Sorry about the bad mspaint editing (it’s not something I know how to do), but I thought it was funny the way Clare describes Helen’s special ability.

Claymore special powers can be pretty fun! Helen’s Go-Go Gadget Arms ability is definitely a winner. Miria’s phantom leaps are fun to watch. Jean, whom we meet later, hilariously, appears to share Gurren-Lagann’s ultimate drill attack, while Galatea’s hidden ability seems to come out of Basilisk. Even Clare will develop some very special techniques.

As for Theresa’s power, she would probably slightly exceed the strongest of the modern ‘normal’ Claymores, being #3 Galatea and #5 Raphaela. (The latter, if she wished to use it, has the power potential of a #1.) As implied, Dark Alicea and Beth are not ‘normal’ Claymores, and break out of the historical power scale.

Finally, I hope Ophelia comes off as quite cheerfully psychotic in the anime. In the manga, she is probably the smiliest of all Claymores, Helen included. She certainly likes fun and games.

I would love to see a band of mercenaries form to stage a coup against the organization, would make for some awesome anime.

I don’t even like grouping Claymore into the shounen genre, as doing so compares it to the likes of Bleach, Naruto and One Piece. But it is indeed one of the better shounen themed animes out there.

On a side note, seems like I’ve been getting a lot of fansubbers visiting here lately. I baited one of Hitohira’s fansubbers into an earlier post, another one invited me to join an upstart team as an editor and now you.

After visiting the sites of the teams that are subbing Claymore and checking out their member list, and assuming you’re using the same screen name, I’m going to go ahead and guess you’re from Eclipse. If so, keep up the good work! You guys are one of the best groups out there in terms of speed and quality. And if I guessed wrong, then uh…sorry D=

@ twsl: Nope =P my will to stay away from the manga is still hanging on by a thread. I just put two and two together based on Miria’s description and her behaviour during th flashback. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the scene was an add in, and if it was I give them credit for integrating it seamlessly.

@ Silvering: Sounds like Claymore is going to be packed with goodness to the very end, I just hope the pacing of the story can keep up with the pacing of the action, and from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like it will.

Well, Clare and the rest will need their leaps in power. From here on out, it will be Awakened Being after Awakened Being when its not high powered Claymores that Clare faces.

So, look forward to even crazier and crazier looking Awakened Beings, starting next week.

And the Awakened Beings we meet get more powerful, too, developing from last week’s ‘zomg~ LOTS of armz!’ towards ‘blots out the sky with its very presence.’

@twsl–

As for Ophelia being in Miria’s flashback, her present was highlighted much more than in the manga. Its a good thing, since it sets up Ophelia’s mania for the next few episodes.

Don’t be too disappointed about the “rapid growth”, Clare’s special skill demonstrated in this battle is _extremely_ situational. Don’t worry, she’s not about to run around and pwn the world, just the opposite in fact.

Also, the point was not to say that in group battles Miria would whoop Alicia (that goes with a major heh!), it was to indicate that Miria is an awesome team player, which garnered her some reputation and fame among her colleagues.

I considered this episode to be the turning point of Claymore: Suddenly the former settings (Claymores/Organization good, Yoma/Awakened Ones bad) are ripped asunder, and what remains is very bitter, grey and particularly worrying. Clare just lost her foundation. Instead of simply chasing after Priscilla for revenge, she finds herself targeted by the very people who are supposed to care for her. ARE the awakened ones really completely evil? Or are they rather only cast-asides fighting for their lives? What will Miria’s investigations turn up? Is there going to be an underground recruitment against the Organization?

This episode proved that Claymore is head and shoulders above the Shonen action genre. Suddenly some long-range storylines spawn, and the former black-and-white picture gets alot more detailed, blurring the boundaries between good and evil.

Enjoy ;)