All right, time to get serious. Clare is on the run, she is being chased by Ophelia, and she has to leave Lucky, or rather, the two have to go their separate ways.
In this episode, Clare, played by Kuwashima Hoko, showed some hints of emotion. Hoko-chan did particularly well near the end, when she said a grim and emotionally restrained prayer for Lucky to a certain “god of Labola.” We get no references to any gods except in this episode, I wonder if in the manga there were some references?
When one’s creating a world, he or she has to put down details that he or she didn’t at first thought of. I personally found the prayer, which is like a reference, a little sudden. I mean, if she simply said: “God” then I can understand, because that’s like a convention in almost any storytelling, save fantasy stories (Claymore is a fantasy story – I guess) but she said a certain name – god(s) of Labola. We got no references but this one. I wonder if these gods will play some role later?
Back to Clare. She is sent to Ophelia by the Organization and supposed to fight alongside her against an “Awakened,” but in fact, as we’ll see later, Ophelia was good enough for the job on her own. For some reason, I’m beginning to think that the Organization’s keep on sending people who has the awakening experience to their deaths. That may be a good idea for the Organization because those who have completely awakened are almost indestructible and cannot be fully controlled, unless high ranking (single- digit-numbered) Claymores are sent to them. However, it’s rather clear now that Clare and others (including Miriya the Mirage) who decided to get together and find out something about the Organization are being set up in a certain way. This, makes the shonen fallency more reasonable (you know, keep fighting, leveling up and all that) – after all, to survive, it seems to me that Clare will have to kill or permanently disable Ophelia, and anyone else stronger that the Organization will send after.
What the organization is trying to do seems rather simple – keeping all under control and when there are some who aren’t or who can’t be under control, let them get together and kill each one another. Thinking from a group point of view, I personally don’t see this as a bad thing because while the aim of the organization seems to be getting rid of demons and protecting humans for a fee (although, what Teresa said before makes me wonder if the Organization created the demons after all, and decided to become the merchant of death…), it is true that the soldiers they use can be even more deadly then the demons, and it looks to me that the organization really don’t have the physical power to confront people who aren’t under control, so making them fighting each other is the best way to keep them under control. It’s an old strategy employed by many kings, emperors and leaders before.
Eventually, however, some of the awakened women who are not demons will have to get to the core of this Organization. What is entirely clear is that this is more than a tale of revenge – this is better thought out than an average shonen anime, which after the tale of revenge arc ends the author then thinks of some greater plots/schemes on the spot to keep readers/viewers. For this one at least, it’s better plotted, better thought out, and better organized. However, I don’t think anything truly shocking in terms of overall plot and scheme will jump out later and surprise me.
At the end of this episode, Ophelia is more monstrous than the demon girl, and Clare is on the run, separated from Lucky. Before the end of the episode, Clare prayed for Lucky to certain gods. Oh, and there was the shonen Otaku fulfillment similar to Misato kissing Shinji scene. I guess many men’s inner child wish for an beautiful older woman to take care of them. Or this is a Japanese cultural thing. Not too sure, but the idea of a tall, leggy, pale supermodel like woman bending down and kissing someone (OK, me) is certainly very appealing. Even though in real life, I would rather be with someone at least 3 years younger and shorter than me. In any case, what will Clare do to defeat Ophelia (I guess a power up and leveling up is in order, eh)?
97% recommended for your daily anime diet.
It’s not “Labola”, it’s “Rabona”. Rabona is the holy city where they met the first Voracious Eater.
In the manga, Clare’s prayer is like “God of Rabona, please protect the boy who carries your sword.” That’s because Raki received his sword as a gift from a Rabona’s guard. There is no particular significance in her prayer, only an expression of her concern and affection towards the boy.
Oh yeah. Thanks.