Claymore

The last Anime I've really enjoyed must have been Death Note which impressed my with it's overall genius plot and the character development. Although Claymore clearly cannot reach this (well actually it's kinda cruel comparing 2 Animes of different categories), it sure has some really good moments as well. The main focus of this series lies, obviously, on good old sword combat mixed with some really impressive ideas on how to swing, slash and bash a Claymore-sword in almost every way possible. While the story seems to start slow, there is definitely a certain appeal, which I've missed on several other Anime series I've tried for the last two years. If you manage to stay with the story until the first twists and turns you start to get into the characters and what first seems to be another bad half-Hentai porn (just by judging the fact that the title is presented by full-laden blonde "girls" on the cover) turns out to be less sexistic and more action-laden like any other Anime you've watched for quite a long time.

I rarely give any movies an excellent rating but this one did it. One day I was bored and decided to give Claymore (English dubbed) a try via Netflix. Oddly enough the plot and poster art were average at best. Almost instantly your hooked into a world of demons and female warriors (aka Claymores). But its not your typical anime with female sword wielding half human warriors.

Gone and are the zany/kid type humor and instead you get adult story lines and characters. I was soo hooked I watched 12 episodes straight. My only complaint is that sometimes its hard to distinguish the different Claymores since they all look alike. Its been a long time since I've been shocked by a film (or TV series) with such good quality. Only after a day of watching I can confidently say this is my #2 anime show/series of all time which was formally held by Robotech. Claymore is right below Transfomers G1 1980's stuff(not that Bay crap). In an odd way I'm nervous about watching the remaining episodes because at this pace its possible that Claymore could become #1 for me. Which is an odd feeling considering I've only watched half the season in one day and TF G1 I watched my entire childhood.

Update. Finally finished the series. Suffice to say it stayed at #2 of my list of all time best anime. The final couple of episodes kind of got repetitive and the final scene / resolution could've been better.

Claymore depicts a dark, cold, cruel, depressing and creepy world where happiness seems to be as rare and brief as the light of a shooting star. We follow the story of seemingly cold and distant but secretly burningly passionate beautiful characters who defy all difficulties and struggle to resist the monsters who could destroy everything good and pretty in existence at any moment. As the story develops, everything that we get attached to are instantly torn away from us again, and yet we are left with hope that it might all work out in the end. And to me, all of this is just magical.

Once I stop to think about it, I'm not really sure why I love Claymore so much. In fact, I'm pretty damn embarrassed by it. While I would objectively still rate it as good, there's a decent amount of cheese and cheap stuff in it which should prevent me from being utterly amazed by it. But it doesn't. I guess I just happen to have a soft spot for this kind of cold and depressing but beautiful atmosphere and Claymore has randomly found that soft spot and squeezed it to oblivion. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that both times I watched it I had a high fever. Whatever it is, Claymore could have turned out to be one of the most wonderful screen experiences I've ever had.

That's right, *could've*. There is exactly one very big and obvious flaw with Claymore. As it is based on a portion of slowly advancing, still ongoing manga, staying faithful to manga would require the anime to have an abrupt ending. Because of this, the producers of the anime (apparently never intending to continue the anime series) have changed the last portion of the anime storyline in order to give it some feeling of closure. And... they have utterly, miserably failed at it. Not only is the ending just as abrupt, on top of that the last few episodes are now filled with nonsensical hysteria. It is so horrible it just makes me cry. It is not even my personal opinion, everyone else say the exact same thing.

I would have been more than happy to see the anime series remain faithful to manga all the way, even if it meant just leaving it hanging in the end. Were it to be continued in similar quality after several years, it would have been a perfect 10/10 and hands down my favourite anime and just one of my favourite things, ever. Even with those fatal flaws, I am still loving it. If everything was the way it should have been, it would have simply blown me away.

In the end, I have to call Claymore on its flaws and can't recommend it as a genuinely brilliant anime, only as a decent one. But if my rant about cold and depressing but beautiful atmosphere rung a bell, I suggest you give it maximum chances as maybe, just maybe it will find your soft spot just like it did mine.

What a great anime series. I've watched it at least 4 times since first viewing it 6 months ago. I guess I'm still expecting what would have happened if the show was continued for another season.I agree with most other reviewers as far as the character development in this story,and that this is definitely more mature material than many other anime series. Mr. Norihiru Yagi and the other writers did an excellent job, in that the heroines in this story, while far superior to normal humans were not infallible, and the yoma monsters themselves were quite perceptive and sometimes full of surprises. In fact I rate it right along with "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as far as action,adventure,fantasy genre goes. But I think it's hard for animation to get the same level of respect as regular motion pictures. Would love it if they ever made a feature length sequel to this series.

It's hard to make a unique and emotionally involving story with monsters and swords. It's almost impossible to make fantasy look real, because most of it has a predictable plot line, while life doesn't. But Claymore manages the impossible - it's intoxicating fiction, but at the same time it's even more sobering than real life.

Here's the secret.

Unlike other tales about battle and struggle in which the main character has great potential and strength as his birthright, Claymore is all about strength despite weakness. Even through perseverance, you can't really become the strongest, this is one of life's truths. But you still can aspire. It's what makes Claymore so true to life.

The main characters in Claymore were helpless in their childhood, but despite tremendous suffering they've managed to stand up and move forward.

Claymore will be remembered as an example of great anime, not just for its beautiful animation, but for the way it makes you experience the journey. It even has a great and satisfying ending.

I know it's a tired phrase, but I really envy those who haven't seen it yet.