Claymore - Reviews

The only downside to this series is that it leaves you wanting more. Claymore gives you what feels like to stories in one. We see our main character and we see how she got there. Any anime that makes you wish you were a character in it is a good one. 

I saw the anime and it was perfect. however I found out that the anime is not complete and they have changed the ending so they can finish it in 27 episodes. 2 last episodes are fake.

So I decided to read the manga and it turned out to be even better. the 25 episods anime was only 50 episodes of manga (can you believe it? only 50) and the original story finished recently on about 200. 

It was perfect!!!!

Claymore (2012)

Storyline

9.The series is set on a fictional medieval island where humans are plagued by Yoma, humanoid shape-shifters that feed on humans. A mysterious group, known as the The Organization, creates human-Yoma hybrids to kill Yoma for a fee. The public refer to them as "Claymores," alluding to their Claymore swords,  or "Silver-eyed Witches," due to their silver eyes.  Yoma and Claymore warriors alike are powered by a demonic energy, Yoki, which allows shape-shifting and extreme strength. When warriors use too much Yoki, they "awaken," becoming a super-Yoma called an Awakened Being. The first episode introduces the protagonist of the series: No. 47, Clare, who saves a young boy, Raki, from a Yoma. The next episode flashes back to the time of Teresa, warrior No. 1 of her era. And the young girl she saves from Yoma—Clare. P.S. I used good old wikipedia for this part, because I couldn't figure a way to explain what Claymore actually are :D

Plot and pace

9. Knowing all Claymores will eventually ‘awaken’ and turn into Yoma themselves makes this story very intense and dark from the start. You also get to know that Clare has one true enemy she wants to destroy someday, and the story progresses well towards this fate.

Cliffhangers

8. Claymore has some excellent cliffhangers, where certain Claymores get heavily injured during a battle, for example.

Satisfying ending

7. The ending was just so-so. I can’t say much about it here of course xD but I expected a bit more of it. It has an open ending, so you’ll be left with some questions, and I don’t really like that. At the other hand…

Rewatchability

7. Because of the cool battles and dramatic events, I’d watch it again.

Characters

7. The characters shine out of originality. I liked the mysterious guys from The Organization, but wanted to know more of them than I do after watching this Anime. Clare was cool too, but I couldn’t feel much affection for the other Claymores. They tried dramatizing some of their deaths, but most of them were heartless beings, whereas Clare was different.

Conversations

7. Claymore depends on action, not on conversations. But the story never gets hard to follow.

Art Style

10. The silver and golden eyes are just… wow. I always enjoy sharing these images with other people, it makes me proud that I’m one of the few intelligent people in this world that enjoy watching Anime.

Setting

9. Clare is always fulfilling her tasks for the Organization, so she has to travel a lot. The setting differs a lot because of this, from towns to snowy hills.

Music and sounds

8. Kickass intro music, and sexy voice-acting ^^.

Overall score

81/100

Claymore

Story [6/10]

In the world of Claymore isolated medieval villages are terrorized by the demon-like predators named Yoma, they have the power to transform into the humans they devour, making them impossible to deal with for the humans. However women in white shining armor that have been dubbed as "Claymores" by the villagers are the only hope for the people against the Yoma. Despite this, the reason they are able to beat the Yoma is because they are half-yoma themselves and so they are feared and hated by the villagers. This kind of premise certainly reminds me of Bladerunner and Naruto as the mysterious organization that created and controls the Claymore, see the Claymore as little more than mindless pawns for humans, despite their power and strength.

 

The isolated lifestyle of Claymores who should have been seen as heroes, to carry such a burden in order to save people who hate you is examined through this anime that differs it from that cliche premise of the hated hero who either doesn't care about what others think or the cursed hero that does not follow his path by choice. The nature of humans is painted in both a positive and negative way and is set up to be explored in the anime seeminglessly. Clare is fixated on revenge against a Claymore that became a Yoma, Priscilla but the price for revenge comes high as the Claymore's must surrender some of their sanity in order to gain the power necessary to achieve it, to the point where they must gamble their human counter-parts.

 

Animation [8.5/10]

The animation in Claymore is really quite amazing, it draws you into the world as the environment and the towns are vibrant and beautiful. The Claymore's are not drawn with much complexity but their eyes become emotional and powerful and they define and bring significance to the animation of the Claymore. It's really something special to see and watching it is a treat.

Sound [8/10]

 

The opening and ending are rather unique but they fit well into the concept of the anime and you begin to enjoy it in time. The music is quite amazing at sometimes and it will again further to draw you into the world of Claymore but at times the music doesn't seem to fit into the "medieval setting". The voice acting is above average and it helps to develop the characters in many ways but in some of the scenes it surely could have been better, still satisfactory.

