Claymore

[animus]

Ophelia must give a mean handjob with that Rippling Sword technique. I like how this show knows of common cliches but dispell them like nobody's business. Like Teresa giving mercy to Priscilla (A Cliche), but then quickly not expecting a split second decapitation, and just like this episode we think Clare will be saved by surviving a drop off a high altitude body of water (A cliche), but then that notion was completely gone when Ophelia acted like knew she was tricked, and just had more fun from that.

[complich8]

Clare the amputee...

I'm hoping next time she fights, she awakens enough to regrow it. Symmetry is hawt.

[Ryllharu]

All joking aside, Ophelia is a really interesting character. She witnessed her brother torn apart, and perhaps that revenge has made her into the bloodlust seeking Claymore she is today.

Ophelia is saddened that she doesn't have a catchy name like some of the other high ranking Claymores do. She's sadistic to the extreme, egotistical, and likes to play games with her prey.

At the same time, you can't help but see she's still very much the weak little girl who saw her brother killed before her own eyes. Irene shows up, and Ophelia gives off a quick (and surprisingly feminine) "Arara?" in confusion. When she begins to get pressed, she got angry at first, but you could see the fear creeping into her from the art and Emi Shinohara's superb acting. When she's hurt and bleeding alone, we see it even more pronounced. She's the same scared little girl she's always been. Her reaction to that age old fear is the same thing you see in so many children. She gets angry at it. She became a sadist to fight against her fear. She became angry at her brother for leaving her.

I love when they make what should be a fairly one-dimensional character like Ophelia have such subtle weaknesses.

[masamuneehs]

Clare the amputee...

I'm hoping next time she fights, she awakens enough to regrow it. Symmetry is hawt.

I concur... At this juncture, it'd be nice for her to gain that Yoki ability. I don't want her to get a fake arm... The similarities between the best manga ever and this show would just become too much...

I'm confused about what Teresa said. She said that 'Teresa is inside of you' to Clare, and that it means Clare is only a quarter, not a half. I take that to imply that she's only a quarter Yoma (part of her excellent self-control?).... But that means they infuse an actual Yoma inside of the girls when they make them Claymores?

The Flash Sword attack is cool. Ophelia was alright in this episode (I still don't like her). She's like a bratty, sadistic Priscilla (lost her bro instead of her dad), especially now that they're both Awakened. Much like Priscilla, her Awakening seems to have been greatly caused by personal emotional distress, not actually being pushed over her limits in actual battle.

[Kraco]

But that means they infuse an actual Yoma inside of the girls when they make them Claymores?

Wasn't that established a long time ago? They are hybrids, after all. Still, I'd think it's quite vague to begin with if the result is half yoma or 40% yoma or 60% yoma. I mean, what exactly defines that? Or perhaps it's just some mythical blood parameter and the amount of stuff infused doesn't matter, just the qualities it has.

[Ryllharu]

The percentage of Yoma in Clare is distilled through Teresa, since her voluntary join into the Organization was under the stipulation that Teresa's flesh and blood be put inside her. Most Claymores (incl Teresa) are composed of "half" human and "half" yoma. Clare is "half" human and "half" Teresa. Half of a half is a quarter.

Ophelia brought up and explained an interesting aspect about Claymores. There are "types" of Claymores. Defensive and Offensive. She explained that Clare was Offensive, and as such, can't regenerate her limbs. So she sliced Clare's arm into tiny bits. Claymores that were creating wanting to protect their bodies become defensive, and heal their wounds quickly. Offensive ones cannot close their wounds as quickly, but are stronger attackers.

We know that Deneve was Defensive, since she regenerated her whole arm. I'm guessing Miria's phantoms make her Offensive. Helen is probably Offensive, and Irene obviously is Offensive.

[complich8]

I imagine that the "offensive" and "defensive" are not so much an either/or as a point on the continuum. Based on that belief, I don't think it's inconceivable that it would be completely out of reach for say a 90%-yoki clare to regenerate a missing limb. I don't think it's a skill she could do without releasing a lot of yoki, and I don't think it's something she could reasonably do in a battle like Deneve could, but I wouldn't rule it completely out.

