Well, if the comparisons to the Jedi and the Green Lanterns weren’t strong enough, already… now more than half of all these gals are mobilizing into an honest-to-goodness task force with rank and divisions. You want to talk about escalation: how crazy is it that we’ve gone from a pilot with just one Claymore on her lonesome against just one Yoma to a whole army of Claymore against a whole army of Awakened Beings in the space of these eighteen episodes? Outside of bringing the 23 other Claymores (or so? Haven’t a bunch of them been killed?) my mind balks, yet again, over trying to imagine how they could up the stakes further. The threat’s just got to be bigger than we’ve been told, though, if the Organization's so willing to pardon for Clare for her unforgivable offense because they need all the help.
I was pretty amused by how conceited everybody got once they all get together. It’s as if the whole ranking scheme was devised just so we could eventually get to this epic, multi-angled pissing match (run that mental image through your mind’s eye, why not?) It’s even more amusing for the fact that these ladies are so hard to tell apart - - especially in a group shot. Like I’ve said, this is one of those inevitable quirks you eventually just get used to and learn to go with, but I still can’t escape the thought that, if there were ever some live-action remake of this show, the execs’ first note would absolutely have to be “Give the girls different hair colors, at least.”
Clare’s reunion with her comrades from the earlier task force mission is swell. It’s like they’re forming an organization-within-an-organization. I’ll be curious to see how long it’ll be before she’s reunited with Raki, then. I’m getting the sinking feeling that he might end up being “turned” by these ghouls of the North. You separate a would-be couple for this long, most times it means that a tragedy's brewing.
Watch this episode "The Carnage in the North (Part 1)" 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
This was the first time, that I can remember anyway, were I could not keep track of all the diferant people in an anime. The rest of the series not too bad, but when there are 10 15 or or even 20+ sorta the same looking ladies gotta start taking notes.
PS
That silver eyed lion guy is something else
Next episode is a lot better, though I enjoyed this one a lot too
Only moment I ever had trouble distinguishing the Claymore apart prior to this personally was during the fight with the Mantis Being, and only really between Clare and Helen due to the similar length of their hair in the more fast paced scenes. In the northern war arc, it can be tough telling the "red shirt" Claymore apart though, I definitely have trouble pointing out characters like Lily, Karla, Pamela, Queenie, Natalie, and the rest who served as minor characters.