Claymore 15
July 12th, 2007 by Shirukii
New characters and more plot development, yet another solid episode of Claymore as I’ve come to expect. I wouldn’t call Claymore’s plot complex or “deep” by any stretch of the imagination, but I find that each passing episode throws out enough information to form a guess at where the plot is going, but then head off in a totally different direction, and this episode is probably no exception…
Episode Rating: 8.5/10
Clare’s handler, Rubel, delivers the report to the Claymore Organization that Clare has been MIA for three months now, after the incident with Ophelia. After reviewing the case, they concluded that Ophelia’s death by Clare’s hand was a very unlikely scenario given the difference in strength/rank. However the organization knows that Clare is somewhat of an anomaly, given the base of her claymore powers, Teresa’s flesh and blood. To be certain of Clare’s fate, the organization decides to send out Galatea, the perfect choice for such a mission, given her remarkable ability to sense yoki.
Meanwhile, we see what Clare’s been up to for the past few months, going from town to town in search of Raki, disguised as a male warrior. With such a vague description of him, the best advice she’s offered is to head to the city of Hanel, a frequent checkpoint for travelers.
Clare’s first day in Hanel proves fruitless, and to make things worse she is told by the inn keeper that a team of claymore are currently in town, most likely a team for an awakened being hunt. Since Clare is using the medicine that suppresses her yoma powers, her ability to sense the yoki of others is weakened as well. Luckily, the team’s highest ranked member is rank #9, Jean, who is unable to sense Clare’s presence.
Clare’s search for Raki continues the next day and proves as useless as the first until she overhears a pair of siblings talking about a fountain that depicts the two goddesses Teresa and Clare. Initially interested after remembering Teresa telling the same story, the story behind their names, she becomes even more intrigued when the sister mentions explaining the story to a young traveler.
Further questioning suggests that the traveler might have been Raki, but it has been ten days since that time and he’s most likely long gone from town at this point.
Clare’s search is cut short when one of the four claymore from the awakened being hunt stumbles into town on the verge of death, begging for someone to go help her comrades. Clare rushes to her side and asks what the situation is. It seems that the being they were sent to hunt was much stronger than they had been told, the other team members are still alive, but there isn’t much time left and with the last of her strength she begs Clare to go help them.
Before setting out to help, Clare asks the townspeople not to fear her fallen comrade and bury her like they would a normal human.
On the way to the site, Clare is confronted by a group of villagers who tell her that the path through the mountain isn’t safe at the moment and that she would be better taking a detour around. But with the effects of the medicine gone, Clare sees the group of men for the yoma they really are and doesn’t hesitate to cut through them.
Although she has no trouble dispatching the team of scouts, Clare notes that it’s odd to see yoma working in an organized group, almost as if they were under orders from a superior…
Meanwhile, the situation inside the cave of the awakened one proves to be hopeless for the team of claymore. They were captured by the loli looking awakened being and her henchman, Duff, and are being tortured in an effort to force their awakening, the alternative if they don’t do so being death. Jean resists the overwhelming urge to do so, but her friend Kathia is not as strong willed. Upon awakening, Duff provokes her to attack him in order to gauge her strength and destroys her when he finds it to be inadequate.
Soon after Clare defeats the team of yoma scouts, the loli and Duff notice her presence. Clare’s small yoki force misleads them into thinking that she’s nothing but a weakling and the loli gives Duff permission to do whatever he wants to her. Most likely a fatal underestimation, given Clare’s recent defeat of one of the top five…
Thoughts
Hmm, reverse trap Clare. Sort of want…
Clare has become quite the warrior in the past few months. Seeing as the organization hasn’t been able to track her, she must be keeping her yoki suppressed as much as she can. But judging from her brief encounter with the low level yoma, her confidence in battle and her proficiency with the Flash Sword has increased considerably.
I still think her attachment to Raki is a bit too shallow though. While I can understand her going to such lengths to be reunited with him, I never understood why she felt such an attraction to him, her feelings are too strong to merely be a sense of obligation given her history with Teresa. Meh.
Anyways, moving on. It’s time for some more crackpot theories.
Judging from what I’ve seen, I’m now entirely convinced that the organization is not on the side of law and order. Not so much the meeting at the beginning of the episode, because I could understand any organization wanting to find out the whereabouts and movements of a possible rogue member.
My suspicions are more centered on the awakened being missions. From what we’ve seen, every single mission to hunt for an awakened being has led to the creation of more awakened beings. These occurrences can’t be considered mere coincidences can they? How is it possible that the organization can’t gather proper intelligence before sending a team on a hunt. With tools like Galatea at their disposal, there’s no excuse for sending claymore into battle so ill prepared.
