Claymore Chapter 98

[MisterJB]

I can't be the only one who sees a resemblance between Priscilla's position on this cover and Clare's position when she emerged of the Destroyer.

[Arturro]

Originally Posted by MisterJB

I can't be the only one who sees a resemblance between Priscilla's position on this cover and Clare's position when she emerged of the Destroyer.

I see it too. It's like to tell us, that both, Clare and Priscilla, have rebirth as a new persons. The problem is Clare rebirth was well shown, while Priscilla wasn't.

[Tale]

Originally Posted by clarakiss~

i believe it'll be up to clare and raki to take down priscilla. That is if clare convinces raki that priscilla is truly evil.

Remember Ophelia? Also, do you think Riful/Isley are truly evil? It's quite rare for Yagi to write "truly evil" claymores/AOs. At least, at the moment, all "evil" essence seems to come from the organization...

Originally Posted by Arturro

I agree with Gooral, Cynthia wounds looks unbeveliable. Her survivor guilt does look cliche. IMHO Yagi did it a little too fast, her development wasn't good enough to make her confesion realy convincing.

As for cliche, I think this series is filled with it...probably the most "innovative" part of this series is that it replaced male characters with female ones... Many of the posts here also reflect that the series has strong shounen manga influence since discussions are filled with something like "which is stronger" and "how a character power/level up". However, I feel this series mixed shounen manga factors with shoujyo manga ones in an interesting way. In fact, one of the interesting essences I see in recent manga/anime is that the shift of roles expected to genders. At the moment, I think an attractiveness of this series comes from how Yagi manages to present hybrid (anti)hero models who have feminine cruelty and tenderness in a typically masculine format.

Originally Posted by Arturro

I also dislike a lack of chapters about Raki, Priscilla and Isley relation. Priscilla in this chapter is so diferent from her former self so it looked unrealistic. It's first chapter of Claymore where I'm dissapionted with Tagi scriptwriting.

I don't know...Priscilla is yet another character who has two aspects of girlish innocence and cold cruelty. I wonder how much Yagi will be able to develop it into convincing level till the climax of the show, where the relationship between Raki and Clare will clash together.

Originally Posted by servidor

In previous chapters Yuma seemed to suffer shame, rather than guilt, of not been as strong as her companions, after defeating two high ranked Claymores, her confidence seems to have raised up.

Except that such would-be hero desire is more typically seen in men. I wonder if the contrast to the femininity of Cynthia is intended.

[Gooral]

Originally Posted by Awakened

(...)
My point is, if Teresa could kill an AO with ten percent power, Ab Priscilla could kill two AO in her sleep.
(...)

I don't see the implication you're seeing. Teresa was much stronger than Priscilla so it's no surprise she could do that. Now we see that Teresa was even more powerful since it turns out that awakened Priscilla dominated two abyssals at once as if they were youma.
If for example Teresa's power could match 4-5 Abyssals it wouldn't be a surprise she could beat Rosemary if we assumed that power increase is not linear. At 10-29% youki release she could have already been stronger than Rosemary. And because she was slower smaller and could pour some more youki in case sth happened to her (and regenerate herself or suddenly accelerate) she had a big advantage over Rosemary.
Abyssals are super powerful beings, we've seen that Isley was almost as strong as Luciella. Now what would have happened if Isley fought against Riful and Luciella? Most probably he would have been obliterated even if these female AB would not be in complete awakened form. Now we can see that there is someone that is far beyond that and IMO it's an overkill.

Now, what I wrote much earlier gains new meaning:

And there is Irene's strange behavior (volume 7, pages about 100-110). I for one would think that she would tell Clare that even Teresa was nowhere near Priscilla's power if that was the case. After all she sensed Priscilla after she "released her latent abilities". When talking to Clare she told her:
"There's not a warrior alive today who can stop her". (It means that there WAS a warrior that could stop Priscilla but now he's dead. It wouldn't make much sense to add "alive" word if she meant generally that there wasn't and isn't warrior who can stop her.)
Irene sensed the calculating, sarcastic and fully-aware Priscilla so I think she knew how strong Priscilla really was.

[Gangsta Spanksta]

Originally Posted by MisterJB

Didn't like this chapter. The only good things were the teamwork between Alicia and Beth, Beth's tears for Alicia's death and Priscilla's tits.

Still, two crying Abyssal Ones in two chapters. WTF?

XD You starting to sound like shieky.

[Awakened]

Originally Posted by Arturro

I always believed that Rosemary was an AO, roughly equal to Isley or Riful. What Priscilla has done to Alicia and Beth is no different to what Theresa did to Rosemary. In comparison, Priscilla is less impressive, she is an awakened being, while Theresa was still a "human" when she dwarfed Rosemary.
What I dislike is that Priscilla is suddenly almost a sane person. Yagi failed to show us Priscilla character growth. IMO lack of reminiscences of Isley, Raki and Priscilla travels is a big mistake.
Similar problem is with Cyntha wounds. I like Cynthia, she is my 5 favorite character in Claymore, yet her cliche words about guilt, as well as her wounds, failed to "touch me". It makes me to laugh.

