I have a habit of taking grand stories too seriously. When a story tries to weave itself into an epic spanning many dozens of characters with intricate worldbuilding to back it all up. My craving to understand the world skyrockets. At times, I myself simulate scenarios to see how things would happen based on different variables. Although this is quite enjoyable, it puts a story up against a lot of logical scrutiny. If somehow the story fails to stand up against it. The story absolutely fails in my eyes. Most of the time I simply ignore them. Prioritizing enjoyment over inaccuracies. However, this is not the case with grand plot lines. The level of seriousness I consider them is simply unparalleled.
This is the reason why I ended up hating Chainsaw Man as much as I did. It didn’t hold up at all. When a title does hold up though, they sure end up enjoyable. Attack on Titan was one of them. And now Claymore.
The story felt like the Witcher but with a bunch of them playing tag-team. The character design is one of the few places the manga falls short. I couldn’t freaking tell each character apart at times. This isn’t because of shallowness in their characters either. Each character had a distinct personality. The problem is with the art. All Claymores wear the same costume. So the only way we can set them apart is by their faces and hairstyles. When there are dozens of characters to track. It gets confusing real fast.
I have to acknowledge the art. The grotesque horror-inducing Awakened Ones and Youkai sure were something else. They looked so off but fitting at the same time. Just a look at them is enough to drive in the tensions of each encounter.
One huge plus point of this is no matter how grand in scale the story gets. It never loses sight of what drives that scale. The characters. It doesn’t devolve into a never-ending power elevation like Dragon Ball or Inazuma Eleven. Now, this is truly the kind of story that deserves the title EPIC. A really good one at that too. Though it was a bit difficult to get started. I was confident in Norihiro Yagi. I mean he drew Angel Densetsu so who am I to question? Once I started this I couldn’t stop reading. A well-thought-out saga spanning a multitude of characters and a whole lot of scenarios. I’m having trouble believing this isn’t one of those so-called classics.
A huge turning point for the series was Teresa’s arc. After first starting the manga. Although I enjoyed the parent child allure of Claire and Raki. I wondered if it would be entertaining enough to keep me for the next 100 chapters. There’s only so much you can do when it comes to a relationship like that. Then came Clair’s backstory with Teresa. Those two arcs single handedly made me care about the manga and pushed it right out of any preconceptions I had about it. It showed me the potential and the emotional baggage the story could hold. I was immediately entranced.
One thing I love about this is how there isn’t ANY fanfare. I’m not saying fanfare is bad per se. But there’s always a time and place. When you include fanfare in am emotional or dramatic setting. All of the built-up just falls into shambles. It’s like the author isn’t even taking the story seriously. So I’m happy this didn’t go down that path.