Claymore

[DDBen]

Poor ending to a otherwise great series. When this show followed the manga it was certainly a classic and every aspect of it was done very well I looked forward to it every week. However I don't get why they stopped following the manga at the end to give it a crappy happy ending. The character most destroyed by this is Raki who's roll in the last few episodes was terrible.

I just don't get it I guess. They had enough material to end this series at a point in the manga where you could just end it and yet leave it open to a sequel. I highly recommend anyone who liked this series to go download the manga and see how it should have ended.

Also a quick note on Berserk, The manga is MUCH darker in fact even in what they did they left out several of the darkest aspects of the show and as such its very hard to just do a sequel to it they would have to redo whats been done and while I fully support that happening its still fairly unlikely.

Given even with the bad ending to this series this is clearly one of the best of the season atleast.

[animus]

Priscilla's bare tits were bigger than I thought they'd be.

[Knives122]

Problem is, they can't simply continue Berserk as they left out several key characters from the Anime which were in the manga. They'd have to redo it or do a massive rewrite to slot it in somehow O_o

As for this, felt like just the final episode of a season. Nothing that left me feeling satisfied with the end of the series etc.

Just one question, I'm not asking for details from the manga, but have they made any changes which means they can't continue or is it open for another season based on the original manga?

What happens at the end of this anime does not necessarily happen in the manga.

[NeoBear]

man that was great one of the top 3 of the year for me if we dont get a second season of that there is just something wrong =/

[Idealistic]

What happens at the end of this anime does not necessarily happen in the manga.

Then.... would it still be possile for them to follow the manga even a little bit?

Something tells me the happy ending was THE END for the anime.

[YaGaMi]

I hope they do make another season when theres enough material, does anyone know if the mangaka ever stated how many volumes the manga may be.

[Yukimura]

Well after actually watching it I can more clearly see what they did. They started changing things in order to reduce the importance of all the more mysterious elements of the plot and make it just a buddy action story about Raki and Clare. Buddy action stories are all well and good but all the hints and clues to a greater plot get left along the way side, which is sad. Also, the way they stuck to the manga so closely then diverged somewhat weakens the overall story since there are so many things that don't make sense without the manga. Notable examples Rafaela & Isely. These characters anime incarnations are unnecessary and/or overdone to the point that they actually hurt the show.

Rafaela was useful as the embodiment of the organizations ability to track down and eliminate rogues, but the scenes with her and Irene drop the hint that Rafaela has a backstory (the comment about her power being above her rank), which they never go anywhere with. They could have just left that out and made her a mysterious shadowy figure who shows up behind Irene (Who then says something like "Strange, I couldn't sense your presence at all, perhaps I'm losing my gift after all this time" or something and then they cut away. Then when Rafaela shows up to challenge Jeane and Clare we would have made the connection to Irene's stealthy assassin and known that Rafaela was no joke.

Isley also brought little the table that couldn't have been done without him. Raki never got a chance to utilize any swordsmanship so he didn't need to learn it which means all he got from his time with Isley and Priscilla that mattered was the knowledge about how Awakened Beings are created. They could have written it such that Raki was wandering in the North, found Priscilla alone in a cave and mistook her for an abandoned girl. Then he could have heard a rumor about the Claymores in Pieta and taken Priscilla on the journey with him. When they get there Priscilla reverts to AB mode and boom Raki realizes that humans can become AB's. After the fight instead of being taken away by Isely shw could have just crawled/aimlessly wandered away as Clare dealt with reverting. Also, if Rigardo had cast as the leader of the Northern Awakeneds, it would have made Clare's defeating him mean that much more, as well as offered an explanation as to what happened to the other Awakeneds after he died (they scattered since Rigardo was what held them together).

The season was still awesome but these little tantalizing clues and hints feel like unneeded wastefulness. I don't believe they intend for a second season, based on the way they decided to have the last half of 26 play out. Not to spoil the manga but the anime could have been placed back on the path to the manga plot after Clare defeated Priscilla just as easily as it could have gone they way they took it, but they choose to do it their way, which tells me they don't care to set up an easier transition into the next arcs.

EDIT @ Below: Sorry, you're right, my memories got crossed, I've removed the info about Alicia for the sake of potential manga readers, but her name was mentioned when Miria told the Slashers about the top 5.

[Buffalobiian]

Was Alicia ever mentioned at all in the anime, or is this in the manga?

