Claymore 24
September 12th, 2007 by Shirukii
I have a feeling that many manga readers weren’t pleased with the direction the Claymore anime is taking in its final episodes, which looks to be a huge deviation from what I know of the manga storyline. This episode sets up the final battle, Priscilla vs Clare. A match up which by all logic shouldn’t even be an option at this point, but it looks like Madhouse wants to end the anime with everything tied up, rather than leave the ending open, as it would have been had they followed the manga.
Episode Rating: 8.5/10
The battle of Pieta ends with Clare edging out Ligardes and Flash Swording the Silver Eyed Lion King into unrecognizable bits of his former self (minus the head >:3). A far off Isley is absolutely stunned at Ligardes’ demise, but Priscilla takes it even worse. Recognizing Teresa’s yoki flowing out of Clare, she loses it and ends up running away from Isley and Pieta.
Back in Pieta, Helen brings the news of Clare’s win to the remaining claymore, who breathe a sigh of relief and erupt in cheer. But their happiness is short lived as their victory comes at a price, Clare has went far past her limits and is beginning to awaken. Helen rushes out to try and calm her down, but Clare knows well enough that she’s past the point of no return and does the only thing she can, she asks Helen to kill her while she still has the consciousness of a human. Helen struggles with Clare’s request, cursing her for asking while Jean cries out for Helen to stop.
Elsewhere, Priscilla wanders the remains of a nearby town that was wiped out by Isley’s army. When she’s confronted with the sight of a dead child and a loved one sprawled over top in a futile attempt at protection, Priscilla’s memories start flooding back.
She remembers her own encounter with a yoma, who disguised itself as her father, killing her brother as he tried to protect her. Pushing off the corpse of her brother Priscilla remembers seeing the yoma who she once thought was her father eating her sister’s guts. With saving her sister the only thought in her mind, she grabbed a nearby axe and cut off the yoma’s head.
Priscilla’s memories about the hunt for Teresa also come back to her. She recalls the orders she was given and the hate she had for Teresa and her betrayal of the organization. But somehow Priscilla’s memories become convoluted and she ends up with the impression that the death of her family was Teresa’s fault.
With her memories back, the cute loli Priscilla that we’re known for the past few episodes is cast aside and Priscilla’s true self returns, the one horned awakened one, slightly confused and agitated at the fact that Teresa has somehow managed to live on, but confident that all she has to do is kill her once again. The resulting release of yoki from her awakening sends a shockwave that resonates all the way back to Pieta, terrifying the surviving claymore. Clare immediately recognizes the monstrous yoki as that of Priscilla, the one being that she will never forgive, the one that ruined her life with Teresa. Forgetting all about dying as a human, Clare’s rage takes over her and she flies off to face Priscilla.
The awakening of Clare and Priscilla sets things in motion towards a final confrontation. Isley puts the remainder of his army on standby, with Priscilla awakened he sees little reason for anyone else to fight. In Pieta, Deneve, Helen and Miria prepare to go after Clare and try to console Raki, who is still traumatized after seeing Clare go berserk.
And an old friend has come back, Galatea has been sent by the organization to do some reconnaissance on the situation in the north. However she is accompanied by Rubel who reminds her that her mission is strictly observation and anything else will be treated as a betrayal of the organization (ie. punishable by death).
Deneve, Miria and Helen set out to find Clare with only a rough estimate of her location based on Miria’s sensing of her yoki, which is too wild and scattered for her to narrow down. On their way, they run into Galatea, immediately readying their swords to fight her if she plans to stop them. But instead, Galatea lends them a hand by pointing out Clare’s exact location, a volcano not too far off. Miria knows of Galatea’s exceptional ability to sense yoki, thanks her for her help and the three make their way to the volcano as fast as they can.
