Jeff

Legend has it that only wolves have knowledge of how to enter Paradise allowing them to escape destruction of the world. Enter a pre-apocalyptic world where the entire population of wolves appears to be extinct. Signs of the apocalypse appear and people begin to regret destroying the wolf population.

Wolf’s Rain
3 Stars

The story line is set in a desolate world torn apart by a war of the Nobles. The people eagerly wait for the legendary Paradise to take over. However, they do not realize that the near extinct species, wolves, are the ones that will show the way. Wolves still exist in the world, but they can disguise themselves as humans and live normal lives. Many of them are spread thinly throughout the world and live in secrecy in fear of their lives.

The show starts with a wolf disguised as a human named Tsume and this rag-tag group of bandits stealing food from the Nobles supply lines. At the beginning, Tsume seems to be a normal human. However, he has some mysterious superhuman powers. His team stumbles upon a nearly dead wolf inside a tree and they are shocked. They are stunned because wolves are said to be extinct. The nearly dead wolf is named Kiba, the one that will open the gates to Paradise. Kiba needs to find a flower girl that was hidden deep within the city. Tsume and Kiba get separated when the city’s Pet Control captures Kiba and sticks him in a cage to run experiments. Another wolf in disguise named Hige seeks out Kiba after smelling him with his superior nose. Hige rescues Kiba and they go on a search for the Flower Girl that is hidden in the city.

Meanwhile, Tsume runs into a younger wolf named Hoboe and saves him from an old wolf hunter. Hoboe follows him around like a little kid, which gets on Tsume’s nerves. Finally Tsume gets fed up with him and his childish ways, and chases him off.

Kiba and Hige locate the hidden Flower Girl deep within the city’s castle, but they were too late. They came in the middle of her being kidnapped by a unknown villain with a golden eye. Hige and Kiba try to save the Flower Girl named Cheza from his clutches, but they fail and are forced to retreat and try to find where he took her. uring their retreat they run into Hoboe and Tsume and they join them in the search for Paradise and the Flower girl Cheza They travel from town to town searching for where Cheva’s kidnapper, Lord Darcia the Third. They go to great lengths to obtain Cheza and protect her from Lord Darcia’s troops as she leads them on the path to Paradise.

The plot was really confusing. I had a hard time following the story line and the subplots that some of the characters had. The story line was great if you sat down and tried to figure it out. Reminded me of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

The main characters of this anime are cleverly named after different wolf parts in Japanese. Each of them have a short background story that is revealed at the very end of the series, making it a little useless. The main wolves breakdown as such:

Hoboe seemed like a girl. He was a little too caring towards Tsume and annoyingly followed him around.

Tsume was too over dramatic and tried to be a badass lone wolf (lawl pun). His past was explained in the very last episode that was an (go die) “ah hah!” moment. Tsume’s past should of been explained prior to the end of the series. It really explains why he tried to distance himself from the make-shift pack.

Hige was actually semi-normal. He had a nonchalant attitude towards everything, except for his feelings for Blue towards the end.

Kiba was just flat out dead set on getting to Paradise. He was the selected one to open the door to Paradise.

This series was a show that you really have to get into to enjoy it. Paying attention to minuet details is the key to watching this show. The show starts out really slow and gets rather confusing, and it doesn’t really explain anyone’s past or any history. They throw you head first in to the storyline and take you along. Overall, this show was very emotionally straining with very heart breaking events that will leave a hole in your heart for this series.

In a medieval world, the human race is threatened to extinction by horrid demons known as Yoma. Clare, a member of the Claymores, seeks out her mentor’s slayer, Priscilla, in attempts to kill her. This story filled with heart pounding battles and struggles for survival will surely fulfill your viewing needs.

Claymore
3 & 1/2 Stars

Yoma are demons who disguise themselves as humans. These demons change shape to live among the humans and harvest their organs for food. A group of warriors stood together to fight these beasts and named themselves Claymores. These Claymores are in fact half Yoma, and half human, giving them all the strength and powers of the Yoma. The Claymores retain their human side, only they have silver eyes; people refer to them as Silver Eyed Witches because of this. The organization is made of all females. Males are excluded because they gain sexual pleasure from using their powers and they abuse it. If a Claymore uses too much of his/her power, they become an “Awakened One”, a more powerful form of a Yoma and lose all human conscience.

