Claymore Forum

What's up with them using the laser gun sound effect from STAR WARS every time her eyes change?

Intrigue! Betrayal! Deceit! Rebellion! Treachery! The plot thickens like so much stew in a cauldron as we learn that the Organization might actually be setting all these girls up!

I'll bet it’s a scary surprise to realize you’re a rebel when you didn’t actually know it for all your years of rebelling. Maybe there’s interpretative reading to be had in regard to how these Claymores’ awakenings are linked to their sex drives. Calling them “sexual awakenings” wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, really, and maybe there’s some metaphoric allusion here to how ladies reach their sexual primes later or handle such stimulation with evener keels than men….

…but I’ll hold off on getting any further into that, lest this column start sounding like an episode of LOVELINE or a dissertation at Kinsey Institute. Suffice it to say, I think I’ve got a better sense of how this show’s been pulling off the mind trick it’s been playing on my expectations. This is made by people with an actual understanding of the psyco-sexual underpinning of this kind of fantasy instead of the surface-level comprehension of “darkness” that turned so many OAVs into schlock.

On a level that’s closer to the surface, it’s fascinating how these Claymores are wrestling with how to put the little devils of their nature to good use. It riffs on the same chords I saw BROTHERHOOD strumming during the portions where Mustang had to go “over the edge” to defeat the Homunculi because nobody else seemed to be taking them that seriously. Philosophically, I do think that accomplishments are actually better fueled by the sublimation of negativity. That is, a girl who’s been put-down her whole life is going to eventually fly higher than another girl who’s been cheered on all of her's. The first girl wants it more and the anger she feels is a more potent fuel for success than the contentment and complacency of the second girl. To the same effect, I figure the Yoki urges are needed if these Claymore are to be effective police.

Hey, who says CLAYMORE doesn’t get you thinking?

Watch this episode “Those Who Rend Asunder, Part 3” below, decide for yourself and then read my comments on the previous episode here.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk

@Lurkero said:

Sometimes the girl that's been cheered all her life is just more talented. I wish it was always the people more determined that won, but that's not how it works. I really appreciate Claymore because its a competent anime that has good action, but doesn't have the goofy stuff like Brotherhood, Naruto, Bleach, etc.

Maybe it would've been more accurate to say that somebody who sublimates negative urges is often more likely to prevail. Artists creating out of heartbreak, athletes channeling anger, etc.

@sotyfan16 said:

The line of pleasure and pain meets in a number of anime. The same thing goes for Witchblade. But it goes along with the power they obtain by embracing their Yoma half. They become consumed by it because it feels so good to have such great power. What the Organization is up to is pretty neat to find out but you don't get the real info in the anime.

Man... for all the good things, I feel like Organization was an awfully lazy name for their order.

@zaldar said:

hmm I think you are reading to much into it here. This really is just an action anime like Naruto and bleach. I did only watch about seven episodes but i don't think it gets up to the thematic levels of even brotherhood which really were not all that high to begin with. Just my opinion though and I am sure others disagree...going to go watch the new episode of Steins Gate now. Can never get my fill of theoretical physics!

Heh... I really don't want to run an ongoing comparison between this and STEINS GATE. Invoking heady ideas doesn't really make a show sophisticated if they aren't integrated well into a plot that actually moves.

@Emeryl said:

Who knew that the Black Knights were a part of the Organization. It may be a coincidence, but their emblem could easily be given to a Claymore. I vote for Kallen (maybe Sayoko) to be the ambassador.

Mind = BLOWN

@zaldar said:

@Tom_Pinchuk: ok point taken and I won't post about it again. The plot in Steins gate moved though maybe not fast enough for you. I prefer slower moving complex in thought and meaning shows like Lain and Technolyze (where the first 28 minutes of the first show have no dialogue) to ones like claymore but my tastes are odd. May start a forum watch and learn of steins gate (I don't have the time to make the nice pretty blog posts with pictures unless it is much easier to do than I think it is) if that is ok with you? I don't want to step on your toes or anything.

Yeah, that'd be great actually. This site's all about community efforts, after all. Just do me a favor and come up with some title to differentiate it from these WATCH & LEARNs.