a magical, sentient AI that can be born from an Ultimate Skill. Not only does this mean that Chronoa will no longer crash out, but it has the extra benefit of letting her and Chloe swap places whenever they want. Think of it like what happens with Yugi and Atem, or Naruto and Kurama once they became friends. And the two are immediately overjoyed to see their beloved Rimuru after all this time.

Oh, and I liked seeing Hinata act like a tsundere towards him. And even if Shizu wasn’t actually there, I did like getting to see her thank Hinata for saving her, and vice-versa.

After that is done comes the hard part. After returning to the physical world, Rimuru needs help to put Hinata’s soul back in her body. He needs the help of Chloe and Hinata’s best friend. He needs the help of Luminous.

Luminous and Rimuru Save Chloe and Hinata

It’s not just the fact that Luminous’ new Ultimate Skill, which she got when Hinata died, gives her control over life and death. From a narrative standpoint, it makes sense she’s the one who ultimately saves Hinata. She’s always been the one who’s closest to Hinata, with their relationship going far beyond simply master and servant. That’s probably why I liked seeing them interact over the course of 2,000 years as they worked to create the future that we know. That’s not just friendship; that’s love. And seeing everything that Luminous did to help Chloe and Hinata in all that time really made me respect her a lot more. I’ve done this before outside of 100 Girlfriends, but I’m probably going to put Luminous and Chloe on the best girls list for this year.

As for Granville, it turns out he wasn’t dead yet. He lives long enough to tell Luminous that even if his plan to kill them all hadn’t worked out, he would’ve still gotten what he wanted. By forcing everyone into this situation, he made it so that even if he lost, Chloe would rise as the strongest Hero. So, even when he lost, he still won.

Honestly, I don’t really care. After all the trouble Granville caused, I’m just glad that he’s dead. At least he and his wife got to reunite in the afterlife before moving on.

And so, the crisis in Lubelious finally draws to a close. The recital (which was the whole reason Rimuru went to Lubelious) goes off without a hitch, and everyone is happy. Luminous and Hinata reunite, with Hinata even evolving into a Hero herself. But most importantly, Chloe did it. After who knows how many attempts, Chloe finally broke the time loop. She saved Rimuru and Hinata.

Chloe might be one of the strongest girls I’ve ever seen!

I think it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: Chloe Aubert might be the strongest person in the entire series. Not in terms of raw power or skill, as there are people out there who remain stronger than her. But when it comes to willpower, I think Chloe might have everyone else beat. She endured countless timelines where she had to watch Rimuru, Hinata, and the entire world die. She’s experienced more pain and suffering than almost anyone can ever hope to endure. And despite it all, despite everything she’s gone through, she not only endured, but she remained the same happy, optimistic, and sweet little cinammon roll that we know and love. Granted, she doesn’t remember most of the loops due to her powers, but that doesn’t diminish what she’s done. She likely saved the entire world, and asked for nothing in return. Her only reward was getting to reunite with her friends, her beloved Rimuru, and getting to enjoy her childhood again.

That’s the sweetest part, I think. Despite having long since grown into an adult both physically and mentally, Chloe can revert to being a child thanks to her mastery over time. She can switch to her adult form any time she wants, so she’s got the best of both. Which is good for her, because she might actually have a serious chance of winning over Rimuru, much to Leon’s dismay. She’s happy to see her adoptive brother again, but I found it funny how she told him not to be mean to Rimuru. He really shouldn’t; for all Leon knows, Rimuru could be his brother-in-law one day!

A WAR IS COMING

I wish I could say that the season ended on a high note, but we know that that’s not true. The second half of the series is set to release next summer, and this is where things start to get really exciting. A good chunk of the series has been slowly building up the threat of the Eastern Empire, the strongest nation in the Cardinal World. They’ve been working behind the scenes to cause trouble in the west, laying the foundations for their conquest. In every other timeline, Chloe says that they will win, destroy Tempest, and kill Rimuru and everyone else. Now, Tempest has a fighting chance, but even that might not be enough. That’s just how powerful the Empire is supposed to be. And now, we are about to get a war arc!