The show starts out with Clare, the main heroine of the show, doing her normal duties that come with being a Claymore, coming into a small town and ridding it of a Yoma. People try to distance themselves from the Claymores because they have the blood of the Yoma, so they give her a distasteful welcome and treat her like a beast. Claymores are very cold hearted, so she disregards the villagers and goes out to find the Yoma. Although shunned by most of the village, a boy named Raki takes interest in Clare and begins to follow her around. She tolerates it for a bit then dismisses him for her duties, only to find out, Raki’s family were the Yoma. Clare eliminates them and then continues to the next town, leaving Raki to the mercy of the village. Since his family where the Yoma, the villagers beat him and banish him from the town. They falsely claim he is a Yoma too and they leave him to die out in the wild. Raki desperately walks on, hoping to find someone to help him when he runs into Clare again. Clare shows some empathy and lets him tag along, being her personal cook. They both travel from town to town destroying the Yoma at every turn.

They find out that Priscilla is building an army of Yoma and “Awakened Ones” to sweep down from the north and eliminate all humans. Clare is sent to go kill them with 26 other Claymores, in a hopeless battle to bide time. Clare and her comrades nearly defeated the head “Awakened One” when the overlord of the Northern Yoma Army takes her and flees, leaving a lot of questions unanswered and opening for more episodes or another season.

Over all I really enjoyed this anime. You’re guaranteed a amazing battle in every episode (some even being 2-3 episodes) and the story line is very fulfilling. What is also unique about this show is the development of Clare’s character. She starts out being cold and inhumane to others, to being a very loving woman. Being a Claymore means you live with death and destruction at every turn. Relationships with humans and even other Claymores are impossible to maintain. Raki helped her gain a more human aspect with the ability to love and cherish life. She shares her human teachings with the other Claymores and they form an even stronger bond and fighting force than before. They used to rely on individual skill and strength, but with Clare’s teachings and understanding of teamwork and the importance of it, the Claymores found a new strength to fight off the Yoma.

With such a intricate story line of teamwork and love, Claymore is a very good show. Being lesser known than some of newer and bigger hits, it still has its charm that makes it definitely worthwhile to watch.

So, I never really watched Anime and this is the first one I’ve ever sat down and watched. I was hooked by the first episode and really loved it! I couldn’t believe I’ve been missing out on such good story lines. With that, I bring to you my into into the world of anime.

*Editor’s note – RazorFine welcomes another new author to the site (yep, that’s two newbies in two weeks)!  What can we say, we need fresh and tasty, um I mean new and tasty, um I mean new, blood.  Welcome Jeff!

Blood+
4 & 1/2 Stars

A mysterious girl, Saya Otonashi, her adopted father George Miyagusuku and her two brothers, Kai and Riku, are living Post Vietnam (Date is never really given in context, but it is around 2000’s) Japan in Okinawa. One day after school, Saya forgets her track uniform and heads back to school to get it and is thrown into a whole new world of demonic creatures, and complex histories that changes her life forever.

Saya finds out she has actually “lived” previous lives and is followed by her guardian, named Haji. She is a human/creature set out to kill these beasts known as Chiropteras and their leader Diva. The Chiroptera recover from injuries and only her blood can kill them. She is teamed up with her Father, her brothers,  two FBI Agents David and Lewis. They travel all throughout the world searching for Chiropteras and Diva.

During their travels, Saya keeps on unlocking parts of her memory allowing her to know what she was in her previous lives, she then begins to hate herself for it. They search until they find Diva in Vietnam and accidentally wake her from her slumber. Diva and her Chevaliers run to Paris and hide out. Saya and her group travel to France trying to find the where Diva is hiding. Saya then unlocks all her past memories and now has to learn to accept what she is and has done, while trying to find and kill Diva.

Starting out, this show goes really slow. Not much happens and you lose confidence in it. The development of the story picks up about 6-8 episodes in and it will definitely hook you. The characters really develop in this story as well. All of the characters change extensively (for good and bad) and keep on getting better and better. Saya’s past seems to dominate her sometimes and cause her to be a reflection of everything she is against.

The storyline? Twists and turns every episode. Every so often you might get a episode and kind of doubt where the story is going. That is natural with any show, but they almost always come back and deliver a heart pounding episode filled with some new addition to the suspense or unlocking of a part of the past that will leave you dumbfounded.

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone that is looking for a amazing story line with unforgettable characters.  If you’re a veteran viewer or just beginning anime, Blood+ is a must see.