We looked at Illya last time, so logically, today we’ll be looking at her counterpart, Chloe (sometimes romanized as Kuro, which I think sounds better and is thematically more appropriate, but nobody consulted me). We’ll keep this review brief as almost everything I thought about Illya applies to Chloe as well, so we’ll just touch on the high points.
When we’re introduced to Chloe, she is presented as a mysterious adversary to series protagonists Illya and Miyu. However, in the timeless and hoary tradition of magical girl anime, her antagonism is blunted by the wily seductions of friendship – and, in this case, family ties of sorts – and she becomes a gal pal to our heroines. I guess that’s sort of a spoiler but the box gives away her surname, so I suppose it’s not that big of a revelation.
Chloe is sculpted in 1/7 scale, just like Illya, and she’s about the same height, which makes sense since they are something like two halves of a whole. She comes with a little heart thing which she can hold, but aside from that, she’s ready for display right out of the box. While her costume is scant, no castoff option is available unless you know a skilled figure modder.
And I suppose we can start with her outfit, which is agreeably abbreviated. In keeping with the theme of contrast, while Illya’s bikini bottom is undone, Chloe’s top is untied. There’s obviously not a lot to see, as neither Chloe nor Illya sport impressive racks, but it’s a cute touch anyhow.
Speaking of contrast, I suppose that might be why Miyu isn’t represented in Amakuni’s product lineup. It’s a bit unfortunate since I like Miyu, but I guess it makes sense that she’s not here.
While Illya gets to carry a star, Chloe carries a heart. It simply slides between her fingers and it stays in place reasonably well. It looks like fairly cheap translucent plastic, which is really all that it is, and personally, I don’t think it looks all that great. However, Chloe’s hand positioning doesn’t make a lot of sense without it, unless one assumes she’s gesturing some sort of gang signs.
Chloe seems quite happy to be standing around with her swimsuit falling off of her, as opposed to Illya’s bashful, nonplussed expression. Her wink looks a bit odd in figure format – I think it’s one of those looks that works better in 2D art than 3D – but I wouldn’t say that it looks bad. She’s very cute, and the combination of her orange eyes, pink hair, and her sassy sideways ponytail is quite striking.
Again, there’s so much that’s so wrong with both Chloe and Illya, but sexualization of underage characters is hardly a novel concept in anime culture. It’s a little shocking when this concept is observed in a three-dimensional format rather than on a computer screen or in a manga volume, but then, figures – and anime in general – have been racing towards more tantalization and more lewdness and more outright perversity over the last few years. Things that would otherwise be taboo – incest and sexualization of underage characters among others – are commonplace these days, so neither Illyasviel’s nor Chloe’s appearance bothers me too much, except for the sculpting of their stomachs. Other than that aspect, the only thing I’d like for Amakuni to have changed would be to have made them larger.
Weird belly sculpting aside, I like Chloe a lot, too.
I’m truly surprised that there is such a conspicuous absence of figures for a super-cute, exotic loli with mad fighting skills and a racy combat outfit, who – notoriously – also likes to slip in the tongue, (did I really commit all that to print?), as it would seem she ticks a lot of fetish boxes. I wonder if she’s a casualty of the seeming aversion to dark-skinned characters in anime (ganguro aside, lol), or if there’s something more disturbing going on… like maybe she’s not innocent or young-looking *enough*? (I know that sounds incredibly creepy but I’ve seen stuff that makes me suspect it might be something along those lines)
Anyway, with the continuation of Fate Kaleid, I can keep my fingers crossed for future releases. Speaking of releases, have you looked at Mea Kurosaki yet? You will get a nice surprise when you do 🙂
Yeah, I’m a little surprised Chloe hasn’t gotten more figures since, as you say, she kinda seems tailor-made to appeal to certain audiences. But then, a lot of the characters from the Fate/stay night world that are not named Saber haven’t gotten many figures (personally, I have to admit that Sakura checks a lot of fetish boxes for me, but she’s gotten very few figures – I don’t think I own one of hers, actually).
I do have Mea here, though I haven’t opened the box nor really taken a close look at her. From afar she definitely looks great, though.
Chloe haha, she made Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA all ecchi XD
Her tan is lovely, unfortunately unlike Illya, Chloe really has the butt of a kid lol
But I’m sure she will become a fine young gyaru girl in the future.
To me the eye decals appear a little too bright on Chloe which let them look kind of empty.
I think they should add a Miyu figure in a blue school swimsuit ( ゚▽゚)/
She did! I must admit that a large part of my interest in watching the show stems from her early interaction with Miyu. And I agree that Miyu should get a figure, though I think she should get one like Chloe’s and Illya’s here. Maybe she can look all sad now that she’s sorta been reduced in importance.
Both figures look nice on their own; however, as a set they really knock it out of the park. I still stand by my initial feeling that they should be in 1/4 scale. There’s just something about these two (probably the huge head tiny body) that makes it seem more appropriate.
I definitely agree with that. For some reason I kinda thought that they’d be larger than they actually are. I guess it’s probably because a number of the loli-esque figures that I’ve gotten (Fate and Nanoha obviously, and some of the FREEing bunny girls) are really large, which more than compensates for their small body builds.
I still haven’t watched Prisma Illya yet, but I find Kuro’s character design quite agreeable. I thought she would prove to be pretty popular in otaku circles, but judging by the number of figures she’s received to date, maybe not. I had some reservations when ordering for the reasons you pointed out. These two figures do give off remarkably lewd overtones despite lacking any explicit nudity. I am pretty happy with how Kuro turned out, but I’m a bit annoyed at Nippon-Yasan for overcharging on the shipping. Her shipped weight was the lightest I’ve ever recorded.
Yeah, I would’ve thought she would’ve gotten a few more figures than she has, being that the show appears to be successful (successful enough to get more than two seasons anyway, which seems like a rare achievement). I also ordered this figure from N-Y and they did charge quite a bit for shipping. I tend to not pay a ton of attention to shipping costs (I figure it’s a sunk cost) but it does make me wonder whether another proxy/exclusive buying service might be less expensive.
This post convinced me on getting Chloe.
I’m glad to have been of help!
hmm I’m impressed by the amount of detail in the body sculpt. Amakuni doesn’t usually go that far. The paint job also looks pretty good considering the figures are mostly skin.
So between Illya and Chloe, which do you like more?
I pick Miyu! Heh. Of the two figures I’d probably pick Illya, mostly because I don’t think the wink works as well for Chloe, at least not in figure form. I kinda think Chloe has the cuter character design, though.
I really don’t like winking figures. Nobody gets the wink right and they just end up looking like a train wreck and the whole face is messed up, this figure is cute but the face, no. It’s the same hot mess as alphamax sorceress from dragon crown, her face is an absolute failure.
Ahahaha, that’s harsh XD Yeah, I do think that winks don’t work as well for figures, though. Normally I avoid them; I’m not sure if I have another figure that is winking (I’m sure I do but I can’t think of one off the top of my head).