 

Characters [5.8/10]

The characters are rather simple in many of the situations, it becomes more about the idea of the sisterhood of the Claymore and the mentality behind their situation and loneliness, forcing them to depend on each other and especially within difficult situations friendships are formed as well as an inherent trust and loyalty that they must have on each other to survive both physically and mentally. As the storytellers change hands from the manga writers to the anime producers, the characters begin to betray themselves in terms of who and what they are. The only character that really stood out to me was Teresa, when watching this to begin with I thought it might be trouble to substitute our general heroic males into females after so many anime from the same genre in which they were useless bystanders. However Teresa somewhat surpasses them and creates a fearsome hero that you begin to love and admire shortly after being introduced to her. I'm sure that in the manga the characters are far more interesting and thoughtful because the first half of the anime gives off the vibe that these characters will have something interesting to say about the themes they represent but they fail the more analytical viewers in this respect. The anime has a time limit and their rush to end the series took a lot a way from the entire anime.

Overall [6.7/10]

Unfortunately the true tragedy behind this anime is that the animation and sound quality were so high that you truly kept wishing for a great outcome to this anime but you were given far less than it. I could see and follow how they were going to set this out with each of their respective themes/morals behind the characters and the storyline. I'm sure it will/was delivered in the manga but it falls short in the anime. Somewhere along the line this anime stopped resembling the theme-based adventure/drama like Naruto and lowered itself to Bleach level aka a fighter anime without intellect. If you are someone who can overlook these type of flaws and be happy with the amazing world that Claymore allows us to explore then you will enjoy this anime. But if you are someone like me who was somewhat annoyed in the flaws in Code Geass then Claymore will probably have you tearing your hair out by the end. Despite that, I don't regret watching it. Watching Claymore is like eating a really thick mud cake, you are enjoying it thoroughly while eating it but the aftertaste becomes a bit too much to handle ;).

 

 

Right, it's confession time for me. If you have been reading my reviews than you may have noticed that I tend to rip the anime a new one. There is a reason for this though and it has to do with the fact that I can't turn my brain off when watching anime. I can't ignore the stupid shown in the anime and this is a problem as most anime are very stupid indeed.

In this case I'm not talking about a 90 pound girl catching a multi-ton cruise missile and throwing it back. Yes, it is stupid but it is a stupid that I'll allow. It's anime. Things like this are normal here and I'm pretty much fine with it. It annoys me to be sure but I will not rant about it.

So, having explained this lets rip into this anime shall we? Just a heads up: There will most probably be spoilers. The more I hate an anime the more spoilers there will be.

ART: The series was aired in 2007 so that should tell you something about its quality. I had no problems with the art and liked it for the most part. Action was easy to follow and I liked the Yoma designs. Basically no 2 Yoma look alike and the more powerful ones are true monsters.

SOUND: I really don't remember much of it but I remember not disliking it so I guess it was better than average? Voice actors did a good job overall in bringing the drama.

CHARACTERS: Main character is Clare. After losing her family and her mentor, Teresa, she decides to become a Claymore and fight Yoma. She has a strong sense of duty, loyalty and wishes to protect the innocent civilians so that they won't have to suffer her loss.

Teresa and Precilla. Teresa is the most powerful Claymore who saved Clare when she was a child and took her in. As she became more defiant she Organisation decided to send a squad in to kill her, led by Precilla. Unfortunately, Precilla, went full Yoma, killed Teresa and fled. Clare swore to hunt her down and destroy her.

Raki is human boy whos family got killed by a Yoma. He was saved by Clare and started to follow her around. Clare treats him like a younger brother and is very protective of him.

STORY: In a world where humans are preyed upon by monstrous Yoma the best defense is Claymores. These young woman are chosen to bond with Yoma flesh to receive their powers and fight them as equals. This is a double edged sword however as drawing upon the Yoma power within them can cause them to go to far and become that which they fight. Clare is such a Claymore who sets about doing her best to protect those under her care. After saving Raki, he starts to follow her around and she comes to care for him deeply. Will his love be enough to keep her human?

RANT: I find it very hard to talk about this anime as I also own the manga series. As often the case I keep comparing the 2 and this is something that very wrong as the manga is usually better. This anime is no exception as the manga is a lot better.

This is mainly due to pacing and completeness of story. The manga is better paced and is since 2015 completed as a series. The anime barely covers halve of the manga and was forced to leave some things out because it would only confuse the viewer.

Anyway, as an anime series it is not a masterpiece and it has its flaws but it is a desent enough series that I would carefully recommend it. Just watch a episode or 2 online and you'll get the idea just fine.

If you are deciding between the manga or the anime, then go for the manga if you can. The complete series is out and relatively easy to get. Provided you have the money for 27 volummes.... and the space to keep them. The anime is a lot cheaper and takes up less room.

Or you can go crazy like me and get both.