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REVIEW: Claymore GN 27


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TheMorry



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 658
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 11:04 am Reply with quote
Now lets wait and hope they make a full remake of the anime with the complete story of the manga. Claymore was one of the first anime 2-3 years ago that really got me hooked to anime.
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BluExocet



Joined: 04 Mar 2010
Posts: 64
Location: The High Mountain
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:16 pm Reply with quote
This volume, and Teresa's "return", has been a long time coming and honestly kind of worth the slough that was everything between volume 12-26. Yeah, taking down the Organization and adding some extra world-building was neat, but with the oodles and oodles of warriors thrown in, I had a hard time caring about anyone but the main cast.

As to the final scene, that's Ilena, one of the warriors from Teresa's generation, that gave Claire her arm from volume 7. After 20 volumes, I totally forgot that even happened.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4089
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 1:47 pm Reply with quote
I've seen the anime and I've read a lot of the manga but when I read blurb that this was the final volume of Claymore, I only thought "Well, that's nice."

Whether anime or manga, this was the series that couldn't get anything to matter. Ranked Claymores, Awakened Beings, people, demons as I think the original premise was killing them to save the humans and, well, "other". No matter the outcome, no matter who if anyone died or won, it didn't matter. The most I could muster for anything was "Well, that happened." Claire versus Ophelia? That happened. Theresa being hilariously beheaded by Priscilla? That happened. Claymores come in and save another Claymore from an Awakened Being only to become the bigger threat- well that happened constantly.

What were the stakes? Claymores aren't human as I think they're kind of dead. The Organization was inconsequential and the ultimate Awakened Beings were the closest things to actual living creatures in this series with goals and desires. No, that's not right either as they were too reactionary to really count. Honestly, the whole series was a chain reaction of reactionary events and while I'm not going to read it, the finale sounds more like that the series didn't go full circle but rather that there was only one thing that happened that matter and the final volume concluded it. Continued it or maybe even ruined it?

See, it wasn't that Priscilla killed Theresa but rather that Theresa saved Claire. But since the series framed it as a flashback for someone else's POV- get used to it as it happens constantly- the best the series could muster was "and that little girl was me, Claire. Who's also Theresa, kind of."

And?

"I'm mad! Well, she's mad, I'm just kind of irritated because I'm not allowed to have an emotion as a Claymore, never mind that so many others kind of do so maybe I'm just dull. anyway, I'm on a mission to avenge my... someone. Mother-father-master figure, maybe? At the very least, she was more interesting than me so maybe that's it?"

And it goes on from there. Anime or manga, I'm glad it's finally dead. Let it rest in peace, please.
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 2:27 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Artistically speaking, Nagi maintains high standards


I think you misspelled Yagi's name here Razz

Quote:
Whether anime or manga, this was the series that couldn't get anything to matter. Ranked Claymores, Awakened Beings, people, demons as I think the original premise was killing them to save the humans and, well, "other". No matter the outcome, no matter who if anyone died or won, it didn't matter.


Not really sure what your complaint is here; whether or not the story invested you is one thing, but this series was always a character focused one. What 'stakes' are there? How about the warriors' humanity? This was the consistent and recurring theme.

Ironically, a lot of your complaints are kind of the point. The Claymore's aren't human, and most have nothing to live for. If they don't find a purpose for living, or lose hold of their human side, they either become obsessed psychopaths (like Ophelia) or lose control and become full monsters (Awakened Beings). Whether or not this makes you 'care', there are clearly personal stakes involved.

As far as i can decipher, your last complaints are about Clare, and the way she acts? I personally felt it was very believable behavior for someone who was 1. Abused for years by cannibal monsters 2. Had her adoptive parent killed in front of her 3. Was subjected to an adolescence of pain and death, dedicated to resolving her own survivors guilt. You should expect some emotional repression.

Again, not everyone can love every series. If you want to discuss it a bit i'd love to.

Personally, I was completely satisfied by the way this series concluded. The stakes may not have been on a 'save the world' level, but that was never what the series was going for. While there were some slow bits in the 2nd half, i felt it ended strongly.
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unitmikey



Joined: 15 Feb 2013
Posts: 286
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 3:07 pm Reply with quote
This is the only volume of Claymore I have yet to purchase and in a way I'm dreading reading it because despite the splashes of storytelling mediocrity, this manga is relatively close to me. It may have stretched out a little too far and lost some of it's "oomf" but I can't help but remember the beauty that was the flashback that started in volume three.

