Claymore

Claymore is a Shounen, Action, Adventure anime in a Fantasy, Medieval setting. The story basically revolves around a specific Claymore "Clare" and her companion "Raki" as she goes from town to town, slaying monsters known as Yoma. From the beginning the story is very easy to follow. You have Claymores (strong female warriors) and it is the job of these Claymores to slay the Yoma. The story basically follows Clare as she travels to slay these Yoma, which get increasingly difficult to defeat as the story goes on. As a character Clare is developed so well that your opinion of her will change constantly throughout theseries. Knowing her past before she became a Claymore and her current self makes it hard to believe that those two are the same person. What's disappointing is that some of the other main characters are not as developed as Clare but at least they produced good enough results. Raki being the main supporting character is really the only annoying character and doesn't really bring much to the story. As the story goes on it changes completely from the original hunt and kill Yoma, onto a more interesting and compelling storyline with amazing battles. The fight sequences are just amazing and what helps it is the superb animation quality, thanks to "Madhouse" (also producer of "Death Note"). A lot of detail is put into every aspect of animation, with amazing lighting effects, detailed backgrounds and realistic character models. It is great to see all this kept during the bloody fight sequences however I do feel some corners are cut which just loses some of its essence (e.g. when the arms move so fast it does the typical DBZ speed attacking effect). The music is fantastic with a magnificent orchestral score mixed in with some wicked bass and rockin' tunes. It's perfect in setting the right atmosphere; drama or action, it does well in both however there are times, mostly during fights, that the music can get a little messy. Overall this ends up becoming an interesting anime that actually brings something new to the saturated shounen anime market. It manages to stay true to the manga storyline throughout however the story ends up moving at a very fast pace but the benefit of this is that every episode counts and there isn't any screen time wasted by: pointless flashback, training episodes, prolong deaths, etc. It's a shame that the anime deviated from the manga slightly near the end, which is bad news to manga fans and it means there's less chance for it continuing. ^_^

This show is really cool. There are these women, Claymores. They are feared across the country, for they are half-monsters. And what do they fight? Monsters. Yes, they save the people from monsters, but are regarded as ones themselves. Irony, huh? The story follows one of these women. She meets a normal human kid who isn't afraid of her, and they end up as traveling partners. At first, it starts as a standard "good-guys-killing-monsters" show, but it goes deeper. I've always felt that the organization for whom the Claymores are working isn't quite good, but let's just leave it at that. The story, as I said, developsas time passes, and we get to know more characters, maybe a bit about their background, and it all culminates with a real neat final fight. The animation in this series is simply... just.-... unique. I haven't seen anything like it, and I don't think I will. It gives me this really weird feeling, but that's good. It's really nice, and definitely one of a kind. I really enjoy the music in this series. It's really, really nice, and it fits perfectly with the current scene. The characters are also, um... well, not that much, really. They're kind of okay, but I find the male lead to be veery annoying. Oh and this anime has a realistic power growth and difference. That's something I really like. Kudos to that! Final thing: This anime seems very unfinished. After watching it, I thought: "Isn't there a season 2?" Well, one has to come. The end was just too open.

