Tensura

Chloe is Super Important to the Story!

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 15 Review

You know how in anime, when a person shows up in an OP or ED, that means that they’re going to be important to the story? It’s just something that I’ve noticed from years of watching anime, as the OPs and EDs for a show can reveal potential spoilers. Well, there is a pretty big one for the new OP and ED for Slime Tensura that has to do with two people: Chloe Aubert, Rimuru’s student, and this mysterious, black-haired woman who keeps appearing throughout the show who Chloe seems connected with. If you’ve read the light novels, then you already know what’s going on, but if you haven’t, then you’re about to understand just how important Chloe actually is.

The Black Numbers Get their Jobs

Thanks to Diablo’s recruitment drive, Rimuru now has three powerful Demon women working for Tempest: Ultima, Carrera, and Testarossa. Thanks to them, he’s finally able to fill some positions that he’s been needing filled for a while to help with their diplomacy and legal system. Testarossa is now Tempest’s representative with the Western Council to help keep them on the level. Which is good, because she is great at making sure people fall in line! Ultima and Carrera are now the Chief Public Prosecutor and Chief Justice, respectively, meaning that they will be in charge of enforcing the law. Though it’s a little bit concerning that Carrera’s immediate reaction to potential crimes is the death penalty. Hopefully, they’ll learn to let the punishment fit the crime!

All of this means that for the first time in a while, Rimuru can take it easy and have some more free time. And the first thing that he decides to do is visit Tempest’s school.

Chloe’s Progress

If you want to make sure change sticks into the future, you have to educate the next generation. That’s where school comes in, and the one that Rimuru has set up in Tempest seems to be doing a good job. In the episode, we see how the students come from the many different races that inhabit the world, both human and monster. By having them grow up alongside each other, it can eliminate the prejudices that may otherwise develop. More importantly, this school means that Shizu and Rimuru’s old class now has plenty of new friends to play with. We even get a scene where Ryota and Alice are arguing like regular classmates! However, it’s not all the students that we should be focused on, but one student: Chloe Aubert.

Since her introduction, the anime has been dropping several hints that there’s something special about Chloe that sets her apart from the rest of Rimuru’s students. She’s got the potential to be the strongest of all of them, a fact that gets hammered home when she and Rimuru have a brief sparring match, and he gets reminded of Shizu and Hinata due to how strong she is.

Then there’s the fact that when Rimuru got her a spirit to help stabilize her magicules so she wouldn’t die, this woman appeared and jumped into her after giving him a phantom kiss. The sight of her was enough to anger Veldora, who seemingly knew her.

Leon Wants to find His Little Sister

The biggest reveal, though, comes from the Moderate Harlequin Alliance’s meeting with Demon Lord Leon Cromwell. He’s been trying to acquire kids summoned to this world for a long time, which is how Shizu wound up there. As this episode reveals, though, he’s doing this because he’s looking for one person in particular: Chloe. He even has a painting of her in a private room!

I can’t tell you why Leon wants Chloe so badly without spoiling the story, but I just want to say this: Leon isn’t simping for Chloe. Let’s just say that he’s more like a protective big brother to her, and it seems that it won’t be long for he and Chloe reunite.

Which brings us to the setup for the next big moment in the story of Rimuru: the visit to Lubelious.

Luminous Wants some Culture

Ever since the opening festival, Lady Luminous has been desperately wanting some cultural exchange with Tempest. And she’s getting tired of waiting, so she has Hinata go and ask Rimuru when they’re going to get on that. Well, with his workload now lighter, Rimuru is free to focus on that. So, he tells Hinata that he plans on traveling to Luminous’ country for a musical conference to satisfy his fellow Demon Lord. Unfortunately, there are people in the shadows looking to cause trouble like always: Yuuki and Granbell.

With Maribel dead thanks to Rimuru (even though Yuuki was the one who killed her), Granbell is out for the slime’s non-existent blood. So despite having worked for Luminious for a thousand years because she promised to keep humanity safe, he’s throwing that idea out of the window. He is ready to go to war with her if it means that he can bring down Rimuru, and he and Yuuki have a plan to do so. While everyone is focused on the conference, they plan to steal Luminous’ most prized possession: the legendary hero that she has in stasis. You know, the one that she keeps talking to and hugging while naked despite the pain it causes? The magic used to keep the seal in place is dangerous to her, but since she can regenerate, the worst it does is cause pain and destroy her clothes. But yeah…she is into her.

https://twitter.com/animefants/status/2078149753741729899?s=20

In case you haven’t noticed, that woman bears a strong resemblance to at least three other women we’ve met so far: Chloe, Shizu, and Hinata. And that’s a good reason for that, but I don’t want to spoil it. All I want to say is that we should expect things to get crazy. I can’t wait.

