Claymore Review - 82/100
Shounen-fighting series have never been my favourite series. As far as I can recall, I’ve seen only one of them that really managed to deliver something truly original and creative that captivated me: The Law of Ueki. While Claymore doesn’t come close to that level, it does give a nice attempt, though.
While the start of the anime is just like any other serious shounen-series, as the episodes progress, it becomes clear that Claymore knows what it’s doing. Characters have sufficient backgrounds and they get fleshed out well enough outside and sometimes even during the fighting. The setting is solid and well-explored and overall, it knows how to build up very well.
Claymore basically consists out of arcs with the length of three or four episodes, with each of these arcs being different enough for everything to remain fresh. An interesting phenomenon also showed up as I kept watching: every successive arc increases the quality of the series significantly. This series starts out mediocre, but as the episodes go on, it just gets better and better and better. Even if some introductions may be dull, the conclusions for each successive arc were impressive.
This continues up to episode 20, and then something strange happens: the creators of the anime divert from the manga this series is based on, and things immediately fall apart. After that, there are still a few good moments, but it’s clear that the writers of the anime just aren’t as good as those of the manga and the result is a string of boring and overblown battles that fail to capture interest. It’s such a shame, as this anime was heading in such a good direction.
Still, don’t let that last bit ruin your enjoyment of this series. The majority of Claymore is well-written and a compelling story. The production-values are pretty good, and the soundtrack is enough to give the fights that little extra edge they need to become exciting. It may have its flaws, it may drag on a bit too much at times, but it’s definitely one of the better shounen-fighting series out there.
I disagree that things fell apart as bad as people say they did. People are just biased against nonmanga original arcs in the first place. Not to say I enjoyed the final, but I just don’t think it’s a bad as people say it was. Maybe I never saw Claymore as that great to begin with? I have read the manga and did enjoy it somewhat, but never saw it as anything that special.
Comment by anne — September 27, 2007 @ 15:38
I disagree with that statement. I myself have never read the manga, and this is one of the first times outside of Naruto and Bleach where I’ve agreed with the manga-fans about the changes that were made from the original. Usually I too appreciate some originality, but Claymore fell flat on its face for me with it.
Comment by psgels — September 27, 2007 @ 16:18
It gets better and better and, if they had followed the manga, even better. They ignored Raphaela, Alicia, Beth or even why the claymores were sent to the north in the first place.
The north campaign was hyped for a reason.
Comment by Markis — September 27, 2007 @ 20:19
The end did ruin the enjoyment of the whole series for me. I can’t help it, because everything was set up very well. Just as you said, the characters were fleshed out to a certain extend. I especially liked Irene.
What made the ending so bad in the first place is that Claymore is a show which has a very dark atmosphere at the beginning. This is what caught me and made me continue to watch it. However, coming towards the end it somewhat loses that tension bit after bit.
Comment by David — September 27, 2007 @ 22:07
Claymore is probably one of hte best series I have ever seen I can agree to that the north campaign lost it’s meaning but all that info would just be too much for only one season. Besides manga and anime is two different things, why not enjoy not knowing what happens instead of beeing able to sit there and know what is going to happen…
Comment by Caruslira — September 27, 2007 @ 23:35
I must say Claymore lost me a bit earlier around episode 16 or so when they are fighting the male AO in the cave. The fight was too stretched and too cheesy for my tastes. There was too much blathering during fights. I’ve only read the first chapter of the manga and compared to the anime, it felt excessively slow, so at least this part seemed to be handled way better in the anime. I’m not really a manga reader anyway, the lack of colour is usually a turn off for me because I’m a sucker for good colouring. I think that’s part of why I kept watching Claymore nonetheless. The colouring is very pleasing and watching the fights at night was almost immersive. However, especially the last two episodes felt boring. I don’t think the ending or wrap-up itself was bad just the way it was directed. I must also say that they could have done more with the voices because that was the least believable. The sound engineers could have used some effects especially for the monsters to make them sound more believable. The voice actors could have run some rounds around the block so that they sound really exhausted and not like someone obviously trying to fake it.