When you first start watching the show you're greeted by a strange looking creature feasting on a dead human corpse. Unknowingly, a tall slender figure appears right behind him. He senses this new danger and turns to fight this opponent. But hidden behind this slender gorgeous figure is a sword just as tall as her. She unsheathes her massive weapon and a vicious fight ensues... That is the backdrop of what you are going to be experiencing. Fortunately (or unfortunately), that should leave you wanting for more. This story is set in a fantasy land set in medieval times where creatures called Yoma hide withinhuman civilization. Many (but not all) of the normal humans fear the claymores because they are made of half of what they are afraid of: the Yoma. But they are a necessary evil since they are the only ones strong enough to combat these horrible beasts. Not many people know much about Claymores. Just as mysterious as they sound, you will know very little about the inner workings of their organization, except for a few important rules. This story surrounds one character only known as Clare and basically shows how one becomes a claymore. From human life, to selection, to training, to assignments, and then to tougher assignments... typical shonen anime right? They way they tell Claire's exploits is a pretty good idea. They pretty much "Tarantino". That is a great way to explain how this universe works, well I enjoy moves told in this fashion too (some folks won't). This shows how emotion plays an important role in the show how their human half creates many internal conflicts with themselves. There's mainly one main character and like 40 supporting characters. Unlike most anime out there that keeps EVERY character alive, this one actually does the dirty deed of killing off characters, which I enjoy very much. Not the killing part but more of the reality of it. Friends live and die just as willingly as the enemies. And that is very refreshing in the sea of Naruto's and Bleach's. You'll actually get a good amount of face time with all the claymores they present to the viewers. You'll still remember who favorite ones are. This is one of the very few anime that I actually remember most of the characters' names. Not only does each one have a unique look and attitude, but they also have specific powers that separates them from them all. Half way through the anime, im sure you will find a handful of favorite blond warriors. My personal favorite is Clare. You can't mention anything about the artwork without talking about the character design. I think this is one of the best character designs I've ever seen in an anime. Not just because it mostly consists of beautiful slender blond haired sexytime warriors but, in the variety of how different each warrior is from each other. From hair style to warrior insignias, to even the swords they carry all have subtle details that u can easily remember or recognize. Even their "alter-ego's" are unique to each warrior. And you cant have medieval fighting giant monsters without great backdrops and this show has those in spades. As many fight scenes there are in this show, the backdrops are just awesome. From abandoned towns, to forest fights at dusk, to even fights in dark dreary caves, they're all situated in different places. Sure they sound very typical but with as many variations in the villains they fight, they all feel very fresh when watching them. The background animations like the random civilians, breaking objects, sparks, and fire embers are all here. They don't look anything impressive but they do add wonders tot he fighting. Most notably the blood... and this anime shows them by the bucket load. It never stays away from violence and thats what makes this show great. Not many current anime shows this much gratuitous violence and its very refreshing after watching a few dozen slice of life school comedies. If there was anything to complain about the show, it would have to be the sound effects. You can tell most of the stock sound effects were from other shows and movies. Most notably would be the Star Wars laser fire sound when a Claymore "transforms." When I first heard it i was laughing so hard. On top of that other sound effects are just very normal like growling and sword clanging etc. The music is also a little on the weak side. They could have done better with some of the 'theme' songs like when clare 'gets angry' or when she 'learns a new skill' the songs appear pretty weak. But they do break out in some serious guitar riffs and rock instrumentals, which are pretty impressive compared to the other music in here. But the opening songs and closing songs are one of my favorite parts of this show. J Rock is really catchy and seems very fitting for this show throughout. Hell, I have it playing in my car as we speak! The story was very interesting through the first 20 episodes. Representing a little shonen with Clare's development cycle. But the end sorta feels like they're selling the series a little short. At this ending i felt kind of cheated just like what i felt on the ending of Code Geass. If you want to watch a good story driven show this is a good one to watch, but be wary of Raki and the ending. Oh by the way, please try to watch the entire show before you go and give it 10's or whatnot. The last 4-6 episodes will disappoint, I guarantee.

