But the truth is, the only similarity between these two shows is that they are both action packed power-up series ( however, the power-up element in Claymore is absolutely nothing compared to DBZ ).
It would be much more accurate to compare Claymore with Berserk. In 1998, Berserk came to define the violent, graphic dark-fantasy genre in anime, and Claymore took its mantle for the first decade of the 21st century. Both share many similarities - from medieval-style settings, serious and dark tone to giant swords and plenty of uncensored gore. Indeed, with its huge count of severed limbs and fountains of blood gushing from the torsos being cut in half, Claymore seems determined not to let the spirit of ultra-violent action shows of the 90s die out in the sea of all the harem, moe and bishonen shows that seem to dominate the anime industry nowdays. Yes, there are other ultra-violent anime being released today, like Hellsing Ultimate, but the difference between Claymore and most of these shows is that Claymore is much more than just mindless violence. Claymore is good on many different levels. Actually, it's not just good, it's very good.
One of the greatest things about Claymore is that it took a pretty weak premise and turned it into a story that should serve as a benchmark for all the action-oriented series. When I first heard about Claymore, I wasn’t very thrilled to say the least – an all-female cast of warriors fight monsters with giant swords. “Great, this is gonna be just a bunch of gory, mindless violence and A LOT of fan service. Kinda like Witchblade”. However, all over the internet, reviews were almost universally positive and my hopes were somewhat raised. But I still only expected an action series that, while by no means stupid and too gratuitous, won’t be particularly deep either. Quality entertainment, yes, but entertainment at its most basic level. Well, I am happy to inform you that I was very wrong. That is not to say that Claymore is some kind of masterpiece or without flaws – there are flaws, some of them only minor and some of them quite apparent ( which is why I rated it 8 instead of 9 or 10 ), but the positive aspects far outweigh the negatives.
Although it’s officially classified as a shonen series, Claymore walks the fine line between the shonen and seinen categories, as do some other shows ( like the Death Note ). The ( traditional ) shonen elements present in it are actually the show’s weakest points. There’s plenty of prolonged and tiresome dialogue in the middle of otherwise intense fight scenes, and gravity is not merely defied, but often completely ignored, which is a shame as the choreography of the fight scenes, whether they are duels or group battles, is very good, are there are no boring or pointless battles, although there are some can feel somewhat drawn-out. Another element that draws the quality of the fights ( and thus the entire series) down a bit are the power-ups. Granted, they are much more subtle than in many other series, mostly feel natural and logical, and the sense of proportionality is kept in relation to the power of other Claymores and Yoma/Awakened Beings ( unlike the bullshit we often got from DBZ, which is best described by a joke from Team4Star’s DBZ Abridged: “Power levels are bullshit!!!” ).
However, there are one or two places where the power up of a certain character feels far-fetched, to say the least. I won’t name them because I want to avoid spoiling the series for newbies, but in order to back my claim with evidence, I’ll just say that you’ll find some examples in episode 14 and episode 25, during the climactic fight scene. Consequently, while most battles are well-written and a joy to watch, some of them do go over the top, but thankfully, such fights are few, they don’t go that much over the top, and the battles are of reasonable length and don’t suck the life out of the audience ( unlike the battles in other action shows, where climactic fights against the main antagonist can last up to five millennia ). All in all, while it does suffer from some rather typical problems, action in Claymore is very entertaining, mainly because every single fight has a point, and the main battles are crucial to both the plot, and, more importantly, character development.
Apart from great action scenes, another one of Claymore’s strongest points are its visuals.
The studio behind the series is Madhouse, and the name I believe speaks for itself. Their resume of beautifully animated features includes shows such as Death Note, Trigun, Paranoia Agent, Hellsing Ultimate, as well as some great movies like Satoshi Kon’s Paprika. Needless to say, Claymore looks great, despite being a relatively low-profile franchise, which shows the studio’s dedication to each of their shows, regardless of the original manga’s popularity. Madhouse’ trademark style is spot on for Claymore, creating a realistic, yet also a dark and depressing atmosphere of the story that is kept througth the series. Bleak and somewhat dull medieval fantasy setting serves as a perfect backdrop for the story of Claymores and their tragic existence and fate.
