And suddenly, the entire concept of Claymore has become clear. Finally, the identity of the main antagonist has been revealed, and I must say that while it had it coming, the element of surprise in this episode was excellent. Teresa’s death was a sad one, but it perfectly explains why Claire turned into a Claymore herself.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m 100% happy, though. This episode really reminded me that Claymore remains a shounen anime, where the fights are supposed to be the highlights, and the enemy is the strongest enemy you could possibly think of. In the last episode, I already voiced my disappointment about how easily Priscilla got her powers, and now it becomes clear why she had to be so powerful: it’s to become as strong as possible this early on. I really would have preferred to see her actually grow a bit more, it would have increased the credibility tenfold.

This also automatically creates a new flaw: how the heck is Claire going to beat Priscilla in the end? Unlike Teresa, Claire is just an ordinary Claymore of a normal power-level. The awakened Priscilla, meanwhile, was even easily able to beat the strongest claymore: Teresa, someone who couldn’t even be defeated by the combination of Claymores 2 till 5. She also easily killed off her companions in the process.

I definitely do not hope that this anime will fall into the pits that plague so many other shounen-anime at this point: where its characters become an unbelievable amount stronger. Right now, we’ve seen the five strongest Claymores in action for the past two episodes. I hope that the new top Claymores will around the same level of strength in the current timeline. The next episodes are probably going to show whether this anime will focus on character-development or action. Let’s pray that the character-development will take priority!

One thing I do like, though, is that Priscilla isn’t after any kind of world conquest or anything. After all, if she was, she would’ve done this already. She also revealed why she hates Youma so much: she was the same as Raki. Her father was actually a disguised Youma, and he killed her family in front of her eyes. Another reason why Claire decided to take Raki in, because she feared that he’d end up like Priscilla if she didn’t help him. I wonder, though, how could a little girl be able to kill of an entire Youma? Did she already know how to fight even before she became a Claymore? That could explain why she turned out so strong as a Claymore, even though it doesn’t explain how that made her unique like that.

The doubts I had about this series, I take them all back after this episode. For three episodes in a row, Wellber no Monogatari has continuously pushed forward excellent episodes, one after another. While that by itself already is a feat that only few other anime from the current spring-season have accomplished, Wellber no Monogatari goes even further, by making each of these three episodes unique, and very different from the other. The title for “most diverse series” definitely goes to Wellber no Monogatari at this point.

Wellber no Monogatari and Kaze no Shoujo Emily really prove that the underdogs rock yet again! The current episode definitely was the best yet, when it features a huge amount of plot and character-development, with some great effects! With that, though, comes probably the only lesser part of the episode: some parts featured lots of dialogue, and were very hard to understand. xD

Anyway, most of the developments were focused on Galahad. We learn that Jamill is actually his girlfriend, and *gasp* Guernia is still alive!! For a moment, I was afraid that Galahad would turn good just because of the sixth episode, but I had no reason to worry. Near the end of the episode, he did betray his comrades, but he had every reason to, after Guernia told him that he’d been killing his own people (to test out his sword skills?), and that he indeed was the culprit, instead of the victim back in the first episode.

Still, that Guernia is quite a bastard, he really seems to be after Rita’s head, so that he’d be able to get the throne of both Wellber and Sangatras. It’s interesting to see that Galahad just betrayed the guy like that, and I’d love to see what he’s going to do next. (Jamill’s reaction to his betrayal, by the way, was excellent!). I had my doubts about his character at first, but during this episode, I really started to like the guy.

Tina, meanwhile, also reveals quite some interesting information about herself: she can’t write! It would be perfectly plausible for a thief like her, though. And I’m surprised that similar characters like her don’t show the same problems. She turns rather cute when she has to spell out a letter to send back home so that Rita can write it down. ^^;

I really, really, really hope that I can continue to praise Wellber no Monogatari for the rest of the series. Production I.G. is really showing its best side in the current season, with Seirei no Moribito as well. Now all that’s left is to hope that this won’t pull a .Hack//Roots, so that my enthusiasm has been for naught, but for now, I’m quite confident.

It’s a shame, really. A series like Claymore, who had a mediocre start as well has enough people watching it, because the manga turns better and better as it progresses. For an original story like Wellber no Monogatari, though, you can’t know whether it’ll turn out good or bad, just from first impressions.