[Kraco]

The percentage of Yoma in Clare is distilled through Teresa, since her voluntary join into the Organization was under the stipulation that Teresa's flesh and blood be put inside her. Most Claymores (incl Teresa) are composed of "half" human and "half" yoma. Clare is "half" human and "half" Teresa. Half of a half is a quarter.

That is obvious, but what I meant is that if a girl weighs 40 kg, is she infused with another 40 kg of yoma matter to make her 50% yoma? Or maybe 15 kg of human matter is removed and 25 kg of yoma is added to make a 50% human-yoma of 50 kg total. That's what I meant. But that sounds a bit dubious, to be honest, so it must be that what ever amount of yoma is added, the result is 50% hybrid as long as it was pure yoma material.

Clare being of the offensive type surely hints she hadn't yet reached practically any of her true potential, because so far her strongest skill was purely defensive (to read the opponents yoki and evade the attacks). And her attack power was negligible like Miria said. Well, if there was truth in Ophelia's words, then Clare should be able to become much, much stronger.

[Ryllharu]

But can we classify reading Yoki as a defensive ability? So far it has been used defensively by Clare, but Teresa used it offensively against the other four by exploiting openings they left open.

Given the uniqueness of her speciality at it (since no Claymores other than Teresa and Galatea have shown any aptitude at all for it, nor bothered) I would hesitate to classify it as either Defensive or Offensive. They all admit their opponent/ally is using it, but no one has yet tried to do the same after commenting about it.

It's pretty obvious why Clare became an Offensive type, she wants to slash Priscilla's head off.

[Munsu]

I don't think the skill used have anything to do with the type of Claymore they are. I think it has more to do with the way the Youki behaves in them.

[masamuneehs]

but she can re-attach dropped limbs... that's got to be a simpler, more basic form of regeneration... to connect the muscles and tendons, there HAS to be regeneration. i think that while Ophelia's statement about Offensive and Defensive dispositions stands, it doesn't mean Clare won't be able to regen her arm eventually.

In fact, from that screenshot Yuki posted... well, it's too hazy to see. It would be her right arm, or maybe someone holding her underwater...

[animus]

but she can re-attach dropped limbs... that's got to be a simpler, more basic form of regeneration... to connect the muscles and tendons, there HAS to be regeneration. i think that while Ophelia's statement about Offensive and Defensive dispositions stands, it doesn't mean Clare won't be able to regen her arm eventually.

In fact, from that screenshot Yuki posted... well, it's too hazy to see. It would be her right arm, or maybe someone holding her underwater...

It's impossible to completely regenerate a limb for an offensive type. This is stated by Ophelia herself. Irene is obviously an offensive type, and even all these years after the Teresa incident she is still without a left arm. An offensive type probably has no means of completely regenerating an arm from scratch outside of awakening, I'd guess. If not-awakening and regenerating it was possible, Irene wouldn't have kept pestering her about losing her dominant arm over and over, and stating that she's stubborn and useless atm.

[complich8]

Sure sure, but again, I don't think the difference between "offensive" and "defensive" is quite as much a dichotomy as you or ophelia makes it out to be. Attacking is a part of defense, and defense is a part of attacking.

Also, remember that awakening and coming back from it is something that's not out of reach for Clare.

[Munsu]

Well she probably couldn't use much of her youki, which I would assume she would need a lot of through a great deal of time, to escape the organization. So if she had stayed with the organization and were able to release her youki freely, i think she would eventually been able to regenerate. Not sure though, but it seems very plausible.

[animus]

Her awakening's only a half-awakening. I guess you can say she's only barely rimming the top edge. I see the terms offensive and defensive types to just be a general, ambigious term for lack of more intricate terms on the creators behalf.

Well she probably couldn't use much of her youki, which I would assume she would need a lot of through a great deal of time, to escape the organization. So if she had stayed with the organization and were able to release her youki freely, i think she would eventually been able to regenerate. Not sure though, but it seems very plausible.

