Claymore

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Claymore is the incarnation of an RPG similar manga, the eerie atmosphere at times with just the right amount of gore and "Breasts" this manga truly stand out just like a well cooked mild curry dish, not too much spices and not too little.

1-Story 10/10
this is the most amazing part of this manga , the characters didn't really pop up but the story was more than sufficient to overshadow the shortcomings of them.
at most times the story wasn't really omnidirectional and it was more of a narrative type to me i think that this story might have been better in a novel type but ... it also worked just fine as manga.
the story as with almost most other manga of the same genre followed the POV of the heroine with emphasis on her tragic past which shapes the future maturing of her and the story, her past has the biggest impact on the story and it molds and shapes all of her actions as revenge and love.
the story stand out to me through the setting, it is placed in a semi medieval era which is my favorite type of setting thus i will be a little bit biased :)
the story isn't that much complex but it isn't just plain and simple, it had a good amount of plot twists and some really unpredicted events which truly surprised me .
the progression is fine but i would have liked it to be abit slower, the story seems rushed at times the impact is neglectable though.

2-Art 9.5/10
the art is beautiful and gives justice to the story, it was well drawn with a good amount of love and imagination poured into it.
at times i had some issues with distinguishing characters because they all dress the same uniform and all have blond hair and weird names & skill names.
on the other hand the art of the awakened beings is superb and unique, it really stood out as many other monsters in other mangas don't have this much detail and background.
the landscape was breathtaking with many beautiful European style plains and hills.
the reason i gave it a 9.5 was because of some battle technique slides where i wasn't able to distinguish what was happening because of the "high speed" attacks, you actually have to ficus abit to comprehend them, but it rarely occurs.

3-Charchters 9.5/10
the characters are great but not outstanding, the emphasis on their past is huge which i personally like but not many people do.
the heroine is a really well created one and the other characters are nothing but amazing, the only issue i have is the one or two pain in the ass ones which are portrayed as "evil" which the manga did not really need.
other than that the characters were well rounded with many unique skills and not much repetitive one, there are many characters to encounter on this manga and most of them are unique and you can tell that there has been much detail and back-story has been put into them.
most of the characters show maturity when they grow with the story and they really hold their ground and shine as they do so.
the villain is sort of a special case which i would like to leave unattended to, i would like of you to explore it on your own because i am 100% sure that you will be confused and interested , and plainly because if i said anything about it is a spoiler " the villain appears late into the story and not directly".

4- Enjoyment 1000000000/10!
i always say to my friend that this will be the ultimate anime if they get produced by bones , the battles , the enemies , the techniques , the high speed / phantom attacks... ahh how i dream about this .
the manga truly shines bright in my eyes because after i finished i felt like i just completed a well crafted piece of art RPG game, the vibe that this manga gives is what i have been searching for since i started watching anime anime and thus i see this as the ultimate manga.

5-Overall 10/10
i think that i wrote as much as i could about this piece of art, just read it , it is only 156 chapter؛ IT WILL BLOW YOU OUT OF PROPORTIONS.

Claymore is one of the most disappointing manga I've read. From chapter 1 to about 60 it is amazing, however, afterwards the quality declines little by little until by the end there is barely anything left to enjoy. Let me explain.

The story starts out fairly simple but gets more complex quickly as we see the past of the main character. We slowly get introduced to more aspects of the life of the claymores and how it affects them. We get to see what makes the main character special among all the other warriors and watch as she gets stringer and forms relationships with other people. ... All of this culminates in the best battle of the series. We get proper build up to the onslaught that is to come, recurring characters come back, the interactions between the cast are both sweet and terrifying because we know not all of them will make it, and then the battle starts and it is great. Claymore never even came close to recreating these chapters and it was certainly not for the lack of trying. So what went wrong?

There are some underlying problems with Claymore that were never addressed and eventually ruined the manga. The fact that some of the worst shonen tropes were present definitely did not help.

