Claymore - General Discussion Thread

[Jazzrat]

I'm not sure why people keep posting here to say that they don't like Claymore when their reasons are so minor. If you don't like something just because it doesn't grab you, then it really isn't worth posting about.

It's first episode, lots of people would have tried it and wanna post their view on it. It's not as bad as people who stuck with a series for 10+ episode and still kept on bitching about it

with 10 volume of materials, i don't think there's lot of room for random adventures in a 26 episode series :P or atleast one can hope.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

with 10 volume of materials, i don't think there's lot of room for random adventures in a 26 episode series :P or atleast one can hope.

Well, we are just guessing that it will use all 10 volumes of material and we are just guessing that it is 26 episodes... If they use less material or more episodes then obviously things go all to heck and we might get lots of filler, but the two numbers do seem to fit well together.

[Sakuya]

Wow, episode 1 was good! This will probably be my most awaited show every week from now. There was even a twist in this episode which I was not expecting at all. I can't wait until Claymores fight Claymores, at least that's what it looks like from the OP.

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

It's first episode, lots of people would have tried it and wanna post their view on it.

I agree, and there was a lot of pent up energy related to this title. I know I was looking forward to it, because I love straight-up fantasy adventure. I just want a good plot as well. When I heard about Claymore, I instantly decided I was going to keep my eye on this title.

I'm definitely sticking with it for now. Quite frankly I'm okay with this show being of average quality. Like I said, what I am really looking for is a decent fantasy setting and a good plot. If Claymore delivers on that, I'll be happy I watched it. That being said, I don't think the artwork is better than Seirei no Moribito (which also started this season). If I had to pick one show, it might not be Claymore. I'm glad I have the time to indulge, and can watch more than one.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

I'm not sure why people keep posting here to say that they don't like Claymore when their reasons are so minor. If you don't like something just because it doesn't grab you, then it really isn't worth posting about.

For a lot of series, I can tell from the first episode that it will be pure awesomeness. Card Captor Sakura, Higurashi, Mai Hime, Koi Kaze, Air, Zero no Tsukaima, and Full Metal Panic fall into this category. I have maybe a 20% false positive rate, so if I love the first episode, there's a nice 80% chance that I'll love the series.

Claymore didn't fall into this category. That means it is in the "Underwhelming Ep1" group with Shuffle, Suzumiya Haruhi, Zegapain, Gundoh Musashi, Strawberry Panic, Hell Girl, Chrono Crusade, and essentially, most series that exist. Some of these turned out to be very good, like Zegapain, Chrono Crusade, and Haruhi. But those are rare exceptions, and most turned out to be mediocre or worse. Here, I have more like a 20% false negative rate, so there's an 80% chance that I WON'T love the series if I didn't love the first episode.

In other words, the specifics of the subtle, minor details of why or why not are not overly important; they are the intangibles that come from the quality of the staff. Tangibly, I thought the opening and ending were bad, which is disappointing but has no bearing anime itself. Intangibly, it did not seem to be 'inspired'.

I'm hoping that the series gets better, and it has lots of room to do so. But impressions of the initial episode are quite telling, and shouldn't be suppressed simply because they aren't glowing and gushing.

[toxic_trance]

Originally Posted by Saber Cherry

For a lot of series, I can tell from the first episode that it will be pure awesomeness. Card Captor Sakura, Higurashi, Mai Hime, Koi Kaze, Air, Zero no Tsukaima, and Full Metal Panic fall into this category. I have maybe a 20% false positive rate, so if I love the first episode, there's a nice 80% chance that I'll love the series.

Claymore didn't fall into this category. That means it is in the "Underwhelming Ep1" group with Shuffle, Suzumiya Haruhi, Zegapain, Gundoh Musashi, Strawberry Panic, Hell Girl, Chrono Crusade, and essentially, most series that exist. Some of these turned out to be very good, like Zegapain, Chrono Crusade, and Haruhi. But those are rare exceptions, and most turned out to be mediocre or worse. Here, I have more like a 20% false negative rate, so there's an 80% chance that I WON'T love the series if I didn't love the first episode.

In other words, the specifics of the subtle, minor details of why or why not are not overly important; they are the intangibles that come from the quality of the staff. Tangibly, I thought the opening and ending were bad, which is disappointing but has no bearing anime itself. Intangibly, it did not seem to be 'inspired'.

I'm hoping that the series gets better, and it has lots of room to do so. But impressions of the initial episode are quite telling, and shouldn't be suppressed simply because they aren't glowing and gushing.

Dont confuse this for flaming at you...but from ur conversation it just seems like..BLAH BLAH to me. You atleast need to give some decent reason to dislike the anime. Plus as for your 80% rule...what u like doesnt necessarily mean it was liked by everyone.

