Otakuism

I’ve been enjoying Claymore for a while, so it’s nice to see it animated so well now by Madhouse. The anime looks to be a very literal adaption of the manga, almost scene for scene. Not that I really care, since the scenes were awesome in the first place. The story of Claymore takes place in a deserty medieval world plagued by the Yoma, demons who eat humans and can take our shape to hide in society. To combat them the Claymores were created, women with yoma flesh implanted in their bodies, increasing their strength and speed ten-fold. Clare is one particular Claymore who first meets the young lad Raki. His whole family has recently been killed by a yoma, leaving just his brother and him, and is fascinated by Clare who will get revenge for him. Clare does in fact kill the yoma, who turns out to be Raki’s disguised brother. From then on Raki is banished and he goes to join Clare on her travels. Pretty basic plot outline. It may be boring for the first couple of episodes, but things really pick up later. Especially after the “Teresa of the Faint Smile” storyline, which was volume 3 of the manga. Claymore is basically an awesome and bloody story about demons and demon hunters. Simple, yet refreshing in a world of moe and shounen.

Madhouse’s animation for Claymore is definitely above par. Very stylish with the blood patterns, and the fight scenes are nicely done. The OP was okay, nothing too great, just showing most of the important girls in the first half. The ED was a lot better I thought. The animation was faster and gave more of a creepy feeling. I’m mixed on some of the music I heard. Most of it was okay, but there were some random techno tracks in there that didn’t fit at all and playing in what were supposed to be the scary parts. Didn’t really work to well. A more classical approach would of been better, maybe with a gregorian chant thrown in here and there. Would seem to fit the medieval setting of the world overall. Hopefully Claymore will move at a fast pace through these more boring stories at the beginning. The “Darkness in Paradise” storyline is pretty good, but “The Slashers” and “The Endless Gravestones” are just so much better with the introduction of the Awakened Beings. Claymore is definitely a series that rewards you for sticking with it. Hopefully, the anime will be good enough that I can stick with it through its entire run.