Claymore

Story: The original concept is fairly decent, the fights are also quite entertaining. The world is not very rich though, it feels very plain overall. I also had a hard time getting into it because of some other problem which I describe below.

Art: The artwork is actually fairly good, the main issue is that it is way too repetitive. It's very focused on the characters and lacks background also.

Character: I can't tell who is who, can you? No seriously. This is also why I put so low marks for the art. Poor creativity there. Character progression is also almost non-existent.

Enjoyment: It's very hard to enjoy reading it when on each chapter, I have to figure out who is who and what the hell is going on.

Overall: Repetitive, plain, no humor, straightforward. Not sure what's so good about that manga. The anime is a bit better though, maybe because it doesn't look as plain.

Claymore starts off full of mystery and suspense in a world that slowly reveals itself to you. The relationship between Raki and Clare is one of the strongest points and the action is killer good. The first half of the manga is dare I say almost perfect. It pulled me in so much that I bared through the second half which is where Claymore lost my interest and my hope for it's future.

While reading the manga the half way point should be fairly obvious (not going to call it out for spoilers reasons.) The second half starts with promise but soon descends to fights you don't care about and characters getting screen time that they don't deserve. For the majority of the second half Clare and Raki are no where to be seen which as I said earlier is one of the strongest points of this manga. A lot of new characters are introduced on the fly and the author acts like you care about them almost as much or more than the characters you've been with since the very beginning.

To make it worse bad guy after bad guy pop up almost instantly one after another. The bad guys have no back story and are just "pure evil" which is fine but you know they'll just die and be replaced in 5 chapters.

Now I did still enjoy Claymore overall not as much as I could have but it's first half is good enough to pull this manga up from the depths. Although the second half hasn't impressed me too much I still have a shimmer of hope for Claymore as it continues.

Claymore is a splendid manga, from beginning to end the reader gets stuck inside the story always wanting to read more and more.
His peculiar "last boss" that has appeared since the beginning of the manga had a great development, along with Clare's group.
If you seek a manga with fantastic story, individual character developments, shed some tears, you've found the right manga.
I would not like to do a long review, but the myanimelist forces me to write, so from now I'm going to write a pudding recipe, if you want to continue reading, feel free, my manga review is over.
Chia Seed Pudding:
Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla-flavored unsweetened almond milk
1 cup plain low-fat (2 percent) Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (preferably grade B), plus 4 teaspoons for serving
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Kosher salt
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 pint strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Directions:
In a medium bowl, gently whisk the almond milk, yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, the vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon salt until just blended. Whisk in the chia seeds; let stand 30 minutes. Stir to distribute the seeds if they have settled. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, in a medium bowl, toss the berries with the remaining 4 teaspoons maple syrup. Mix in the almonds.
Spoon the pudding into 4 bowls or glasses; mound the berry mixture on top and serve.

Honestly, I was surprised by this manga. Not because of the story line but just how well balanced it was. It was constantly at the fine line of being between, "Oh great, another 'I will avenge this person and such'" and "Wow. Look at all the people being killed." I was very tempted to stop reading the manga at the beginning but there was just something that kept me reading. I think the author did a spectacular job at keeping the reader's attention and wrapped up the story very well. The last few chapters kinda blew my mind especially how well the storyline was done and the characters are definitely interesting (in a good way). Almost every aspect of the story was kept in a very fine balance and that is something a very talented author could do even though there were many times where I would be, "Wow, really? Really? Okay?" But yeah. Overall, I really enjoyed this manga despite some of it's weird moments and small loose ends. I truly think the majority would enjoy this manga especially if you pay attention to the details.

Story 5: the plot of claymore focuses on a hero's journey approach for the first half of the series, but in this it stumbles pretty constantly by making the protagonist constantly reactive instead of active in her world, meaning she has little to no agency as a character. Still its held up by solid world building and a good supporting cast that still earns the investment in the narrative. Until the last act, when the plot twists so freaking hard that I swear half the cast lost their spine. Its so ridiculously out of nowhere that it almost ruins the entire series because it means that the previous worldbuilding was now made null and the characters who had little agency, now have absolutely none.