CLAYMORE has a hype around it and the reason is that the manga proved itself to be a very good one in terms of character development. So i would hope that u too would wait out and reserve your comments. First episodes can never decide how good an anime it is. Its just that you end up seeing series whu=ich are good and recommended by others.

Anyway...CLAYMORE's brilliance will start a bit late that is MADHOUSE makes a good adaptation and lives up to their name...so guys wait..and enjoy the action till then.

[meh]

As a fan of the manga, this will be a definitely be a weekly fixture. Kind of annoying that things don't pick up for a while(assuming it faithfully follows the manga). For those who aren't sure whether to follow, you might have to wait 5+ episodes before things REALLY get interesting.

[lommm]

has madhouse's website not listed anything about an episode count? is that unusual or do lots of series not list an episode total when they begin?

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by lommm

is that unusual or do lots of series not list an episode total when they begin?

Not lots, though it has been known to happen a good number of times in the past. Hasn't the episode count for this already been announced?

[Crystal_Method]

It's all good, we all have different ways of choosing what anime we like and won't like. No need to comment on others' way of doing things. I just feel lucky to be one of the few that can respect all anime in different ways... well maybe not all, but most.

Anyway, is there any hard evidence that this show will be 24/26 episodes. Maybe even 50... Hook me up with a link with some kind of announcement of the sort if there is one.

And yea I know, most likely there won't be 50 episodes, but that won't keep me from hoping.

[Daniel E.]

Dont know how long this show will be, but ANN already has the titles for the first four episodes.

The translation of those titles is different from the ones used by Eclipse.

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by Saber Cherry

I'm hoping that the series gets better, and it has lots of room to do so. But impressions of the initial episode are quite telling, and shouldn't be suppressed simply because they aren't glowing and gushing.

And there's a lot that had an impressive first episode only to turn into a flaming trainwreck middle of the way. Of course, everyone have their own preference so draw what you will from episode 1 but personally, i don't put much weight on 1 episode when it comes to judging whether a series will be awesome or a waste of time. While Claymore doesnt blow your mind off with episode 1 but is far from underwhelming.

And Haruhi Suzumiya episode 1 is a showcase of KyoAni animation excellence.... if you see what's beneath it instead of just looking at the surface.

[Budweineken]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

Dont know how long this show will be, but ANN already has the titles for the first four episodes.

The translation of those titles is different from the ones used by Eclipse.

From the first episode title, they didn't translate the Kanji portion that seems to mean "Dai Tsurugi", which would mean Big Sword or something... I myself think of it as "The Great Sword"... still the name Claymore itself embodies that meaning, so it may turn out to be redundant... I myself would've called it "The Great Sword, Claymore" or something along those lines, but it's nothing I really care about.

I don't know about the second episode translation, but I'm pretty sure that the "Sho" used in the Kanji doesn't reffer to a book as ANN makes it out to be, it has various meanings and anyone with knowledge of the series should know that.

Eclipse is also trying to use Viz as a guide to keep consitency, and the chapter episode 2 is going to be based on is called "The Black Card", so I would say calling it "The Black Book" would be a bit inaccurate in the context of the series Claymore.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally Posted by meh

As a fan of the manga, this will be a definitely be a weekly fixture. Kind of annoying that things don't pick up for a while(assuming it faithfully follows the manga). For those who aren't sure whether to follow, you might have to wait 5+ episodes before things REALLY get interesting.

It's true, after rereading manga ch1-3 to see if I could find anything legitimate to nitpick about (and I couldn't), I remembered that the manga didn't really hook me until the second volume. On the other hand, Angel Densetsu (by the same mangaka) hooked me immediately. It has a very different style (comedy) and I highly recommend it.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Budweineken

Eclipse is also trying to use Viz as a guide to keep consitency, and the chapter episode 2 is going to be based on is called "The Black Card", so I would say calling it "The Black Book" would be a bit inaccurate in the context of the series Claymore.

Oh yes, I was also aware of this (reading the first volumes of the manga). I just mentioned ANN listing the episode titles in case anyone was interested in that bit of info.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by toxic_trance

CLAYMORE has a hype around it and the reason is that the manga proved itself to be a very good one in terms of character development. So i would hope that u too would wait out and reserve your comments. First episodes can never decide how good an anime it is. Its just that you end up seeing series whu=ich are good and recommended by others.

I see. Essentially the reason for so many strongly negative posts are hype-backlash. Something so strongly hyped creates a feeling that it must be spoken against when the episode was merely decent. I can understand that.

It's a shame, since I didn't love the manga on the first 3 chapters either. It wasn't until volume 2 that the story really grabbed me. I wonder how many people will respond to the hype by turning this out for being merely good at the beginning. This show starts off slow and that is turning off a lot of people who are expecting more from the hype.

