Anime Banzai ! - アニメ万歳！- For Fans, By Fans

Thoughts: With Claymore ended, although I’ve been hearing people’s complaints about how the anime adaptation began to fail when it started to deviate from the manga, admittedly it’s not as good as the manga, but perhaps it’s not as bad as people claim. But before that, I would like to share a few thoughts on the final episode.

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Summary(short):As Clare charged at Priscilla, Isley watched from a distance. Even with her legs awakened, Clare was inferior to Priscilla. Just as Priscilla was going to deliver the final blow, Miria, Helen and Deneve arrived to rescue Clare. Meanwhile Jean and Raki made their way towards the volcano. The emotionally unstable Priscilla released her yoki and transformed into her “fully” awakened state. With just one finger she defeated the three claymores. Clare was frustrated since she could not save anyone, reaching for her sword she reminded herself of why she became a warrior. With this, she awakens further.

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Summary(Brief): Sensing Clare’s yoki Priscilla ran away to the opposite direction, leaving Isley there. After defeating Rigardo Clare finds herself unable to suppress her yoki. She asks Helen to take off her head while she is still conscious as a human. Meanwhile Priscilla transforms into her awaken form and regains her memory, she then mistakens Clare’s yoki for Teresa’s and claims that she must kill her. As Helen prepares to strike, Clare felt Priscilla’s yoki and darted off towards it. From a far Galatea also felt something strange, however she was not to interfere because her mission is simply reconnaissance. Miria, Deneve and Helen sets off to catch up with Clare, the rest of the Claymores were to rest and heal. Due to the snow storm it was hard for them to locate Clare, luckily Galatea was there to point them in right direction. Back in town Raki was still crying, suddenly he heard a voice telling him to hurry, it was Jeane. Even though she was heavily injured she was still going to find Clare, with this Raki decides to join her. At the creator of a near by Volcano Clare stood opposite Priscilla, apparently Clare will never forgive her. Isley appears and claims he wish to be an audience to see who the victor will be.

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Summary(short):As the fog disappears it turns out only Clare’s legs have awakened. At first she couldn’t control the extreme speed but gradually she was able to control even the minor movements. Meanwhile Raki arrived but he was shocked to see Clare in her half awakened state. As Clare released more and more yoki, Priscilla started to act strange. The episode ends with Rigardo getting cut into pieces.

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Thoughts: This episode felt painfully dragged out, although the bits regarding Raki are new to me but how they switched back and forth between the fight at Pieta and Raki made it seem slow. A lot of the beginning was repeats from last episode, also fair a bit of flash back for Raki (Clare kissing scene ^^;). I guess it’s their way of “building” up suspense, nevertheless the action scene was good as usual and the music complimented all the flash backs quite well.

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Summary(short): Isley’s army, lead by Rigardo arrives at Pieta. At first the battle was not going so bad for the Claymores, in fact they stood a chance of surviving, however Rigardo decides that this was unacceptable and he unleashes his own power. Meanwhile Raki goes looking for Priscilla, and accidentally he finds out that she is in fact an awakened being. Back at the battle, Rigardo starts to take out the team leaders, one by one the leaders fell. By the end, Miria was the only team leader left. As Deneve mourns over Undine’s death, Clare releases a large amount of yoki.

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Thoughts: So the anime starts to diverge from the manga, for those of you who haven’t read the manga, now is your perfect reason to start! Scenes have been added, where others are taken out, I won’t list them all out, but perhaps one I, as well as many others, were looking forward to was the “sparring” session between Clare and Flora. I am sure they decided to pull it for a good reason, perhaps even ending Claymore as an anime. It is sort of ironic that we are arriving at one of the most exciting part of Claymore and the story starts to be altered.

