How have I not commented or even rated this before!?
I'm kinda sleep-deprived so this will be short. Either that, or I'll keep typing and forget to stop.
First, allow me to raeg at the anime adaptation. They went with a crappy (I mean REALLY crappy) original ending even though there was a PERFECT spot in the manga for the anime to end.
This series starts quite cliche (I mean, how annoying is Raki/Lucky amirite?) but as soon as the first awakened being mission is given, it goes awesome-tier. Later in the series, Clare is much less of a lead character, her friends playing as large or larger roles in the story. But they're such awesome characters I really don't mind this.
I am amazed that the mangaka of Angel Densetsu made another awesome series that is in a completely different genre.
Of course, angel densestsu is better as that's just god-tier comedy but this is still awesome.
What really sets this series apart is the time skip (which is how the anime should've ended). It was executed PERFECTLY. I've never seen a timeskip done this well, that I can remember. Everyone's just so badass. Even
Raki/Lucky
though that character is still not that important.
The series has been kinda less awesome lately, possibly due to having too many ridiculously powerful adversaries. Also, I didn't like how
Rafaela's
story ended up. She seemed really interesting and I get the feeling her story had more potential in length and depth. Same thing with
! Isley
too. Who seemed like a great character to explore more of. I guess that's an appeal of the series, though. The chaos. Complete and utter chaos (not at first, but later beginning with the arc before the time-skip. And I guess there's a hint of this in Teresa's story's resolution).
Also, I'm divided over the twist and big reveal of what the larger picture is. Divided because ont he one hand it does seem kinda cool and original, on the other it seems like exactly soemthing I would come up with, which always annoys me :/
Oh! And a reveal in ch137-ish about the
! half-awakening
, that they were all
! implanted with someone close to them
Not only doesn't really make sense (if the experiment was discontinued how can the other three [four if you include the character from before the time-skip] have it?), it also very much reduces the awesomeness of those Claymores' accomplishment in achieving the state. And seems like a major coincidence that Clare just so happened to run into another one for the process to work.
Would have formerly rated this a 10 or 9.5, but 9 is the highest I'll go now.