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.
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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.