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Priscilla

[Impressions]

The heat of the battle continues as different teams take on the various Awakened Ones, Undine was an irritating bitch for sure, thinking her musclestrength can overcome everything. Wits and skills plays an important role and luckily Deneve helped out as well. Jeane’s team had a tough time though because her comrades were pretty weak and were no match for the Awakened One which as a thick armor. While Jeane’s potent strength lies in her arm after she charges up, the time taken could prove to be major weakness as others had to cover for her. As Miria’s team, no live coverage in the episode though since she can handle it herself easily. The outcome of the battle was a hard-earned victory for the Claymores, various injured and others tired from the battle, it is now not suprising to recall what Miria had said in the previous episode - Their chances in this battle is a zero . Nevertheless, the outcome shows an important point, the teamwork is necessary to cover each other’s weakness but the difference in the skills may prove to be their biggest challenge. Towards the end of the episode, the scene shifts to Raki in an unknown deserted town. He saves a girl who was nearly hit by falling rubble, the girl was a pretty cute one and Raki is definitely attracted to her. As the girl lurches herself to him to take a closer look, a young looking man with silver hair greeted them. Apparently the girl and that man knows each other. He invites Raki to thier hometown and while doing so, he calls the girl’s name as well - Priscilla.

Needless to say, that man with silvered hair is most likely to be Isley. Seems like they have hid their identities and camoflauged in their human forms and they are not planning to slay Raki just like that. Isley seems friendly though (although we wont know about Priscilla who has a “lust” for his smell :P). Anyway, if thats how the episode advances where Raki will be with Isley, there will be a point when Clare meets them and Raki has to make a choice to protect the young girl again or side with Clare.

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Miria appears again

[Impressions]

Seems like Jeane is gonna stick around Clare until she is able to return her the favor on a equal magnitiude but Clare told her that the debt has been repaid and the reason is that she was able to realize how to control the Flash sword technique. Rubel appears out of a sudden though and Rafaela was with him, he is well aware of Galatea’s lies and the organisation intended to execute her but as she still has her uses and was dispatched to some other dangerous missions. Clare and Jeane was hunted by the Organisation as well and it seems that Rubel is well aware of them, however, he has a mission for Clare - to join the rest in the North on a mission to combat a horde of Awakened Ones. A gathering of 20+ Claymores of different rankings met in the Northern town of Pieta, thier mission is to take out the horde but Miria and a few others (including Clare) is well aware that mission success is probably zero as they are coordinated and under the command of the Silver King of the North, Easley. 3 Awakened Ones were sent as recon to Pieta to test the strengths of the Claymores. The weak ones were slaughtered while the others struggled. Before the mission could even commence, the Claymores were greatly weakened and the 3 Awakened Ones are still alive and in fact planning to take them out. What are the odds? Will there be miracle ? It will be made known in the next episode..sigh..another cliffhanger :P I wonder…there is a Season 2, isnt it? -.-

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The true form? Riful of the West with Duff in her “tentacles”

[Impressions / Summary]

While Jeane had her body being awakened, her mind is still intact. Clare tries her luck and was able to persuade Jeane to return to the norm, Jeane is now half-awakened and she owes Clare her life. With Jeane back in action, this makes the battle against Duff a lil easier. Clare’s persistance suprised Riful especially when she concentrates on the Yoki and distracts Duff while Jeane moves in with her “Drill Attack” to break through his armor. Unfortunately, their hopes of killing Duff were dashed as Riful stops them, apparently with a quick move, her hand turned into tentacles and traps Jeane. While it seems like Riful is open to an attack, Clare advances and hacked her claymore on the head. Riful explodes into many “tentacles” (more like paper strips to me) and the whole area turned into rubble. In the open area, Riful reveals her true form, a titan sized Prime with lots of “tentacles”. Remembering her promise, Riful tells Clare the name of the male Prime of the North. His name is Easley(or was it Isley?) of the North and he has an alias - The Silver King. Riful disappears with Duff in a flash despite her size and Clare realizes how weak and far she is from her aim. Galatea returns back to her original mission to bring Clare back but Clare refused. As Galatea proceeds to fight Clare, Jeane steps in. Oweing her life to Clare, she gives up everything to protect Clare with her own life. Galatea stops for a while and tells them that both of them would not have survived an encounter with the Abyssal Ones. Knowing what that means, the both of them knows that the next time they meet, a fight is most likely inevitable.

Towards the end of this episode, the scene shifts to a battle in heavy snow. A group of Claymores are getting killed by titanic sized Awakened Ones.