I can only conclude that the organization is doing this on purpose. Given the oddly organized behaviour of the yoma of late, would it be a stretch to think that it’s really the organization’s doing? We’ve already established the fact that the organization is fully aware that their decisions are periodically causing the birth of awakened beings. Is it possible that they’re doing this on purpose? Claymore are half human and half yoma, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that their alliance with humans is merely a pretext to breed awakened beings, which is essentially a form of evolution.
This would also be a nice set up for the overall plot of Claymore. If my crazy idea proves to be remotely correct, a war between the betrayed claymore and the organization’s awakened beings. It’s a simplistic theory that I think would pan out well and in the context of the story, makes sense (so far). But little in Claymore has gone according to my thoughts so far, so I’ll go ahead and assume that I’m completely wrong this time too.
Another thing that I noticed in this episode is the similarity in the terrain and weather of the opening scene showing the headquarters of the Claymore Organization and the current location of Raki. The seemingly identical sandstorm suggests that the two are one in the same. It’s a stretch, but it would be quite awesome to see Raki have a chance encounter with the organization…even perhaps become a claymore himself?
On a less praising ending note, I’ve only recently noticed that the animation of Claymore isn’t exactly the best I’ve ever seen. In the past I’ve had trouble screencapping some scenes because the in between frames were nothing more than blurring or tweening of previous frames, creating a double image. But the more I consciously think about it, the more I notice that the majority of Claymore is comprised of panning still frames and simple animation overlays.
For example, during the fight with the awakened Ophelia last episode, when Clare uses the Flash Sword the in between frames are nothing more than pre-drawn blurs with air trails on top, as opposed to seeing Clare’s arm in a still shot.
Not that I’m complaining, the animation of Claymore’s fight scenes is secondary to the story, but I still would have liked to see more fluidly animated scenes. But I suppose not all companies have Gainax level budgets that enable them to dish out masterpieces like Gurren Lagann (over 22,000 frames, etc.)
And now to endure another week long wait for the next episode ;_; Still haven’t given in to the manga yet though!
~ Shirukii ~
12 Responses to “Claymore 15”
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No, Raki doesn’t become a Claymore, sadly. Your theory about the organization isn’t all that wrong though, it’s mentioned later that they prefer to have their warriors die early, because those who live long enough start asking the wrong questions. That’s probably about it.
I gave up and read the manga, you’re going to have a hell of a time trying to abstain from reading it in the arc after this. Especially during the JESUS CHRIST IT’S A LION appearance. Wait for it.
Ah, oh well, it’d be too easy if things were that easily predicted.
But as I am safe inside my car, I believe I will be able to resist the temptation to read the manga :3
I wouldn’t say ur theory about the organization is wrong but it just wasn’t in the right direction. I am not say i am completely right about the organization but from what i understand so far i will give it my best to explain u. First, the organization want to create something that stronger than Yoma and they got what we called right now is Claymore and Claymore is something that they can control it but as we know in the preview Ep, the first round of Claymores are Male but they are easily became Awaken Being and it is something that they cant control it. So the organization create Female Claymore that can be used much longer than Male before they reached their limit. But it seem like the organization wasn’t fulfill their desire with just using Female Claymore because they know Awaken Being is much stronger than Claymore, so maybe they even want to control Awaken Being too(I may stop here because the more i say, the more i hint to the spoiler.). And u should already know that Claymore is just as a tool to organization, so they can use Claymore to test anything they want but there is one question left, why the organization want something that so much powerful for? i still have no idea about it yet, lol.
From the first 2 Eps i also have the idea that Raki would become a Claymore somehow but after one Ep to the other it seem like he wont become a claymore so easily, So at this point for Raki to became a Claymore is something seem to be impossible. But for me to guess it, i would say before this guy become a Claymore he maybe even able to beat some lower rank Claymore. (remember what i said, so u will understand it later or maybe i want this path for him)
“But with the effects of the medicine gone, Clare sees the group of men for the yoma they really are and doesn’t hesitate to cut through them.” You r wrong here, if u notice it a little bit u will see that Clare already switch her normal eyes to silver eyes before she left the town.
the most impression of this ep is not about her emotion about Raki or her fighting skill has improved but there is something that makes me feel so tough when i heard it from the girl who is able to run away from the batlle and said “someone, help my comrade..” instead of “someone, help me..” Im sorry i dont know how to explain it in word but if u think about it carefully u may got what i mean.
Right now we know our Clare has 2 skills are reading-yoki and flash blade one defend and one offense and we r looking forward to see what Galatea has, i would recommend u, Shirukii, to take a bit focus on Galatea on the next ep when u watch it.
Well, considering Gelata’s Tracking skills, it’s pretty much garanteed that Clare is going to blow her cover after this arc, and possibly drag others down along with her. I can’t get my hands on the manga, so I don’t know, but seeing what happened to Irene after she used Flash sword, this might be the case.