Ending was flat, but I guess it serves it's purpose as an ending. Damn, another good series' ended...

[Ryllharu]

Buffalobiian is right, they barely mentioned Alicia at all in the anime, the only time was Miria going through the top 5 back in the Slashers arc.

The ending was...disappointing. Even if I had never read the manga, and consider this as it stands alone, it seems cobbled together. There's no way someone angry as Clare at Priscilla wouldn't chop directly through Raki to kill a much larger evil. Even Raki should not have been that stupid. Priscilla has done so much damage, it seems like half the Claymores in the current generation result from her rampage. She never had the control that Easley and Riful exhibit, even the nameless one in the Slasher arc and Duff controlled themselves (though in Duff's case, it's probably because Riful would threaten to leave him if he wasn't worthy of her).

The ending could imply a continuation, but the ends don't seem tied up correctly. Galatea declared them all deceased, but Rubel doesn't trust her at all. I find it hard to believe that the Slashers could escape if the Organization had the slightest doubt that they were dead. Raefaela was introduced by Rubel to Clare and Jeane earlier as a threat. He said she'd be able to find them anywhere, and they'd never know she was coming. Easley has the right attitude, that the Claymores are mere flecks of sand before him, but for someone to come that close to killing Priscilla, he has to see Clare as a threat, even a little bit.

[Crash]

So disappointing Honestly the ending diverged so much from the feel and over all flow of the rest of the series that it wasn't satisfying at all for me. It was good up to the part where she cut off Precila's wings, but everything after that was just crap. I hate Raki so much now i wish he would have just died, and i actually liked him before the last couple of episodes.

[complich8]

glad to see that I'm not the only one who thought that was a shitty, shitty ending.

What really got to me was the voice acting. Priscilla's awakened form has a clear, crisp, precise voice. It's deeper and spookier than her human-form voice, but it's still listenable. Clare's voice, on the other hand, was just awful. I really wished she would have awakened her goddamned tongue so it didn't sound like she was a man choking on a ball gag the entire freaking episode.

Seriously. She had awakened. She wasn't some janked-up yoma form anymore like pre-awakening Priscilla. She was fully there.

I have plenty of other problems with the ending. You know, how it felt rushed, how they botched the coloring (making the claymore girls all bright yellow-haired blondes, instead of pale washed-out blondes). And how they totally failed to capture the mood with the music. And how the music in general was incongruent with the rest of the series. And how the fighting wasn't particularly well-animated (but I just watched an ep of Seirei no Moribito today, so that might be a little colored by that one). And how we gained precisely zero insight into anyone through the ending. And how Priscilla basically just gave up and effortlessly and immediately reverted to a sobbing cute naked brunette as soon as she got her wings clipped (not that I have anything against cute naked brunettes, mind you, but the immediate transition over what amounted to minor injuries to her extremeties??). And how half the episode was basically a clipshow of the scenes involving Teresa and Clare and Priscilla, run through different color filters and that's all. (yeah .... I could probably think of half a dozen other ones too )

But the thing that really made it ... you know ... suck was definitely Clare's voice.

[Pyro411]

Wow am I glad I'm not the only one who feels whoever wrote the last few episodes needs to get stabbed in the eye with a spork for straying so far away from the manga.

Honestly episode 26 felt more like a rushed Series end instead of a season end with the extreme amount of flashbacks and "Everyone's Happy" feeling at the end. I won't drag convo of the manga into the anime forum beyond saying the showdown & Raki showing up should have never happened.

But on that note, I'm looking forward to seeing a season 2 as well as the continuation of the manga, but I'd really like to see the story start to flow a bit more towards what the manga laid out on the table.

I'd say more in better detail but I'm afraid I'd start ranting towards the manga & what could have been which probably would turn into a whole bunch of spoilers to the non Manga readers.

[Ryllharu]

About Priscilla's revert:
I actually thought that was one of the few things that made sense. Her "second awakening" made no sense in the episode beforehand, but it turned out alright because she was so overwhelming to the rest of the Slashers.

In any case, the last 3 or so episodes put a lot of development into Priscilla's very unstable mental state. There are only two things she truly feared in this world, her father impersonated by a yoma eating her family, and Teresa. Despite having an advantage over Teresa in the past, not using her yoki, Teresa still humiliated Priscilla with barely any effort. For the first time since she had become a Claymore, Priscilla was overwhelmed by an opponent. You can watch it again in episode 8. I had forgotten exactly how frightened she was when Teresa had Priscilla at her mercy. Then she humiliated her further by not finishing her off.