Art 9: The art is most easily described as a "polished berserk". In that it is very graphic, visceral, and filled with detail that is just a feast for the eyes, but it has the extra note of being really smooth, characters are all beautiful and elegant in their renditions, and the way the motion is drawn, ohhh damn is it just the most savory dish on the manga buffet. Out of anything in this series, the art holds it up the most because it is just consistently excellent.

Character 6: the problems with the characters arent immediately apparent, because at first each character feels well written, they feel dynamic and deserving of their place in the series. Even the protag, with her bizzare levels of stoicism and lack of expression make sense in the way they give context. However, the problems are revealed later because no one has an arch, and if they do, they are way too short. This is compounded with the fact that the characters have little agency whatso ever, meaning it really can be hard to care about them.

Enjoyment 8: Now, regardless of the criticisms this series is entertaining. its visceral, fast paced, and has the slightest hints of philosophy that trick you into thinking on a deeper level as you watch the mass mutilation that can only be compared to the likes of berserk. And even when it falls off, it still continues to be a worth while experience for the excellently creative designs and visual style.

Over all 7: Claymore in regards to its writing is a very poor mans berserk, in almost every way, but that does not mean its truly 'bad'. Its visceral, beautiful, and has sparks of great story telling that appear now and then, and did I mention that the art is amazing, because man is it amazing. This series is not for someone that will close a book solely because the narrative lacks good direction, as you will become frustrated very very quickly if you are that person. Instead this series is more for the hunger fiend that just needs to sink thier teeth into a juicy manga flank steak with a side of home made potato casserole washed down with some smooth cider and topped off with a slice of mass murder torture and gore...ahhh, tastes like heaven.

I feel like I should have written this review a long, long time ago because Claymore is my favorite manga of all time. I keep coming across amazing titles and there are some I consider outstanding masterpieces, but this manga will always be important and special to me no matter what. It doesn't mean other titles cannot stand a chance against it, I just love it very much.

The first volume of Claymore was one of my few spontaneous purchases. It didn't look like something I could find interesting, I was approximately 12 or 13 at the time, kind of a weaboo that was just starting to understand the value of certain titles... but I bought it, driven by what I could describe as my own intuition that was telling me I'd regret it if I put it back. Needless to say, my intuition was right.

Story: 10/10.
Claymore is just as dark and angsty as it should be without being a heavy story to comprehend. There are three major sides in this story: humans, Yoma (monsters that feed on human flesh and blood) and Claymores, half-human, half-Yoma warriors that are created and trained to eliminate those dangerous creatures. Yet they are not seen as some knights in shining armor, neither they are knights. It's their job and they do it well, asking for nothing in return. And the more you learn about this world, the more you start to wonder if you were right about nice guys and villains or if there's more to it than it seems to be.

Art: 8/10.
Norihiro Yagi's art style is rather peculiar and it's not for everyone. Given that this manga has been published for 13 years, improvement is to be expected. I like the semi-realistic style of Claymore and how well it fits the nature of the story, creating a fitting atmosphere. Yagi is very good at coming up with very interesting and grotesque designs for Awakened beings (Claymores that crossed their power limit), capable of creating terrifying creatures, creatures that most definitely will scare you.

Characters: 9/10.
Poor Raki, everyone seems to hate him for no real reason at all. I like this guy. I like him because he knows exactly what he has gotten himself into, he's loyal, determined and his growth as a character is very impressive. Small spoiler here, please excuse me: he grows up and turns into a handsome, strong young man who is fully capable of standing up for himself, so there is absolutely no need to hate on this particular character. If he went through zero character development, I wouldn't bother paying so much attention to him, but I will always defend this guy because he is an example of a well-written character.
Clare, the protagonist of the Claymores' side, might seem like a cold and emotionless, somewhat boring woman at first. But she is the character you are going to stick with for most of the manga, you see how much she changes as she meets new people, makes friends (as trivial as it sounds, friendship is one of the most important themes in shounen after all) and demonstrates many different sides of her personality.
I'd love to talk about every single character and their role in the story, but it will take forever. What I love about Claymore is how different the characters are, they have different personalities, their own flaws and problems and even villains are not just evil for no particular reason at all (several examples: Ophelia, Riful and Isley).

