Review: Claymore, Vol. 8

Claymore: The Witch's Maw, Vol. 8
by Norihiro Yagi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Claymore, Vol. 8 / 978-1421510507

I've watched the Claymore anime before following the manga, and I absolutely love both. I love the crisp, clean, black-and-white artwork, and I'm finding that the "action" panels are getting easier to follow as I progress into the series -- I think that the artists behind this series are truly talented and skilled at conveying a complex story and wonderfully emotive characters.

Volume 8 provides the following scenes:

Scene 40: Fit for Battle, Part 4
Scene 41: The Witch's Maw, Part 1
Scene 42: The Witch's Maw, Part 2
Scene 43: The Witch's Maw, Part 3
Scene 44: The Witch's Maw, Part 4
Scene 45: The Witch's Maw, Part 5

For those following along with the anime series, this volume corresponds to:

Episode 14: Qualified to Fight
Episode 15: The Witch's Maw, Part 1
Episode 16: The Witch's Maw, Part 2

Spoilers ahead!

This volume finishes out the Ophelia arc and begins the Riful arc in the Witch's Maw. The volume ends when Riful lets drop that the "Man of the North" has a one-horned companion: Priscilla.

Clare defeats Awakened Ophelia and Ophelia's soul finally finds peace in the memory of her brother. Clare then goes on the lam, refusing to return to the Organization until she has found Raki. In a large town, she learns that a group of Claymore are conducting a hunt for a nearby Awakened Being; Clare initially tries to avoid the group, but when a lone, badly wounded survivor limps into town and pleas for help, Clare decides that she cannot leave her comrades in peril. She travels to the Witch's Maw where she encounters and fights Dauf, before meeting Number 3 Galatea and Riful, the Abyssal Creature of the west.

~ Ana Mardoll