One of the things most praised about Claymore is the art. This is for good reason since the creativity in the monster designs of the monsters (awakened ones) is outstanding. However a lot of people don't acknowledge where the art falls short. The backgrounds aren't detailed enough and straight up absent in most fights, the character design of a lot of the claymores is very similar and it is not hard to confuse them because there are a lot of them, and most importantly, the fight choreography is lacking. Not that its always bad but the author abuses the "teleports behind you" moves and also the fact that the monsters tend to use projectiles is a shortcut for the author to draw white lines colliding with a character and not worry about making the fight look Cool. This doesn't always happen but the frequency of the fights doesn't help. The author also fails to establish a power ceiling which makes the stakes non-existent. At the beginning of the story we are introduced to the basic setting, the power levels of the main characters and what seems to be the power level of what the main villains of the series will be. The problem is the fact that it is a lie. As the series continues moving forward the author feels a need to one up each enemy with next. The villains who were supposed to be the final villains end up being footnotes to the actual villains of the later half of the series. the danger is lost because we know the characters will win no matter what and that the next villain will be a lot stronger but will still lose and get replaced with someone more powerful. Due to the sheer volume of fights, later chapters become a slog of identical looking women outspeeding monsters for hundreds of chapters in fights that feel the same.

The second big problem with Claymore is how after a while, the protagonist seems to appear less and less. This isn't a problem at the beginning because the side characters are solid but it keeps happening and the story loses direction. With nothing to do, the author decides to fill pages by making side characters fight powerful monsters that contribute nothing to the story.

The third (and biggest) problem with the manga is the overreliance on bad shonen manga tropes. I don't have anything against shonen. I think my scores for slam dunk and chainsaw man, however, I think authors writing shonen can sometimes fall into the realm of cliche and lazy writing. In Claymore, this manifests as the overuse of flashbacks. Especially to try and get an emotional reaction out of villains. I understand that writing complex antagonists is generally a good thing but when the setting of your story explicitly says that the monsters have left behind their humanity and are now just evil cannibals maybe you should chill with the sad flashbacks to their earlier lives. I understand doing it for very important figures but when you are trying to make me empathize with the dude I just met who has just finished gutting one of the best side characters in the story there is a problem. Also the time skip requires a lot of flashbacks to explain gaps which is really time consuming and unnecessary.

The final complain is the fact that the biggest plot twist which attack on titan apparently ripped off is actually meaningless. A more complex aspect was added to the story yet it was dropped for the entire manga until the final chapter where it suddenly comes back and is resolved in less than three pages. I don't want to criticize this aspect too badly since it probably was not the authors decision to cut short such a potentially large storyline however it still bothers me quite a lot.

All in all, Claymore isn't a bad manga. Just an incredibly disappointing one. Im not sure if I recommend reading it but I guess that you might like it if you... Like dumb action and don't care about plot, like horrifying monsters, want to experience the great first third of the story and then stop reading and pretend it ended at its highest point.

Claymore, unfortunately, falls short as a subpar, sub-mediocre, forgettable, and unimaginative read.

Its cast lacks any creativity, and the Claymore organization, which should be the highlight, features more than 40 female monster hunters that look, fight, and act the same. They are praised as great female representation, but the more you grow as a reader, the more you will realize that they are an absolute joke.

-The main character, Claire, fails to stand out, appearing like a recycled character from another story. Her arc revolves around being emotionless but learning to feel while traveling with Raki, who is arguably the worst character in the series. ...

-Raki's presence adds little to the story, he does nothing but create problems, lacks depth, and somehow ends up in a romantic relationship with Claire. His development is unsatisfying, as he drops out for training and returns able to face multiple Claymores at once, leaving readers unimpressed as all this “development” is offscreen.

-The main antagonists are equally underwhelming, with one becoming evil due to issues controlling her own power, said villain is also defeated through an asspull, and the disappointing revelation of the Yoma's origin ties to an unexplored region in the story, further diminishing the narrative's impact.

-The story's regard is not high. The beginning involves Claire and Raki battling monsters, with a middle reveal of the Claymore organization's hidden nature.

However, the end devolves into a battle frenzy resembling DragonBall Z but with Near Identical Lesbian Sword Fighters. The final stretch lacks strategy, relying on random power-ups, and resurrecting dead characters to resolve conflicts taking place in a setting which is nothing more than a mundane medieval backdrop.

In conclusion, Claymore's mediocrity outweighs its little potential. For a more captivating experience, exploring the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski may be a better choice. The Witcher offers a similar plot with a diverse cast of characters, a creative setting based on mythology, and the advantage of enjoying the story through books, games, comics, TV, and more. This story has political dramas, heartfelt moments between parents, magic, thrilling fights, and so much more than this unfinished paintjob of a manga.