Back in Pieta, Jean listens to Raki as he laments on how he’s all talk and couldn’t do a thing to help Clare in the end, instead cowering away thinking about his own life. Jean consoles him by saying that putting one’s survival first is merely instinct, but regardless, she doesn’t plan to sit around while Clare is in danger. She limps off to find Clare and can’t help but smile when Raki follows her with his usual determined look.
And it all comes down to this. In a live volcano with Isley looking on, Priscilla and Clare stand face to face, poised for battle.
Thoughts
Well, I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming. Although I’ve heard from manga readers that the events of Pieta happen without the intervention of Raki, Isley and Priscilla in the manga’s storyline, it was pretty obvious that this confrontation was inevitable in the anime. That being said, I’m all for it. I’ve already made my stance clear in previous entries that I think that Madhouse is doing a decent job with their anime exclusive ending. While I may be a little biased because I haven’t actually read the manga yet, I still think that an ending with a sense of closure is far better than leaving things open to speculation.
As for the match up itself…Admittedly, I’m not the most knowledgeable about claymore power levels, but I’m pretty sure that Clare shouldn’t have the ability to take on Priscilla at this point, but yet, here we are. A manga scan was posted last week that illustrated the finishing move that Clare was supposed to use on Ligardes where she produces quite a number of blades from her further awakened arms. I think that the reason why it wasn’t used in the Ligardes fight is because Madhouse is saving it for the finishing move Clare uses against Priscilla.
While I am generally supportive of the path that the anime has chosen to follow, I’ll admit that it has its faults. Firstly, as mentioned above, Clare shouldn’t be anywhere close to powerful enough to match Priscilla. Furthermore, what do they plan to do afterwards, assuming that Clare manages to kill Priscilla. Will Isley be so shocked that he’ll run away like a dog with his tail between his legs back to a cave in the mountains? Will he call out his entire army in an attempt to wipe out the claymores, only to be wtfpwned and killed off? And what part will Raki play in all this? Whatever the result, it’s probably not going to make much sense.
But what’s to come is anyone’s guess at this point. The anime has gone far off the beaten path so only time will tell how it will end. However Madhouse chooses to end it, I for one, will not complain, as long as it’s not something stupid like Clare befriending Priscilla, Nanoha style (beamspam first, questions later). The producers risking an original ending is evidence that they know there won’t be an opportunity to continue the anime any time soon, so instead of the vague conclusion that the manga’s storyline would have led to, they chose one with finality, and in my opinion, it was a good call. Yes, I hate open endings THAT much.
With the massive discussion that erupted in the comments last week, I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of this anime original arc and the Priscilla vs Clare/Teresa power level debates.
Manga countdown: 2 weeks.
~ Shirukii ~
23 Responses to “Claymore 24”
Leave a Reply
Please use [spoiler] [/spoiler] tags for spoilers.
Loading ...
Actually… this was pretty encouraging.
If the story has to leave the manga, its good to see the departure bumped up to epic proportions.
Kamina liked volcanos, too, after all.
Volcano fight!
That’s something Star Wars: ROTS
I enjoyed the episode for what it was. I know it is completely different from the far superior manga at this point, despite some similarities. All in all it was quite entertaining despite the sloppy plot.
This episode raises some major questions in my mind. Did Clare pass the point of no return? I’m guessing that Priscilla’s presence gave her the mental clarity to reverse her awakening much like in Miria’s incident with Ophelia from episode 11.
I guess Rubel ditched Raphaela for a bit of eye candy. Did they really bring back Galatea just to have her act as a traffic sign?……….They went thataways. Maybe Galatea will stick around to point Jean and Raki to that mystery volcano as well.
Speaking of that volcano. How are Raki and a limping, badly injured Jeane supposed to get all the way up there in time to help Clare?
I can’t believe I almost called the finale scene in an earlier post. My guess was a mountain hot spring reunion for Clare, Raki and Priscilla. I guess lava will have to do instead.
The manga actually might explain Isley’s actions in this episode.
