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Year: 2007
Genre: Action, Adventure, Super Power, Demons, Supernatural, Fantasy, Shounen
Episodes: 26
Rating: 3 out of 5
A long, long, long time ago, one of the manga series I read was Claymore. During this time in my life, I was reading way more manga than watching anime as I didn’t have cable or a streaming service. Claymore caught my attention as it was ranked in the top 25 manga stories at the time. The story intrigued me as it was about women who walked the earth and killed demons that could transform into powerful beings when they get pushed too hard. My favorite character was Teresa because she was an absolute badass. I was excited to watch the anime hoping that it would be something like the manga in terms of violence and storyline. Get ready to walk into the world where shape-shifting demons who love to eat human flesh battle against silver-eyed, sword-wielding women.
Overview:
Claymore takes place in a medieval-type world where shape-shifting, humanoid demons known as Yoma feed on the flesh of humans. A mysterious group names the Organization creates and employee human-Yoma hybrids named Claymores to kill Yoma for a fee. Claymores are female warriors in armor and carry claymore swords. Claymores are known across the land as “Silver-eyed Witches” for their distinct eye color. Both Claymores and Yoma are powered by the ability to release demonic energy called Yoki, which allows them extra strength and skills. One of the downsides of being a Claymore is that when they use too much Yoki, they can become “awaken,” becoming a super-powered Yoma called an Awakened Being. The world of Claymore is divided into 47 districts, with one warrior assigned to each. Claymores are ranked from 1 to 47 based on their Yoki potential, strength, agility, intelligence, sensing, and leadership. A Claymore’s rank can either rise and fall depending on the others that are ranked.
Claymore begins when a shape-shifting Yoma terrorizes a village. A claymore by the name of Clare arrives and slaughters the Yoma. A boy named Raki, whose brother was killed by a Yoma and disguised himself as Raki’s brother, is saved by Clare. Raki is banished from his village and decides to accompany Clare on her journey. As Clare journeys from village to village, her past and other Claymores come to life. Soon Clare is on the path for the vengeance she seeks against the one who took her former life from her.
Review:
I read the manga and the anime somewhat follows the manga, but the ending was completely off. Maybe because they tried to put the whole manga in 26 episodes. For the actual story, it’s about Claymores that roam the giant land in search of destroying Yuma. The Claymores are ranked, and if one gets pushed beyond their limit, then they become awakened and become even stronger but lose themselves to eating human flesh. It is pretty interesting to watch, but I was actually bored with it for a while. Most of the first few episodes are Clare and Raki walking around taking down Yuma. It wasn’t until Clare went on missions with other Claymores that it started to become a tad bit interesting. To me, the story really didn’t pop off until we got a look in Clare’s background. This is when we meet Teresa and Priscilla and where everything goes down. When Priscilla awakens and slices people up, then it gets good. From there, the story revolves around Clare getting stronger to take down Priscilla. Along the way, she meets new and strange Claymores that serve some purpose to the story. The last few episodes are the best because it is straight action and death. Now, when one fights in a volcano, that is when I’m like, okay, this is nowhere close to the manga but hey, got to make it work somehow.
The anime has a lot more to explore if it went off the manga. It somewhat left off with a cliffhanger where Isley comes by and saves Priscilla from certain death. Clare should’ve just killed her and be done with it, but ultimately, the anime takes the route of a group of Claymores deciding to take down the Organization that created them. The Organization and island are part of a bigger experiment that is even stranger than before. It’s like an experiment site to create weapons because they are winning or losing some war. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the manga.
The anime also shows that all the Claymores are women. For some reason, the Organization decided to use women rather than men, even though some of the awakened ones are men. I don’t know why, but I like this aspect because the women in this anime kicked some major ass, especially Teresa. I am bummed that the story killed off such a strong and badass character.
The animation in this anime doesn’t stand the test of time. Some of the characters are drawn in a way that makes them unique when some of the Claymore is awakened. One becomes this snake-like creature. Priscilla has these wings with a horn on her head. Actually, now that I think about it, all the awakened beasts are the best parts to look at because they are so strange. Many of the Claymores even are drawn with distinct colors, especially with their eyes. Ophelia is the one that comes to mind. She is drawn in such a crazy way with her craze smile and sadistic personality. I guess the best part of the animation is some of the fight scenes. They are not the greatest that I’ve seen, but they get the job done. You can see the scene’s intensity when the swords clash, but overall, it’s not the best that I have seen.
There are so many characters to talk about in this anime that it could take a full-on twenty minutes to talk about each and every one of them. I will speak only on the main characters in the essence of time and want you to actually read this review. First is the main character, Clare. Clare’s background is as intense as all the other Claymores. Parents died long ago, and she runs into one of the most gangsta Claymores of all time. Clare is cool but so damn weak, but that doesn’t stop homegirl from becoming an absolute BEAST. She has a mission on her mind, and homegirl is willing to put her life and literally all her limbs to accomplish it. That brings me to Raki. When Clare saves Raki, he straight up falls in love with the girl and will do anything for her. To me, he is an idiot because she wants to protect Clare so much that he is severely outmatched in many battles and somehow survives. Teresa of the Faint Smile is my favorite character in the whole anime. You want to talk about a straight-up gangsta and BEAST, look no further than this homegirl. She is so elite that she never used more than 10% of her Yoki in battle. Just imagine if she went all the way to just 50%. Game over for everyone.
Now the other side is the villains, and there is none other than Priscilla. Priscilla is so damn strong that she managed to kill Teresa when she goes into her awaken form and does a dirty move. From there, she loses her memory and acts like a child until she senses the aura of Teresa, who is actually Clare and wants to dominate all. Another “villain” that is an absolute beast is Isley, the Creature of the Abyss of the North. In the anime, we never see his awaked form, but I actually liked Isley. Even though he pledged allegiance to Priscilla after getting his ass handed to him, he is one of the few that is straight-up polite, honorable, and speaks in an educated, civil manner. Let me give a shout-out to Isley’s second-in-command Rinaldo. Even though Clare kills him, the dude shows up with some composure until turning into a freakin lion and killing almost everyone.
Claymore is a good anime if you like women killing beast called Yuma. The story is good, but it is completely rushed and relatively slow in the beginning. If you can make it to the Teresa flashback, then it will pick up. The end is good, but the series could’ve kept going. The characters are interesting, with some having interesting backstories. My favorite will always be Teresa. Overall, if you want something to watch, give this anime a chance; it will keep you entertained.
