Claymore, gender, and the male gaze

[oyceter]

Claymore readers might be interested in this post on women warriors and the male gaze. Spoilers through v. 15. I kind of noodled in the comments, but my brain is too dead to come up with anything coherent.

Comments

[willow]

My original love for Claymore's art was all about how Claymores are blonde with silver eyes and yet the art managed to make them all look different. I disagree with the thought they have the same body type, because I didn't see that. Miria originally seemed more muscular to me than Helen, Deneve and Clare - with Deneve having a seeming swimmer's body. Theresa also seemed heftier to me.

But my original focus was on how with a touch of bangs here, and short or long hair, they looked different. I could keep track of them, unlike the blondes in DC's universe - where I have to look at their uniforms to figure out who Stargirl is from Supergirl from Wondergirl from Spoiler/the new Batgirl.

I can even remember Claymore names; Illene, Theresa, Clare, Helen, Deneve, Detrietch, Galatea, A/B (Alice/Beth), Yuma, Rafaela...

If you've paid any attention to my reviews of books (or movies), I tend to be all about the descriptors; 'Blonde Girl With The Star' and 'The One With The Sword'. Claymore's characters stick with me - maybe it's the hero shots. Maybe it's the plot. But I'm remembering them

[oyceter]

I don't particularly remember the body types, but I am extremely grateful that the warriors all have different hair! I usually have very poor facial recognition skills, so being able to distinguish between all the characters, including some minor ones, is excellent!