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In this world, from ancient times, people were eaten by beings called "youma". For a long time, people lived without any means to counter them. However, a half-human, half-youma female warrior was born... Female soldiers known as "Claymore" who, with silver eyes that can see through to the true form of "youma", and carry a large sword as a weapon, continue to battle those which people have named "youma".

Fansub Groups:

Eclipse
mahou
RGF

Characters:

The progaonist of the story is a Claymore named Clare who's job is to hunt Youma. Along her journies from town to town, she meets a boy named Raki, who's family was eaten by Youma. He is then abandoned by his village in the outskirts of town believing to be a Youma since he is the only one to witness and survive the Youma strikes. With no one left to turn to, Clare allows him to accompany her along the Youma hunt as her chef. The kindness Clare has shown to Raki is similar to a Claymore named Teresa who once fostered Clare as a child when everything she ever cared for vanished. Do to a set circumstances, Clare is the only person who has volunteerly become a Claymore to avenge Teresa's death.

Story:

The series is based on the seemingly neverending war between humans and blood-craving Youmas who devour the insides of humans and have the ability to change their shape into anything, which allows them to hide among humans. However, the solution to this problem is the creation of what humans call "Claymores" who are a half-human, half-youma hybrids with amazing abilites such as healing, super strength, and amazing detection abilities to fight Youma. If they realease 10% yoki, their eyes change to gold, 30% their faces distort, 50% their bodies distort, and 80% they will be unable to control the flow of yoki and will become a complete youma, an Awakened One. Yoki is a what gives Claymores their Youma power making them half-human, half-youma hybrids. The organization that creates Claymores kill Youma upon requests from villages. Thus, the journey begins revolving around Clare and the people who surround her.

Animation:

The animation is well organized, usually proportional and consistent, and several actions scenes are so well animated that it is breath-taking. The animation style is also interesting and stunning at several points for the Claymore characters.

Music:

The OP is "Raison D'etre" by Nightmare which gives a few spoilers of what's to come and is ok, but not that great. The Ending song is "Danzai no Hana~Guilty Sky" by Riyu Kosaka and I absolutely love this song; however, the beginning is somewhat dissmal and depressing while the middle and ending part is wonderfully sung with great lyrics to match.

Verdict:

This story is not for the fainted-hearted and is quite depressing and sad at times. Beware of future episodes of blood and gore! However, the drama, suspense, and plot is what keeps me watching as this show is so wonderfully put together, it may be one of my favorites this season. For those a little skeptical of the possible blood and gore, do not worry too much because what's really important in this show is the character development, story, plot, and drama that become the building blocks to make this a spectacular show to watch. (At least watch to episode 6 or 8 to see what I am talking about, and you'll understand)

Veridict: 9.5/10

Pics:


Clare's Silver Eye


Clare


Raki


Teresa (nickname: Teresa of the Faint Smile)


Teresa @ 10% Yoki

(If some of you decide to give it a try, I suggest you watch to episode 6 and see the scene where chibi-Clare speaks for the first time. That is what convinced me to watch this episode to the point that I just had to write a review.)

I watch Claymore, and I have to say that it's been awesome so far. I really love the cast, and my favorite seiyuus were there (Yay for Paku Romi and Minami Takayama!). The music isn't too shabby either, I really love the ending song, "Danzai no Hana" by Riyu Kosaka. It was really catchy. The animation was really good, one of MadHouse's better works so far (even better than Death Note's if I must add, since the quality is pretty consistent so far, since the quality of Death Note's animation gets low after several episodes).

greengum

I watch Claymore, and I have to say that it's been awesome so far. I really love the cast, and my favorite seiyuus were there (Yay for Paku Romi and Minami Takayama!). The music isn't too shabby either, I really love the ending song, "Danzai no Hana" by Riyu Kosaka. It was really catchy.

I know what you mean. I was impressed with Paku Romi's performance as Teresa, she got the emotional scenes perfectly and her voice matches Teresa's personality so well. I love the ending song too, but I don't have a clue as to where to download the full song.

If anyone's interested, there are some great fanarts here and they are beyond impressive compared to the average sketchy image. Beware of new characters and slight spoilers.

SPOILER (click to view)

This anime isn't bad at all, i think it's the best of the spring 07 season. I just don't like Raki at all... Plus the Japanese are weird anyways.

At least this is an anime that shows that women are awesome and powerful! I don't like that Raki is around. His voice sounds pretty girly and he's getting closer with Clare.

Yeah i think it's one of the best anime i have watched so far. The story has really hooked me on, with every episode having something new and intriguing to tell. The fast-paced battles are a real eye-candy with an interesting concept to their powers.
I feel has more of an adult theme rather than appealing to younger audiences, a mixture of fantasy, gore and adventure.

I love this anime, the graphics are awesome!!and of course the story line

Claymore is very interesing anime...

I had mixed feelings about Claymore.

At first glance I thought this anime was another chicks with big swords kind of anime but...

SPOILER (click to view)

I got more interested in this anime when it got sucked into the past. It had shown how Clare became a Claymore. This slip of the past made the story a bit deeper and I look forward on how Clare will become stronger. I can't wait to see the other Claymores and their personalities.

Through Raki in a well and bury him in it. Claymore would be x100 better. Every time I see the weak/innocent male character (almost like Shinji from Evangelion but Shinji is the king of them all) I started to get annoyed. ><

Not seen it yet, sounds cwl.

*added to list*

I've read plenty of Claymore spoilers and it will only get even more interesting and amazing. Each and every character has a distinct type of personality, ability, and interesting backgrounds that motivate them to do various actions.

SPOILER (click to view)

Episode 10 was amazing and Clare's Yoki sensing abilities were impressive. If Rubel had never put her in that team, Miria, Helen, and Deneve would all be dead. However, Clare still has a long way to go if she wants to reach Teresa's level. I can't wait for next week's episode.

I've liked it so far, it's not as bad as the typical shonen stuff that it could have been.

Claymore ownz tts all i have to say lol

Claymore is awesome. The art is really good and the characters are well ... sexy (yeah yeah i know about that supposedly disgusting thing on their bodies, but I haven't seen it yet, so oh well). The plot of the story has been consistent and each episode ties in really well with the next (none of that random episode stuff that we see with some anime series).

Anyone who hasn't watched it yet ... Just do it, you won't regret it.