If you don’t want to wait to find out what happens and don’t mind spoilers, I reccomend you go on YouTube and look up AnimeBallsDeep. They’ve got this extensive, excellently done video covering the entirety of the Eastern Empire War in the Light Novels. And when you hear what’s going to happen, you are going to have a lot to get excited for.

Too bad we have to wait until next summer to get more Slime conten…wait a second. What do you mean we won’t have to wait that long? We’re getting a spin-off? And it’s about Clayman?

Yes, in a surprise turn of events, it turns out that next spring, we will be getting an anime adaptation of Clayman’s Revenge. It’s a spin-off manga in which, after his death at the hands of Rimuru, Clayman acquired a Unique Skill that sent him back into the past, decades before Rimuru ever arrived. Not wanting to repeat the events that led to his demise, the manga follows Clayman as he tries to prevent his death at Rimuru’s hands, either by keeping him from becoming a Demon Lord, or just avoiding making an enemy out of him altogether. It’s not canon and takes place in an alternate timeline, but it’s still an interesting premise. I’ll definitely consider covering it when the time comes.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am either going to go look up fanfics of Rimuru and an ADULT CHLOE getting married. Because after everything she went through for the sake of that slime, she has my full support.

I Give “The Awakening of the Hero” a 4.5/5

Rimuru, time to save your Student!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 22 Review

So I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page about Chloe and Hinata. Chloe got sent to the past with Hinata’s soul hitching a ride, they became the hero Chronoa, and Luminous sealed them away until Rimuru could take care of everything. All of that was made clear in the last two episodes of the series. The real question now is how the heck are we going to fix this?

Sadly, it seems that part will have to wait until the next episode. This one is mostly just about setting us up for Rimuru’s toughest battle to date.

Chronoa’s gone nuts!

So where were we? Oh yes: grown-up Chloe, or rather, Chronoa in control of Chloe’s body. And…dang. When they said that Chloe had the most potential out of all her classmates, they weren’t kidding. She is the kind of person who could single-handedly stop a war. And as we see for ourselves, even the Demon Lords might not be enough to stop her, as Luminous is in the process of freaking out at the sight of Chronoa breaking free. And that’s before she equips her armor and sword. That sword of hers is as strong as his, which is very, very concerning. Add in the fact that Chronoa likely has the combined experience of Chloe and Hinata’s two thousand year odyssey, and is it any wonder why Granville wanted to free her? She could kill the Demon Lords, and then torch the rest of the planet.

https://twitter.com/otaku_lord21/status/2098433895314145486?s=20

So, now is not the time to hold back. As Luminous explains everything we already know to Rimuru, he decides that they need help. So he summons Veldora, and, surprisingly, he realizes right away that Chronoa was the hero who sealed him away. And, I don’t think the anime shows it, but seeing her again actually makes her nervous. Which makes sense, considering how he strongly reacted to Chloe’s future self in Ramiris’ old labyrinth. Also, he claims that the only reason he lost was because he saw how pretty she looked underneath her mask. Awkward.

Time to Journey to the Center of Chloe

So, even with the combined power of Luminous, Leon, and Veldora, Chronoa is just too much for them to handle. So, Rimuru has to do what might be the most reckless thing that he’s ever done. He’s going to have to travel inside of Chloe’s body, find the souls of Chloe and Hinata, and somehow pull them out. Well, he just needs to wake Chloe up. He has to find a way to pull Hinata out and get her back in her body. Either way, it’s’ insane, reckless, and crazy. And you know what? It’s also something that only Rimuru can hope to pull off. Otherwise, Lubelious is a goner.

I have to admit, I didn’t really like this episode. Especially considering how it was coming off the heels of two bangers, it felt like it was just reiterating everything that we had already known. But at least it’s setting us up for one heck of a finale.

I Give “Where the Soul Resides” a 4/5

What Happened to Chloe? The answer is…Super Fun!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 20 Review

Oh, I have been waiting a while for this part of Slime Tensura. Ever since season one, the series has kept dropping hints that there is something special about Chloe Aubert. That she has an important role to play. Well, if you’ve read the light novels already, then you know the story was setting us up for one of the best time travel stories in anime. If you thought Trunks’ attempts to save the future were crazy, then you haven’t seen what Chloe has had to go through for the sake of her beloved slime, Rimuru.

