Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Off on the trail, Lucky decides not to kill Priscilla because he remembers how Clare came very close to Awakening. Isley remarks that Priscilla also needs to eat to live; unfortunately, her food is human guts and she talks with her mouth full. Since Lucky doesn’t even know the way to Pieta, he decides to go along with Isley and Priscilla, and when they get “close” to the city Lucky charges on ahead (while Isley snickers because the city is still over half an episode away).

In the city, Deneve gets one-shotted by standing behind Clare, and Helen is not much help either in shielding Miria. Miria begins to tire from using her mirage ability, and Ligardes is able to stun her with an AOE fingernail attack. Just before he can cleave Miria’s head off, however, Clare gets emo from all the Claymores whom she couldn’t protect because she was too slow. Suddenly, Clare’s legs Awaken and her eyes glow a strange color. Ligardes pulls back a stump from where his right arm used to be, and Clare is selected #1 overall in the 2008 NFL draft thanks to her 3.9-second 40-yard dash time.

First off, great episode. I know some people might be annoyed at the constant back-and-forth between Clare and Lucky, but I think that it illustrated one of the central themes of Claymore. Just like loli-Clare was for Teresa, Lucky is a constant reminder that Clare is still human in spite of her terrible powers. This ties in very nicely to the revelation of Clare’s newest ability. While it is tempting to point to this as another non-sensical power-up, Clare’s speed boost works on the exact same principle as the Flash Sword, and requires a strong mind. As such, this sort of technique is perfect for Clare. The only part that made no sense to me was why Clare didn’t annex Ligardes’ right arm and swap out Irene’s (which was only “borrowed”). UPGRADE!!!

Miria was pretty cool too, and she lasted a lot longer than the other captains. I liked her movement all along the snow-covered rooftops, but the girl has to work on her stamina. Her ability to lag up Ligardes’ connection was impressive, however, and in the end he never did figure out the secret of her “illusions.” Maybe try turning down your GFX settings, Simba.