Enjoyment: 10/10.
It's my favorite manga for a reason. It is very easy to read, it is intriguing, entertaining and epic. Each arc brings you closer to answers to your questions and reveals secrets and details you might have not even thought about. I love how realistic and grotesque at the same time this manga is. I dropped the anime somewhere in the middle because I had to catch up with the manga, so I cannot say anything about the adaptation, but if I could, I'd add a few extra points for the soundtrack as well. It's outstanding, don't forget to listen to it when you read the manga.

If I were you, I would try to avoid comparing Claymore to Berserk. Berserk is darker and heavier and there's really no story that could stand on the same level, at least in the dark fantasy segment. Claymore is amazing the way it is and deserves to be more popular.

Claymore


The anime adaptation of the manga ends in Chapter 50, if you want to switch from anime to manga, it is best to start with the war in the north, as the differences to the manga already appeared there. The last 3 or 4 episodes of the anime were not canon.


Claymore is a manga that actually surprised me in a positive way, not only in terms of the main story itself but also the fights, representation and implementation. If you are looking for a good Dark Fantasy (in the direction of Berserk), you will certainly find it here. Just as interesting to see how well the drawing style of the Mangaka had changed between the first chapter and its last, the level of detail was massively increased.


But where it shone positively manga, it also cast a shadow. And unfortunately, this contains a number of negative aspects that tripped the title itself.

First and foremost, the main story (especially the background of the claymore and organization) was quite subtle and it was also built solid. What the problem with this is clearly the consecutive fights that I could almost call story blockers. Story-relevant opponents well and good, but so often an irrelevant monster appeared, which was simply thrown into the story to hold the reader off for another 8 chapters. This was a massive problem, especially from Chapter 120. In general, you could have left out the last 3 Awakened Beings and changed the main story for the antagonist a bit, but NOTHING would have changed in the end result. However, these 3 have almost a total of 25 chapters which made it very annoying and destroyed the tension enormously.

I have little complaint about the final finale, it wasn't perfect, but a satisfactory conclusion for the plot and the main antagonist.

Unfortunately, the anime had screwed up the plot armor from fight to fight, whereas so many characters died at the beginning, there were almost no deaths towards the end, although the opponents were around 50-500 times stronger than the claymore themselves.

There was also a big problem with the characters. There were some backgrounds, but the characters mostly stayed flat until the end. You can get them absolutely zero sympathies no matter how you take it.


Story

The basic idea and the setting are very interesting and it stayed that way. Likewise, the resolution to the story and the background for everything has been quite solid. Unfortunately, as I said, there were too many story blockers that had no relevance. Even if you skipped some of these chapters, you would hardly notice any difference. Unless a new character is introduced again who has no personality or background.

The closer you got to the semi-finals, the more complicated everything got. New characters appeared one after the other, and so did the enemies. It wasn't confusing, on the contrary. It looked irrelevant. You just wanted to know how the main story of Clare would go on, instead, you had to deal with any other fight for another 10 chapters.

The irony is that the opponents that were not story relevant actually had longer fights than the relevant enemies. That surprised me, among other things.

But apart from the weak story blockers, the main plot had a subtle implementation. Even if a lot would have to be repaired.

Drawing/illustration

The drawings were quite meager at the beginning but meager on average. But this improved quite quickly and the drawing style of the characters became more and more high quality, as well as the representation of the environment, fights and monsters more and more detailed. Towards the end, I have to say that some of the monsters were extremely cool in design.