I Give “An Unsettling Feeling” a 3.5/5

That Time Gobta (Almost) Found Love in Slime Tensura

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Tears of the Azure Sea Review

I’m not sure if this is accurate or not, but I suspect that a lot of Slime Tensura fans were as upset as me when we found out there wasn’t going to be a new episode on May 1st. I didn’t even know the series would be on break! So, even I had told myself to not spend the extra money, I talked myself into going to see the new Slime movie, Tears of the Azure Sea. Unfortunately, the closest movie theater that had it in dub was too far for me to want to drive that weekend, so I found another movie theater closer, but with it subbed. Subbed or dubbed, though, the movie was still pretty fun to watch. Especially since it manages to give our boy, Gobta, something that he’s been wanting for a very long time.

Like a lot of movies of dubious canonicity to an anime, Tears of the Azure Sea takes place in the time gap between major events of Slime Tensura. In this case, the time between the third and fourth seasons of the show. The Opening Festival of Tempest finished a month ago, and Rimuru and his friends are looking forward to a much-needed break. So Elmesia offers to let them visit a famous resort island in her country, leading most of Tempest’s leadership and their allies to go on a giant vacation. But then Gobta runs into this blue-haired woman, Yura, from Kaien, a famous kingdom located under the sea, who is being pursued by evil forces. And from there, it doesn’t take long for the entire group to get roped in.

Gobta (Almost) finds Love!

Full disclosure here: this movie is pretty much about Gobta. Rimuru and everyone else are in it, but from the moment Gobta notices Yura following them to ask Rimuru for help, it’s pretty much his movie. At best, Rimuru is there to help provide support when fighting the bad guys. If that sounds disappointing to anyone, you have to remember that Rimuru is one of the most broken protagonists in all of anime. When a character is that overpowered, you either have to have them face threats that can push them further, or set things up so that their use is limited. Tears of the Azure Kingdom opts for the latter by having Rimuru only step in to face the threats that could kill everyone.

As a sidebar, they also do the same for Milim and Veldora by having them stay behind to guard the island. They could solve everything, but also wreck everything, LOL. And this is Gobta’s film.

If it isn’t obvious at this point, the fact that Gobta is the first of the group to meet Yura, as well as the one who spends the most time with her, means that she’s meant to serve as a love interest for the goblin. It’s not brought up that often in the main series, but if you watch the OVAs or the spin-off anime Slime Diaries, you’ll see that Gobta is the one in the group that really wants to find love, but whose behavior gets him slapped by the girls. And while they start off on the wrong foot at first, getting to run around the island whil avoiding assassins was a great way for Gobta to show off how badass he is. And when the ultimate big bad of the movie tries to use her as part of his plan to conquer the world, it’s Gobta who ends up saving her! Way to channel your inner Krillin, dude!

Too Good to be True

Of course, since this is a movie with dubious canon placement, though, we all knew that Gobta’s chance at love wasn’t going to work out. We were totally right, by the way! I don’t want to spoil how it ends, but here’s a hint: you know what happened with Sokka and Princess Yue in Avatar. Let that sink in.

As a film, there really isn’t much substance to Tears of the Azure Sea. The most that it’s got going for it is that its film budget allows for some really stellar action sequences, especially at the climax where they are fighting the big bad. Though, if you’ve watched a lot of anime, then you should know that when they make a film based on a popular series, it’s usually not going to have much substance to it. It’s more or less an excuse for us to see more of the characters do cool things. Off the top of my head, I can name only seven times the events of an anime film had an actual impact on the plot of the series, and all of them were from Shonen series. Yet these franchises keep pumping them out because we like seeing these one-off adventures so much. It’s fun! It’s a good way to kill time, too. Besides, it’s not like everything in the film is going to have zero relevance to the actual anime. There’s a post-credits scene that hints at the arrival of a new character to Tempest in the near future. So, there’s that!

Well, hopefully next week, we will get to see Rimuru confront the Western Council. I read part of the manga in advance, so I can happily say that things are going to get interesting real quick!