The art is simply gorgeous; from generic towns and villages to mountain lakes, art is highly detailed and the colour palette is used superbly. The shots are never made too dark or monochromatic, which would make them dull and boring – the artists create a balance of grey, green, brown etc. and then spice it up with some red, purple or blue in just the right way. One example of smart use of colours is the hair of Claymores – in the manga, they are left uncoloured, white, and the reader can only assume that they all have the same shade of blond hair. In the anime, the artists gave each Claymore a slightly different hair colour, ranging from almost white ( Irene ) to warm yellow tone of Priscilla’s hair. This, along with many variations in details of their uniforms, makes it easier for the viewer to differentiate between various Claymores that are introduced over the course of the story. Still, there are some occurrences, like the major battle in the last episodes where there are two dozen Claymores assembled in one place, where it can be quite difficult to tell which Claymore is which.
While the style and the graphics are both top-notch, the same unfortunately cannot be said about the animation itself. That is not to say that the animation is bad, hell no! However, you cannot but notice that Madhouse was on a budget a bit. The show was released in April 2007, relatively shortly after the Death Note and the feature film Paprika, and at the same time as Hellsing Ultimate III, so you can guess that the studio decided to spend more money on the more popular and marketable titles. Thus, the producers of Claymore had to make-do with a limited amount of money, and thankfully, they utilised it to maximum effect.
The cuts were made where they felt more natural, and when they needed to make it look good, they made it look good. To save the money for action scenes ( and there are a lot of them ), many dialogues and expositions were shot with the person talking not facing the camera, or by having the random people in the background either staying still or moving as little as possible. Many shortcuts were taken during the fights scenes too – seeing as the show is set in a medieval setting and the primary weapon used in combat are swords, and since many Claymores are capable of wielding their swords much, much faster than any human, flash-lines are often used for sword strokes, but this doesn’t usually detract from the quality of the battles. Another major shortcut that was used very often, and this is not exclusive to Claymore, is animation of blood. Although there are many scenes in which it was animated pretty well and the flow of blood looked natural, for the largest part, and particularly when it came to chopping the monsters into pieces, the blood bursts out in your typical two-dimensional streams that NEVER SEEM TO STOP. Seriously, do the animators even know how much blood can a body hold?
But, again, this is still a minor issue, seeing as this is just a TV series, and besides, the visuals as a whole are fantastic.
The writing’s mark is less mixed than marks for the action or visuals, which are predominantly great, despite some flaws ( namely the animation shortcuts ). By "mixed" I don't mean that the writing is bad, and the issues I had with it are much more subjective than the objective issues of the previous categories. The show is perfectly paced, with the story’s slow unfolding mitigated by the action scenes and dynamic character interaction. The show never gets boring, which can partially be attributed to the fact that, with only 26 episodes of running time, there are no filler episodes. The threat escalation keeps the viewer worried about the main characters, and the character development is completely intertwined with the plot – the main heroine, Clare, keeps the plot moving forward, and each new battle adds not only to her fighting abilities, but also reveals her personality. This works infinitely better than if the writers decided to develop the characters through “token episodes”, like so many other shows, with plenty of time on their hands, do.
Another element in pacing adds greatly to the quality and enjoyment of the story, and it’s yet another thing that separates Claymore from most action shonen series. Apart from the first two episodes, which serve as an introduction to the basics of the Claymore universe, the story is split into several arcs, 3-4 episodes long on average, which leaves much more space for action, character development and advancing the plot than if the episodes were all stand-alone, and this also prevents it from becoming a “monster of the week show”.
I’ve just praised the pacing, but the actual writing varies greatly. On one hand we have some ham-fisted exposition and unnatural/pointless talking in the middle of the battles, and on the other hand some of the best executed character development I have seen in anime.
The fact that most of the exposition on the workings of the Claymore universe and the story behind it is spouted with no concern about how natural it would feel is a big let down, not only because the whole story is otherwise very mature, serious and “realistic”, but also because this exposition could have easily been handled much better, and the writer often displays great writing skills in other areas ( aforementioned pacing and character development ). Younger audiences won’t mind this kind of exposition, but since Claymore is very mature and dark, and more of a seinen series than a shonen one, the older, more mature audience will most likely see this as a big minus.
