Of all things, this penultimate episode made me think of CLONE WARS. Not the new CG toon; the 2D one Genndy Tartakovsky directed. The first season was comprised of three-minute “micro-episodes” whose running times initially seemed inconceivable to work within. However, as an exercise, Tartakovsky went back over his old SAMURAI JACK episodes and cut them down from 22 minutes to three to see if he could still preserve the story. To his surprise, he found that the episodes actually worked quite well that way, and he used what he learned to give CLONE WARS some of the tightest and most frenetic action storytelling I’ve seen in any animated program on either side of the Pacific.
I think the same principle would’ve applied just as well here. Maybe this arc could benefit from a DBZ KAI treatment sometime in the future.
Look, there are conceits in any genre that you just have to go with after a while. Excessive dialogue is one of the conceits in this case - - characters stating things outright that are readily apparent from the images and the context. However, I think CLAYMORE was a lot better about this in the earlier arcs. I specifically remember being impressed how the show didn’t state obvious things outright and actually let you fill in some of the blanks yourself.
So here’s another sickly symptom of an anime that’s had to “decompress” the plot because it’s production schedule out-paced that of the manga it's based on. The dialog isn’t necessarily bad, but most of it’s unnecessary, and I don’t think anything would be lost if 50-75% of it were cut - - hell, I think the episode would improve. I can’t even think of why any viewer would complain about it, either. It’s not like how you feel gipped when a comic’s sparse on text and they’re still charging you the same price for a shorter reading experience.
I’ll save my discussion of that actual plot for next episode. However, I do have to comment that Raki’s uselessness has got to be a joke that crew’s in on. I mean, c'mon, He’s such a waste, a critically-wounded warrior has to carry him.
Watch this episode "For Whose Sake" 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
Th reason this episode didn't suit you as well is because it and the final episode are the ones made-up. Thus, you get more dialogue.
If a second season was done then it would have a bit more dialogue than this season because of the constant flow of new reveals. But the action would be even better so one could take the good with the bad.
When you are making stuff up its easier to use a bunch of expository dialog to avoid having more content. They were phoning these last 2 episodes in so they could either spend the money and make a high production finale or just stretch it out so that the season could be over. Unfortunately they chose the not exciting route.
Surprising you brought up Samurai Jack. I liked the show as I watched it, but one of the reasons I have avoided revisiting it is because of how much filler every episode contained. The only reason Tartakovsky got away with it at the time is because cartoons were doing very well on Cartoon Network. He probly wouldn't get away with such a filler filled show these days.
Claymore is very much like a shonen to me excepts the characters are generally blander,the show ended more abruptly and the development of characters is generally weaker.
But it is saved by BADASS FIGHTS!!!
@rubberluffy said:
I've got a name to pain... and it sounds like something could save me good money on my car insurance.
It isn't that this arc could benefit from a DBZ KAI treatment but that this arc shouldn't be here since it completely goes off topic from what the past arcs had set up. What they should do if they want to continue with the series is by pull a FMA Brotherhood and start from the beginning.