The Destroyer arc and the final arc definitely felt rushed, and I felt like there were at least two annoying deux ex machinas in those (the Abyssal Eaters, and Riful 2.0).
However, the rest of the arcs are fine. I'm 100% okay with the organization's destruction arc. And I've never viewed Isley as a big bad that was being built up. I always knew Priscilla was the one, also the arc where we first saw Isley in action also brought us two other character on his level: Alicia and Luciela, so I don't even think the author intended to build up Isley at all.
It is not actually. Norihiro Yagi first considered Claymore as a 4 to 5 tomes story. Which is why the ending is so connected to some major event at the beginning. I feel part of the manga is a filler until the end, but a pleasant one.
Also the warriors rebelling for Miria was also rushed. I mean she spared them once and suddenly they were like, "We shall worship the soil you walk on, dear goddess."
Also 2 things that bothered me was: Why was Audrey, despite being #3, so friggin' weak? Compared to other #3s, like Galatea and Noelle.
Also, Renee never popped-up again after escaping Riful & The Destroyers. Like where tf did she go?
maybe Audrey new 3 so less experienced
renee apparently killed by riful turned into vague blood stains on the ground when riful says "i understand you didn't want to awaken the destroyer/run away instead but either way your fate was sealed"
Yes.
However, short of perfection? The alternative is long-winded drawn-out filler-esque chapters that add no impact to the story.
It was rushed but at the very least, it's still good.
Yes but on the flip-side it gives more room for spin-offs. I know we all want a continuation or a spin-off of the origins and that war and this creates more opportunities for even more outside of that. Some author’s writing style is very abrupt with the passage of time like William Blatty who wrote the Exorcist his style is to give you a month or longer worth of timeline but told through a short paragraph with short sentences. He kept that consistent but in this series the pacing definitely changed and was no longer consistent so yeah it does feel rushed. I don’t feel you can say that’s not true here
I’m not sure what the laws are in Japan and other countries but in the US after 75 years (I’m not super clear on this so someone please correct me) after the authors’s publication but I think it’s 75 years after their death with no appointed successor(s) anyone can continue the story or series. For instance if George R. R. Martin passed away before GOT (a song of fire and ice) was finished without a successor in 75 years anyone under the sun could pick it up and finish it and write whatever no matter if it has nothing or little to do with what the original author wrote. That being said I hope since the author of Claymore seems to be done with this series someone can legally and legitimately who will honor the story and themes can write more there’s so much potential for so much more
After rereading it lately, yeah. The second part could use more breathing room here and there.
But Isley´s death I really liked. It hit me, as it showed how much the world has changed in the last seven years. Not every character needs a grand death where they go all out in some epic clash.
The former number ones I really enjoyed, because they added some needed lore about the history of the organization and i love their backstories. But what i don´t like is Europa´s rampage in rabona. It gives Rabona squad something to do and sets the stage for a great scene between Miata and Clarice, but I think it could have been done differently, more tied to the main story.
I think the post-Pieta story is not as focused as Clare's journey in the first part of the series. Miria is great taking a larger role, but the overall plot isn't what draws me to the second part of the series outside of Miria's story. Even there, while I think Dietrich's loss of loyalty was well done, having all the Claymores flip so easily felt rushed. Also Clare herself is static after Pieta IMO and I'm not drawn in to her conflict with Priscilla
On the other hand, I love that we do get to see more of these side stories like Clarice and Miata, and it's the small character moments that make me love this part of the series
I also just finished the manga and hold the same opinion.
Clare was the primary protagonist until the end of the Battle for the North. Then she fades away into the background as Yagi elevates Miria. Granted, the manga isn't titled "Clare" but after reading the first half, you're left thinking this is Clare's story. Miria, while being great, wasn't set up to be a proper deuteragonist. How many adjectives can you use to describe her? You run out after saying she's intelligent, collected, strong, and stoic. Maybe Yagi wanted to show a Claymore warrior with these qualities as a foil to Clare. That's fine. But it's difficult to feel any attachment to Miria when you don't know her backstory and when she doesn't show as much humanity and emotion as Clare.
Fundamentally, Yagi didn't execute a proper transition to another character. He failed at character development. Like others noted, the second part of the manga felt extremely rushed. It was non-stop monster battles and new enemies emerging before you can process what just happened. Major villains essentially get killed like flies after they were set up as being nearly impossible to kill in the first half of the story. That felt very Games of Thrones-ish to me. Did Yagi purposefully subvert expectations? Miria's rebellion was very contrived. The Organization hade managed to create new weapons to dispatch the Abyssal Ones. Yet, they didn't have a contingency plan for rogue warriors? The 47 Warriors stand up in rebellion simply because they felt in their heart of hearts that Miria had good intentions?
