Re: Claymore Hang-out Thread
@Bayuga-
While I agree with you about Claymore having more potential, I'm satisfied, mostly with the conclusion. The path to get to the conclusion was a bit rocky though. For one thing, I'm a guy who was once a complete Yu Yu Hakusho fanboy. And let me tell you, in my eyes nothing can out do the wasted potential in that final season, both for the anime and manga. That was a series I loved, and the concept of the final arc should have been all I could hope for, but it was butchered and rushed beyond belief due to illness.
As for what you say about Cynthia and Yuma, fleshing them out could have worked before Clare disappeared. They had their chance during their short travel with Clare and the attack of Beth. However, since they didn't really get anything out of all that, I'm part of the group that thinks they should have just died there. Same with Helen and Deneve tbh. After Clare's removal from the story, we were only given one character that could hold her own to drive the story, Miria. That's the problem, especially when Miria was also removed for many chapters. These other characters just could not be liked enough to move from support roles to the spot of a main. To me, this set the ZOA arc up for failure. It's a problem when the most interesting characters in the arc were just introduced (Roxanne and Cassandra).
While power levels could have been a bit more down to the rest of the Claymore world, the final battle itself had more than that wrong with it. I don't mind Teresa and Priscilla being on another level. What could have made it perfect in my eyes would have been simply replicating the feeling of when we meet Riful for the first time, or the fight with Ophelia. I was on the edge of my seat for those events, both while reading and watching. We knew they were on a different level than Clare, but that didn't take away from the thrill back then. Instead, I feel like we were just bombarded with idea after idea. Awakened army, Cassandra, Riful-Doll, Europa, Prissandra, Cassandra, Priscilla, Raki, Prissandra again, Cassandra again, Teresa. Okay...way too much going on. Of course the ending's pace felt off. Every part of the pace for a while has been distorted since Clare met the blob.
I don't dislike the ending at all though. It's still more unique than most things I've read, despite feeling a bit cluttered. I liked the emotion, the closure, artwork, the teamwork and the suspense at times. I liked Teresa coming out in the end, and Clare indirectly fighting instead of becoming powerful on her own like most stories would have done. And I'd prefer to not go to the mainland in this story. This was ultimately about Clare, Teresa, and Priscilla. It was their story line. That's something about the conclusion that I thought went perfect, it got back to them. Knowing that there is more to the world is the magic of Claymore. No one knows what creature is lurking around the corner, or in this case, on other continents. But that is a different story entirely. I'd love to see a place with different warrior designs and unique abilities fighting somewhere. It makes Claymore feel like a story in a bigger universe, like western comics such as Marvel or DC.