Claymore

thor123 Nov 10, 2014

9.3

Claymore is one of my favourite fantasy manga. Oddly enough, it's by the mangaka of Angel Densetsu, which is a... delinquent comedy in a high school setting. Well, I liked that one too, and it shows versatility on the author's part that he can pull of both comedies and "darker" manga.  Story and characters On the surface, Claymore is a manga about the half-monster Clare who goes around somewhat merrily (since she never looks particularly happy), slaying Yoma, a kind of monsters. Or more accurately, it's about several women (yes, women - so if you don't like those you should get out) who slay monsters, after a gloomy organisation called "The Organization" (yep, I'm not kidding) had changed them. And because they wield big-ass claymores, the public calls them "Claymores" - or silver-eyed witches, because the changes give them silver eyes. This seemingly overly simplistic story where monsters get killed is all you get to see in the first couple of chapters. But it picks up. Boy, does it pick up. As I learned more about these Claymores, about this world, about the organization, I found myself unable to put it down. The plot showed itself, and it was a lot more complex than I initially expected. The characters were fleshed out and developed, making me actually care for them - heck, I even ended up liking Raki, a notoriously whiney broken record. And the fights were pretty cool too. Art The art in Claymore great too, especially when getting closer to the end. Scenery, monster designs, action scenes,... they all look great.  The biggest criticism I always hear is that the faces of the characters all look the same. While this isn't quite true, I have to agree that the differences are often quite subtle. The fact that the huge amount of female characters can't look too different because of plot-related reasons also plays a part in that. Overall Claymore is one of my favourite manga, especially when it comes to action/fantasy series. I strongly recommend giving this one a try.

GoranVanHellsing Aug 1, 2015

9.5

Story NO SPOILERS HERE! DON'T WORRY! :D This is heck of a story,absolutely one of my fav. out there. Its sad and at the same time intriguing. It just makes you read more and more until you find the ending. My personal opinion is that u should try it. Not believe me well u should look others reviews and see for yourself. :D Art About art eh, Norihiro could do more about faces of womens and some stuff but overall but when it comes to fight you will now what its about. Characters Like i said i think he mostly focused on battle but thing over thing what the most important is story characters comes later. Overall I know i didnt explained much (sorry) i just wanted to give you guys some my personal expresions thats all.  Above else CLAYMORE is so worth reading.  :D 

Serddar Sep 1, 2017

7.5

All those good things they told you about this manga, it is true, up to a certain point. Characters are fantastic, each having a different personallity, motivation, flaws and fighting styles. There is a strong enemy behind the scenes, one that cannot be defeated, one that tears throught our heroes without even showing his face... And then puff he is dead and there is a new monster every volume that is stronger than the previous one... By the time you reach last fight nothing will surprise you as new abilities are made up to kick down a corner story has reached. Tens of new characters will appear and you will not care about them, besides few main ones, others are pointless and serve... Well I'm not even sure, probably again just to push story forward. Now, I do sound a bit harsh, I gave it 7.5 after all... Simply putt, Claymore is a great series at the start  and through the middle, but after volumes in the North, quality drops quickly, if story ended there and then I would give it 9/10 with ease, but it dragged on and became mediocore.