After this complaining about the exposition, I feel obliged to give Claymore’s writer(s) credit for character development. Claymore features a relatively small cast of main characters, although there’s a plethora of supporting and side characters, many of whom only appear in one arc. The story is completely centred around Clare, and all the other characters, while well-developed and interesting in their own right, serve to both reveal and shape Clare’s personality, as she goes on in pursuit of her revenge.
I shall say a bit more about the characters themselves in a minute, but right now I want to say a few words about HOW they are developed.
Practically all shows rely on flashbacks in order to shed light on the certain character’s motivation and reveal their back-story. Some shows utilize them well, using just the right amount and integrating them into story naturally, while others go into overkill, dragging the pacing down and revealing that the writer has no idea how to otherwise develop their characters. Claymore uses flashbacks in a smart and ( relatively ) original way. Many characters have tragic pasts that determine their course of actions in the present, and these pasts are presented in very short flash-backs, and I mean “flash”-backs, not “the-whole-episode-long-retelling-of-life-stories-backs”. These are only a couple of shots or one short scene, merely flashes of memories, and they reveal just enough for the viewer to get an idea about what happened. Simply put - they provide ( a lot of ) information in as little time as possible. The one big exception is the “Teresa Arc” ( Episodes 5-8 ) that is essentially one big flashback, revealing Clare’s past prior to becoming a Claymore, and is also crucial to understanding not only her motives, but also her relationship with Raki. Dedicating an entire arc to Clare’s past, rather than a couple of flash-backs, does wonders for developing not only hers, but several different characters. It is one of the best arcs in the entire series.
However, the best example of character development is the “Ophelia Arc” ( Episodes 12- 14 ). This arc is both a watershed and an important step forward for Clare, and while the “Teresa Arc” revealed her past and motivations, this arc shows much more of her personality than any other. And the interesting part is, over the course of three episodes, she only has about two dozen lines of dialogue and monologue. So how does the writer develop her character if she barely talks during that arc? Simply – by juxtaposing her to the characters of the two other Claymores she interacts with ( one of them is her opponent, and the other one an unexpected saviour and tutor ), and then highlighting the differences between Clare and each of these two Claymores. The writing reaches its best during these episodes, and along with the underlying message and theme, this is the show’s highest artistic point.
Oh, and one last thing about the writing, more specifically, the dialogue. I’ve already covered the exposition and the talking in the middle of the fight, so I’ll add just one more thing, and it’s also one of the show’s main flaws. While it’s a beautiful story, with lots of tragedy and very emotional at times, occasionally the show is too cheesy or sentimental for its own good, and the main character responsible for this is Raki. Which brings us to the characters.
Claymore’s greatest strength is its beautiful character-driven story. And it’s actually a pretty small story. Unlike Berserk, where the actions of characters determine the future of kingdoms, or Lord of the Rings, where the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance, there’s not that much at stake here. It isn’t an epic struggle filled with huge battles, although there are many battles in it. It isn’t a great quest or adventure, although there are quests and mysteries. Claymore is ultimately a human story more than anything else, and that sets it apart from most shonen series, and most anime series in general, really. It’s a very personal story, the story of Clare and how she struggles between her wish to remain human and her thirst for revenge against the person who took everything from her. So the only thing at stake here is Clare’s humanity, and I’d argue that that’s a far greater stake than the fate of Middle-earth.
