Is the initial premise of a work of art enough to satiate the thirst for something new and breathtaking when most of the other components collapse a few volumes afterward? The dark fantasy, adventure manga ‘Claymore’ by Norihiro Yagi explores a dystopian, technologically undeveloped world where vicious flesh-consuming monsters named ‘Yoma’ have full sway, the human world relies on half-human, half-yoma warriors ‘Claymores’, named after the broadswords they carry, to serve as their protectors. Published by ‘Shueisha’ in 2001 it had a run in the ‘Monthly Shonen Jump’ magazine from 2001 to 2007, following that it switched to the ‘Jump Square’ magazine from 2007 until
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it finished airing in 2014. The manga is repeatedly praised for its detailed artwork and compelling premise of romanticism, though as much as that is correct, it is unfortunately short-lived. To delve deeper into its strengths and where it fails, it is important to note and rightfully praise the detail put into the artwork of specific panels, condemn its bloatedness of unimportant and badly developed characters, and condemn its rushed and badly cramped storyline.
The main protagonist Clare is introduced as an emotionless and empty warrior. On a seemingly ordinary day, she receives a mission from her higher-ups, referred to as ‘The Organization’ to slay a yoma who has infiltrated a remote village and is hiding among the humans. Upon completing her objective, she unwillingly saves a young boy named Raki who was a victim of the yoma disguised as his brother, with the entirety of his family devoured by the monster and the young boy being despised by the villagers because of his affiliations with the monster, he thenceforth sets on to follow Clare. At the beginning of their relationship, Clare treats Raki as a nuisance, a frail human, but with time she sees her younger semblance within him, which leads her to grow fond of him. In the third volume, Clare’s past is revealed, originally an ordinary human girl, after losing her family to a yoma she follows another warrior named Teresa. Teresa is soon after murdered by an ‘Awakened being’, the name given to a claymore gone berserk who loses the human consciousness within herself and becomes a monster far stronger than yoma. Lead by the urge for vengeance, Clare sets out to become a stronger warrior, so that one day she might end the life of the awakened being who killed Teresa. Romance sets in between Raki and Clare, leading to the moment where they get separated, Clare slays a myriad of other strong enemies, while Raki gets trained by one of the strongest beings in that dystopian world, growing into a strong fighter capable of assisting Clare.
The artwork in the starting chapters of the manga is phenomenally detailed, to the point of being praised as on par with the most popular manga such as ‘Berserk’. Taking an approach that focuses on the gore, greatly accommodates the grim atmosphere of the surrounding world, and projects the internal suffering of the characters. The human characters are drawn in a style oddly specific to the author, blending well with the exterior technologically unadvanced world. Unfortunately, as spectacular as the artwork is, it loses quality and detail in further chapters, with a few rare panels that stand out as much as the ones in the beginning. Finally, the artwork of this manga is its best remark, while the quality does falter, it remains decent at a stable pace with spontaneous spikes of excellency in certain bits.
The series is bloated with unimportant, undistinguishable, and badly developed characters. The premise of the series is that the claymores should look akin to one another, wearing the same uniforms, and having the same colored hair, sadly, it all does a disservice to the possible unique design of the characters. Even if the characters were uniquely designed, there is another problem concerning their personalities, roles, and impact on the story; too many of them are introduced and dissipated in short periods making it impossible even for the most creative artists to make them memorable. Some characters are bland yet they are repeatedly pushed down the readers’ throats as ones they should care about. Instead, of giving examples and showing them being important, the author keeps on using simple phrases to portray it. In conclusion, the character count is unacceptably large, and with the story moving at a fast pace, it is nearly impossible to make them worth the readers’ attention.
The storyline manages to be both rushed and prolonged at the same time, turning into a badly cramped mess. Originally the ‘Claymore’ manga was meant to be a project of a few volumes, though that didn’t turn out to be the case. The author fails to conclude conflicts in a meaningful way and so the result is characters who were once hailed as immensely powerful dying in abrupt ways without much of an explanation. Clare is absent from a great deal of the manga and loses relevance, the result is a large misdirection, making the reader confused as to what the goal of the show is. While the dialogues in manga are rarely ever decently worded, the simplicity of word choice for sentences in ‘Claymore’ is often atrocious, consisting simply of exclaiming two-word phrases. Furthermore, there is plenty of unexplained and not properly addressed lore that could’ve been a great addition to the story, such as a greater focus on the world beyond the continent around which the story revolves and its history. The romance between Clare and Raki is, likewise, not given enough attention and ends with a rushed meetup of the characters in the ending volumes. With all these points listed, the storyline in ‘Claymore’ is shallowly explored, leaving many underwhelmed.
To conclude, the ‘Claymore’ manga is renowned for its great artwork, but it fails in aspects such as character development, the storyline, and storytelling. The representation of pain and suffering through detailed depictions of gore, and the representation of the character design through depictions of artistic nudity will forever remain memorable in the manga sphere. However, the story ends up as a lackluster bloat of unimportant and unexplored plot points, which is why many feel disappointed. Norihiro Yagi’s manga ‘Claymore’ will, regardless, remain known as one of the best niche adventure manga on the market, and it would appeal most to people new to the art of manga.
Jan 10, 2025
Is the initial premise of a work of art enough to satiate the thirst for something new and breathtaking when most of the other components collapse a few volumes afterward? The dark fantasy, adventure manga ‘Claymore’ by Norihiro Yagi explores a dystopian, technologically undeveloped world where vicious flesh-consuming monsters named ‘Yoma’ have full sway, the human world relies on half-human, half-yoma warriors ‘Claymores’, named after the broadswords they carry, to serve as their protectors. Published by ‘Shueisha’ in 2001 it had a run in the ‘Monthly Shonen Jump’ magazine from 2001 to 2007, following that it switched to the ‘Jump Square’ magazine from 2007 until
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