CLAYMORE

CLAYMORE

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
27
RELEASE
October 4, 2014
CHAPTERS
159

DESCRIPTION

A village is gripped by fear and paranoia when a Yoma claims six lives. The Claymore who is sent to slay the creature isn't what the villagers expect at all. In fact, she seems more monster than human.

(Source: Viz Media)

Note: Includes 4 extra chapters.

CAST

Clare
Miria
Helen
Raki
Deneve
Teresa
Galatea
Irene
Riful
Priscilla
Jean
Isley
Ophelia
Flora
Clarice
Cassandra
Rubel
Rafaela
Miata
Dietrich
Cynthia
Rigardo
Roxanne
Tabitha
Luciela

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO CLAYMORE

ANIME ActionCLAYMORE

Cover Art for CLAYMORE Bangai-hen: Senshi Reimei-hen

ONE SHOT ActionCLAYMORE Bangai-hen: Senshi Reimei-hen

REVIEWS

IustinMakihige
100/100
"Claymore Claymore Claymore what is a Claymore ? " That's what you probably ask .
"Claymore Claymore Claymore what is a Claymore ? " That's what you probably ask .
Claymore is a group of womans half human half demon who hunts demons for money . Anyways let's start the review .
I will try to not spoil.

I friend of mine recommended to me Claymore even i was curious about this series a year ago . Anyways Thank you friend i will tag you when the reviews is complete .

The Story
The introduction of the story begins with Raki which didn't know about Claymore until a Claymore "Clare" comes in his village to exterminate the Demon . The Demon kills the rest of Raki relatives , Clare saves Raki and he choose to follow her . You will see if they relation will die or will grew up if you read the manga or watch the anime . Btw i didn't watch the anime yet , i heard that the anime choose an original ending in the latest episodes so i don't know about the characters in anime .
The story for me is one very good i really loved . How they choose to make the world building which is very good .

The Characters
I really like it the Characters . Some of my favorite Characters from here was : Clare , Teressa , Raki , Helen , Miria , Jean , Deneve , Drietich , Rifull. The character are in order that i like . About the antagonist of the story i didn't like it so much . Sorry but The villain haven't so good development in my opinion but the rest of Characters really makes the best . All the characters have their own stories and their roles in the story .

The Art
is Gorgeus from the start and it becomes to be better and better . The character design are good . Now i want to discuss my top of Volume cover frome Claymore .

My Top covers is the best cover is volume 27 cover , second is volume 24 cover, third is first volume cover , forth is volume 12 cover and the fifth plas belongs to volume 11 cover

The Enjoyment :
My Enjoyment was very good . Even if is 159 chapters it should be easy to read and really an enjoyable ride . I becomes more excited from chapter to chapter . The first chapter was very good starts for me . The plot twist are really good about some moments i didn't expect that even some were great for the example the final of the story was so good . Now i thinked about how i should mark this manga , but i think this manga it should get in the favorites just because i really loves how this series was going on story , character and art .

Overall:
Now i thinked about how i should mark this manga , but i think this manga it should get in the favorites just because i really loves how this series was going on story , character and art . I will mark this series with 100/100 . I am glad that i really like it . At the end of this journey i was thinking about how i should mark this series the mark was between 9.5 and 10
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Rorroe
88/100
A manga which surprisingly tackles leadership, love and trauma thoroughly while also having bad-ass action.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS.

Claymore by Norihiro Yagi is an awesome experience. What could be catalogued as a simple underdog-becomes-overpowered story has so many touching matters and heartfelt moments in-between. It blows my mind how in 160 chapters, a story could have such amazing characters, such tense plot and stellar artwork.

One of the reasons I picked on this manga initially was due to how overlooked this was compared to the other famous Medieval/Dark Fantasy mangas like Berserk/Vinland. While both of these touch on amazing topics like pacifism in times of war and creating your own destiny, what I can define Claymore as, and what makes it stand out is its main theme of “Companionship and dealing with trauma”.

So without further ado, let’s have a look at this manga.

THE STORY

So what is Claymore exactly?

Humanity is settled on a very large but unknown island; for several years they have been attacked by these monsters known as “Yoma”. Defenseless against these creatures, an organization was created to make the ultimate warriors to defend humanity. If you’re familiar with the novels and games “The Witcher” you’d realize that this is sorta similar to the premise of the Witchers. Warriors known as “Claymores” were such inventions of the organization, using Yoma blood, these female warriors draw in superhuman strength and speed to face these creatures.

The Claymores however, are more like lone wanderers of the land, who get their “quests” by mysterious men on black who tell them about the towns which have these monsters. Once a Claymore finishes her job, the city must pay them. If they fail to pay them the sum, they will not be there for another Yoma attack.

The story focuses on Clare, the Claymore Number 47, the weakest of her generation.
Clare became an experiment of the organization due to her past and how she became the only volunteer to offer herself to become a Claymore.
Throughout the story, Clare meets different friends and companions who teach her about human values and valuing her own life for a purpose.

So, is the story amazing? Yes.
The story is a strong point in this manga, it's a complex story filled with twists and dark secrets. Not only does it fit the seinen ambiance of sheer and brute violence and force, but also shows how twisted aspects of science and experiments to fulfill human desires reach.

Nevertheless, the story is not flawless, it suffers from pacing issues and really likes adding flashbacks as one of the only methods to develop certain scenes and characters. It was very troublesome being cut from epic fights to a calm or sad story flashback most of the time.

Even so, if I initially praised the manga for delving into the humanity of these initial "mindless" killing machines, the other half of the story that delves into the cruel and cold nature of humanity is another point to praise this manga for. Issues and everything, the story is great.