Clare is not exactly your typical action hero. For starters, she’s a woman ( as are 90% of characters in this story ), meaning that, unlike other shonen shows like Naruto, Bleach and DBZ, the teenage male audience cannot identify themselves with her, or see her as a role model. She’s also not exactly a cool unbeatable bad-ass like say, Selene from Underworld or Revy from Black Lagoon. That’s yet ANOTHER great difference between Claymore and many other action shows – unlike Goku who is basically a god, and cannot possibly lose, Clare is actually the weakest of the Claymores. Of course, she has the potential to become the strongest of them all, but the path to obtaining the power to exact her revenge is a difficult and bloody one, and each step forward requires a bit of sacrifice ( at one point Clare even loses her dominant arm! ). She often gets beaten and injured, either by Yoma or some of her fellow warriors. The viewer comes to sympathise with her, you are concerned for her and don’t want to see her become one of the monsters she’s fighting against, which is a very realistic possibility, to say the least ( because the power the Claymores use to fight Yoma has its limits, and using too much of it can cause them to turn into complete monsters themselves ). She starts off as cold, distant and unemotional, which is completely understandable given the nature of Claymores and the Organization that controls them; Claymores are half-human and half-monsters, and as such are feared and detested by humans, who see them as a nothing more than necessary evil to fight Yoma, so you can imagine they don’t have much of a social life or human contact. Claymores are lone wolves, merely fighting tools in the hands of the Organization that treats them as completely expendable and whose actions are pretty sinister and dodgy ( they have no qualms about disposing of insubordinate warriors or taking exorbitant fees for killing Yoma from civilians ). Thus, when Clare first meets Raki, she is very reluctant to even tell him her name, let alone allow him to accompany her on her journeys. As the series progresses, she starts to regain some of her lost humanity and emotions, which she lost over the course of many years of painful training and lonely missions, as she was fixated only on her revenge. A good example is when she and Raki set camp and throw an animal on a spit – as famished Raki digs into the meat like there’s no tomorrow, Clare ( who can go on for days without food ) watches him with nostalgia, saying it’s refreshing to see such a “human” thing for a change.
Raki, Clare’s companion through most of the series, is often bashed by the fans, especially male fans, for being “useless”, “whiny”, “annoying” and so on. Most of this bashing is caused by a complete lack of perspective. Yes, I find him annoying at times too, but to complain that his character is useless and pointless is to completely misunderstand the whole story. Clare, a cold inhuman warrior who lives a solitary and dangerous existence, would never, ever take him with her if he weren’t as helpless and naive as he is ( at the beginning of the series at least ), and if he didn’t remind her of herself before she forfeited her humanity for the sake of vengeance. He gives her a new reason to live, and is essential to her latter decisions, decisions that old Clare would probably never make. I can’t dwell much more on his character without going into the spoiler territory, so I’ll just say that, despite somewhat gary-stuish morals and propensity for crying, he’s a good character and is crucial to the story and Clare’s character development.
Other characters I cannot discuss without spoilers, apart from Priscilla, the main villain. She is an Awakened Being ( a creature, much more powerful than Yoma, that is created if a Claymore uses too much of their power and thus transforms into a being with no remains of their old human self ) that is the main cause of Clare’s tragic past and her decision to become a Claymore. She is, naturally, very powerful, so it takes the whole series before Clare can take her on in a final, climactic fight. And funnily, enough, she’s not actually a “proper” villain. As an Awakened Being, she was formerly a Claymore, and has a tragic past just like Clare. Her awakening is a result of her unstable mind and lack of experience as a Claymore, rather than some inborn vice or evil intent, so she’s not really an evil entity that you can, and should, despise. This is reinforced during the last half a dozen or so episodes during which we get to see more of her character and realise that her fate is a tragic outcome of many unfortunate events in her life, and not really a fault of her own. She is a great character and her condition is crucial to the show’s outcome and message.
All the other villains/monsters are pretty good too. While Yoma are very generic looking and ( relatively ) easily defeat-able, the Awakened Beings, and particularly the Creatures of the Abyss ( incredibly powerful Awakened Beings that were once #1 Claymores ) have great and very original designs and a wide range of personalities. Designs for these monsters range from insect-like beings to giant beasts and “tentacle”-monsters, all of them pretty unique and interesting. While the normal Awakened Beings are mostly just primitive monsters whose only motivations are search for human food or fighting the Claymores to survive, some particularly strong ones have distinct personalities and are in the service of the Abysmal Ones, who retain much more human characteristics than the other monsters, being quite sinister, scheming and sly individuals, with much more ambition than just hunting humans for food. Overall, even though Claymore is primarily focused on fighting the inner demons in order to maintain humanity, the monsters and villains are distinct and original, providing us with great, quality action and lots of blood.
What’s left to say...? I swear I’m forgetting something important here... Oh, right, of course – the music. Sadly, as opposed to Claymore’s above-average visuals, the soundtrack is quite underwhelming. It features a variety of styles, from bagpipes and large orchestral pieces to rock music and even some techno beats. There aren’t really any noteworthy tracks that could stand alone and find themselves on your iPad playlist, since the soundtrack mostly has a supporting role. For the most part, the music complements the visuals well, and sets the mood for each scene, be it an emotional, intimate moment, or a major fight scene. However there are more than few occasions where the choice of music is... questionable, even if the theme that is used fits. It’s just a shame that there aren’t some kick-ass numbers like those character themes from Death Note.