Originally Posted by Crystal_Method

Anyway, is there any hard evidence that this show will be 24/26 episodes. Maybe even 50... Hook me up with a link with some kind of announcement of the sort if there is one.

And yea I know, most likely there won't be 50 episodes, but that won't keep me from hoping.

The only evidence is that the manga is only 10 volumes and new chapters come out at the slow rate of 1 per month. There is no way to exceed 26 episodes without a LOT of filler.

[Sorrow-K]

*Cough* This show needs its own subforum *cough*

Not because I'm terribly impressed with it (I'll get to my opinion of it in a sec), but because, since the first ep aired two days ago, this thread has had ten pages worth of replies. IMO, that sort of popularity demands a subforum (cos I hate having to wade through all the clutter in a single thread, when it'd all be better organized in a subforum). But enough of me telling the mods how they should do their job (they're probably way ahead of me anyway).

Ep 1.

Intriguing. I dig the medieval setting and the art style. The animation and action isn't terribly brilliant (a little underwhelming considering what Madhouse is capable of), but it's tolerable. There's enough to the characters that they can build on them (including a little hint of Clare's backstory), but they're not super-interesting. I dig the tone of the series as well... as someone (I can't remember who) said earlier in the thread, if Berserk is black, this is grey. I like the prospects for this series, but it's too early to make a call on it. My big fear at the moment is that it'll burn a significant fraction of its first half on yoma-of-the-week.

What I'd like to see from Kaioshin_Sama: I'd like to see you just watch the series beginning to end... no ifs, no buts, no excuses. Just watch it. Even if it kills you. And only comment on episodes after you've seen them. And make somewhat of an effort to watch the episodes as soon as possible after they're released. That's what I'd like to see. Kaioshin_Sama's commentaries are just as valuable as anyone else's but I have big problems with them when he crosses that line between speculation on the first few chapters/episodes and turns it into full-blown complete-judgement immovable opinion. The problem with this is, as the anime evolves, the opinion must also evolve to match it. And, I'm of the opinion that, you can't do this unless you follow the anime... and you can't properly follow the anime unless you actually take that 25 minutes a week and watch it. So, this is my challenge to Kaioshin_Sama... watch the anime and then comment on it. No excuses... just do it. I have a suspicion that it'll turn out to be a rewarding experience for all involved.

[NoSanninWa]

Nonsense. Nobody has the watch the show through to the end to figure out if they'd like it. If you can watch 5 episodes without falling in love with the story, then you probably won't like the rest. It may start slow, but it doesn't take THAT long to mature. I'm taking a guess at exactly how many episodes. It might take only 4... I'll know better when I've seen them.

And there aren't that many "yoma of the week" stories either such as you fear.

[Crystal_Method]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

The only evidence is that the manga is only 10 volumes and new chapters come out at the slow rate of 1 per month. There is no way to exceed 26 episodes without a LOT of filler.

I always wanted to ask this question: is there such a thing as good fillers? Even if it might be hard to get back on track when more manga develops.

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

Nonsense. Nobody has the watch the show through to the end to figure out if they'd like it. If you can watch 5 episodes without falling in love with the story, then you probably won't like the rest. It may start slow, but it doesn't take THAT long to mature. I'm taking a guess at exactly how many episodes. It might take only 4... I'll know better when I've seen them.

And there aren't that many "yoma of the week" stories either such as you fear.

I agree with you on that. I'd say 4 episodes too. The title for the 4th episode is called

Spoiler for episode 4:

Clare's awakening on ANN.

That seems like where the anime will start getting interesting.

[Sorrow-K]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

Nonsense. Nobody has the watch the show through to the end to figure out if they'd like it. If you can watch 5 episodes without falling in love with the story, then you probably won't like the rest. It may start slow, but it doesn't take THAT long to mature.

Maybe not, but that's not the point. The point is to prove to Kaioshin_Sama (and others... sorry if it looks like I'm picking on one person) that you can't give a series a fair shake by only watching the first episode, because it's almost certain to change before now and the end. The reason I'm talking to Kaioshin_Sama is because he has a history of commenting on completed or near-completed series after only watching the first couple of episodes himself and doing so in such a way that his opinion is indistinguishable from everyone else's, which is something that I have fundamental problems with, since I strongly believe that the only way you can give an anime a fair shake is to actually take the time to watch it. So, what I'm trying to say to Kaioshin_Sama is that, this time, just for a change, watch it first, comment second, because it won't kill you. Hell, he may end up liking it.

Alternatively, if he drops it now, there's zero chance he'll end up liking it, no matter what happens between now and the end. The "watch all of it" part, as opposed to "watch 5 eps" is just an additional challenge to the whole thing.