Well yeah, Yagi has always been good with subverting gender roles. But I think that Claymore goes far above and beyond Angel Densetsu in terms of what Yagi does with gender roles in the story. Angel Densetsu is a good story with strong female characters. Claymore, on the other hand, subverts nearly ever gender trope known to man - in terms of both its male and female characters. Which is what makes Claymore stand alone. I'm not saying that Claymore is a *better* series than Angel Densetsu, just that it's more unusual in how it handles gender.

Just having strong female characters that don't to me feel contrived for one reason or another is more important than stuff like the Bechdel Test. (Though failing the Bechdel Test makes it harder to not feel contrived.)

Oh, I think that there are tons of factors that are more important than the Bechdel Test. I mean, duh. Something can pass the Bechdel Test and still be completely sexist, i.e. any porno involving lesbian vampires. ;) I don't think anybody really upholds the Bechdel Test as a be-all, end-all litmus test for sexism in fiction. It's just a useful starting point. Having said that, though, it's so rare to find a work of fiction that passes the Bechdel Test that it's certainly noteworthy when something does pass, and even more noteworthy when something fails the gender-reversed Bechdel Test. Just being able to point and say "Hey, this is really different from the status quo" is almost always a good thing when the status quo is usually, you know, kind of sexist.