It’s disappointing that one of Claymore’s strengths, its strict adherence to the source material (a manga of the same name, if you don’t know), was dashed to pieces after episode 19. Had it not deviated from the manga, the show would’ve ended beautifully (end of the Northern Campaign arc), and Madhouse would be poised to create a second season once enough material has been delivered by the manga.
(pics to come later)
While the last episode of the show has strikingly beautiful animation and vibrant colors (on the apple and the sky), it addresses virtually no problems at all. In fact, it spawned a lot of new ones — Jean dies, the Fab Four officially desert the Organization (except that Clare isn’t coming with Helen, Deneve and Miria), and Easley is wiser after Priscilla’s humiliation. We will probably never see the Magnificent Seven once a second season comes.
I theorize that Madhouse created original material for the show (or rather, pulled it out of their asses) in order to make a second season as soon as next year. Considering that Norihiro Yagi’s Claymore comes out once a month (and for the past few months or so we’ve only got some marginally relevant sidestories), it’d take a couple of years before Madhouse would have more material to animate. However, they pulled off a Robert Jordan (rest in peace) on us, that is, cop-out something hideously bad enough to make the rest of the story stink. It has always been Clare’s goal to kill Priscilla. While her attachment to Raki is already commendable, I think that it shouldn’t, no, can’t, rival her drive for revenge. Teresa’s death rid her of her only true friend at that time, added more emotional scars, and cost Clare her humanity as well. Raki’s arrival only helped her get to her goal a little closer, if any. Well, it is certainly arguable that if not for Raki, Clare would never have gotten her Near-Awakening HAX (NAHAX), would never have met Helen, Deneve, Miria, Ophelia, Irene, Jean and Flora, and would never have faced powerful Awakened Ones like Dauf, Riful and Ligardes. However, as he stands, Raki became a total prick in episode 26, simply because he denied the audience the satisfaction of seeing batshit insane Priscilla finally die before Clare’s hand.
I do believe that if Clare hadn’t listened to Raki and killed Priscilla, the resulting torrent of emotions would probably completed her Awakening. However, I think that would have been a better way to end the show. Claymore is Claymore, not Clare the Claymore. We could always use more Helen, Deneve, Miria and Galatea. Perhaps the plot of the second season could be Clare’s friends trying to kill her.
Even if most of my gripes are related to the manga, even the anime-only patrons of Claymore would have complained about the ending. Indeed, the best part of the show was the Teresa arc. However, the Magnificent Seven is also some kickass reading, and would gain some levels of badass if animated. But in the anime, we’re back to square one in the end. Everyone’s back to what they’ve been doing, if only a little wiser. Ugh.
Still, the anime is worth watching. I’ve recommended it to a good number of friends, and all of them have liked it so far (though I don’t know if any one of them has finished the show yet), especially the Teresa arc. Now, that was a real tearjerker.
