Some of Clare’s past revealed and a battle royale between Galatea and the upstart Miata.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Norihiro Yagi
Translation: Arashi Productions
Adaptation: Arashi Productions
What They Say
In a world where monsters called Yoma prey on humans and live among them in disguise, humanity’s only hope is a new breed of warrior known as Claymores. Half human, half monster, these silver-eyed slayers possess supernatural strength, but are condemned to fight their savage impulses or lose their humanity completely.
The Child WarriorIn their hunt for Galatea, the Organization’s former number 3, Clarice and Miata enter the Holy City of Rabona, but what they encounter there is far beyond anything they could have anticipated. Also included in this volume are bonus stories of Priscilla and Isley’s first meeting, and of Clare’s training at the Organization.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume has a couple short chapters examining past events. The most interesting to me is Clare’s time in training to become a Claymore. Clare is unique in the fact that she is the only human transformed into a Claymore by using the flesh of another Claymore. Usually, Claymores are made with Yoma flesh, kind of making them half human and half Yoma. The fact that Clare has so little Yoma in her makes her accomplishments and sheer determination to reach her goal all that more impressive.
Most of this volume follows the battle between Galatea and Miata, the new most powerful Claymore. Galatea has been hiding as a nun in Rabona, and surprisingly beloved by the town children. The only way she could successfully pull this off was to blind herself so no one could see her silver Claymore eyes. That is some serious drive to succeed. Even with her blindness, Galatea is still incredibly powerful.
This time spent in Rabona reintroduces the reader to the two soldiers who helped Clare and Raki defeat a Yoma more than seven years earlier. Seeing old characters resurface is pretty cool, and it gets me wondering when Raki will make a reappearance and what he will be like after all this time.
Miata is a powerful Claymore and probably capable of defeating Galatea, but luring Miata to Rabona was a chance Galatea had to take. She knew there was an Awakened One nearby and that she would need the help of another powerful Claymore to defeat it. This proves very true when the Awakened One reveals herself as the former Claymore known as Bloody Agatha. Galatea figures her and Miata have a 50/50 chance of defeating the Awakened One. Only that number doesn’t count for Miata’s single-minded attempt to kill Galatea, completely ignoring the Awakened One. Is there any hope for Rabona? Is there any way possible that Galatea can defeat Miata and then the Awakened One? I kind of doubt it.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 3rd, 2009
MSRP: $7.99