Thankfully, there is a special music CD, that is not a part of the official soundtrack, that makes up for this. Titled “Claymore Intimate Persona”, it features 10 character songs, performed by the characters’ original Japanese voice actresses. While it’s up to debate how well do the lyrics fit each character, the songs themselves are very good pieces of music in their own right, with styles ranging from metal to pop. I’d warmly recommend them to all fans of Japanese music.
Like the original soundtrack, the opening for the anime is underwhelming. The song, “Raison d’etre” by Nightmare ( same band that performed the 1st opening and ending for Death Note ) is solid, and fits the series, but the animation is average at best. While most anime TV series put a lot of effort and budget into their openings, which often results in animation that is much, much better than the actual show, the visuals of Claymore’s opening are really nothing special. Not bad, but underwhelming compared to the overall high quality visuals in the series.
The ending, on the other hand, is great. The musical piece “Danzai no Hana”, fits the series perfectly, making the dark and tragic atmosphere of the show almost tangible. The art is also gorgeous, atmospheric and brilliantly coloured. It’s one of my favourite endings of all time actually.
As for the voice-acting, I really have to recommend the sub over dub version. Even though it’s usually hard for me ( and everyone else who doesn’t speak Japanese fluently ) to objectively evaluate the performance of the Japanese voice actors, the Claymore was an exception. The seiyu ARE the characters, their voices fit their respective characters’ personalities perfectly, and they convey their feelings, moods and attitudes brilliantly.
The English dub, on the other hand, is a mixed bag, and this is more due to the poor casting choices than the lack of talent. Some actors, like Christine Auten as Teresa and veteran Todd Haberkorn as Raki were chosen well ( although many complain that Todd only increased Raki’s annoyingness ), but others, like Stephanie Young as Clare, were not. Clare is supposed to be 17-20 years old, and Young sounds not only much older, but if you compare her voice acting to that of Huoko Kuwashima, you’ll see that “Japanese” Clare and “English” Clare are two different people. Many English voice actors come off as radically different from their Japanese counterparts, and in a negative way. As I said, I recommend the subbed version, but feel free to watch them both and make your own judgment.
Which brings us to the end of the spoiler-free part of the review. In this next, and penultimate paragraph, I shall discuss one thing that divides the fans of this series – the ending.
Those of you who haven’t seen the show, you should just skip it and go to the final summary in the last paragraph as this contains MAJOR SPOILERS. This discussion is meant for the Claymore fans who seek a second opinion on the ending of their beloved series, and you.can come back and read it after you’ve watched the show.
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Now that it’s just us fans, I’ll make one thing ( two things actually ) perfectly clear from the start – I loved the ending for the Claymore anime series and find the anime to be far superior to the manga, and the latter is BECAUSE of the ending. Allow me to explain.
Most of the people who hate the ending ( khm!... whining fan-boys... khm! ) present these arguments: “It deviated from the manga!”, “The last episodes were filler!” , “Clare should have killed Priscilla!” and “It’s inconclusive!”. First two arguments are just plain bulls*it, and the latter two I strongly disagree with. Why?
Firstly, the fact that the anime deviated from the original material means bugger all. Not only is there no obligation for the animators to remain faithful to the manga ( and they WERE faithful for the vast majority of the time ), but making the anime adaptation faithful to the letter does not equal better quality.
Secondly, “filler” means that an episode is there just to prop up the running time and there is of no direct ( or even indirect ) consequence to the advancement of the plot, or even character development. Filler does not mean “original material not found in the manga”. There are NO filler episodes in Claymore.
