My Rant on Claymore Ending + Full Series Review

Amanda Liu September 28, 2007

So yeah by now I’m aware that there are like 5 million of these posts out but I couldn’t access A2M yesterday ;_;. Anyways, before I continue, I’m going to posting spoilers if you couldn’t figure it out. You have been warned.

Alex: So, because I wanted to rant about just the ending, I’m inserting my blurb at the end of Amanda’s review.

Ending:
Well honestly I have mixed feelings on this. This is the type of ending that you can keep on pondering about for hours and hours and switch views on. On the positive side, the techinical aspects of the ending were really well done. The art was gorgeous and the music gave off the kinda heroic and happy feel it was aiming for. The ending has enough closure for the casual viewer to be satisfied yet it is still enough open enough for that slim chance of a possible continuation. It’s also great to hear Houko Kuwashima again because I got sick of that deep Awakened voice they were using on Clare. Oh and I’m in the minority for this but I’m glad Raki was able to confess his true feelings even if his speech was kind of annoying. Which leads into the next part. You know, what everyone has been whining about.

The biggest problem with the ending is that the ending is something I’d expect in Busou Renkin. Now I love Busou Renkin, I enjoyed the series immensely started a small fanbase in my high school and blah blah blah but while Busou Renkin is also a shounen series, it’s a very happy-go-lucky and humorous one. In essential, the oppposite of Claymore. So it’s a major problem that both endings are very similar with everyone living happy ever after. Except I think those stupid homunculii probably would have just killed each other on the moon out of boredom. In Claymore, even the villans get to go off happily in the sunshine o.O. This just makes everything extremely cheesy, unrealistic, and well pointless. While this was probably the only practical solution Madhouse could think of to leave Claymore in the state they wanted, they could have made it less superficial. I first left Claymore with a “WTF” and I know I wasn’t alone. Well now on to the series review.

Final Series Review:
My “journey” with Claymore has been an interesting one. I started off staying away from this series because I was turned off by the first volume manga cover. I know I wasn’t the only one. Eventually, I decided to pick up the manga out of boredom and I got addicted to it faster than any drug I could probably try. Anyways, there has been a period of time where I was absolutely obssessed with Claymore but I believe it’s died down with the mixed bag of an ending and whatnot. I still say Claymore is a solid anime whether you are a fan of shounen or whatever.

Plotwise, Claymore takes something well used and makes it fun again. It still follows the basic structural formula you find in any shounen of power-ups and different bosses but it’s fun nevertheless. Besides, the manga was the same way. It just took everything at a slower pace. Which brings me to another point, the pace of Claymore. It goes extremely fast with no fillers and wasted time which keeps viewers on the edge. This is especially good because the beginning sucks. I personally want to give a toast to Madhouse for the pacing.

The character development in Claymore is good for the characters that actually. While Clare, the main protagonist, first seems to have absolutely no personality whatsoever, it becomes quite evident that she does have one. Fueled by revenge and hatred, she has chosen a bloodstained path for herself simply because she was too weak face the world after losing everything. A character with many strengths and faults, she certainly exceeds the typical character depth and development that many other protagonists get. Luckily she isn’t the only one. Many other “main” Claymores get this juicy character development. Even Raki, the boy that almost everyone hates, is developed out well. True, he was irritating at times (his crappy seiyuu didn’t help), he still remains as one of the best and most fleshed out characters in Claymore. On top of that, he’s well suited for Clare right ;)?

The production values of Claymore were pretty decent too. While the OST was often used at the wrong times, it was pretty decent nevertheless. Both the OP and ED are amazing though with Danzai no Hana ~Guilty Sky~ earning it the “Best ED Theme of 2007″ in my book (well so far anyways). As far as the animation goes, I know the art is Korean-made, but it’s still pretty high quality nevertheless. It had its budget cuts with some of the battles being kinda crappy in certain places but it’s still aesthetically pleasing. The character designs are unique and rather hard to get used to but once the weirdness wears off they’re pretty good. Not everything has to be moe.

Overall, Claymore was something I really enjoyed watching. It’s good at addicting to people into the series and is one of top-notch quality. I still say that Claymore is one of the best series to come out these years and I urge anyone to check it out as soon as possible.

