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Post by Eryn on May 27, 2007 10:13:48 GMT -5
To anyone who has not seen the new Claymore anime or read the manga, I highly, HIGHLY recommend you do so now. If you're a fan of dark, low-magic fantasy stories, bloody action, gorgeous artwork, large casts of interesting characters, and/or maturity of narrative, this is definitely a series you will like. Series summary from ANN: The anime is up to its eighth episode currently, and it is an incredibly pivotal one, possibly one of the best episodes of an anime period. Even many of the so-called elitists at the AnimeSuki forums are praising Claymore episode 8 as absolutely spectacular, doling out 9/10 and 10/10 ratings left and right. The anime in general starts off a bit slowly, looking like it will just be another shounen monster-fighting series, but even then it's a well-done one, and by the time the character Teresa shows up, you just don't want to stop watching. Also, even by episode 8, the animation quality is still ridiculously good, which seems to be a rarity for anime recently. The original manga by Yagi Norihiro will see the release of volume 8 soon in North America, and is up to volume 12 in Japan (with chapters of 13 currently being released in Monthly Shounen Jump). The artwork is, simply put, very well done, even downright breathtaking at times, especially when Yagi draws the powerful monsters known as "Awakened Ones." Obviously a lot of care goes into all of his designs, from the Claymores to the youma. All the Claymores, despite having the same uniform, eye colour, and hair colour, are easily distinguishable from one another in terms of looks and personalities, which is quite impressive given how damn many of them there are. Even the basic youma are drawn with care, though, like I said, the Awakened Ones are what really shine. I'm going to be picking up my pre-order of volume 8 tomorrow, and will be more than glad to devour it and place another pre-order for volume 9 while I'm at it. I'm really hoping someone else on this forum loves this series, because I would love someone to discuss it with here. EDIT: This thread will contain discussions pertaining to the manga, including the most recently released chapters! If you have not read up to the current Japanese release either raw or scanlated (chapter 73 as of June 11, 2007), you may be risking spoilage... course, if that's what you want, though, then by all means, join in.
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Post by LordJecks on May 27, 2007 19:59:23 GMT -5
I too love this series, it helps feed my berserk love. And will be more than happy to discuss fandom of it with you Tenchi. I'll add more later as i need to listen to the new ep of the podcast first
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Post by Eryn on May 28, 2007 9:57:20 GMT -5
Whee! Have you read the scanlations for the volumes/chapters that haven't been released by Viz yet? I just ask so that I know how far into the storyline we can discuss without tripping over spoilers. EDIT: Made a new avatar of Clare! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that that Avatars! thread is probably prompting me to change the damn thing more often than I normally would. XD; But even so, after starting this thread, I strongly desired to have a Claymore icon.
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Post by LordJecks on May 29, 2007 21:32:59 GMT -5
I'll be up to volume 12 shortly. Which scanlations group do you use?
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Post by Eryn on May 29, 2007 22:21:20 GMT -5
I'm not sure which group it is, because it doesn't say in the files, but I get my scans from the Mangatraders site. So far all except chapters 70 and 71 have been by the same group, and they're quite good, even better than Viz's official translations, I'd say.
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Post by Eryn on Jun 1, 2007 8:28:37 GMT -5
Claymore episode 9 is now subbed! Ack, but I can't watch it right now. I have to go to work. D: Later today, then! Woo-hoo, the entrance of the Fab Four into the storyline!
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Post by LordJecks on Jun 2, 2007 14:42:40 GMT -5
soooo goood XD Though Teresa's smile caught me off guard, i knew she was going to die but still...
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Post by LordJecks on Jun 11, 2007 3:10:07 GMT -5
So i'm caught up on the manga finally XD (Chapter 73) So what would you like to discuss?
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Post by Eryn on Jun 11, 2007 6:44:20 GMT -5
lol, there's so much to possibly talk about, it's kind of hard to pick a place to start. XD Hm... how about favourite characters and why? For me, I'd have to say my favourite so far is Miria. I got attached to how in-control she is without being a power hog or overconfident like others in her position might be. She cares for her comrades, especially the other members of the Fab Four (later the Spectacular Seven... um, not sure if that's an actual name used for the survivors of the campaign, but I like it XD;; ), and has both awesome power/skill and intelligence with which to both aid and protect them. Of course, her being more than a bit subversive against the organization helps as well. More than anything, I fell for the sense of strong comraderie that seems to build up around her whenever she's with others. Other faves: Clare (duh), Helen, Irene/Ilena, Galatea, Riful (Lolizilla, oh noes! XD), Isley/Easley. Lately the dynamic between Clarice and Miata has been interesting as well, especially in the latest chapter.
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Post by LordJecks on Jun 11, 2007 15:03:51 GMT -5
Hmmm, thats a really good question. Miria is defintely the best all around claymore, combining intelligence and power with reserve. She makes a good leader as she's able to utilize the powers of the others efficiently.
I really don't know whom i favor the most. Priscilla's Awaken formed is awesome , as is Isley's though their not my favorite. I found it hilarious that the #1 has the same name as my sister heh.