Truly an excellent episode in Claymore 17, I didnt expect Jeane to survive and even gave up everything just to protect Clare. With Jeane as part of Clare’s group of “half-awakened” ones, I am wondering whats gonna happen next. Jeane is going to tag along with Clare and protect her. Will Clare really listen to Riful’s words and fight along their side against Easley of the North. The other Prime is not revealed yet and with such powers that Riful have, I cant imagine Clare fighting Easley…damn..cant wait for the next episode.

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Clare

[Impressions]

Time is definitely not on Galatea and Clare’s side as No. 9 Jeane has awakened (as shown in the next ep trailer), the 2 Claymores are definitely stuck as they meet up with one of the toughest Yomas and also one of the 3 Prime Awakened Ones. Yup! That cute looking girl is an Awakened One, a powerful one in fact. The little girl is known as Riful of the West, one of the 3 Primes who had awakened during the peak of their powers, a little past was revealed here as there 3 Primes who were previously No1 Claymores that had transformed. If you guess it right, Priscilla is one of the 3 Primes as indicated by Riful. The other one is a male Awakened One and it seems like Priscilla had joined forces with him and starts to form an army up in the north. Riful is doing the same too hence Jeane was one of the captured Claymores who were tortued to awaken so that she could be Riful’s ally. Just a sidenote, the 3 Primes are known as Dwellers of the Deep as they had hidden themselves well from the outside world while mustering their forces.

Galatea’s veteran experience was very much useful to Clare indeed, and luckily for Clare, Galatea prevented an unnecessary awakening for her as Riful tries to do some cheapskate taunting to invoke Clare’s anger, next episode will be the finale for this arc, honestly, I have no clue how this will end as Clare and Galatea are facing off Riful and that big-ass Yoma and whats more is that Mizuka Nana is voicing Riful ! It will be a pity too if her role just dies off in 3 episodes, aint it? :P

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Galatea? Mission Start!

[Impressions]

Somewhere in the Claymore HQ (yea. place where the old fools reside), Rubel informed about Clare’s disappearance and her life or death is unknown. However, the “boss” wants to confirm that as Clare is the one who inherits Teresa’s blood, the “boss” orders Ermita to dispatch “her” for the mission to find the wherebouts of Clare, the No. 47th Claymore. Judging from the pic above, it is Galatea and yes, we should be expecting something impressive from her since she is a single digit Claymore. Back to Clare, she is now searching for Raki while hiding her identity and keeping a low profile. In a village, a group of Claymores are dispatched to hunt an Awakened One but all of them was captured and one of them managed to escape but was brutally ripped off her limbs and died in front of Clare. Clare took on the mission for her as she ventured into the mountains. The other Claymores were captured and tortured by supposingly someone who looks like a witch (based on the ep title) and an Awakened One. Their aim was to awaken a powerful Claymore and get the Awakened One, Duff to do something to it.

Somehow, the question here are the motives for this “witch” and Duff, are they trying to get a Claymore to awaken and breed with Duff? This somehow just came into my mind. Clare is now facing a major threat now, in fact, 2 threats. A prologue episode to an exciting one, I bet we can see some good fighting scenes in the next episode.

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Ophelia had a peaceful death…

[Impressions]

Meat mincing, flesh tearing. We have it all in this episode and Ophelia retained a last fragment of her humanity as she allows herself to be killed by Clare, ending her misery. Ophelia had changed into an Awakened One and she wasnt aware of it and it was known that her brother was killed by Priscilla. I was expecting a fierce battle and Clare to reign victorious with some action but I was wrong. It was a clean death for Ophelia as she entrusts her revenge for her brother to Clare. The blood of Teresa, the arm of Irene, the body of Clare…and the revenge against Priscilla, all this lies on the burden of the last ranked Claymore with limbs from former top ranking ones.

Irene had given her right arm to Clare sot that she can utilise the flash sword easily and sadly, Rafaela caught up with her Yoki and under the orders, she killed Irene. (it was not shown though). Rafaela looks horrible though, lost an eye and was nowhere elegant looking as Ophelia (though she is scary when she executes her moves) or Galatea. It’s all up to Clare now.