Alex’s Ending Rant

First off, I just wanted to comment and say that the premise of Claymore is by no means unique or spectacularly intriguing. Killing demons, undesired transformations, girls with swords, main character who’s “mother” figure gets offed early on and is set out for revenge, tag-a-long kid who may or may not be a romantic pawn, etc. These are all very typical anime tropes and in writing a story with a lot of them, it’s hard to keep things animated (no pun). In general, as far as the anime goes (I do not read manga and thus there will be no bashing in terms of comparison) - it does a good job of setting up the characters and giving them distinct personalities. I didn’t quite like it as much as I had thought I would, especially during the last few episodes or so. I think it’s because the ending wasn’t sophisticated enough to logically satisfy my mind. What does that mean?

Well, in a very typical fashion - the one who saves the protagonist throws himself into her path and whines about various things. The kind that a million movies and TV shows have enough of. It’s not really a bad thing per se, I mean…it’s kind of built into story structures that follow this kind of genre. You know, revenge and killing only brings pain - save yourself before it’s too late. But it’s just not terribly gratifying. I wouldn’t say the ending was horrible, it does its job just so and gives room for a possible second season. I can’t decide though, whether or not the writers sacrificed a better ending in order to plaster an obvious “we want to continue this” hint at audiences. I would be interested in a sequel, of course, but Raki has to really develop. Think about it this way, for most of the series, Clare has braved many hardships for Teresa (losing an arm) and has accomplished a lot of things based on her desire to kill Priscilla. But even then, she was a very independent character who helped Jeane and wasn’t beaten down when the others made fun of her for being the weakest in rank. However, the crux of Clare’s admirable qualities gets subverted by Raki’s whiny speech which has so many illogical and idiotic infallacies, I would have bitch slapped him to the moon.

First of all, Raki was whining and crying in his corner the whole time Clare fought Ricardo in Pieta. He uses the opportunity when the battle’s done to say to Clare “I’ll protect you” and he did once, when he stopped Ophelia’s sword but I’m going to say that she was just surprised he dared to do that. She could have cut him down if she wanted to. But when all is said and done, he’s mostly all talk and no action AND has stayed that way for all of the show. Having the desire to change is all fine and good, but not making the transition makes a stale character. In terms of strength, how is he going to protect her in the future without becoming a Claymore? What, wave his sword feeblely while crying in the corner? He doesn’t really have the right to say that Clare shouldn’t be fighting Priscilla. He was THERE when she ate that person’s guts in the cave. So that gets to my second point, after having seen Priscilla’s awakened form - he should have known that she’s basically a crazy confused psycho-bitch who doesn’t know that she herself is the yoma and would kill everyone without a doubt. So, stating an empty cliched thing like “people who’ve lost loved ones shouldn’t fighting each other” makes sense? What about “while someone still has the power to, kill the very strong, if not strongest monster and help save some lives”. I don’t see lawyers defending their criminal clients saying “Oh, well he was molested by his uncle when he was small and he started serial killing little boys in order to repress his memories but I’m sure all of us has faced hard circumstances. Let’s just forget and move on and not be cold-hearted killers.” In fact, it just leads into how selfish Raki is, because he loves Clare and doesn’t want her to turn into a crazy yoma and forget him and go do crazy yoma things. So by choosing the former, he wants cities to get wasted by Priscilla if she awakens again. He wants more poor travelers Isley and Priscilla mets in the woods to get their guts eaten. It’s not even JUST that Priscilla is a crazy psycho, it’s the fact that she’s unstable and has her memories mixed up. Third, Raki doesn’t know Priscilla’s history with Clare and just says, very lightly, “I know she killed someone close to you…” - but it’s not JUST that. The way, Priscilla killed Teresa and the other two were sneaky, underhanded bastard yoma tactics. Yes, if Clare killed Priscilla, it would be for revenge - but also for the better good. Lastly, it’s really lame how Isley came out AT THE LAST MINUTE saying “Oh…I need her.” Right, guess he was just watching from the background to see whether or not Clare would kill her because having him take Priscilla away is JUST the open-ended finale the studio and producers need if they wanted to make a sequel.

From what I’ve seen of other shows with a similar slant, when someone prevents an avenger from his/her goal - they usually get really pissed at that someone. If I were Clare, and Raki did that to me, the magnitude of my anger would be infinite. Plus, as a side note, the way they arranged the ending, (someone already mentioned this) - Jeane was the one who actually did something to save Clare. So in the end, Raki was basically useless, whiny and well…better off crying and sniveling in his corner because really, his words are all empty. All words and no action makes for a very poor character indeed and unfortunately for Clare, it looks like she’s stuck with him.