Another inherent issue for me was that they greatest character “Teresa” had to die so early and there was not any character to fill this void. The rest of the Claymores was pretty exchangeable. I’d still agree that it’s one of the better shows also because there are not many similar shows. Berserk is somewhat similar at least with respect to the setting but then still very different. I’d prefer Berserk though which I watched not so long ago.
Comment by Chris — September 28, 2007 @ 1:15
Imagine if the series “Beserk” had had a ‘happy’ ending slapped on in place of the manga’s storyline.
This is what I see in Claymore, just WHY did they do it? It was completely unnecessary and put a bad end on a good anime.
Comment by das — September 28, 2007 @ 18:57
“Claymore is probably one of hte best series I have ever seen I can agree to that the north campaign lost it’s meaning but all that info would just be too much for only one season. Besides manga and anime is two different things, why not enjoy not knowing what happens instead of beeing able to sit there and know what is going to happen…” I completely disagree with this. Saying the info that would have been present if they followed was to much, but what was actually ten times less than what they jammed into a 2 episode period is wrong. If they followed the manga (which I now strongly believed they didn’t because they won’t have had a “super actiony” finish lol) you wouldn’t have really learned much more about anything. I know a lot of people will disagree with what I am about to say, but thats to bad. I would have preferred they end the season with the end of the north fight leaving us (but really only the non-manga readers) in complete suspense.
Nonetheless if they do, do a second season it’s gonna be extremely weird and well suspenseful for the ones who read the manga. Because it will be completely made up and different from the manga with Clair not searching for Raki because he is with her. Also Clair isn’t even with the others which is gonna completely change that part of the story and she has little-no reason to go after Pricilla anymore.
My expectations they will turn it into a Clair and co versus the organization. Also they will like make them all bloodthirsty flat characters who forgot all the other claymores they will probable kill are in the same boat as them. Except the really cool crazy one who thinks its a child and enjoys suck on the new No. 47 tits because well she is already insane.
good luck reading this
Greggy
Comment by Greggy — October 2, 2007 @ 20:37
i was watching this anime without reading the manga. but few days ago i read the manga and i came to find out that they arent following the manga. they did in the begining but not anymore. be it for manga or not. i liked claymore and it got more really interested in them. but its sad how they changed the series from manga. and the story outside of the maga sorta made me lose interest a bit. i still like claymore overall but not fan of the last few episodes as i was in the begining. i would like to see the full anime of the exact manga
Comment by jason — October 5, 2007 @ 3:52
Someone please explain the satisfation of reading a manga, then taking the time to watch the anime with the exact same plot. Seriously, what’s the point? You already know what’s going to happen, so why bother? Do you have so much time on your hands?
Comment by Jordan — October 5, 2007 @ 17:05
@Jordan: This might take you by surprise, but some people went to see the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies having already read the books. Strange, isn’t it?
Anyways, I’m glad it finally ended. The manga is ok, but the fights get incredibly silly in motion and the *cling cling* of the armors all the time was annoying. Oh, and that opening with the effeminate singer really gets on my nerves.
About the last episodes… everyone knows that they suck major ass, so I won’t comment on that.
Comment by Calorro — October 5, 2007 @ 23:00
ok, while i agree that maybe things started to fall apart the last few episodes, i refuse to associate this anime with the law of ueki. how was that anything more an overglorified flame of recca (which in my opinion was also crap). but this has definitely become 1 of my all time favorite animes and perhaps my favorite of this genre.
Comment by jt — November 23, 2007 @ 9:51
i liked claymore, my question to anyone is what other animes are similar to it like i mean which ones have a similar vibe, if any of you are experienced anime connoisseurs then give me some recommendations, i’d appreciate it
Comment by kalpacho — December 31, 2007 @ 5:36
As much as I enjoyed the first half of this series…I must say, the plot is an old formula. It’s in a lot of Asian classics (say, the Water Margin with women), and other Manga/Anime/OVA as well (Bubblegum Crisis comes to mind immediately).
Regardless, it was immensely enjoyable. The 2nd half however has enough plot to fill in two episodes…maybe three.
Comment by Ricard — January 27, 2008 @ 6:11
……dont remember that scene in the third picture with priscilla and raki both naked
anyone know the episode?
Comment by claymore123 — February 10, 2008 @ 23:34