Comments on: Women warriors and the male gaze in Claymore

By: Manga Therapy

Manga Therapy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:08:47 +0000

I personally love Claymore and I think the series reflects the reality what can happen to women when they join the military.

Claymores are looked down upon by the men of the Organization for the most part. In the military, female soldiers struggle to gain acceptance by male soldiers as equals.

I wrote something about this. You can check it out at:
http://www.mangatherapy.com/post/674561539/womenofclaymore

Hope you enjoy it!

By: Brett Halliwell

Brett Halliwell — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:44:02 +0000

Thank you very much! I just thought it would be polite asking permission first. I’m probably working mostly on my shojo manga and alternative comics section today though. (by which I mean American comics not about superheroes like the Sandman)

By: Joy

Joy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:47:10 +0000

Brett – Feel free to quote my blog post. :)

By: brett halliwell

brett halliwell — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:49:40 +0000

I now follow you as a link from my own blog panel and you hit the nail on the head. I’m appreciative that you took the time to make that post because as it happens, I’m writing my dissertation on comparing the representation of gender in Japanese and American comics.

I found this site because I am doing a bit of last minute research, my dissertation is due in one week! Could I possibly have your permission to quote what you say in the blog?

As my website name hints I am a fan of Ameerican comics, hugely so in fact. It just so happens that I’m an even bigger manga fan!

By: Luna, a mere vagrant

Luna, a mere vagrant — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:50:29 +0000

“oppose with human emotions and thought (wich, in most philosophies, are equivalent to the feminine aspect of human nature)” sorry, by mistake i forgot to add in my last comment that sensuality as well might be associated as equivalent to the feminine side of human nature.

By: Luna, a mere vagrant

Luna, a mere vagrant — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:40:47 +0000

hum, not really farfetched, but i have a different point of view in his approach. noticed how the male awakened beings look much more like animals, centaurs, insects…even a shark (during the north war)…with very little-to-nonexistant remarks of human appearence ? and how do female awakened beings…well, have mounstrous bodies..but with a lot of reminders and aspects of human body ? somehow, it make me think on the difference of sheer instinct and animal behaviour (wich sounds soo manly, doesn´t it ? and in facto…some philosophies analyze this as a maculine aspect of the human nature) in oppose with human emotions and thought (wich, in most philosophies, are equivalent to the feminine aspect of human nature). i guess, is just a statement on how awakened beings are beings with the most basic natures enhanced to infinite and distorted, with some influences by philoshophy schools.

By: Joy

Joy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:06:16 +0000

@Erica – Sorry for the delay in the appearance of your comment! Akismet thought it was spam. :(

I haven’t seen the anime at all, but I gather it is fairly faithful to the manga source up to (and including?) volume 11, at which point it goes and writes an original ending. From your comment, it sounds like the anime does the manga something of a disservice, because I think the peer relationships come through pretty well in the manga. Especially Clare and Jean, Helen and Deneve, and Miria as the leader of the whole bunch.

And though I am trying to dance around spoilers here, I will say that the Claymores’ definitely have mixed feelings about the organization after the events at Pieta. Which is one reason I like the post-Pieta events of the manga so much, even when the fan service makes me want to bang my head against my desk.

By: Joy

Joy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:53:19 +0000

@Oyceter – I am a bit worried about the Clare-Raki kiss myself and also about the Raki-Pricilla relationship. The way Raki is being linked thematically with Isley, though, almost makes me wonder if Yagi is ultimately setting up a story where Raki also eventually becomes an Awakened One. If Yagi really wanted to increase Clare’s angst, that would be the way to do it. And given that Raki is also Clare’s double, it would be a neat parallel for Raki himself to eventually become part-Yoma.

I think I object less to the specific example of the tentacle monster than the reminder it is that Yagi’s target audience probably doesn’t include me. I came across a review of the volume that praised the “quality nudity” (yes, written by a guy) and I could only sigh. A similar reminder: the cover of volume 3. It should be awesome, since it shows Teresa (!), but the fan service really undercuts that a lot. Someone that strong should not have arms that thin!

I don’t know–I think the female Awakened Beings do have some degree of the exaggerated musculatures. There does seem to be a tendency toward the serpentine (the tentacle monster in vol. 14, Ophelia, Riful), but if you look at Pricilla and Luciela, you definitely get the demon limbs as well as the weird emphasis on their sexuality. Because in Yagi’s world a woman can be transformed into a monster but she always still has enormous breasts. *eyeroll*

By: Oyce

Oyce — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:34:59 +0000

I’m glad the Claymores themselves aren’t as sexualized as the female Awakened Beings, but I wish either that there were more sexualization of the male Awakened Beings as well, or there weren’t such a strong correlation with sexuality = evil. It’s interesting that the male Awakened Beings are canonically unable to control their passions (I read that as their sexuality), but their Awakened forms are nowhere near as sexualized as the women.

I wasn’t quite as opposed to the tentacle monster as you, though that may be because inkstone commented in my DW on how it was an interesting reversal of the usual tentacle monster groping innocent girls. I like how it’s the women warriors saving the men from the groping female tentacle monster, though I do wish Yagi could have done it without the naked woman on top of the tentacles.

I’m also not sure what to make of the Clare-Raki kiss and hope the Raki-Priscilla relationship isn’t going anywhere skeevy. There’s also the interesting presence of these dangerous pre-pubescent (or teenaged) girls—Riful, Priscilla, Miata—that I’m still not sure what to make of. I think it’s an interesting parallel to young!Clare and how she was sexually threatened, which directly caused Teresa’s downfall, but I’m not quite sure how to piece it all together yet.

And then back to my shounen and monstrous bodies thing… it makes it even more interesting (and odd) that the female Awakened Beings are so sexualized; usually with shounen villains, they have exaggeratedly bulging muscles or musculatures that emphasize one aspect that is abnormally strong (demon arms, demon legs, etc.), and although the Claymores have the demon limbs thing, the female Awakened Beings don’t quite..?

By: Erica Friedman

Erica Friedman — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:51:30 +0000

Joy – I think you pretty much nailed the crumpet there. I agree with everything you say – something I don’t think I have *ever* said before to another reviewer. lol

I have not read the manga at all, although I did see the anime all the way through. I loved the peer-potential for all the relationships, but nothing was ever done with them. They all just sort of nod that yup, their handlers are the problem, not us, then they head out on their mopey way.

Where is the claiming of their power? Where is the determination to tell the organization to screw off?

A male hero would spend most of the series fighting the organization that betrayed him – the Claymores spend the series keeping a low profile so they don’t get in trouble for betraying the organization.

I should also point out that any scene w/out Raki is a good scene.

Thanks for the review. :-)

Cheers,

Erica

Hungry for Yuri? Have some Okazu!
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