I guess I just have favs: The Fab Four, Galatea, Riful (i just want allies...), Isley, and Teresa!
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Post by Eryn on Jun 11, 2007 21:48:13 GMT -5
Heheh, Riful "just wants to be allies" as far as she can throw said "allies". ...Which I suppose is pretty far, but eventually she wouldn't even care if they ended up as minced meat, so long as she still had plenty of other cannon fodder on her side for the war. Unless it's Dauf, though, I guess... I do agree that Priscilla is an interesting character in many ways. I don't even completely hate her for doing away with Teresa; she truly thought she was doing the right thing. She's like a religious fanatic in that way - very strong, clear sense of what she believes is right, but can be extremely cruel and hypocritical in enforcing those beliefs, and when presented with evidence contrary to what she believes, refuses to fight what has been brainwashed into her mind. A creepy and disgusting persona, yet morbidly fascinating at the same time. The only reason I don't list her among my favourite characters is because *cough-Taigyth-hates-Prissy-with-a-bloody-passion-and-if-she-sees-me-say-something-like-that-in-this-thread-then-she'll-rip-my-head-off-cough* um, because Priscilla is a stupid name? ^^; And because religious fanatics creep me the hell out enough in RL, let alone in manga/anime form.
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Post by LordJecks on Jun 11, 2007 22:39:45 GMT -5
True enough about pre-awaken Priscilla but we know pratically nothing about her after she awoke {hawt awoken form}. All we know is she fought with Isley, apparently beat him in to submission, and has a thing for Raki? Though the official story that was spread was Isley beat her into submission and she lost her memories... I'm not overly sure about the memories part... she does seem very different now. Perhaps she see's her older brother in Raki? I'm loving the new outfits the Magnificent Seven have Probably one of the things i'm really looking forward to is learning more about the organization itself. Aka the men that are running it, and if they have any powers per say, because what would they do with a mass uprising?
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Post by Eryn on Jun 12, 2007 19:25:24 GMT -5
Indeed, for all that we know about the way Claymores are used and structured, we know next to nothing about the method of their creation, nor about the creators themselves. Apart from motives and dark secrets and powers and whatnot, though, I'd also like to see a bit more detail about Claymore training and trainee life. The little glimpses of it that we've seen/heard so far (i.e.: Clare and Elena's clinging to one another for support; the fact that Org always keeps a steady supply of trainees ready in reserve, some cultivated for specific talents; chibi Teresa <3) have made me curious. Going back to Claymore creation and such, though: there is a HUGELY interesting thread on AnimeSuki right now for speculations about Claymore biology. In particular, one poster, SimplyEd, continually posts very well-thought out posts about various aspects of Claymore physiology and such, especially after the first two or three pages of the thread. His posts are always hidden under spoiler tags for length, so be sure to click on them to see them. forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=48477
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Post by LordJecks on Jun 12, 2007 22:55:43 GMT -5
Concerning Claymore biology me and my friend got into a debate about how exactly it works. The two leading theories we can up with was blood transfusion and ingestion in a way similiar to that of the Yoma feasting on human guts. Both of this seem feesable for a 1/4 Yoma Claymore like Clare as she could have had the remainder of Teresa's blood transfer from her served head to her, or she could have ingested it.
Though this brings up the question of other methods such as the limb replacements as we see with Clare getting the arm from (insert name here). If the latter two concepts are correct then it would mean that perhaps the men in black (that come to collect payment) also double as a removal service, carting the yoma's corpse back to HQ to be used to create more Claymore. I'm really interested to learn more about the training of the claymores, but much more interested to learn more about its male part. Do they train the claymore's or do older claymore train them (which seems unfeesable =? What are their powers?
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Post by Eryn on Jun 12, 2007 23:43:23 GMT -5
I'm thinking the Claymore creation process probably involves some kind of surgical procedure (at least to start), likely centered in the abdomen. Think back to Teresa revealing her abdomen to the bandits, and how that was enough to repulse them out of raping her (one even vomited!) Clare too comments on how painful it looks. If the disfigurement or scarring there is so horrible/shocking and looks painful, I'm thinking it wasn't something she would have had as a human. That and I seem to remember something being mentioned early on about needing both youma blood AND flesh in order to create a Claymore.
The "surgery theory" would also hold true with the idea you already put forward with the MIB (heheh) also serving as youma corpse removers. They definitely need a ton of youma flesh and blood on hand if they are to continue pumping out new hybrids at the rate that they seem to need them. Perhaps they also pick and choose which youma are most useful to them after they're hauled in, and this is how they can create Claymores with specific talents (i.e.: the Org members mentioned that they were raising a new "Eye" to replace Galatea).
Good question on the actual training! I would like to think that it could be a bit of both (men and older Claymores), but seeing as the more experienced Claymore are usually busy with missions both in their own assigned regions and elsewhere on Awakened Being hunts (or being sent out on suicide missions for thinking subversively or being troublesome), I doubt they would have time to help train the next generation. It would have to be either Org men or something else that trains the girls.
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