Priscilla has always been sane in her second personality. We saw that side of her after she killed Teresa, and after she defeated Isley. The only thing that changed is that she did not take on her Ab form to change personality. She is in a form that we have never seen her in before, so that could explain the change in personality (not childish, grownup).

Cynthia word is not cliche if its a natural human feeling. Almost everyone that survive an accident where many other people died has gilt. Unlike Clare, Miria, Denevin and Helen that actually fought to survive, Cynthia got lucky. Naturally she would feel guilty, noting cliche about this.

Edit:
I would agree that Cynthia's wounds does not seem natural, but it can be explained.
1) Cynthia used her arms and leg as shields to protect her vital organs.
2) Beth like to torture her victims.

[Awakened]

Originally Posted by Gooral

I don't see the implication you're seeing. Teresa was much stronger than Priscilla so it's no surprise she could do that. Now we see that Teresa was even more powerful since it turns out that awakened Priscilla dominated two abyssals at once as if they were youma.
If for example Teresa's power could match 4-5 Abyssals it wouldn't be a surprise she could beat Rosemary if we assumed that power increase is not linear. At 10-29% youki release she could have already been stronger than Rosemary. And because she was slower smaller and could pour some more youki in case sth happened to her (and regenerate herself or suddenly accelerate) she had a big advantage over Rosemary.
Abyssals are super powerful beings, we've seen that Isley was almost as strong as Luciella. Now what would have happened if Isley fought against Riful and Luciella? Most probably he would have been obliterated even if these female AB would not be in complete awakened form. Now we can see that there is someone that is far beyond that and IMO it's an overkill.

Now, what I wrote much earlier gains new meaning:

And there is Irene's strange behavior (volume 7, pages about 100-110). I for one would think that she would tell Clare that even Teresa was nowhere near Priscilla's power if that was the case. After all she sensed Priscilla after she "released her latent abilities". When talking to Clare she told her:
"There's not a warrior alive today who can stop her". (It means that there WAS a warrior that could stop Priscilla but now he's dead. It wouldn't make much sense to add "alive" word if she meant generally that there wasn't and isn't warrior who can stop her.)
Irene sensed the calculating, sarcastic and fully-aware Priscilla so I think she knew how strong Priscilla really was.

I think we agree on Priscilla's power.

[zato_1one]

But I think that it made sense that Cynthia mentioned about Veronica. It's really not that unconvincing because they were so close. And Veronica was also a reason why Cynthia joined the ghost. It would probably odd if she mentioned another person instead. I suppose she could manage to heal her vital wound which prevented her from instant death.

But I agree that everything looks so sudden. I think that the problem is the skipping. When some events happened in the parallel time. Yagi-sensei chose to illustrate one event and left another for reader imagination. We only saw the result but we didn't exactly know what actually happened. I think that's why it looks confusing.

[Awakened]

Cynthia mention Veronica's name in Cap. 67 page 27. Veronica has always been on her mind.

[Tale]

Originally Posted by zato_1one

But I agree that everything looks so sudden. I think that the problem is the skipping. When some events happened in the parallel time. Yagi-sensei chose to illustrate one event and left another for reader imagination. We only saw the result but we didn't exactly know what actually happened. I think that's why it looks confusing.

I guess I'm yet another who've gotten an impression that character/emotional build up gets weaker since the battle of North. I suspect that Yagi puts too many factors into the series while the publish frequency has dropped dramatically. I'll still keep an eye on the series but, personally, I won't expect much from it. A pleasant surprise is always welcome, though.

[irvinethearcher]

There are probably to many characters now. That's a problem yagi will probably take care of soon
About the future of the series:
It all depends on how it will end and if he can put it well together to an end which is not too predictable but still satisfying and free of logical contradictions.

[Throne Invader]

I miss Veronica too She was the only Claymore with a ponytail I believe.

@irvinearcher

Yep, I also think that alot of characters are gonna die soon xD

[Gooral]

One thing I'm glad about though is that we won't see anything even remotely similar to anime version. In anime Priscilla pissed her pants once she sensed Clare (or rather Teresa's familiar youki). Here it's rather the other way round.

[necrosis6]

Originally Posted by Awakened

I would agree that Cynthia's wounds does not seem natural, but it can be explained.
1) Cynthia used her arms and leg as shields to protect her vital organs.
2) Beth like to torture her victims.

I would guess that Cynthia lost an arm or something in the original attack and has been slowly falling apart. We see her arm just fall off, so it wouldn't be too far fetched. She's out of yoki and lost too much blood to keep her body together.