Clare whose not hiding from the Organization should then be focusing on regenerating her dominant arm rather than training her weaker left arm on a technique that requires a lot of time and willpower as well. It's not like Clare's short on time, she did end up sleeping for a week.

[Munsu]

Well, if regeneration is an actual possiblity, we don't know how much time and effort it would require of her. So maybe she figures it's on her best interest to learn a new technique and maybe convert her left arm to a dominant one. She really only needs one arm to fight.

Ophellia did say that it was impossible to her. But we don't know in what context. Was it impossible for her to do it during the fight? Or was it impossible for Clare to regenerate for her entire life? I'm leaning towards the during the fight thought, as I think comp is partly right on that it's not as much a dichotomy as we're led to believe.

[Ryllharu]

It's not cut and dry, but compare two types of regeneration. There's regeneration that closes wounds, tissue growing from two edges of a cut, something that every living thing does, and regenerating a new limb, where tissue is forming into a very specific shape and growing out of a single side. They are drastically different forms of regeneration.

Clare has been pierced clean through a couple of times, as were Miria and Helen. We've only see three injuries involving severed limbs, Deneve, Irene, and now Clare. One was able to regenerate the whole limb partially, and Miria explained that it was possible to do towards the limit. So perhaps Irene just failed to put any energy into it.

On the other side of the discussion, Irene is clearly a Offensive type. She can put a lot of energy into an attacking style of combat. If Ophelia is to be believed, then there's no way Irene could regenerate in a similar manner as Deneve.

It's really a question of whether or not you believe Ophelia. I see her as taking more joy in telling Clare the inevitable truth and toying with her, than lying outright. The plain way she said "It's impossible for you," gave me the impression that she really meant it in that manner, not simply some specific time frame.

[Kraco]

She really only needs one arm to fight.

I have no fencing training, but I'd say that's not anywhere near the truth. If weapon is used with both hands, then there's no ambiguity, if it's a one-handed weapon, then the other hand is used for balance and possibly for various tricks depending on the surroundings. Balance would seem like a very important thing seeing how Claymores are slender girls using big weapons that could weigh several kilograms more than your run-of-the-mill human swords.

What comes to the regeneration and Ophelia's words, I'm not too sure she would lie, because she intended to kill Clare in any case, and for sure didn't appear to be a person who would be uncertain of whether she could succeed in that - made very evident by how she didn't do it quickly but proceeded to torture Clare, thus granting her theoretical chances all the time.

However, I wouldn't trust a person like Ophelia to actually know anything useful. Sure, she was strong in a sense, as long as the opponents were weaker in one way or the other and she knew she had the upper hand. But as soon as Irene appeared, she was worth nothing and couldn't improvise anything to save her skin. I don't view her as a person who would discuss with others at all to learn theoretical knowledge to broaden her views. What she knew about regeneration she had probably learned first hand (and as we saw, her control of her limits wasn't stellar), or by observing weak Claymores she was torturing.

Long story short, she was probably telling the truth, but only the fraction of it she knew.

[shinta|hikari]

I dont think Ophelia sucks as much as you say. She may be psycho, but she was really strong and quite experienced in battles, as shown in the fight between Clare and her. She also wouldnt lie, since it is out of character in that context.

I think it is impossible to regenerate Clare's arm normally, but there might be some plot device that will allow her to do so in the future, like awakening and regenerating a new arm then coming back again. It doesnt matter if she is an attack type claymore, since when a claymore awakens, they should all have the ability to regenerate severed limbs (all awakened beings have been able to do so thus far)

[masamuneehs]

i was wondering: what the hell do they make those swords out of anyway? It seems that no matter who the stronger fighter is, no matter what kind of momentum the attack has, the sword itself can stop just about anything. Clare's "lower power" defense can deflect the massive attacks of Ophelia and Awakeneds...

is this something that will eventually be covered? (a la broken sword and soul searching to recieve a new weapon, a typical anime story device?) or are we just to accept that all Claymores are equally and perfectly crafted?