One big wildcard about this series is Raki. During the first few episodes, Raki main serves the role of morale booster and make sure that we don’t spend episodes watching Clare in slience, but as the series progresses, Raki started to “want to help” Clare in her battles, especially after the Male awakened arc, and was forced to leave when opphelia came after them. After this episode, it really makes me wonder if Raki doesn’t eventually develop some sort of skill that puts him on par with a few low level Youma.
Don’t read the manga. Just don’t. DO NOT.
It’s much more enjoyable if the surprises whack you in the face unexpected. And there WILL be enough of them.
About the budget, I think it’s because Madhouse has produced much more series than Gainax in the same time, though.
@ Siva: I never thought about the organization doing all this simply to try and control the awakened beings for power, I suppose that makes sense too.
>> if u notice it a little bit u will see that Clare already switch her normal eyes to silver eyes before she left the town.
I know o.o that’s what I meant when I said the medicine wore off.
@ Alias: I have a hard time imagining Raki as anything but a weakling. He’s the sort of character that reminds us of the harsh realities of the world, that even though he wants desperately to become stronger and protect those he loves, sometimes life isn’t fair. But meh, who knows.
@ Mentar: I’ve managed to stay away so far! =D
@ hoho: It’s probably not fair to compare the two production companies, Gainax has an everlasting cash cow (NGE).
@Mentar: “Don’t read the manga. Just don’t. DO NOT.” if u have a skill that can let u enjoy ur anime even after u have read the manga then there is nothing to bother u about reading the manga, but it could be much better for u to stay away from manga.
@Shirukii: “sometimes life isn’t fair.” there is no “sometime” in that line , it is only “life is unfair.”
@ Shirukii: Well, this is a Shounen anime after all, and Shounen animes generally gives their charaters some sort of specails abblity after awhile. I mean, there’s only so much they can get out of a helpless and relatively weak sidekick before they have to get another angle otherwise Raki’s situation gets boring, especailly after things start heating up. Then again, this is a GOOD Shounen series, which, despite the number of shounen series produced, are really rare and few inbewteen, so nobody can really judge it too well. Unless you read the manga , of course.
@shirukii
couple things:
-About clare’s relation vs Raki being too shallow. ->
Claymore is one of, if not the only anime i know that actually cuts from the manga rather then stretch it. if you notice ep 15 is near chap 45-50 in mange (been a while since i read, was when ep 11 came out, did it marathon till 5 am lol, coudnt stop). In this case, they cut an entire scene were clare explains in details why Rakki is so important for her. The same way Irene wants her to live as the proof of Theresa’s existence (another half-cut scene), Clare sees Raki as the only proof of her’s.
-About Raki becoming claymore ->
Its very hard to get into this without spoiling, but i shall do my best. First ill say it straight out, i do not believe he will ever become a claymore. That being said, he WILL become powerfull. That is not something i read, its just a personal theory. Like i said, its hard to touch this without spoilers, but things are going to get REAL complicated. I used to hate raki, now i love him, because of the twist(s) he is more then likely to bring. Raki is in verge of becoming a central pillar to Claymore’s storyline.
-About your theory on the Organization ->
You are right, and then you are wrong. You are wrong in that they are not creating awakened being on purpose. You are right because… well… “a war between the betrayed claymore and the organization’s awakened beings”… hold on to that thought.
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Just know this. From were the anime is (ep 15) to were the manga is (ep 73) is going to be totally insane compared to what you have seen so far, as in not even in the same ballpark. Also know this. Things are most likely to leave THAT ballpark after ep 74 and escalade even crazyer.
P.S. Dont read the manga. Then you wanna die. O they are AWSOME. It also is the first time I can say mangas dont spoil the anime AT ALL, if anything it makes you wanna watch em even more. But when you hit ep 73, google 74, and learn its not till novemberish…. lets just say i shed a tear. That being said i highly recommend reading the mangas corresponding to the episodes after watching each one if you wanna understand the sentimental parts which seems to be cut a lot from the anime (i.e. the Clare/Raki relationship). Just be sure to have a will of iron… cause stopping there is another story.
@Erv: “P.S. Dont read the manga. Then you wanna die. O they are AWSOME ………. if you wanna understand the sentimental parts which seems to be cut a lot from the anime (i.e. the Clare/Raki relationship). Just be sure to have a will of iron… cause stopping there is another story.” good advice here!
“First ill say it straight out, i do not believe he will ever become a claymore.” so u got the same point as me :). i am at chapter 73 as u
You people are like,, posing teasers… GIve me the bottom line here,, will rake become atleast strong as claymores, i don’t wanna spoil the anime reading the manga, though i have to admitt i really do have the desire, am still resisting.. till this minute.. its hard:(