Show ▼
its just not anywhere near satisfying.
i knew theresa was probally in clare all along
but if the series end with clare somehow reverting back to normal i’ll just be really mad at madhouse turning claymore into a the good guys win and still get everything type of anime.
Wow, I’m surprised this episode even got an 8.5 at all. This was simply a filler episode with a distinct lack of eye-candy. I would have given it somewhere between a five and a six.
1. I am wondering, now, if Claire will fully awaken, but find a way to remain in control. Maybe Raki will lend a hand, and perhaps Jean, too, for a tip of the cap to the manga.
Actually, I think this result is the direction that the manga is heading. Claire has become an innovator in yoki manipulation. And we’ve been shown interesting variations on awakening by characters like Jean and Alicea and, of course, Claire in the Ligardes incident.
2. I have to think that there is some manner of surprise in store for us, and that each of Raki, Jean and Galatea will be involved. In the manga, both would have been off stage at this point. I’m guessing Miria and her crew will participate as well.
It would make Priscilla seem to be too weak to be taken down by Claire alone, unless she truly does achieve something amazing with her yoki—-but it would be interesting to see all the other good-guy Claymores join the battle as well.
3. Shirukii should be pleased with an anime ending. It will just make reading the manga all the more fun. Galatea vs. Miata, Claire vs. Riful (again), Isley vs. Luciela, Raphaela vs. *censored*… so many goodies!
Summary for me is this.. Rated 5/10.. this was a prep to the last episodes i guess.
Clare repeating: kill meee kill mee..
damn you Clare..
Clare repeating: kill meeee~
The Priscilla remembering part was a good way to make this end quick. Flash back flash back flash back
She remember!! Wooo~ nothing else happen. *Best part IMO but still blah*
Clare goes superwoman and fly in the sky *yeah right* in Priscillia direction right when shes at her limit already * yeah right*.
Galatea watches woo.
Isley watch, the monsters behind him watch.
A group forms, lets keep these claymores freezing dying here and lets go save Clare whos already at her limit and doomed! Wooo~
Ravi gets his episode piece of crying and emo.
Galatea tells the group to help clare? Its only Priscilla? Piece of cake, lets save her! Why~~~
Ravy explaining himself for the 100th time. Cries again.
Jean with her mighty hollow hole manage to eat Ravi sorrow, they both grow stronger and will save Clare in episode 26~
Clare meets Priscilla on top of a volcano? *huh?*
Isley then says, ill wattchhh~ Ohhhh thats neewww.
So this episode for me was void, nothing much new, complete non sense moves, and yeah Emo Raki will hug Clare soon.
I would like to say that madhouse has once again delivered another wonderfully directed episode.
That i think will wrap up the manga portion of the anime and end with complete joy.
In my hopes clare kills horned ugly and we all see Rifful and Duff slaughter Easly or the other abyss walker appears.
But w/e i well state that i think this is one of the best animes for 07 at this point!
I’m cheering – over half the Claymore in Pieta are surviving this far. :D Priscilla’s so smexy now that she’s awakened but I think that she’s got a dual personality thing going on. Claymore Pris can’t understand, Awakened Pris takes control and makes everything ‘all better’. Although I kinda know how Clare will react to seeing Raki but how will Awakend Pris react to seeing ZomBait running around? THAT will be epic in its own right.
…
I can’t seem to follow with the discussion here. Not reading the manga version of the anime being discussed proved to be very difficult. =.=
All I can say is that, I believe Clare is fully awakened to this point and due to Priscilla’s presence, she managed to keep her personality sane.
The way I see it, Raki’s gonna go in there and make her revert back after she killed Priscilla. This I do not want. Claymore in my opinion is very good and I don’t want a silly cliche ruin it.
Anyway, it could be impossible for Raki to go to Clare. He doesn’t know where she is. If he knew, it would take them hours to reach the volcano considering heavy snow fall, Jeane injured and a group of Awakened Beings in the area. The only ones who’s gonna save Clare are Miria, Deneve & Helen. Obviously.