THE CHARACTERS

The characters are the main point of the story, and also the best part of it.

It would take me very long to describe why our protagonist, Clare, is very well written in this story. She fits perfectly with the themes that the story portrays. Clare is not just a simple underdog protagonist, but her payoff at times feels way more rewarding because of the connection formed throughout the story.

The rest of the cast is also a highlight, most of the characters all exist to fill a role in the overarching story and also help our protagonist Clare with her road of revenge and self-discovery.

That is not to say, that all are perfect, this manga does bring a lot of characters to the table and that of course leaves many of them with lacking development. Nevertheless, Yagi does manage to solidify chemistry not only between the protagonist and the secondary characters, but also the relationships between secondary characters themselves. For a manga which mainly focuses on the protagonist, seeing chapters that develop the relationships of secondary/tertiary characters properly is a joy to read.

Picking favorites will be hard, but definitely ones like Teresa, Miria, Priscilla, Deneve are in that range. All of those characters have their badass times to shine and also share sad and heartfelt moments, they definitely are essential parts to this amazing story.

Usually, a story about characters is what makes it good, and this manga is no different from that.

THE ILLUSTRATION/ARTWORK

It mostly speaks for itself.

The artwork is another highlight of the show, and the one that makes Claymore stand out from many other manga. Not only is the artwork amazing for a monthly shōnen manga, but it helps to truly capture both the horror of some of the creatures of this story, and the sheer power of the battles that take place in this world.

Truly one of the reasons that both Vinland and Claymore initially hooked me was because of some of the amazing artwork that the panels had, and this manga really shines on this aspect.

As a side note I have over a hundred panels saved for this, it's hard to pick my favorite ones of this series.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This manga was made almost 20 years ago from now, and it just has a special place in my heart for the beautiful yet dramatic story it tells. Reading the manga enough, you realize this is a story about characters mainly, and how their companionship and leadership makes them understand their humanity.

This manga does no attempt in covering the brutal gore and violence displayed in this fight with monsters, it's very similar to Berserk on that matter. On the other hand, if you dislike gore heavily, this manga is definitely something that isn't for you.

The story is not long, even with some glaring pacing issues the manga never feels dragged on. It concludes various points satisfactorily and is definitely a manga that needs a better anime adaptation.

This manga is amazing, and it needs more of a spotlight. Kudos to those who reviewed this manga thoroughly before. I cannot recommend this series enough.

8.8/10

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KuroGFX
0/100
Tears can flow from Silver Eyes a retrospective on Claymore
Synospis of Claymore
just in case for a light synopsis claymore is about female warrior hunters who hunt yoma who are creatures that can transform into humans and devour them hiding among them in towns and cities secretly feasting whilst maintaining perfect disguise the Claymores are females infused with youma making them hybrids and eployed to hunt Youma
Intro

Claymore appeared in my life when I barely began to pierce the yoke of dark fantasy and I was enticed for more after a childhood of growing up with classic romantic adventures like Star Wars and Narnia but as I grew up I started to have a more pessimistic and anxious fear of the world and the dark and bleak world of Dark Fantasy were more comforting so fit my more bleak perception of the world around me and the gloominess felt familiar

after hearing Claymore whispered around the community of Dark Fantasy I remember being genuinely stunned by the series artwork mixing elegance with grotesque body horror and the steeped grim tone albeit I forgot the minutia of the story but the series branded itself me with scenes of women one-handing giant swords slicing extremities off of monsters that seemed to have the detail of greek statues given flesh and twisted into a macabre nightmare.

Claymore was a genuine diamond in the rough for me it had a stellar monster hunter premise with the artwork to really sell the fantastical aspects of the story with a creative premise to muse me into reading it with exhilaration breezing through the first 12 volumes of the series, unfortunately, I had a break-off point with the series around the 12th volume and encoutnered a slight problem that being tied to the character design

Character Designs

Claymore is more or less Clare's story of revenge and while I found it easy to glue myself and really attach to the character of Clare that is more or less due because of her role as the protagonist and the proportional amount of spotlight she gets compared to the other Claymores in the story.

This doesn't get helped by the fact that all the Claymores have a universal uniform they all wear.

they all wear the same armor as Clare and aside from some minute facial structure differences that vary depending on the character and as well as hairstyles it really makes it hard for some of the characters to stand out more so than others at the very least I believe that the author could have created a character chart to keep track of all the characters especially since they all bare overlapping similarities.

but I also really like the varied hairstyles of the different claymore Clares bob short hairstyle really gives a sense of practicality to Clare as a character since longer hair could get in the way when she takes out her hair this is further shown by Teresa who openly keeps long and wavy beautiful hair which seems more to flaunt beauty during battle or at least show the arrogance of her skill and power while Clare is barely trying to survive and get revenge

The Good

Claymore is like Bloodborne hitting Berserk and the Witcher all at the same time and it works so well the fights in Claymore are delivered through a partially tag-team experience as they attempt to take down monsters of nightmarish existences chipping away and fighting tooth and nail.

while I do realize that a lot of shonen or fighting manga do have their moments of teamwork between its two titular main characters or rivals I inwardly cringe at the moments it takes to get there and I think Claymore is such a fresh release where our characters are in a deadly situation acting as a united fighting force

the main power system relies on the manipulation of yoma energy in order for the Claymores to pull off badass and awesome techniques like detecting and predicting enemy yoma based on their energy or twisting your fucking arm for drilling power and its this creativeness derived from a singular power source that makes the fights feel like uphill battles because the characters work within preset limitations.

hopefully, anything I've said has enticed you enough to dip your hand into this series and if so I can come out of this review proud I didn't know how long to make this but glad you read to the end and I hope you enjoy your day

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