• What’s the difference between the first chapter of a fanfiction I’m not going to read more of and the latest story-arc in Naruto? One swiftly and clumsily eliminates old characters, introduces a host of new characters including a new love interest for a pre-existing character, in a burst of enthusiasm boosts said pre-existing character to new, unrivaled heights of power with little regard to explanation or logic, and generally fails to generate any interest in where the story is going. The other I frequently encounter on Fanfiction.Net.

Record of Lodoss War

• This anime is way, way more boring than I remember it being. I never got around to watching the second half.
• The only amusing bit is noting just how obvious it is that this is based on someone’s D&D campaign.
• Okay, and marveling at how it starts in media res, then promptly goes back in time and tells the long, boring beginning in full detail. Then, when it reaches the point where the mission the characters were on (but did not complete) in the first episode begins, it jumps forward to after that mission, leaving the various very important events and revelations to be slowly revealed in flashback.
• The first time I watched the show, I spent almost ten minutes trying to find the episode I’d accidentally skipped.
• The art is occasionally very pretty, though.

American Comics (About Which No One Reading This Really Cares)

• I’ve been on something of a comics… um… acquiring binge, lately. Exploring DC seriously for the first time, really. Lots of good stuff there, though plagued with many of the same sort of stupid editorial decisions, “big crossover event”-driven plotting, and occasionally just plain bad writing as Marvel.
• Speaking of Marvel, at least the books spinning out of Civil War have been fairly well-done and interesting, even if that event was… not. The pro-registration side is still direly in need of a more favorable portrayal, though, even in their own books.

Claymore Anime

• The first episode has aired. Like the manga, it starts off a little weak, but it was well-done. I’m looking forward to the rest.

This Post…

• …has a lot of categories.

Aaron Nowack…

• …is lazy, and hasn’t posted to this blog or worked seriously on his fanfiction in too long.

The first up is a manga that’s already up to six volumes released in America, Claymore.

So, the story opens in a village under siege by Yoma, man-eating monsters who can take human form. The only hope is to hire one of the mysterious Claymore, half-Yoma warriors who are the only beings that can detect and fight the Yoma. As it turns out, the Claymore that comes to the village is female, and the only person who interacts with the feared hunter on any real level is a young boy named Raki. Plot happens, multiple Yoma are defeated in fairly episodic fashion, and ultimately Raki winds up joining the woman – Clare – on her journey.

At this point, you’re probably yawning and thinking that you’ve heard this story a few dozen times before. And you’re probably right. Except that:

• Raki has no hidden powers that emerge, showing him to be destined to be a powerful Claymore or what-have-you. (In fact, all the Claymores are female.)
• Nor does he wind up at the center of an ever-growing harem of super-powered women. In fact, there’s little romantic in his and Clare’s relationship; it’s much more of a brother/sister or even mother/son relationship.
• As the AnimeOnDVD review that introduced me to the manga points out, the series in general feels like a seinin manga aimed at older readers than something that runs in Shounen Jump (which Claymore does). Perhaps because of this, though, it doesn’t use the distracting – and, to me, frequently annoying – levels of gore or nudity that type of manga tends to revel in. That’s not to say that there isn’t gore or nudity in Claymore, because there is, but it’s much more limited and subdued than something like Gantz.

Claymore’s not perfect. The first volume in particular could be a little stronger, and the various Claymores are – deliberately but still annoyingly – very close in character design, making them occasionally hard to tell apart if one’s not paying close attention. Thus far, though, it’s shown a decent variety in stories, an admirable reluctance to fall back on cliche, and interesting characters and plots, and I think it’s worth recommending.

Also, there’s apparently soon going to be a Claymore anime. There’s no guarantee that it’ll be any good, of course, but I’m looking forward to seeing it.