Characters

The focus was never on the characters and that is an absolute fact. Inserting backgrounds is not a feat and it doesn't help a character become immediately noticeable. They lacked a great deal of personality and character. There were 1-2 CLaymores that actually had some personality. The rest were copies with different hairstyles.

At least one has to make an effort with the antagonist to the end and make it appear understandable. As a result, she didn't seem as flat and monotonous as the other characters.

Conclusion
Claymore is undoubtedly a very interesting and promising work. And by far one of the weakest 7/10 ratings I could give. The manga had many qualities, but these were often undermined by a lack of creativity and incorrect implementation.

At least I am glad that the implementation of the main story was saved.

Story:

Actually main story , the column of the path of our protagonist looks like a simple revenge/vengeance story but with side stories of other characters and politic plot twists creates different couple of powerfull inner stories and collobration of all these stories with the main one is the richness about this series.

Art:

Its not detailed as Berserk or crafty as Vagabond but still at its own unique magical and unreal touch... Its like illusion.. Had beautiful moments and bad moments but second half of the series is generally looks better compare to the start. But it was one of the artisticly one of the best per month shounens ı've ever seen.

Character:

This is the best thing about the series are the characters. Very likeable and memorable .. I never forget some of 'em specially

Enjoyment: Full with likeable and unlikeable characters with different varation of motivations + full with plot twist surprises and settle beutiful moments

Overall:

Its a 90-93/100 series to me

I found Claymore to be one of the more enjoyable series I read and watched. I ended up reading the Manga as I loved the anime and HAD to know what happened next. I am glad I did as the story and world continues to grow and evolve in logical way. I'm not an artist so I can't really add much on the art style but I did love how each Claymore even with just keeping silver hair and eyes consistent across all each had a unique and recognizable and often memorable design. The growth and power scaling of the characters and battles also seemed to be paced well and didn't feel too unexpected for the most part. I felt overall that you got a good idea and understanding of each character and groups ideals and motivations throughout the series as well. While the ending could be seen as a little predicable the story to get there was well worth reading.

In this review i will try to contain as little spoilers as possible.

Claymore is a dark fantasy shonen series, written and illustrated by Norihiro Yagi. It's set in a world filled with man eating monsters called Yoma, where the only line of defense against them is a group of female warriors known as Claymores, after the famous swords they carry. The story follows the adventures of such a warrior, Clare, and her tale of revenge.

The story is not particularly deep and not something special, but it's very good in emphasizing on the character's humanity and their struggle to keep their powers in check and has a few nice twists here and there. The main problem is the pacing during the later parts of the story, which makes it a bit confusing and the last 20 or so chapters feel like a never ending battle. Ultimately, there is a payoff though, since the series ending is actually pretty nice and makes perfect sense.

One of the highly positive aspects of Claymore is it's characters and especially the protagonist. Clare is a great lead and experiences a good deal of character development throughout the story and watching her and her struggles is very enjoying. Actually, she is so good, that when she is not present for like 10 chapters in a row, twice, the manga feels like a different and certainly half as good series. Since Claymore is a character and not plot driven story, this creates some pacing issues, which is a problem for a monthly series, but nothing serious if you just read it all at once.

The supporting cast is quite big by the end of the series, with many of them not being very interesting, but the ones who matter are also well developed and pleasant to watch.

The art is kind of awkward at the beginnig, because the author overuses the negative space and many images look way too white. Thankfully, he sorts out this problem after the first 3 volumes and it helps that Norihiro Yagi is very talented at portraying and encompassing the concept of movement during the fights, which makes for awesome action sequences.

When it comes to enjoyment, i think that it's pretty subjective thing, but the twists, the characters and the great action are surely to keep your interest.
All in all, a fantastic series that are absolutely worth binge-reading (i did it in 4 days) with intensity, blood, and engaging characters. It's highly recommended for people who like dark fantasy manga and want a strong, badass female lead. For people who like Berserk, Attack on Titan, or watched the anime, this is a must read!