Good points, especially about the manga changes. If you didn’t read the manga, could you imagine if the anime just sorta stopped and nothing got resolved? Viewers who only saw the anime would totally be pissed about that, and the series would make no sense. I also remember how bad it was during the filler episodes of Naruto which seemed to drag on forever and ever. Considering the speed of the anime and the slow speed at which the manga has been released, who knows when a second season could have been released?
I think you made a good point about the blade arms possibly being saved. I’m sure what will happen is the volcano will erupt or something, and it will seem like Priscilla and Isley are dead, but the exact status of the duo will be left a mystery.
Sigh. I have read the manga and they’re basically killed a second season. Why can’t they just leave a wonderful story and plot alone? There are so many more charaters and so much more depth to the story. Leave it alone and wait for a second season.
Bah, all the manga otakus on the past threads are just mad because the anime won’t include the Show ▼
I will disagree with Shirukii on “Clare shouldn’t be anywhere close to powerful enough to match Priscilla”
Granted Clare would need more learning/training to get close to Priscilla’s power but I consider quick emotional outburst or being in an extreme situation that makes it reasonable for one to achieve what seemingly is unachievable during that time. And being this an anime with Clare having parts of Teresa in her, I considered that very likely. I have no problem seeing Priscilla get defeated by Clare this early.
As well, Clare killed Teresa (a totally great character which deserves more face time) earlier in the story but the writer compensated by putting her on Clare, along with her strength. So it’s so okay to get Priscilla’s head at the end of the anime by Teresa too.
As well, I think this person from animesuki said it better
Revolutionist —
“Teresa was the strongest #1 Claymore of all time, she effortlessly defeated Priscilla 1on1 by only releasing 10% of her power, while Priscilla went ~80%. She probably could’ve defeated an Awakened Priscilla by only releasing maybe 10-20% of her power.
Clare is releasing 80% or more of her yoki, and my guess is the more she releases and the more yoma she becomes the stronger Teresa’s “powers” grow inside, which should explain why Priscilla mistakes Clare for Teresa.
The fact is, even by manga standards, nobody really knows Clare’s true potential, she’s a wild card, so someone saying she can’t defeat Priscilla means absolutely nothing.”
——————-
Two things I don’t get is one, why people hate Raki so much, if it’s for having so much face time, I can understand that, but hating him for crying, whining and not being of help? Well he’s not excatly up to fight baddies of his age and level so it’s just fine to whine. Second, why so much flame on deviation? Anime is diferent from manga. It’s not like Madhouse ripped of Nagi and came up with and proclaimed it the one, true and original Claymore story.
“But instead, Galatea lends them a hand by pointing out Clare’s exact location”
- NO, she didnt tell or pointing out where Clare is, i think she just hold her sword up and point it to somewhere but Miria, Helen and Deneve who are misunderstand her. (J/K, lol this is one of the reason i like Galatea.)
“I think that the reason why it wasn’t used in the Ligardes fight is because Madhouse is saving it for the finishing move Clare uses against Priscilla.”
- So, i was right?
“Firstly, as mentioned above, Clare shouldn’t be anywhere close to powerful enough to match Priscilla.”
-Not a big deal here, after u see the scene where they show Clare’s face become Teresa’s face, do u got what i mean?
“I for one, will not complain, as long as it’s not something stupid like Clare befriending Priscilla, Nanoha style (beamspam first, questions later).”
- I dont think that will be the question of the ending, but my question is what is Raki going to do if he saw Clare going to kill Priscilla? LOL
What is worry me the most is where they show Clare standing with 6 Claymore Swords around her as tombstones at the ending song. Did they really mean it?
“Manga countdown: 2 weeks.” Still countdown yet? i think it should be already reset to 0 from last week, :)
@Guido: “That’s something Star Wars: ROTS”
- So i wont be complain if Clare use Lightsaber instead of Claymore sword.
