First off this is only pertaining to the anime (obviously). So if some question I posed gets answered in the manga, awesome. I’ll probably get around to it sometime but for now anime content only
The story is a good a place as any, so let’s go with that. The story itself is a fairly typical revenge plot interlaced with a theme of He who fights monsters. It for the most part works, moves at a nice brisk pace, and is quite enjoyable despite a few minor plot holes. However they are just that, minor, and never really killed my enjoyment. There is a really nice plot twist around episode 9 that I found pretty clever. The story leads the cast into some fun fight scenes and those are probably where the show shines. None of the fights feel dragged out and as said they are a blast to watch. I’m also pretty sure that most of the fights would make some sweet metal covers.
That was the good now for some bad, this dealing more with backstory. The world they live in is poorly fleshed out: towns and locales are interchangeable, their religion is mentioned but very vague and the reason for the Yoma (read monster) is never touched upon. Again this wasn’t a deal breaker for me but it could have made this world feel more alive. Also there is a tendency to throw around the phrase Yoma aura to explain away the claymore’s special moves and kind of feels like a cop out to fill in minor plot holes.
Moving on to sound and art, and as usual my music expertise is that of a tone deaf panda so I’ll keep that section short. The OP and ED are fine and nothing special and their accompanying animations are nice as well. The soundtrack as a whole works very well and a couple songs like Teresa’s theme (or what I’m calling Teresa’s theme) are nice. That’s all I have to say music wise so let’ shift over to art.
Between here and the characters themselves this show succeeds and fails. First the good, the Yoma’s look great. They all are terrifying, look monstrous and actually kind of scared me. They all do tend to rely on more tendrils as they change to a more powerful form but the upgraded forms to looks impressive especially the ones in the final arc. The fights flow beautifully with speed and grace and are very fun to see. The world itself while somewhat bland works and the locales do look nice, but it’s typical fantasy fare.
The Claymores are where the show kind of trips up. They all have a similar look to them and often times I keep confusing one claymore for another. Hell until one character said her name I thought we were following a different claymore. Luckily the main character Clare is distinctive enough that she was never easily lost .That being said the designs while somewhat similar are still very nice and do invoke a kind of cold beauty that the claymores command. I’ll make a side note to mention that the eyes for the Claymore and Yoma are great. I know it sounds weird but they really look cool. I’ll also side note my side note to say that on occasion you’ll get a shot of a serious scene and Clare or someone will have a goofy grin or comically bugged eyes. It’s really disconcerting but is very rare.
Now it’s time for part 2 of fail/succeeds, this time with the characters. We’ll start with the leads Clare and Raki. Clare is beautifully fleshed out in a four episode arc detailing her motivations, which is good because her motivations are what drive the series. She is interesting and you feel sorry for her and want her to succeed in her goal. She grows throughout the series and has a decent closure to her past. Raki while not getting the whole backstory arc is not completely without character development but there is very little past episode 13.He was an okay character but they made good call by downplaying him and not making him a object for Clare to rescue.
Where they drop the ball is the main “villain”, Pricilla, who while getting a decent backstory, serves no real role besides being a counterpoint to Clare. She shows up in the flashback arc and then serves as a passive aggressive threat, not showing up till near the end. Which is sad because when she does show up she’s portrayed as a tragic victim driven by her own blind morality, not even aware she has become what she despises. Obsessed with getting revenge on a person who’s dead to cope with the horrid past. As you can tell I like this character, and I would gladly watch a spinoff of her child hood and what she was doing in the years between her awakening and the series’ final battle.
The other villains while mildly interesting (Ophelia especially) are not that well expanded upon. The same goes for the supporting cast, who are really one note but enjoyable. They interact well, all are fairly sympathetic and to spark me to actually want to learn more about them.
It’s time to wrap this up. My Final thoughts: A decent fantasy show with a good plot and enjoyable characters. Ultimately brought down by its lack of depth. You could do worse but you could also do better. I'd check it out before laying down some cash for it.
