By: Robert Murphy
Taking a step into a dark world, “Claymore” is set in a
relatively medieval time period that is plagued by demon like creators known as
Yoma that feed upon the humanity and cause panic and fear among kingdoms and
villages all across the land. These shape shifting creatures come with
different levels of ability and strength with smaller weaker Yoma who use
things like shape shifting to feed upon humans and other more stronger Yoma who
freely could show up in a village and start attacking without fear. The only
thing stopping these monsters is a mysterious and nameless organization, whose
fighting force is comprised of nothing but female warriors that have been
infused with the blood of Yoma making them half Yoma themselves. These woman or
Claymores as they are called, namely for the giant swords they wield, they will
go to any town or land that pays a fee to the organization and wipe out any
Yoma that are attacking humans there. Claymores also known as “silver eyed
witches” are a powerful ally to humanity in this world but are almost as feared
as the Yoma plaguing their lands for the Yoma blood inside them and if they
should lose control could turn full Yoma themselves. The story follows one
Claymore in particular known as Clare as she fights her way through Yoma and
becomes tested along the way on just how fine a line it can be from Claymore to
becoming a Yoma.
The Abyssal Ones, strongest among the Yoma
“Claymore” almost
immediately comes to viewers as a fast paced action series with quite an
interesting take on the world of sword and magic genre but also features an
emotional level as Clare and the other Claymores all have their reasons for becoming
what they are and their own hardships faced after years of fighting Yoma. Also
as a change of pace we have a predominantly all female cast of characters who
also aren’t either a big breasted group of girls or looking like they are bunch
of twelve year olds and while most of the Claymores share the same silver eyes
and blonde hair, they all poses their own uniqueness that allows viewers to
distinguish their favorite characters. But if you still couldn’t tell them
apart which is highly unlikely, each of the Claymores swords are inscribed with
a mark of their own choosing that distinguishes them among one another. In fact
Claymores often don’t know one another or their “ranks” among the organization
until they either introduce themselves to one another before a mission or they
see the others mark on their sword. These rankings are often important for
lower members of the organization like Clare so they know to be wary of who
they are dealing with.
Clare
slowly transforming into a Yoma
However, the show is not without its faults, like so many
shows to come before the anime is cut short and has only one season or box set, and while the manga continues the show does not and this can be a big deal for
people especially with how “Claymore” in particular ends. Having similar
situation with shows like “Black Blood Brothers” and “Highschool of the Dead” I
can tell you it’s a disappointing experience but who knows these shows may get
their second seasons eventually. Also the shows suffers from the classic
“Dragonball Z” effect where big boss fights are drawn out along maybe three or
four episodes with lengthy dialogue on whatever new thing is happening during a
fight. This meaning that right in the middle of a fight characters will be
having an internal thought about whatever their opponent is doing and basically
saying “Woah that’s incredible” or “How is that possible that they are doing
this” but this for me was a minor flaw.
In closing, “Claymore” is an excellent show with a unique
story, interesting premise and great amounts of action where a fight is in just
about every episode with not many slow lulls in between but when there is
characters are engaging and intriguing enough that they hold your interest.
Clare makes for a good strong female lead character devoid of those over
endowed qualities that defy logic and her own back story behind why she became
a Claymore is incredible to follow right till the end. Its sword and sorcery in
medieval times but with a whole new twist, no Merlin and King Arthur here
folks, “Claymore’s” a whole different story.
Good:
-Unique story
-Strong female character whose actually just a normal woman, not one with breasts the size of watermelons
-Action filled episodes with not to many lulls
-All the characters are engaging an interesting with their
own story to tell that you want to find out about
Bad:
-Drawn out boss fights
-Mid conflict conversations that you feel could wait till a later
time
-Show only has one season (at the moment)