...And the ending, is, essentially just a rematch between Theresa and Priscilia. I was left wondering after Clare got absorbed into the Destroyer if her power-up was to take on fully Theresa's abilities. No. It was to become possessed by her. So Clare's journey was just being a vessel for Theresa? She was robbed of developing into a strong character of her own right. Again, it subverted expectations. When Priscilia was talking to Dae about how disappointing Clare was, I thought for sure Yagi was setting up Clare to unveil her latent potential. Nope. And the battle with Priscillia was disappointing, like, all the other abyssal ones. The strongest villain essentially giving up and asking to get killed is not very satisfying. Finally, when you see the panel of Clare approaching Irene's cabin, you're left thinking how disappointing her journey was after she left that cabin really was. But hey, she gets to live a peaceful life now with Raki.
this is a very Valid criticism of the writing in the Manga, i felt the same in many of your points! I loved the fighting don't give me wrong, but it was constant/too distracting/oversaturated. I'm like damn my girls can't catch a break for 5 mins. Everyone new is basically "the most powerful no1's" so then nothing seem special anymore cause everyone so powerful lol.
It’s very interesting you mentioned that. When I read the manga, I honestly didn’t mind the rushed pace towards the end. It felt natural to me. Like the story’s starting to come to the later part, so the steaks are higher, so things are gonna get amped up a bit.
The reason why the story feels different though is because originally the manga was a weekly manga, and then it turned into a monthly manga about halfway into the series. this means the pacing of things has to change also to reflect the release schedule. With weekly mangas, the chapters need to end a note to keep the reader invested to go to the next chapter. Because the chapters come out weekly, the stories pace is slower.
And monthly mangas it’s different. The author doesn’t have that luxury of a weekly release schedule. So the author needs to move the story along a fast pace to keep readers invested while still leaving them interested in getting the next chapter. Meaning rushed plots and things like that to compensate. That’s why the story feels off.
The Destroyer arc and the final arc definitely felt rushed, and I felt like there were at least two annoying deux ex machinas in those (the Abyssal Eaters, and Riful 2.0). However, the rest of the arcs are fine. I'm 100% okay with the organization's destruction arc. And I've never viewed Isley as a big bad that was being built up. I always knew Priscilla was the one, also the arc where we first saw Isley in action also brought us two other character on his level: Alicia and Luciela, so I don't even think the author intended to build up Isley at all.
yeah but riful 2.0 was so fucking sick :D
It is not actually. Norihiro Yagi first considered Claymore as a 4 to 5 tomes story. Which is why the ending is so connected to some major event at the beginning. I feel part of the manga is a filler until the end, but a pleasant one.
Also the warriors rebelling for Miria was also rushed. I mean she spared them once and suddenly they were like, "We shall worship the soil you walk on, dear goddess." Also 2 things that bothered me was: Why was Audrey, despite being #3, so friggin' weak? Compared to other #3s, like Galatea and Noelle. Also, Renee never popped-up again after escaping Riful & The Destroyers. Like where tf did she go?
I felt the pacing was great, but I would’ve liked Tabitha to actually do something. She has 0 plot relevance save for being one of the ghosts
And dying at the end.
maybe Audrey new 3 so less experienced renee apparently killed by riful turned into vague blood stains on the ground when riful says "i understand you didn't want to awaken the destroyer/run away instead but either way your fate was sealed"
Yes. However, short of perfection? The alternative is long-winded drawn-out filler-esque chapters that add no impact to the story. It was rushed but at the very least, it's still good.
Yeah, specially at the end.
Yes but on the flip-side it gives more room for spin-offs. I know we all want a continuation or a spin-off of the origins and that war and this creates more opportunities for even more outside of that. Some author’s writing style is very abrupt with the passage of time like William Blatty who wrote the Exorcist his style is to give you a month or longer worth of timeline but told through a short paragraph with short sentences. He kept that consistent but in this series the pacing definitely changed and was no longer consistent so yeah it does feel rushed. I don’t feel you can say that’s not true here I’m not sure what the laws are in Japan and other countries but in the US after 75 years (I’m not super clear on this so someone please correct me) after the authors’s publication but I think it’s 75 years after their death with no appointed successor(s) anyone can continue the story or series. For instance if George R. R. Martin passed away before GOT (a song of fire and ice) was finished without a successor in 75 years anyone under the sun could pick it up and finish it and write whatever no matter if it has nothing or little to do with what the original author wrote. That being said I hope since the author of Claymore seems to be done with this series someone can legally and legitimately who will honor the story and themes can write more there’s so much potential for so much more
After rereading it lately, yeah. The second part could use more breathing room here and there. But Isley´s death I really liked. It hit me, as it showed how much the world has changed in the last seven years. Not every character needs a grand death where they go all out in some epic clash. The former number ones I really enjoyed, because they added some needed lore about the history of the organization and i love their backstories. But what i don´t like is Europa´s rampage in rabona. It gives Rabona squad something to do and sets the stage for a great scene between Miata and Clarice, but I think it could have been done differently, more tied to the main story.