Clare had up until then been exuding a faint scent of Teresa from her blood, but her demeanor in the fight was that of an out of control yoma. It made Priscilla angry. When Clare "smiled" (hard to tell with that mouth full of fangs), she finally felt a familiarity of Teresa. That combination of what killed her family and the existence who terrified and shamed her more than anyone turned her back into the quivering little girl she's always been.

[David Craft]

Meh... this goes into the category of yet another awesome anime that should have just stuck with the damn manga instead of diverging at the last few eps. I would rather a heavy cliff hanger then this... as there is so much unresolved. I'm going to go have to read the manga now though I hear there isn't too much more out then where it diverged

On a side note I noticed my previous post was edited for manga related info. Its funny because I haven't read ANY of the manga and have only heard basic info like the fact the anime diverged and stuff. I think everything I posted in that post all came from the anime somewhere or was PURE speculation. Ah well I just find it funny.

~David

[Psyke]

Given the way that they're shown the ending, I doubt we'll be seeing a season 2. Sad, but the reason why the anime is ending with only 26 episodes (2 seasons worth) is probably due to the slow release of the manga. Well, it was great when it lasted.

[shinta|hikari]

They should have ended it with rigardo, and finish up with an incomplete (along the lines of "and their journey continues") ending. A lot of animes have such, and in this one that is what should have been done. That would have made it easy to make a sequel, or for fans to simply switch to the manga without the aftertaste of pure bullshit.

[DarthEnderX]

Meh, I didn't HATE the ending, though maybe thats cause I didn't read the manga.

It didn't really resolve much though. I mean, everyone was basically in the same place they were before they went north. I guess Claire defeated Pricilla so she has some closure now. But Pricilla is alive, and in the hands of Easly still, so she'll probably go back to being a killing machine at some point.

From an action standpoint it was okay though. Awakened Claire was cool. I liked how even though it looked like both arms transformed into like 4 sword arms, the arms on each side were different, I assume because the arms on each side were different to begin with.

[David75]

So sad the anime didn"t follow the manga at some point. Because it was more that possible to stop at the right time with a huge Cliffhanger...

The End was wide open and since the manga is so slow to release, maybe we'll have some OAVs once in a while, but I guess we can't have a second season. Unless there's trace in history of an anime getting quicker that the manga it comes from.
Again, OAVs and such an open ending were also possible if they had followed the manga...


Regarding Priscilla reverting so quickly, Ryllharu was right to mention her fear when she was overwhelmed by Teresa. Because Clare did the exact same thing. At some point, Clare was much stronger than Priscilla, Priscilla felt it. That mixed with the fact that Clare as some of Teresa in her may explain why she reverted and got paralysed with fear.

In this last ep, I liked it when the fight was ressembling fireworks.
I like the fact that the crater of the volcano was clearly helping Clare, since high walls are convenient for boncing back towards Priscilla.

Well, I hope we'll get some good OAVs.

[Idealistic]

Man.. I just want to know right now if they plan to make a season 2.

The way it ends with a happy ending, you might say they probably won't, but then they leave Easley and Priscilla escaping soooooo they could continue?

But then it's nothing new that an anime ends with a bunch of plot holes.

There just has to be a season 2! We haven't even seen all the ranks of the Claymores yet! And they can't leave us hanging without seeing Deneve dual wielding!

lol... my friend was like "did you see priscilla's boobs? she's mad short but got big ass titties."

[Darknodin]

Meh, I didn't HATE the ending, though maybe thats cause I didn't read the manga.

It didn't really resolve much though. I mean, everyone was basically in the same place they were before they went north. I guess Claire defeated Pricilla so she has some closure now. But Pricilla is alive, and in the hands of Easly still, so she'll probably go back to being a killing machine at some point.

From an action standpoint it was okay though. Awakened Claire was cool. I liked how even though it looked like both arms transformed into like 4 sword arms, the arms on each side were different, I assume because the arms on each side were different to begin with.

same with me... i really like the first half. second half was overly happy, but hell, it ends in a way that could easily mean a second season should they want to. and about tying it to the manga story, no matter what the story, it would only take an ep or two to completely turn it around