Hinata Really Hates Herself

The last episode of the anime ended on a very bleak yet mysterious note for anime watchers. Hinata apparently died saving Chloe’s life, only for her soul to disappear. And then Chloe vanished into thin air. Obviously, the two are somehow connected, and we are about to learn why. But first, we get a look back on Hinata’s life.

Despite many people in her new world calling her a hero, Hinata has never seen herself as one. The reason is that during her life on Earth, she had to watch as her dad became incredibly abusive due to falling on hard times. It got to the point where she straight up killed him to try to end the abuse. And this wasn’t an act of self-defense, by the way; we see her push him off a cliff in the anime. When her mom got worse, she started thinking she’d be better off as an orphan, but then she got isekaied. It’s something that she feels a lot of guilt over, and it’s that guilt that’s kept her from unlocking her full potential. And now she’s dead…or is she?

As it turns out, the reason why Hinata’s soul vanished is that it jumped into the body of Chloe. Then Chloe jumped 2,000 years into the past, and this is where she dumps the exposition on what the heck is going on. I could share a link to a video explaining it all, but I want to try and tell it myself.

Chloe can Time Travel

To put it simply, Chloe has a unique skill that has left her trapped in an infinite time loop thanks to the deaths of Rimuru and Hinata. Originally, the incident with Falmuth, with Rimuru never fighting Hinata and thus making it back in time to stop the massacre. Thanks to that, he never had a reason to become a Demon Lord which left him and Tempest significantly weaker. Five years later, the Eastern Empire invaded and destroyed Tempest, with Rimuru dying in battle. Yes, our OP Slime died. After that, Velodra crashed out and went on a rampage, forcing Hinata and Chloe to fight him, only for Hinata to die in battle. That, in turn, led to Chloe being sent back in time. She would then spend the next 2,000 events trying to change history to prevent Hinata and Rimuru’s deaths, eventually transferring her memories to her future self.

This was just the most recent time loop. She’s done this so many times that she can’t remember anything past the last few times. All she remembers is that every time, Rimuru and Hinata, the man she loves and the woman she sees as her role model, die. She thought that she had changed things by stalling Rimuru long enough for things to play out as we know, but then Hinata died prematurely thanks to Granville.

Put some Respect on Chloe’s Name

Now, time travel in the isekai genre isn’t a new concept. Arguably the best example of it has been found in Slime Tensura’s contemporary, Re:Zero with Subaru’s infamous Return by Death. And I do mean infamous, because if you have seen some of the ways he’s died, you are left in disbelief at the fact that he is still able to keep going! That is basically what Chloe has had to experience for who knows how long! The only difference is that Chloe isn’t the one dying; it’s everyone else she cares about.

FRIENDS!!!!

That…might be…some of the most impressive willpower that I have ever seen in a character. Chloe has been living through so much failure and loss and keeps trying. Most people would have gone completely insane having to go through all of that even once! I haven’t even watched Re:Zero, and I know that Subaru goes through absolute hell on a regular basis! But I think Chloe might have him beat when it comes to sheer willpower! And she’s doing all of this for the sake of her love, Rimuru. It’s genuinely sweet.

At any rate, now that she’s in the past, Chloe’s goal is to ensure that the future plays out exactly like she wants it to. First things first, she has to re-befriend Luminous Valentine, and she knows exactly how: warn her about Veldora’s rampage on her old city!

To make a long story short, it works. They’re not able to save the city, but they do get the people out and guide them to the place that will become Lubelious. Having secured the trust of her friend once more, Chloe then sets out to ensure that things play out the way she wants to get the future she wants. A future with her beloved Rimuru. And she even gives herself a new name that will be known by all: Chronoa.

Man, this is peak! What a great time to be an isekai fan!