[MalakTawus]

In anime when Priscilla sensed Claire she was semi-awakened......i think that she may have a similar reaction if she senses Claire's full power ( and Teresa's yoki).

[Shiek927]

I really hope Miria gets LOTS of time when she finally shows up. She kind of deserves it after being shoved to the side for so long.

Really, how much longer are the Rabona girls going to stay there? It'll be a miracle if the others end up coming back.

I have this picture in my mind of Miria sitting down with some tea on a balcony, and all the crazy stuff is going on in the background, but she just can't be bothered with .

This chapter is in January 2010 issue, at the end it says it will be continued in February issue, so we can anticipate another chapter next month.

Cool

I almost forgot about that part.

Originally Posted by Ryus

Priscilla is an evil goddess among insects.

......

This is gonna start that Tinker-Bell stuff all over again

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Geez, Cyclone really predicted this chapter the other day. XD But anyway, Priscilla did get weaker, so you weren't wrong. It's like something else he said: she probably had a little snack before leaving the village. But I agree with you that there is no evidence she is stronger than before.

But see, here's the thing. With the vast amount of power she has, she would have to eat tons of innards to regain her power; all she had was a small village, and she was able to trump 2 Abyssals?

The confusing bit is, we don't know just how much power she lost - I think she hasn't lost any, because it's less confusing that way. We know from her rampage that, even without starving herself, she needs scores of people to replenish herself. The trick is however, figuring out how much she lost, and how much power she had to begin with. We KNOW from this chapter that she's well over 2xAO, but for some, that was her full power to begin with.

I personally go with that she never lost any power by starving herself - her needs and her yoki are seperate. It just feels less confusing that way.

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Wonder if she will remain stable this time. I think she regressed last time out of guilt.

Odds are more that she will remain stable this time around, unless "that man with the faint smell" ever shows up again.

Originally Posted by Ryus

(speaking of which... is it just me or is Priscilla, The Destroyer, and Raki about to become the new Trifecta? but with no staying in the abyss and all maneuvering... The Destroyer just going where ever, Priscilla looking for a scent (until she forgets or changes her mind) and Raki being who the beep knows... and how obedient he'll be)

...........Hey yeah, that sounds pretty cool

The original Three are all toast(well, almost, something has to happen to Riful and Dauf though), Alicia and Beth are dead....seems pretty cool to me that we know have a new three .

Originally Posted by Tale

As for Priscilla...
The cover of this chapter with Priscilla's body says:
Saikyou-Saisei
The revival of Priscilla. (However, for Priscilla, the worlds Saikyou, or the most ferocious, are used.)

Purisira ga sono mokutekini mukatte tsuini ugokihajimeru
Finally, Pricilla began to move toward her goal.

How interesting.....this is indeed a "revival", in a way. The only question is, what goal are they referring too? She was never like Isley with any plans. What could she possibly want(except to eat)?

Originally Posted by NegativeDark

]Anyways Revan5, don't act all high and mighty because your just as vunerable to turbolaser fire as anyone else, and suffer from the greatest weakness of your order, the inability to not screw each other over.

ROFLMAO, I'm giving you Rep for that one

Originally Posted by Tale

Considering the main plot of Claire's revenge for Teresa against Priscilla, I think it's somehow inevitable except that I'm interested in it as a story-arch. I'd be more interested in questions such as whether the innocent-looking Priscilla who spent time with Raki was the reminiscence of her humanity.

Well, I really doubt all that time shown to us was for naught. I don't know what kind of future Yagi has outlined for her, but she's definitely not gonna be the "final boss", that's for sure. She's never been the final boss; Claymore doesn't even have one(unless you count the Organization).

Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

I personally think the end of the manga is a battle between Clare and Priscilla, both in their maximum strength, power and hatred. I hate to see the other Ghosts helping Clare in that actual battle because it will not show the genius of creating a powerful Clare.

Odds are, Claire is going to fully awaken when she starts fighting. If the Ghosts or anybody else gets involved, they are probably gonna end up getting their heads torn off.

Originally Posted by Gooral

I was hoping to see again the same Priscilla that killed Teresa but she seemed much too powerful for my taste.

What do you mean Gooral? You mean how she was being semi or fully-awakened? Or was it the crying part?

Originally Posted by Zato

What surprise me the most is about Prissy's knowledge. She was aware of the twin and what the organization was doing. And I think that she was just cuddling around Raki all these time.

It is really weird....then again, we don't know a single thing about what's been going on between those 2 and Isley for seven years. Perhaps Isley has been keeping tabs on the Organization's recent activities and he told them about it.

Originally Posted by MisterJB

I can't be the only one who sees a resemblance between Priscilla's position on this cover and Clare's position when she emerged of the Destroyer.

