Claymore – The Weight of Life in a Cruel World

The mixed reviews left me very skeptical while starting and I understand why the views on this manga are so polarized however I fall in the category that liked the entire manga despite the shortcomings. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

On an island known simply as the Continent, monsters known as Yoma prey on humans, driven by a desire to consume human guts, they can hide amongst people. To counter these deadly beasts, an organization put together warriors who were half human and half Yoma, silver-eyed warriors that the general population dubbed Claymores. The story is about Clare, a claymore who acts as the interjection between two beings that reshape the state of the Continent and reveal many great secrets about it.

Clare is a main character who is initially shown to be unemotional due to her unique nature however we later on discover that she has simply closed herself off to emotions due to how she is treated by the general populace. The kindness she holds makes her words and actions contradict at many points throughout the story and her emotions act as the centerpiece for the showdowns at the finale of the story. All in all, she is crafted well however she alone does not carry the story, there are other characters, humans and claymores alike who all come together to make the story go forward even when Clare isn’t taking the spotlight. The story manages a lot of different characters, some get killed off soon, some later and you can only truly get attached to a few of them however the fact that their screen time doesn’t play a role in deciding their likability is good.

Let’s get the general art question out of the way, yes the art is good, the characters’ emotions are shown well, and the action also greatly benefits from the art as when we move to greater fights, every blow, every attack, every clash has consequences on the environment that we see because of the art which makes the fights all the more exciting. The differing characters give differing viewpoints on the same cruel world, their similar conditions yet different ideologies on fighting Yoma make them all worth keeping an eye on to see their development. The world of Claymore is dark and gritty, there’s endless violence, pain, and suffering and the price of the strength that the silver-eyed warriors have in this world is also great and is something that is explored till the end of the series itself, the price of great strength. Now the main concern that many people have is that the manga introduces a big idea halfway through the story and many expect that plot line to be tapped and see an even greater story unfold however like I said with Slam Dunk, this is the story of three people, Clare, Teresa and Priscilla, their interjecting stories and how they grow so much that they impact the entire Continent, however, the other big idea is left unexplored simply because Clare’s journey comes to an end there. When she’s completed her goal we come to the end of the story which was her story, yes there was lots of missed potential that could have been massive however keeping the story character focused was a good decision from my point of view because of how well everything is tied up and how at the end it leaves you satisfied.

The world of Claymore shows that the warriors are ready for sacrifice, the sacrifice of their lives at any time when fighting Yoma however the heavy weight of life in such a cruel world is explored through these individuals who are ready to give up their lives for a greater cause. Each person’s life has near limitless potential however the choices they make cannot be seen as them wasting their potential if they cut their life short provided that in the end, they did fulfill the purpose they set out to achieve.

27 volumes that span 155 chapters make Claymore something that is fast-paced and a story that will make you feel that you shouldn’t put it down just yet even when a volume ends you feel like jumping into another soon after that because of how the story flows so well, each encounter leads to the next naturally, each new piece of evidence leads to a new situation and it all flows naturally. With the one major flaw noted above, the rest of Claymore is really well written however some people may not like the ending as such from a general point of view I rate Claymore a solid 8/10.

So that is it for this post guys hope you got some value from this.  Thank you guys for reading to the end hit me up on Instagram and Twitter with your thoughts and if you have any ideas on what I should write about. Stay safe. Thank you again and I’ll see you all next week.