Tags: Claymore

Category: Rants & Raves

I believe myself~

20 Responses to “My Rant on Claymore Ending + Full Series Review”

gf
November 4th, 2007 at 1:43 am

rants are supposed to be short
Irwin1138
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:42 pm

Well, I mostly agree with you, but to hate Raki - thats foolish. Hes a kid, cmon! My guess will be hes less than 14. And thats kinda softens the effect of his whiness and more-talk-less-action nature. If there will be 2nd season (and I have little doubt in that) then he has pretty good opportunity to develop, dont ya think?
cia
February 19th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

i hate raki, he is worthless and not suitable for claire. i was really pissed when claire kiss him in the mouth. i felt like arghhhh lucky worthless boy .
Nick
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm

Raki represents the human innocence still inside Clare that’s why he saves her…its really her saving herself… and that’s why Priscilla says he “smells good” because she covets that innocence that Priscilla lost when she killed her demon-father.
It’s symbolic, the whole series is about the affect of revenge, hatred, power and attachment on the human condition.
I really hate it when pissy little nit-pickers like you rant on about pedantics, the ending was a little unsatisfying but if they release another series then I won’t mind one bit- I’ll just fall in love with Claymore all over again.
Nick
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 pm

I forgot something in my previous counter-rant. She HAS to forgive Priscilla or she’d fully awaken herself and end up killing her comrades. She’s letting go of the hate that used to sustain her for the love that Raki showed her, and the respect she earned for the first time from the other Claymores.
Redemption is an obvious theme in Claymore because of the number of times they manage to bring themselves back after going over their limits. Priscilla still held the conscious of a human when she met Raki who I actually like. I mean come on, he’s like 12 and still fought Ophelia or whoever it was without crying just so he wouldn’t distract Clare. Leave him alone.
Mark
March 9th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

I agree Nick and if she had succeeded in killing Priscilla she would herself be a monster and kill everyone else afterwards and god who could stop her then she would be stronger then Priscilla. It would be a blood bath horror flick from that point on lol.
PYROtechnic
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 am

The problem with the Claymore ending is that the producers decided to stray away from the make an anime original that ended up lacking substance. The production values are amazing but the story had no closure and the ending seems extremely rushed. It all seemed cheesy an unrealistic - an ending you would expect from something like DBZ.
PYROtechnic
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 am

*stray away from the manga to make
rasei http://rasei.deviantart.com
May 27th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

ive read the manga and the seen some episodes,the animation in claymore in fantastic but the anime lost to much credibility. In the manga*spoilers* it takes 7 years for claire to get where she is now at her level of skill. raki is most liek in his 19-20’s he cant become a claymore because male claymores are more prone to awakenings. Not to mention he was trained by Isley in swordplay, The manga is much more well placed and paced. Im really sick of animes which make the protaginist powerful in a instant and prefer a elngthy storyline over quick closure endings.
Karl
April 15th, 2009 at 6:24 am

am i alone here when i say than i am getting tired of hearing stuff like
“oh gee, that’s impossible nobody is that strong” or
“no way, they weren’t that strong a second ago” you know? like the typical Naruto Bleach scene. At first when i saw this show i thought it was badass, especially the episode where the two guards could help kill the demon (i dont know there names but one of them was funny like galk i think) when the charactar’s capabilities are that close it makes the kinda show i really enjoy. so far i have only found this quality in Higurashi. any suggestions?
its not that i hate this plot, i still liked Claymore before the end, but they are getting old.
Alex
August 12th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

I was okay with the ending of Claymore. I’m more of a fan of the Manga, but It was just alot of fun to watch the animation. And I think what they were trying to do was maybe begin a preview of the Manga, and let people know that it was still continuing in the Manga.
jake
April 28th, 2010 at 8:49 am

Coming from someone who dislikes anime such as Naruto and bleach. (my favorite besides claymore are deathnote, and fma) i think claymore was amazing. raki was great and to response to a fellow commenter i think Raki more an image of Claire herself, the way she acted towards Teresa. the ending really left me craving for more and made my mind go in a million directions cos’ theres so much that can happen. and i would love to see what they uncover about the organization. theres so much to tell gahh
Devon
May 18th, 2010 at 2:55 pm

To start off great review, and Im n full agreement with you. For anyone who supports Raki’s actions is a damn fool; he is THE single most IGNORANT character w/n the show. Irwin1138, you counter-argument holds no water. His age is meaningless. He was forced to grow up as a result of losing his family and traveling w/ Clare. Your just as foolish as he is for that comment. If the tables were turned an say….hmm, Opehila was to kill Clare, he woulda gonna apeshit, and made it his mission to seek the very same revenge as she [Clare] was. The mission of a Claymore is to slay Yoma, who the fuck is Raki to say otherwise? I know he seen her cut up her opponents, how she was eating the man in the cave, and her murderous intent toward his so-called “reason to live” Clare, for that Raki, I can not forgive the writers for such idiocy.