I always thought that the ending for the anime was actually very satisfying, but it sounds like the manga ending might actually be better (but perhaps I'm biased because Teresa was always my fav).
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 4380
Location: New York City,New York,USA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 4:42 pm Reply with quote
BluExocet wrote:
This volume, and Teresa's "return", has been a long time coming and honestly kind of worth the slough that was everything between volume 12-26. Yeah, taking down the Organization and adding some extra world-building was neat, but with the oodles and oodles of warriors thrown in, I had a hard time caring about anyone but the main cast.

As to the final scene, that's Ilena, one of the warriors from Teresa's generation, that gave Claire her arm from volume 7. After 20 volumes, I totally forgot that even happened.


that there was the big surprise that spoiler[rafelea spared her].

regardless it was a decent ending, however clarice's fate definitely left a sour taste in my mouth.even though it was to prevent miwata from becoming a second priscilla.


Last edited by jr240483 on Tue Nov 17, 2015 6:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 4:44 pm Reply with quote
unitmikey wrote:

I always thought that the ending for the anime was actually very satisfying, but it sounds like the manga ending might actually be better (but perhaps I'm biased because Teresa was always my favorite).


I agree that the anime ending wasn't that bad. Yeah, the pacing slows to a crawl, but the anime was written well enough to build up to it, and it felt like a natural ending to the story (as presented at the time). It was definitely better than the Soul Eater ending (good lord...).
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18211
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 7:04 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
Honestly, the whole series was a chain reaction of reactionary events and while I'm not going to read it, the finale sounds more like that the series didn't go full circle but rather that there was only one thing that happened that matter and the final volume concluded it.

Uh, no, the final volume actually does go full circle (and in more ways than you might expect). That's a big part of why the final volume should be satisfying to long-term fans and why I rated it so high when I would have (or did) put several of the preceding volumes in the C range.

It's totally cool if you didn't connect to the story at all (Merxamers explains pretty well what the series was actually about, so I won't rehash that). What's not cool is you leveling criticisms towards something you haven't read, and without qualifying them, too.
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 2007
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 1:02 am Reply with quote
Loved it all the way through! Now own the whole manga series.

Would love a new full anime adaptation. The first one was good but I dislike premature endings, though of course there wasn't anything they could do at the time, t'was just the way it is.
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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:25 am Reply with quote
I'm in the process of re-reading the series. I actually had some difficulty understanding what exactly was going on for a while because events seemed to stretch on for way too many volumes.

That said, a re-read of all the books really helped to tie everything together, since I am not waiting months between volumes. I'm still unclear how the mutated Riful creature came to be. At least the mutated Dauf was explained. Frankly I kind of felt bad for the two lovebirds.

Also, I really wish there was more about the long war on the other continent. Certainly that's one unresolved/unanswered story. And it would have been nice if a few extra panels had been devoted to showing how some of the warriors were doing in an epilogue.
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pikabot



Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 168
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:38 am Reply with quote
Ah, Claymore. On paper, it sounds completely up my alley. In practice, however, it was far too boring for me to ever care about. I think the art needs to take the blame for that; it was an action series where the action never popped, and because the visual storytelling was weak, the fight scenes were always full affairs at best.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 515
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:19 pm Reply with quote
Like many a manga series before this, it dragged along for a bit too long (my brother and I had a joke going that Yagi would go through all the hairstyles possible for a blonde before ending it). But the ending was very satisfying and tied up most loose ends rather well. Seeing Teresa again was pretty exciting.
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Bloodgod



Joined: 30 Jan 2014
Posts: 59
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, the second half had some pacing issues and was a bit vague/confusing at times, but I loved Claymore. The ending was pretty perfect, and as Teresa fan it was awesome to see her again.

nechronius wrote:
Also, I really wish there was more about the long war on the other continent. Certainly that's one unresolved/unanswered story.


I feel like this could be another series on to itself. The story on the Claymore island is complete, but there could be another whole saga there.
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:56 pm Reply with quote
nechronius wrote:

That said, a re-read of all the books really helped to tie everything together, since I am not waiting months between volumes. I'm still unclear how the mutated Riful creature came to be.


Yeah.. there are several things like that part that could be justified through some reader sleuthing, but aren't explained very well in the explicit text. But hey, it looked really cool?... :/

Have fun re-reading it! I find that it's a series much better suited for a marathon read
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Dayblack



Joined: 08 Jun 2015
Posts: 148
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:40 pm Reply with quote
This is one of the manga Madhouse adapted wrong. -_-
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