Every episode keeps me anticipating for the next one and yes, this episode as well. At the end of it, the scene shifts to the Association as Rubel is seen appearing before a shrouded figure who seems to be a leader. Something smells fishy. ;)

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She’s alive, former Claymore No2 - Irene.

[Impressions]

Ophelia was one scary bitch in the last episode and she gets worse in this episode. Basically, she is just torturing and playing with Clare like a toy, cutting off her dominant right arm and a left hand. Just as at that critical moment when Ophelia is going to end Clare’s life. Her arrogance was tamed just in time by a mysterious shrouded figure. Ophelia’s attacks were futile and in fact, pathetic against the mysterious warrior. Her attacks were deflected by the warrior and when it was time for the mysterious warrior to counterattack, Ophelia was totally helpless agianst it as the attacks were invisible to her. Flash attacks as it seems, was familar to Clare for she had once seen such an attack by a former Claymore - Irene. Yes, she is alive and she still kick ass as ever despite she lost an arm to Priscilla during her hunt for Teresa. In this episode, I find Irene impressive and she’s cool.

A similiarity between Clare and Irene though, both lost an arm and luckily for Clare, she was able to join back her hand to her arm and Irene has decided to teach Clare her skills, the flash attack. (wow..if u are into chinese martial arts novels..this sounds very familar to u :P ) Back to Ophelia, her pride is hurt …so it was inevitable…she turned into an Awakened One so if Ophelia is scarier in this episode, I wonder how she is like in the next. It would be very exciting in the next episode as Clare faces the Awakened Ophelia. Will the tables be turned and Clare to finish Ophelia or will despair await her ? or maybe…something else ;)

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Ophelia, the No4 Claymore

[Impressions]

Whoa….I didnt expect this to be that fast and here we are at this episode with Clare facing the threat that Miria had mentioned - Ophelia. She is really one scary bit*h indeed, the way she plays around with Clare simply pisses me off. Ignoring about that bit*h, Ophelia first, we shall talk about Raki… he has courage of a man (well..at least give him credit, shouldnt we?). Raki has followed Clare and even shows himself to protect Clare when Ophelia was about to strike Clare. Clare and Raki were forced to part ways as Ophelia is going to hunt Clare down after she is aware of Clare’s identity. The both of them promised each other that they will meet and Raki is going to train harder and one day to protect Clare instead. I am certainly expecting things to happen to Raki and maybe he will make a grand entrance in the later episodes again and protect her. Imo, Clare saw Raki as the younger self of her, those brave words and feelings were like how she was when Teresa’s with her.

Ophelia is evil and a freak but she is strong (well..she’s No4..)..I am wondering how is she going to hunt Clare down. This’s definitely getting more and more exciting..!

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Galatea

[Impressions]
No matter how busy or tired I am, Claymore is the anime that I will definitely watch once it is out, in this chapter consisting of 2 episodes titled as The Slashers, it talks about how 4 Claymores from different rankings (with Clare the last of all) get to meet up with each other to fight against an Awakened One. It is not any normal Awakened one but a male Awakened One. The episodes reveals a little background on how male Awakened Ones came about and how they become Awakened Ones. I am not sure how closely it is to the manga but the anime is definitely one of the my top must-watch list. Back to the 4 eventful Claymores, each of them bears a different background but had a similarity among all. They have faced the state of Awakening before but in certain circumstances they were able to resist it. Miria calls it Half Awakened Ones (phew…luckily it is not another weird term). As all of them faced Awakening before, the after-effects were in a sense…good since in certain conditions, they can execute very special powers unlike normal Claymores (eg: Deneve’s regeneration and Helen’s extended limbs)

While their fight against the male Awakened One was a tough one (or rather life threatening)… one of the top Claymores, Galatea and a handler, Ermita. Miria warns them not to get unwanted attention from the Organisation.. top 5 Claymores were introduced as well (from 1-5): Alicia, Beth, Galatea, Ophelia, Rafaela. Miria described Ophelia as a Claymore who couldnt care less about other comrades’ lives and lusts for battle….sounds like she is scary than anyone else.. (lol). Next episode is the start of another chapter…it is gonna get exciting from here on imo….yea. I am looking forward to it as usual ;)

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