Something I've Read: Claymore

Claymore (written by Norihiro Yagi) is an interesting manga series. It is filled with intrigue, spectacular fights and pretty interesting characters which, despite the number of them that are juggled around by the story, feel like they have enough page time each to justify their existence, which I like. At the same time, the entire thing feels almost low key, despite the superpowers and giant monsters….but exactly why that is so is difficult to explain without looking at what it is about.


Something I've Read: Claymore

On an unnamed island, a group known as The Organisation, made up of a group of super-powered women known as “Claymores”, due to the oversized swords they wield on their backs, and their commanders. The Claymores are sent around the island to defend the populace from monsters known as Yoma that disguise themselves as, and devour humans. However, the Claymores are constantly on a knife edge, since they draw their  powers from the same source as Yoma, and, to make matters worse, if they overuse the power, known as “Yoki”, they become super-powered Yoma themselves, known as "awakened beings".

The main character…well, less main character and more protagonist, is Clare, the weakest of the current generation of Claymore warriors, who picks up a young boy named Raki she picks up after his village is attacked. (There is also a character called Miria, who is so awesome that I’m breaking my “avoid spoilers” rule to point out how awesome she is) Clare is a fairly standard strong and silent type, but her interactions with Raki and other civilians, as well as her backstory, actually makes her a really interesting character to read.

While I don’t want to look at the plot or setting in too much detail, due to the avoiding spoiler rule above, it too is very well done, with lots of twists and turns that are clearly planned from the start of the series.

What I really like about the series is the atmosphere of it. Despite the supernatural strength of the characters and the huge monsters they both battle and become, Claymore has a very low level feel. Battles are quick, and brutal, and powers that in other series would be treated as fairly standard and weak are treated as being as powerful as they would be in real life. There is a sense of desperation in the Claymore’s battle against the Yoma, a sense that no matter how many victories they have, it is never enough. The art style assists here as well, having a lot of contrast between the humans, who are drawn with very clean lines, and the horrific details of the monsters. Also, it should be noticed that despite all of the Claymore’s all having blonde hair and the same skin tone due to their transformation, they are distinct enough to tell apart from each other, which is pretty impressive. This tone actually makes a lot of sense later on in the story, but obviously…spoilers.

Overall, Claymore is a fairly unique series that I really enjoy reading…but reviewing it is really difficult since so much of what I like is explored in the story, and I don’t want to reveal too much, but I’d advise checking it out. There’s nothing exceptionally good about it, with the possible exception of the plot but there’s nothing really bad either. It is just consistently good, although the art style does take a bit of getting used to. Definitely worth at least checking out the first few volumes.

Claymore is translated by Viz Media, which has released a lot of the current volumes (21 out of 22), although the translation quality may not be the best. There’s also an anime series, which I haven’t watched despite owning the DVD of the series, but I haven’t heard good things about it. Which is kind of disappointing.

Next Week's Review: Bleach.