Late to the party, but not by much this time around. Happy to see something new from Yagi-sensei. Just found out and read the oneshot chapter. Made some notes of my initial thoughts as I was reading it, so this should be interesting to share:
1) On the very first few panels we see something illustrated we didn't in the whole of Claymore as far as I remember: some actual wildlife in the woods and setting. I loved the natural setting and background of Claymore, but it always felt sort of empty, outside of its own original inhabitants. Some nice little detail, and something I'd hope Yagi-sensei starts integrating more in his works
2) The main character just screams "Shonen Jump" design. Can't help but notice.
3) The mountainous background shown in this oneshot reminds me a lot of some of the landscapes and montainous regions found on the Claymore continent.
4) Was inevitably trying to think of a character in Claymore that would look similar to Leana. When I saw the color page of her then unkown character showing backside, I thought she looked like Teresa from her back (like everyone I guess), and the way her hair was floating. Now having a proper look of her front, hairstyle and facial features, I thought she resembled a bit Octavia in design but with flashes and a general vibe of kindness from Cynthia (specially the eyes). That said, Leona is quite unique and a pretty good design.
5) Which again makes me think, this oneshot started in a similar place where Claymore finished, that being back at Irene's familiar hut, in a valley surrounded by mountains. In the case here, Rashil and his grandpa live in a remarkably similar landscape, next to the woods and do similar daily tasks such as wood chopping. Found this quite striking and probably deliberate. Always found the place very special, and so does Yagi-sensei I think.
6) A coup led by military on the moon planet/country huh... yeah, also like Claymore.
7) BAM!!! The Yagi trademarked "face smashed to the ground". Somewhere in the Claymore-verse Clare is relieved of not being her face in the ground (or bed) this time around.
8) "Super powered warriors from an old war, who were deemed too powerful and had to be discarded"... This kind of trope is also found in Claymore in some form. Differently so, but can't help but draw the connection.
Well, enjoyed this quite a bit overall.
The one-shot format doesn't help with it. It was too fast, the "I couln't protect the thing that I had to protect the most" was used whereas he knows her for, at best, five minutes ?
It did feel forced, even if it may suit the rather immediate impulse of kids that age trying to find love at first sight, which might be appealing to the WSJ public. Outside of excusing it for being a oneshot, I find it easily remediable though. Allowed more chapters, we could see a flashback of Rashill with his gramps somewhere in the story, where he is given a precious lesson, then learning to protect what he may one day find valuable, or something of the like that would put the first chapter in context.
He's usually more subtle. He could do more mature things.
He could, but then again this is being published at WSJ right? That alone could sort of give a bit the mindset that Yagi-sensei has right now towards the public he wants to reach. Even Claymore had quite the affair with WSJ midway through its serialization and changed a bit in tone.
And the thing seemed to be a pilot more than a one-shot...
Yup. I wonder what will be of it now. I'm seeing two scenarios right now, either the decision to not serialize has already been taken, but the producers decided it would be interesting enough to publish it in the magazine as a oneshot (which they did), or if they did so to gauge the interest it could rise for a serialization.
I hope it will be serialized as well, needless to say.