By absolutely NOOOO MEANS, should Priscilla be allowed to live. Clare and the other Claymores should have killed her right there on the spot. They had all healed and were watching from the sidelines eating poo. As soon as Jean was speared and was pulling Clare back to her human side, Miria (the fastest on there) should have diced up Priscilla. Even when Clare came back, she had a few seconds to kill Priscilla b4 Isley interfered, so with that I refute Nick’s statement. She didnt fully forgive Priscilla, and if she did Priscilla is beyond saving and her death was needed to save the lives of many in the future (this 2nds my theory on Raki’s ignorant skit was idiotic).

Clare’s true savior in the end was Jean not Raki. I swear I saw another Teresa incident happening, when Priscilla was sitting there all panicky. Raki knows the potential of a Yoma, Priscilla is no different. Nick did u forget that Raki’s own brother was a Yoma? who cared for him after his parents were eating? AND ate his uncle, and wanted Raki for desert? did u forget that? Yoma in human form is still a Yoma. I eat ppl, end of story. Even if the person has a slight consciousness, they will eat human. Its inevitable, and with that in mind Priscilla cant be trusted nor allowed to live….
Devon
May 18th, 2010 at 3:13 pm

SORRY 4 THE DOUBLE POST, I 4GOT TO PROOF READ MY 1ST ONE AND POSTED ACCIDENTALLY B4 FINISHING IT. SO DISREGARD THE 1ST ONE

To start off great review, and Im n full agreement with you. For anyone who supports Raki’s actions is a damn fool; he is THE single most IGNORANT character w/n the show. Irwin1138, you counter-argument holds no water. His age is meaningless. He was forced to grow up as a result of losing his family and traveling w/ Clare, therefore he has no real excuse for an age issue, what he is, is overly protective w/ a side of this over the top sense of justice. You are just as foolish as he is for that comment. If the tables were turned an say….hmm, Opehila was to kill Clare, he woulda gonna apeshit, and made it his mission to seek the very same revenge as she [Clare] was in the case of Priscilla. The mission of a Claymore is to slay Yoma, who the fuck is Raki to say otherwise? I know he seen her [Priscilla] cut up the Claymores trying to save Clare’s humanity, how she was eating the man in the cave, and her murderous intent toward his so-called “reason to live” Clare, for that Raki, I can not forgive the writers for such idiocy in using you in that scenario.

By absolutely NOOOO MEANS, should Priscilla been allowed to live. Clare and the other Claymores should have killed her right there on the spot. They [Miria, Helen, and Deneve] had all healed and were watching from the sidelines eating poo, and as soon as Jean was speared and was pulling Clare back to her human side, Miria (the fastest on there) should have diced up Priscilla. Even when Clare came back, she [Clare, herself] had a few seconds to kill Priscilla b4 Isley interfered, so with that I refute Nick’s statement. She didnt fully forgive Priscilla, and if she did Priscilla is beyond saving and her death was needed to save the lives of many in the future (this 2nds my theory on Raki’s skit was idiotic and selfish too).

Clare’s true savior in the end was Jean not Raki. I swear I saw another Teresa incident happening, when Priscilla was sitting there all panicky. Raki knows the potential of a Yoma, and Priscilla is no different. Nick did u forget that Raki’s own brother was a Yoma? who cared for him after his parents were eating? ate his uncle, and wanted Raki for desert? did u forget that? Yoma in human form is still a Yoma. They eat ppl, end of story. Even if the “person” (they are really ppl anymore, since they are controlled by Yoma wants) has a slight consciousness, they will eat human flesh; its inevitable, and with that in mind Priscilla cant be trusted nor allowed to live. Her death then could save the lives of many innocent victims and Claymores alike. So with that in mind, can anyone seriously support Raki’s display of ignorance and selfishness in allowing Priscilla to live. Why none of the others didnt kill her is beyond me, and all I can say is they best make a sequel, because the kill the show’s potential for greatest with that….
Mins
October 31st, 2010 at 12:21 pm

You should know that 7 years after that incident, Raki becomes a master swordsman that compares in strength towards the others. He grows up well along side Clare. He’s pictured holding a sword larger than the Claymores..