I Give “Chronoa the Hero, Part One” a 4/5

Granville is Making his Move!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 17 Review

Due to some sort of scheduling conflict or error going on in Japan, we didn’t get a new episode of Slime Tensura last week. It’s unfortunate, but given how I was at a convention that day, it worked out for me. But don’t know what isn’t going to work out? Whatever the heck Granville is planning on doing. He and Yuuki have this crazy plan to attack Rimuru and Luminous so they can kill them/steal the body of Luminous’ best friend. And they are going all out on this! And to make matters worse, not one, but two other Demon Lords are getting involved! At least one of them isn’t actually looking for a fight, at least.

Leon Loves his Little Sister!

So, we need to talk about Leon Cromwell. If you recall, he was the one who summoned Shizu to this world and sealed the Fire Demon Ifrit in her. This kept her alive, but it also led to her eventual death as Rimuru had to stop him from rampaging. Naturally, this didn’t leave us or Rimuru with a very good impression of him. But if the last few episodes have shown us anything, it’s that Leon isn’t a jerk. He’s more of a…dork.

Yes, if the last few episodes have shown us anything, it’s that Leon isn’t a bad guy. He’s just incredibly socially awkward. He doesn’t know how to talk to people properly, and since he’s a Demon Lord, people get the wrong idea about him. Since he’s so focused on finding Chloe that he gets tunnel vision and can’t really see how his actions come off towards other. Combine those two, and it explains why he hasn’t found Chloe on his own. In fact, when he finally decides to ask Elmesia for help, she tells him that he could’ve saved himself a lot of trouble if he had asked for help.

No matter, though. He’s off to Lubelius to reunite with his adoptive little sister! And for his sake, I hope he plays nice with Rimuru. If Chloe has her way, the slime could be his brother-in-law in ten years, LOLOLOL!

The timing couldn’t be worse, though. Granville and Yuuki are on the march.

Granville is on the Warpath

So, Rimuru and Hinata are just enjoying a relaxing get-together as platonic friends, sipping tea and enjoying their morning. Then all of a sudden, they learn that Lubelius is under attack by an army of warriors! And at the head of them is Granville Rozzo.

Granville has assembled a small army and marched them on Lubelius, all with the goals of stealing Luminous’ most prized possession and killing her and Rimuru. At least Granville is being smart about this. He knows he can’t face Rimuru in a fair fight, so he’s rigged it in his favor. Using an army of mind-controlled Otherworlders knowing full well that Rimuru wouldn’t harm them is a good handicap. And the Harlequin Alliance is currently keeping Luminous and her guards busy. He even resorted to using necromancy on his wife’s body to have her fight Luminous. But we know that this is only a stalling tactic. Granville couldn’t beat Luminous in his prime, so there’s no way that he can beat Rimuru. And if anything, seeing someone that she knew and likely called her friend at one point being revived as a puppet is only going to enrage Luminous rather than shock her.

But that’s the whole point of the plan. The bad guys are distracting our heroes so that they can steal the body of Chronoa, wake her up, and have her kill them. As far as plans go, it’s decent.

But that’s not the real highlight of the episode. It’s what Diablo gets up to.

Diablo Takes Care of Business

So, while Shion and Diablo are fighting this giant bug…thing, Diablo gets distracted. And it’s soon clear why: someone is lurking nearby, waiting for him. So, at Shion’s behest, he decides to go take care of this problem.

Also, note how Diablo and Shion addressed each other by their names. That’s a first!

The person that Diablo sensed is none other than Rain, the personal maid of Guy Crimson, the first and strongest of the Demon Lords, as well as the first of the Primordials. And Rain is also one of the Primordials like Guy and Diablo. So, she’s crazy strong. But she’s also not on the same level as Diablo. Even before he got his name, Diablo was able to fight Guy to a standstill. And then, Rain commits the ultimate sin in front of Diablo: she calls Rimuru trash.

What happens next is on her!

The episode ends with Guy Crimson himself showing up in the aftermath. I don’t know why he’s there, but this might have just added another wrinkle to this brewing crisis. Rimuru can handle himself just fine, but Guy Crimson? The OG Demon Lord? Yeah, he’d lose. Please don’t let this end badly for him!

I’m still looking forward to seeing how this all turns out, though.

I Give “Lubelius, the Point of Convergence” a 3/5