Which brings us to the third argument, Clare not killing Priscilla. And, you see, that’s the whole point of the entire story. Claymore is a story of revenge, but it is also a story about losing/regaining humanity, a story about human condition and a fight against the animal/monster inside. Over the course of the series, Clare, a person who lost everything and only had a thought of revenge to cling on, comes to realise that she can find other reasons to live apart from her vengeance. She meets Raki, in whom she sees her old self, and he reminds her of her relationship with Teresa. She meets Miria, Deneve and Helen. She befriends Jean after saving her life. The themes of camaraderie and friendship permeate the story, and once Clare finds a prospect of new life with Raki and her friends, her quest for revenge becomes... meaningless, in way, I can’t exactly find the right word. Forfeiting her humanity and even life for the sake of revenge was fine when she was a lonely warrior, but once she’s not that anymore, her revenge, something that will cost her her humanity, becomes hollow and even selfish. We don’t want her to become a monster just so she can avenge Teresa because we’ve come to love her and care for her and don’t want her to let go of things and people she has gained for the sake of taking revenge on behalf of someone who not only cannot gain anything by this ( since she’s dead ), but would never even wish for it. On the contrary, Teresa explicitly says she wishes for Clare to live a normal and fulfilling life as a human being, knowing fully what it means to live a tragic and lonely life of a Claymore.
And it’s not only about Clare. While the last two episodes were completely original material, there were other changes over the course of the last 6 or so episodes, which skewered the series towards its final resolution, and these changes completely debunk the claims by some fans that the last 2 episodes were “plastered on”. One of the changes was when Raki found out that Priscilla is an Awakened Being. Priscilla’s entire character development over the course of these few episodes, as well as her behaviour during the final battle, is meant to show the viewer that, while a monster, she’s not evil. Her condition is an extremely tragic one, and these few changes are supposed to get the viewer to understand her and realise that she is to be pitied, not hated. Raki serves as sort of a proxy for the audience here, and it’s through the eyes of his character that we are to fully grasp the meaning ( or the lack thereof ) of the final battle between Clare and Priscilla. He gets to watch two people, who he has grown to love/like and sympathise with, turn into monsters trying to rip each other’s guts out. Two persons, kindred spirits, turn into monsters ( although for different reasons ) and fight for...what? And the best part is, even Raki’s pleas cannot turn Clare back. It takes guilt. Only after she kills Jean, her good friend, does Clare realise the pointlessness of her fight and how much could she lose if she doesn’t let go of her revenge and revert back to human. Stricken with guilt, she stops and cries over the death of her friend, coming to appreciate that the people she has now are at least as important to her as is the person she lost, Teresa. As she leaves Jeane’s grave with Raki, she also comes to realise that this is what Teresa actually wanted for her all along – not forsaking her life in pursuit of something that will ultimately cost her everything, but to lead a happy life that Teresa never could, but died to allow Clare to do so. This ending is just brilliant, filled with emotions and realisations, it is here that all of Clare’s actions and relationships are finally given their true meaning and purpose. Without this final resolution, the story wouldn’t hold that same depth and message.
Yes, the ending doesn’t resolve all the plot threads, actually most of them remain unresolved. Yes, the fates of other characters like Miria, Deneve and Helen remain unclear. It’s an open ending, but also not an open ending. The main story – story of Clare and her revenge is finished, so in a sense, the story is over. You can complain about the story not being completely resolved, you can be personally unsatisfied with this ending, but you cannot call it bad or inconclusive, because it is most definitely not.
There are several reasons why I think anime is better than the manga, and the absence of this resolution is the main one.
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Well, I’ve never thought I’ll ever write a longer review than the one on Ghost in the Shell, but it seems I underestimated myself. Sorry for dragging this for so long, but, like in GITS, I wanted to cover all of the story and give a proper insight into all individual aspects of it. So, time to sum it up.
Claymore has some flaws – ham-fisted exposition, ( a bit of ) animation shortcuts, underwhelming soundtrack, a few over-the-top action scenes and power-ups and occasional cheesiness. However, as I’ve said before, the positives far outweigh the negatives – it’s got great visuals, great story, great characters, entertaining action scenes and a lot of heart. It’s a beautiful kind of story that is hard to come across these days, not only in anime but in Western cinematography as well. Even if the franchise gets forgotten in several years, Claymore will always remain here as a little gem of a story, waiting to be discovered by a wandering anime fan, searching for a deep and meaningful story in the world of series mostly devoid of these traits.
I whole-heartedly recommend Claymore to everyone, and give it a solid, well-deserved 8.1/10.