@Cliff “but if the series end with clare somehow reverting back to normal i’ll just be really mad at madhouse turning claymore into a the good guys win and still get everything type of anime.”
- lol, i think u forget something, this time we have “two” instead of “one”, and i even guess it maybe 3 this time.
@Silvering: “but it would be interesting to see all the other good-guy Claymores join the battle as well.”
- I think they save Priscilla for Clare only and the rest of Claymores maybe save for those “guys”, lol, i would not surprised if the rest of Claymores awaken altogether.
“Galatea vs. Miata”
- I’m dying to see this one, i heard this one is sometime in October right?
@SHiN_aKuMa: “Anyway, it could be impossible for Raki to go to Clare. He doesn’t know where she is. If he knew, it would take them hours to reach the volcano considering heavy snow fall, Jeane injured and a group of Awakened Beings in the area.”
- There is nothing impossible that cant be happened now, they can make everything to this point, why cant they make the other impossible things to be possible? Would it be surprise if they show the other 2 Abyss combine together and defeat Isley?
@Kabitzin: u got the point which is some people here dont get it and just dont want to accept it. And it is just like George did.
@Max: “I have no problem seeing Priscilla get defeated by Clare this early.”
- It doesnt matter if they can lie it to us and make sense enough for us to believe it. I guess Shirukii though that too.
I already guess what madhouse want to do with that scene and what is the hint behind it. What i guess is they want to show us that Clare is starting to gain Teresa’s power but she wont be able to defeat Priscilla by now until Clare got the fully true Teresa’s power during the battle between Clare and Priscilla.
Well, I for one would have liked an open ending that followed the manga storyline. I understand why MadHouse choose to make an alternate ending for the tv series, but this is going to leave a lot of unresolved issues.
1) We don’t get to know #1 Alicia and #2 Beth
2) We don’t get to know the Abyssal One of the South, Luciela
3) We don’t get to know Raphaela’s backstory
4) The “dark secret of the Organization” that Miria was investigating is never revealed.
Son Gohan:
Hey, those unresolved story lines would make great plots for a second season, if the popularity of the series allows it.
@ Silvering: I completely agree.
…Kamina ;_;
As for the anime and manga having different endings, yes, I’m quite happy. It will make reading the manga all the more worth it.
@ Guido: I have the high ground Anakin! (AGI +10)
@ Trellisaze: I’m hopeful that Galatea will have more of a role in the coming episodes.
As far as Clare’s awakening goes, she will probably still be able to hold it together after everything is said and done. Raki and Jean will probably play some part in that, however they manage to find/reach Clare =\
@ Cliff: I’m betting that Clare will be able to get herself under control again. But a happy ending this is not, remember the amount of sacrifice that we had to go through to get to this point. MANY claymore were lost in the battle of Pieta. (Flora ;_;)
@ ItAintEazy: I thought it was pretty good. I rarely judge anime on animation alone, and Claymore’s animation has sucked quite badly throughout the whole series.
I’m focusing more on Madhouse’s original ending at this point, which I believe they are doing a relatively good job with.
@ Vaosk: Meh, it seems like there’s quite a divide between the viewers, I think Madhouse is doing a good job with their ending so far.
Clare has always persevered and pulled through impossible scenarios, for the other claymore (esp. Miria, Deneve, Jean and Helen) to abandon her would make even less sense.
But I do agree about the incoming Raki scene, that’s going to suck, they’ve already used that trick once D=
@ Fuzzims: Whoo, another supporter! Although, I don’t think Riful will have to intervene. The reason Isley began to take action is because he acquired Priscilla’s strength, with that gone, I think things will go back to the previous power balance.
@ Arakan7: While I agree with your points, I can’t help but miss loli Priscilla =( She was so win.
@ SHiN_aKuMa: Oh he’ll get there, somehow, either just in time to see the battle draw to a close, or just after. I don’t really want to see it happen either, but meh, there’s really no avoiding it now.
