Review: Claymore, Vol. 15

Claymore: Genesis of War, Vol. 15
by Norihiro Yagi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Claymore, Vol. 15 / 978-1421531496

I'm a very devoted fan of both the Claymore anime and the manga. I love the crisp black-and-white artwork, and while I realize it's not for everyone I personally think it's a perfect style for graphic novels. I find the action easy to follow, and the faces and body language to be surprisingly emotive. The story is complex and compelling, and I'm all in until the series finally finishes. I own this volume as a Nook Book e-book, and I assume it will shortly be ported to other online stores for sale.

Volume 15 provides the following scenes:

Scene 78: Genesis of War, Part 1
Scene 79: Genesis of War, Part 2
Scene 80: Genesis of War, Part 3
Scene 81: Genesis of War, Part 4
Scene 82: Genesis of War, Part 5
Scene 83: The Lamentation of the Earth, Part 1

Spoilers ahead!

This volume opens with the Seven Ghosts confronting Awakened Being Bloody Agatha in the holy city of Rabona. (And it's particularly exciting to see the Ghosts work together as a coordinated unit; it's immediately clear how much stronger the warriors are as a close-knit unit as opposed to the groups-of-strangers the Organization insists on sending out constantly in order to actively prevent internal alliances from forming.) Once Agatha is defeated, it's time to regroup and sort out the Galatea-Clarice-Miata situation.

Miria reveals that she plans to dismantle the Organization. She informs the group the secret behind the Organization: that the yoma the Claymores are sent out to fight are actually created by the Organization itself. Somewhere else in the world there is another continent, where a war is being waged. The Organization is using *this* continent to build and test battle units: yoma, Claymore, Awakened Beings, soul bindings, Abyssal Creatures, and far more besides. The Organization releases yoma into the countryside to wreak havoc; commissions come in (money that funds more research), warriors become stronger, and the Organization harvests knowledge, tactics, and possibly units to take back to the mainland.

We cut to Raki, all grown up now and a warrior in his own right. He travels as a warrior-for-hire, with Priscilla (posing as his adopted daughter) pointing out yoma and Raki dispatching them for the afflicted village. Number 6 Renee -- the new "god's eye" in the wake of Galatea's desertion -- confronts him in town, asking how he can sense yoma from ordinary people. When she realizes the power of Priscilla, she beats a hasty retreat; before she can return to the Organization to report on the situation, she is captured by Abyssal Creature Riful, who wishes Renee to probe into the consciousness of a mysterious artifact: the melded bodies of Luciela and Rafaela.

Before Miria can take down the Organization, she cautions the others to take care of any last business. Clare heads west, seeking Raki; Helen and Deneve decide to take a final tour of their southern home. In a town in the west, Clare -- along with Yuma and Cynthia -- run into Rubel, Clare's former handler.

~ Ana Mardoll