Claymore
Claymore is a dark fantasy manga that's still in the midst of publication. If you don't know what manga is, then I'd heartily suggest looking it up on wikipedia.
The story, for the most part, revolves around the struggles of a woman warrior named Clare. As is expected of the protagonist in such stories, Clare is not your typical run of the mill woman fighter. She has undergone a process that changed her into a half human, half monster hybrid. By doing this, she has become a claymore (hence the title) and gained the ability to hunt down and fight the monsters from which her newer half is derived.
There's a lot of things in Claymore that would have a feminist going "What?" Frankly, I, myself, went "What?" at a lot of it. The organization that makes the claymores is comprised of old men, the girls who are to become claymores are orphans who are taken in or even bought, they aren't seen as human beings for the most part, merely tools, etc. etc. etc. It's all there, the basic typical trope of how women can't be strong unless something equally horrible has happened in their past, etc. etc. Also, two of the strongest female characters in the manga basically have the mental maturity of very young children. It's a familiar norm that's existed for a long time in fantasy where women being actual fighters is concerned (and not healers, princesses in need of saving, etc.). There's also the usual manga trope of a weak character who gets amazingly strong during a battle because either somebody they care about dies, or they nearly do, and so on and so forth. There's really nothing new here.
And yet, regardless of all of that, I find myself enjoying the story quite a lot. It started out pretty mediocre, both in plot and art, but I ended up reading all that's available and still want to read more. I think it boils down to the fact that regardless of how stereotypical many of the characters' backstories may be, regardless of how stereotypical many of the plot aspects may be or may turn out to be, I still very much like how the characters interact with each other. And as much as a recent revelation (chapter 79, what the heck?) gave me serious pause, I like the sense of where the story seems to be going. At the very least and despite whatever remaining stereotypes may yet find their way into it, Claymore has captured my interest with the simple seeming concept of a group of women finding a common bond and standing up for themselves regardless of how their fates may turn out in the end.
Hi, here via When Fangirls Attack! And a fellow fan of Claymore. ;) There are a lot of things about the manga that make me go WTF too, even though I'm willing to forgive it for a lot of its not-so-feminist flaws due to the overall awesome factor.
One point that I wanted to nerd about, though:
The organization that makes the claymores is comprised of old men, the girls who are to become claymores are orphans who are taken in or even bought, they aren't seen as human beings for the most part, merely tools, etc. etc. etc.
Actually, one of the things that I like about the series is that the narrative is so explicit in calling out this setup as Bad and Wrong. We're supposed to be rooting for the claymores as they assert their independence and defy the Organization; and we're supposed to see the men in the organization as villains. The overall tone always struck me as very rah! rah! women power good PATRIARCHY BAD down with patriarchy!
But, on the other hand, the explicit condemnation of the patriarchal setup in the Organization is never extended to the *obvious* patriarchy in the entire rest of the Claymore world. Outside of the little sphere of claymoreland, it seems like the rest of society is divided along very strict gender roles, and this is basically never called out or questioned.
That bothered me much more than the setup of the Organization, actually. And it strikes me as lazy writing. Here we've got this fantasy world where women are supposedly empowered, yet every woman who *isn't* a claymore is either a housewife or a nun or a prostitute.
Nenena said...
June 26, 2008 2:15 AM
That's a really good point, nenena. You know, I don't think the obvious patriarchal overtone of the world at large in Claymore even pinged on my radar since it's practically the norm in most fantasy stories. I think I've read so much that I'm just too jaded to even notice it at this point, which is somewhat disturbing when I think about it.
I am a bit concerned about the latest development with Raki though. Granted, he needed a lot of saving in the early parts of the story, but that just helped to illustrate how much stronger the Claymores and their adversaries are. So if a normal guy, for all intent and purpose, can defend against a yoma with just his armor and then take it out with a giant sword - along with sword training from a super bad guy -, then what's the point of the entire mystique of the Claymores in the first place? It just seems kind of silly. And well, he doesn't have to be equal in physical prowess to Clare to be her "equal". He doesn't have to be as strong as her, or as fast, or as smart. That's not really the point of their relationship, not even close in my opinion.
I really hope that it doesn't end up with him rescuing her at some point or another by being the big, bad hero type. Sure, Clare's needed help at points during the story, that goes without saying, but that just goes hand in hand with the whole struggle theme. I'd just rather not have to slog through yet another strong woman becomes the damsel in distress and gets saved by the big strong guy who loves her, especially not when he's helped her out in the past just by caring for her.
Ririka said...
June 27, 2008 4:18 AM