@ Kabitzin: The preview showed Priscilla bleeding from her head. While I still don’t think Clare should should be able to kill her at this point, it’s the ending that would wrap things up the best, so I’ll be hoping for that.
@ George: Based on the rate that the manga is being published, it would make no sense for them to hold out for another season. Remember, there’s more to making an anime than having a good story and characters, they have to make money. Claymore is at the peak of its popularity right now and it probably won’t last very long, they need to cash out quickly.
They used roughly 10 volumes of material to make one season, the manga is being released at like…1 vol/month right now. By the time they gathered up enough to make another season, interest in it would be long gone. Only truly epic series like Evangelion or really long running seasons like Bleach/Naruto have the luxury of taking their time with seasons/remakes. Other animes are forced to make as much money as they can as fast as they can while they’re still popular and then move on.
Madhouse knows this and decided to end Claymore at a point that made sense instead of leaving things open for speculation.
@ Max: >> Second, why so much flame on deviation? Anime is diferent from manga. It’s not like Madhouse ripped of Nagi and came up with and proclaimed it the one, true and original Claymore story.
Well said.
As for the power level discussion, I’ve stated numerous times that I’m not very well versed in how claymore stack up to each other. It was just my opinion that Clare defeating Priscilla seemed premature, after seeing some arguments suggesting otherwise, I’m beginning to change that opinion.
@ Siva: >> So, i was right?
Seems that way.
As for Raki seeing Clare kill Priscilla, would he even recognize Priscilla in the state that she is right now? She doesn’t exactly resemble the loli Raki knows, unless she reverts right before she dies or something. That would probably take a heavy toll on Raki.
@ Son Gohan: Plotholesssss. Yea they suck, but there was no way around it, they just didn’t have the time to address those issues.
The part where Helen runs back to the others with Rigardo’s defeat just felt so cliche. Helen looked like she came out of a harem anime for a moment there rather than a horror, supernatural. Anyways If Clare awakens to fight Priscilla, that’ll be awesome. (Even better if it bears similarity to Teresa)
well… i mean if clare doesn’t die then it just isn’t claymore anymore. (think about it. everyone has to die in claymore :P)
and i think clare will die in the manga too as a last ditch attempt to kill priscilla.
or
if clare awakened
and turned into theresa : D
*hahaha i’m cracking myself up*
*everyone is like CLARE!!. and theresa is like sike… its me. yah. i’m a pimp :D*
I agree that Clare doesn’t look like she matches Priscilla based on the current standings. If Clare went full Yoma then there might be a bigger chance she would win but I don’t know and hope for a nice battle arc to come out of it.
@Shiriiki: LOL, what kind of heavy toll that Raki going to take on? I want to see it too :D
@DSJFX18: At least she didnt do anything mu
@Cliff: “everyone has to die in claymore”
- Are you sure? But i havent seen a single Organization’s member died yet in the Anime.
“and turned into theresa”
- What about Teresa come back to life instead? LOL
@AS: “I don’t know and hope for a nice battle arc to come out of it.”
- The point is what r they going to pull off from the last 2 eps.
yo DUDE WHAT THE FUCK !!!!!!!!! THE ANIMEFOR THIS SHOW IS GOOD BUT IF YOU DONT GIVE ME MORE OF THIS SHIT I AM GOING TO FLY TO WHERE EVER MADHOUSE IS AND FUCKING MASECARE EVERY SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!
AND TO SAY A FEW THINGS I THINK THAT YOU CAN FUCKING MAKE A GOOD FILLER SEASONE LIKE GIVE US MORE OF THE THINGS THAT THE GHOST OF THE 7 WARRIORS WHO FELL ON THE NORTH!!!!!! BUT I VIEW THIS AS A GOOD OPORTUNITY FOR MADHOSE TO REALY PUSH THE UNVELOPE, YOU KNOW!!!!