Also, the others who split to train..they also end up growing quite strong. The anime probably doesn’t compare in content to the manga. I loved this series and saw the ending fitting.
M Sully
January 25th, 2011 at 3:43 am

-I am a late watcher of the series (Claymore) and had little expectations of me liking this series
(Sorry for the length of my post)

-I finished the series and i have to say it is one of most entertaining animated shows i have ever watched.
-People complain about the ending which pisses me off immensly, I dont care of the mangas version….at all
-The ending was rushed and left out alot but thats what a season 2,3,4 is for and for some reason ending the series was contemplated.
-Full metal alchemist at least ran for 51 episodes and the main threat was beaten, but sooooo much is left in Claymore.
-Yes the ending ended a little too nice with most of the main characters living and Clare not avenging Theresas death but so what, its called moving on and living life to the fullest for the ones she loves. Priscilla
was confused, and possessed some traces of innocence so killing her at that time when Clares humanity was at risk really was not neccessary.
Besides she might snap out of her confused insanity and see clearly, she could become aware of her state as an awaked being who could fight for whats right, and not be such a crazy …..!
-Oh, and I think Raki was a little annoying but yes him being a young kid with all this crazy crap happening around him will cause him to cry and be afraid, even though he was helpless, he wasn’t useless. Like whats been said he represents innocence and a reason for Clare to hold on to her humanity, and as a result he was a large part in Clares ability to withstand to overwhelming urge to become a fully awakened being. (not including the ending).
-They can always make him a damn good human sword fighter in season 2.
synclaire232
June 27th, 2011 at 3:28 pm

The thing is with the anime, not all of the things are explained. Why Priscilla stuck by Raki is another thing though. I read from someone’s comment here that Priscilla is attracted to Raki because his innocence is what reminded of her innocence. But that is, unfortunately not the case. The case is, she was attracted to Raki because Clare’s scent even though faint, was found on Raki.

Therefore, Priscilla found Raki attracted because of Claire’s scent, and Claire’s scent attracts Priscilla, because she is not half Yoma half human, she had Teresa in her instead of a Yoma.

That is why to Priscilla, Clare smells like Teresa and therefore that is the whole reason as to why Priscilla is attracted to Raki.

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with his innocence whatsoever.

I would have preferred if the anime kept going on :3 it would have been really awesome and would have explained a lot of things that people are dissatisfied about.
synclaire232
June 27th, 2011 at 3:40 pm

Oh and I would never have compared this with the manga if the anime explained about:

- The organization
- The War in the North is only the beginning, there are other wars that will natural ensue after such a thing
- Explanation of Isley, his history and his form etc.

There are more, there’s just a lot of holes and there’s obviously not going to be a season two unless if they all decide to redo season one and follow the manga. besides, it’s been a long time since this series was made, I highly doubt they’ll ever make a season two.

As for me, I do not normally compare mangas and animes but it irritates me when there are plot holes and other people saying it’s fine the way it is when it obviously has a lot of things to work on in the story. A cover up story is unsatisfactory for an ending.

But then again, don’t get offended people as many people usually do. Because this is just my own personal opinion.
M Sully
July 3rd, 2011 at 1:33 pm

-Haven’t checked in a while, and glad to see another comment.

I have ideas to get the original story back on track but I feel they can create an alternate story line and still make a great anime.

There are so many things waiting to be shown that material in the Manga isn’t really needed, besides to satisfy the Manga readers.

Watching funimation on demand and seeing episode 25,26 resparked my interest in seeing a much needed continuation of the anime.

- In animes i see alot of bittersweet, shitty endings and i personally didn’t mind this end at all. I like ruthlessness in animes but appreciate a nice ending.
the llama
November 30th, 2011 at 12:10 pm

I literally just finished this series and I have to say I was all right with the ending.
The last few episodes were much weaker than the rest of the series though.
I also didn’t mind roki, he is only like 14 as previously stated.
All in all I was really nervous about the ending because of how horrible I heard it was, but in the end, everything went better than expected.