I Give “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Tears of the Azure Sea ” a 3.5/5

This Little Girl is a Problem

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 3 Review

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked everyone’s ears off about how much I hate Witch, AKA Bitch, Whore, and formerly known as Malty S. Melromarc. She’s everything wrong with elitist mindsets rolled into an ugly package that’s so easy to despise. The good news is that she also matches Cersei Lannister in terms of idiocy, so if you know her game, it’s easy to beat her. Can you imagine if Witch was as smart as she thinks she is and how screwed the world would be? Well, Rimuru may not know it yet, but he might have just made an enemy out of someone with the same mindset and the competency to back it up: Mariabel Rozzo.

Mariabel of Greed

So, the OP and ED for this season of Slime Tensura have put a lot of emphasis on the girl known as Mariabel. In anime, that typically means that they’re important to the plot. Plus there’s also the fact that we’ve seen Mariabel always hanging around her grandfather, AKA the one who orchestrated that stunt with the merchants in the last season. Their plan was to con Rimuru into a situation where he’d owe them a favor, but he was too smart for that. It’s not the old man that’s the problem, though; it’s Mariabel. She’s a reincarnator like Rimuru.

Whereas our lovable slime was a working man on Earth, Mariabel was the opposite. She was born into the upper crust of European aristocracy, and she did not let her gender get in the way of her Littlefinger arc. She spent her entire life amassing wealth and power from the shadows until she ruled Europe from behind the scenes! The anime even implies that she profited off World War I, AKA the most pointless war in human history. That’s how you know that she’s evil. And she managed to die of old age, before getting reborn in the Tensura world as a baby princess. And she got a terrifying unique skill to boot: Greed.

Remember how Rimuru has that unique skill, Gluttony, lets him eat and gain the abilities of anyone he wants? Mariabel’s Greed lets her use other people’s desires to brainwash them. And the more the target wants, the easier it is to control them! By the time she was out of diapers, she had already brainwashed most of her house, until finally she became the right-hand of her grandfather, Granbell Rozzo, the thousand-year-old founder of the Kingdom of the Siltrosso and, like I said, the puppet master behind that merchant stunt!

Rozzo’s ultimate goal is, at first glance, actually pretty noble. He doesn’t want normal humans to live in a world ruled by monsters and Demon Lords, so he’s been pulling strings in the west to create a place where humans can live in peace. And Rimuru’s idea of a world where all races can live in peace is getting in the way of that. Hence the whole scheme with the merchants. And while I don’t entirely get it, I’m pretty sure the Rozzo’s and Yuuki are the ones funding Team Green Fury, AKA the guys cheesing their way through the Tempest Dungeon. So, they have to be dealt with.

There’s just one problem: Rimuru, Veldora, Ramiris, and Millim’s avatar bodies suck!

Avatar Team PWNS CHUMPS

We saw how the newly formed Avatar Team got their butts whooped at the end of the last episode, but this episode gives us an even better look at why. Not only are the Demon Lords and Veldora weak in their artificial bodies, but their teamwork stinks! They’re so used to being so OP that they can solo everything that they don’t know how to fight in a team. So while Kurobe makes them some sweet armor, Rimuru has them go through some intense training. Since they’re basically operating like the typical RPG team, they also have to learn teamwork. Which is good, since they could stand to learn that.

Rimuru’s plan ultimately works, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Green Fury was about to beat the 49th floor. So it was time for the admins to assert their authority.

I have to admit, it was nice seeing the Avatar Team put a stop to Green Fury before they could ruin everything. Hopefully, they can patch things so that no one else can use that exploit any further. As a gamer, I understand how much that sucks, but it’s better to win without resorting to cheap tricks like that. Good riddance, Green Fury!

The real problem, though, remains Mariabel. With her family’s plan with the merchants having backfired and Rimuru suspicious of Yuuki of the Free Guild, Mariabel’s going to change tactics. She plans to invite Rimuru to the West to the Council so she can get him alone and try to use Greed on him to turn him into her puppet. Little does she know that she’s grasping at straws, because a.) Rimuru is our protagonist, and has that protagonist plot armor; b.) he’s Rimuru. He’s got GOAT status. He’ll be fine! In fact, I say he should accept the invitation just so we can see him embarrass her! But that doesn’t make her less of a threat. She managed to kill the merchant who organized that fuss under Souei’s nose!

I Give “The Avatar Team is Formed” a 3.5/5