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW** Claymore is a perfect example of an anime that tries desperately hard to be dark, but completely and utterly fails. This show demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of what actually makes an anime mature. The result is a series of boring, brainless, deus ex machina-filled, melodramatic fight scenes with a static plot and uninteresting/indistinguishable characters (with the exception of one). Tag on an ugly, almost monochromic animation style (in my opinion), an inconsistent soundtrack, and an unsatisfying ending, and you've got yourself a tremendously overrated anime. Plot: 3/10 In a world where demonic predators called Yoma exist only to kill and eat humans bydisguising themselves as other humans, a mysterious organization creates half-human, half-Yoma warriors known as the "Silver Eyed Witches", or more commonly, "Claymores". The story begins with a young boy named Raki who has lost everything in a Yoma attack. He meets Clare, a Claymore, who agrees to let him travel along-side her and experience her Yoma-slaying occupation. My main problem with Claymore's plot is that it is based on nothing but classic shounen fighting/screaming and melodrama where whoever screams and grunts the loudest is the winner, but it THINKS that it is also about deep psychological themes and "what makes us human". The later aspects are completely butchered and the former aspects are exactly what they sound like. To give an example: there is a great story arc in the beginning of the show about a Claymore named Teresa and a little girl named Clare. Clare has lost everything and has nowhere else to turn, so she starts following Teresa around. Teresa, who essentially feels no human emotions due to the fact that she is a Claymore, is indifferent to the girl at first, but they eventually grow to have a very touching relationship. This relationship is clearly supposed to parallel the relationship that Clare and Raki now have with each other; someone who thinks she has lost her humanity is proved wrong by a child who has lost everything and grows to see her as a motherly figure. At this point, Claymore was shaping up to be a very good anime. However, as soon as that arc ends, we get nothing that comes even remotely close to the character development and good themes that we just saw. The relationship between Rocky and Clare receives no further development and eventually decides to go in a, ummm, "different", direction than the one that preceded it. Let's just say the lines become very blurry when it comes to what Clare and Raki actually are to each other. Butchering the potential of telling a touching story wouldn't have been as bad if the plot that they DID give us wasn't so generic and boring. In addition to the slow pacing, it's just the classic: "Fight the monsters! Get revenge! Get stronger!" kind of plot that really has nothing to offer that you haven't already seen. The show thinks it is being dark and mature by not being afraid to kill off pointless side characters, but it completely fails to make us care about those characters or what they are fighting for. They continuously hint at the Organization being secretly evil, but that never leads anywhere. The characters all have either shallow motivations (such as revenge) or no motivations at all and are just working as puppets of "The Organization". The fights are all predictable, the side characters add absolutely nothing (more on them later), and the ending is extremely unsatisfying. Everything that the show was building up to abruptly stops, an archetypical shounen moral is quickly crammed in our face, and then it just sort of… ends. There is certainly nothing special about Claymore's plot. Art: 4/10 Taste in art is subjective, but I really dislike the dark and boring color palate used in Claymore. It fails to set a good atmosphere, and the blood effects are terrible. The EXACT same effect is used over and over and over again and it doesn't even look good! It just looks like a bunch of red lines coming out of the wound! And don't get me started on the way, way overused trope of two people running past each other, swinging their swords at each other, there is a long pause, and THEN somebody starts bleeding! I'm pretty sure claymore uses that stereotype in every single episode. Once or twice is fine, but come on! Sound: 5/10 The soundtrack sometimes works and sometimes does not. Average OP and ED. The voice acting is average. The sound effects were really below average though. I kid you not: they use the Star Wars gun sound effect in this anime, on multiple occasions! It feels so random and out of place. Characters: 4/10 Before I talk about the personalities of the characters, let me just say one thing: Claymore might win the award for worst character design in anime history. News flash guys! You can only have so many characters with blonde hair, silver eyes, and the exact same outfit before it becomes impossible tell them apart! Good luck trying to remember the name of the characters in this anime, I mean seriously! I was happy whenever one of them died because that was one less to keep track of. Anyway, the characters in Claymore are certainly nothing special. Clare is the same as any other stereotypical shounen protagonist, except she is a girl. She is motivated almost solely by revenge and the only thing different about her is her relationship with Raki, but I already touched on how that was botched. As the protagonist, she is constantly busting out deus ex machina after deus ex machina to the point that it just becomes unbearable. I have mixed feelings about Raki. He is a genuine character, clearly expressing his feelings at all times, but he is also very annoying, particularly towards the end. He starts out as someone who is easy to feel sympathy for; he has nothing left and the way he latches on to Clare is touching at first, but since that plot element receives no development, it just becomes stale and irritating. He ends up getting in the way more often then he helps anyone. With the exception of one, the side characters are worthless. Occasionally one of them might receive 3 minutes of development, but the only purpose they serve is death fodder. I can't remember the names of more then 3 of them, and there were dozens. The only character I truly liked was Teresa. She is the only character who we really get to see go through a change; she goes from a cold emotionless tool who mindlessly kills for the sake of "The Organization" to a loving person who realizes that she is still human. If Teresa had gotten a LOT more screen time, I would have probably enjoyed Claymore. Overall: 4/10 As a relatively highly rated shounen, I must say that Claymore fails to live up to it's hype. It simply doesn't differentiate itself from the rest of the genre in any meaningful way (a female-dominated cast is unique but poorly written). The plot is static , uninteresting, and peaks after the first real storyarc, the animation is not appealing, and the characters are nothing special. If you are looking for a unique shounen, you won't find it here. If you are a fan of shounen in general though, I could see how you could enjoy it. Personally, it wasn't my cup of tea.