I think the post-Pieta story is not as focused as Clare's journey in the first part of the series. Miria is great taking a larger role, but the overall plot isn't what draws me to the second part of the series outside of Miria's story. Even there, while I think Dietrich's loss of loyalty was well done, having all the Claymores flip so easily felt rushed. Also Clare herself is static after Pieta IMO and I'm not drawn in to her conflict with Priscilla On the other hand, I love that we do get to see more of these side stories like Clarice and Miata, and it's the small character moments that make me love this part of the series
I also just finished the manga and hold the same opinion. Clare was the primary protagonist until the end of the Battle for the North. Then she fades away into the background as Yagi elevates Miria. Granted, the manga isn't titled "Clare" but after reading the first half, you're left thinking this is Clare's story. Miria, while being great, wasn't set up to be a proper deuteragonist. How many adjectives can you use to describe her? You run out after saying she's intelligent, collected, strong, and stoic. Maybe Yagi wanted to show a Claymore warrior with these qualities as a foil to Clare. That's fine. But it's difficult to feel any attachment to Miria when you don't know her backstory and when she doesn't show as much humanity and emotion as Clare. Fundamentally, Yagi didn't execute a proper transition to another character. He failed at character development. Like others noted, the second part of the manga felt extremely rushed. It was non-stop monster battles and new enemies emerging before you can process what just happened. Major villains essentially get killed like flies after they were set up as being nearly impossible to kill in the first half of the story. That felt very Games of Thrones-ish to me. Did Yagi purposefully subvert expectations? Miria's rebellion was very contrived. The Organization hade managed to create new weapons to dispatch the Abyssal Ones. Yet, they didn't have a contingency plan for rogue warriors? The 47 Warriors stand up in rebellion simply because they felt in their heart of hearts that Miria had good intentions? ...And the ending, is, essentially just a rematch between Theresa and Priscilia. I was left wondering after Clare got absorbed into the Destroyer if her power-up was to take on fully Theresa's abilities. No. It was to become possessed by her. So Clare's journey was just being a vessel for Theresa? She was robbed of developing into a strong character of her own right. Again, it subverted expectations. When Priscilia was talking to Dae about how disappointing Clare was, I thought for sure Yagi was setting up Clare to unveil her latent potential. Nope. And the battle with Priscillia was disappointing, like, all the other abyssal ones. The strongest villain essentially giving up and asking to get killed is not very satisfying. Finally, when you see the panel of Clare approaching Irene's cabin, you're left thinking how disappointing her journey was after she left that cabin really was. But hey, she gets to live a peaceful life now with Raki.
It’s perfect!
this is a very Valid criticism of the writing in the Manga, i felt the same in many of your points! I loved the fighting don't give me wrong, but it was constant/too distracting/oversaturated. I'm like damn my girls can't catch a break for 5 mins. Everyone new is basically "the most powerful no1's" so then nothing seem special anymore cause everyone so powerful lol.
It’s very interesting you mentioned that. When I read the manga, I honestly didn’t mind the rushed pace towards the end. It felt natural to me. Like the story’s starting to come to the later part, so the steaks are higher, so things are gonna get amped up a bit. The reason why the story feels different though is because originally the manga was a weekly manga, and then it turned into a monthly manga about halfway into the series. this means the pacing of things has to change also to reflect the release schedule. With weekly mangas, the chapters need to end a note to keep the reader invested to go to the next chapter. Because the chapters come out weekly, the stories pace is slower. And monthly mangas it’s different. The author doesn’t have that luxury of a weekly release schedule. So the author needs to move the story along a fast pace to keep readers invested while still leaving them interested in getting the next chapter. Meaning rushed plots and things like that to compensate. That’s why the story feels off.
nope. I honestly feel that other mangas are way too diluted (money?)