Not a all, I saw it too. It's kind of how Arturro said how they both have been re-born. Claire has been reborn with everything Rafaela gave to her, and Priscilla has been reborn into her old self.

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Originally Posted by MisterJB View Post
Didn't like this chapter. The only good things were the teamwork between Alicia and Beth, Beth's tears for Alicia's death and Priscilla's tits.

Still, two crying Abyssal Ones in two chapters. WTF?
XD You starting to sound like shieky.

HAH!

[revan5]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

I find it amazing that you don't or refuse to understand a joke with the hair cutting thing. As for the asthetics thing - you may think Rachel and Undine are lookers, but be aware many might consider you crazy or blind if you voice it too often.

And if battery acid doesn't work, I suppose I'll have to switch tactics. I guess I wont introduce you to
someone

Oh I get that Galatea's joking around with plenty of dark humor, it just amazes me the word "thanks" is not part of the dialogue in Chapter 79 between Claire and her.

I never said Deneve was the most attractive person, especially when she's releasing her yoki and increasing her muscles dramatically. As for Undine, you'd have to ask Shiek, as I cannot recall defending her looks. But to attack them for releasing their yoki to increase their strength would require us to attack the looks of all Claymores when releasing their yoki (including Galatea, who even mentions how releasing her yoki ruins her looks). Ordinarily Deneve and especially Undine was/were above-average warriors but not overly muscular. However, due to their yoki strength-enhancing techniques, they can become "muscle-freaks" in mere seconds. For Deneve this is a combat technique only, and for Undine it was a facade to hide behind. The original physique of both warriors was not actually that ugly.

However, I prefer long hair and am not into "muscle-freaks" but merely athletic girls with longer hair than Deneve, thus Miria remains my favorite in terms of looks. As for your not introducing me to that girl, well, don't worry, I've still got Bastila. http://images.wikia.com/starwars/ima...tilaAvatar.jpg
I mean the girl's always waiting on me, night and day...
http://www.cosplay.com/i/costumes/200/97075.jpg
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Now then, on to this debate about Priscilla's strength. I cannot see Priscilla as being stronger than 4 Abyssal Ones. Why? If she was that strong she shouldn't even have any of her limbs cut up, but yet against 2 Abyssal Ones stronger than Riful, Priscilla winds up gaining numerous injuries which she quickly heals. All of them were superficial for her, but the fact that she's getting injured at all should tell us there is a limit to her strength. My guess is her strength lies somewhere above 2 Abyssal Ones' in terms of yoki, but below 4 AOs. This would make her not "Aizen Sousuke"-like and also give Claire a chance. Priscilla can be strong, but making her too strong would be a mistake for Yagi. She needs to be beatable, and therefore too much strength would make this story too predictable.

Also, there is something I'm interested in noting. It is still possible Priscilla is 2x an AO in strength, but because the strength is concentrated in one being its marginal "utility" results in combat performances that far outstrip that of 2 Abyssal One opponents fighting her. What I'm saying is that in order to combat her you'd prefer not to have your strength spread out among numerous individuals but concentrated in as few individuals as possible. Thus the Destroyer is actually the optimum opponent for Priscilla at the present time, not Alicia and Beth awakening together to attack her.

[MisterJB]

I'm just glad that Riful didn't get a new ally in Alicia.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by Revan

As for Undine, you'd have to ask Shiek, as I cannot recall defending her looks.

Heh

While some pictures grossly exaggerate her looks, to be fair, she's not ugly, especially in her normal state. Her reputation and "Hulk-ness" I think are more extreme then her looks.

It's the same with Deneve, but she's even prettier. She's the most masculine out of the Ghosts, but she's got appeal like all of them.

But I can understand your feelings Revan; you want Sarah Conner; the ones who still retain femininity, and still are tough as nails without crossing over, cutting the hair, and what not.

All of them were superficial for her, but the fact that she's getting injured at all should tell us there is a limit to her strength.

I definitely agree that above 4xAO is far too extreme, which is why I always place her between 3xAO and 4xAO. She wasn't injured however; losing limbs doesn't mean anything when her yoki and regenerative powers are off the charts.

Look at the reactions; Riful was shocked when she realized she lost her arm, right after it happened, but Priscilla didn't notice her arm was missing in 97 until after the fight and she didn't have much of an expression at all.

Originally Posted by MisterJB

I'm just glad that Riful didn't get a new ally in Alicia.

You know, I was honestly looking forward to that...but Ryus' idea about their being a new group of Three(Raciella, Priscilla, Raki) seems much more cooler then me.

More and more, Riful and Dauf feel...old. It honestly goes back to how I felt before about me not minding if they die because her legacy would live on. I don't know what future they are supposed to have other then death, but I'm starting to feel "out with the old, in with the new".

[Nvis]

I'm going to miss Cynthia's fine bottom.