Claymore (Anime)

Claymore is a Japanese anime series is based on the manga series of the same name by Norihiro Yagi. The episodes are directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka, and produced by Madhouse Studios. They adapt the first through eleventh volumes of the manga over twenty-four episodes. The remaining two episodes follow an original storyline not found in the manga written by Yagi. The series aired between April 2007 and September 2007 in Japan on Nippon Television. The series follows the adventures of Clare, a Claymore, or half-human, half-Yoma hybrid, and her comrades as they fight for survival in a world filled with Yoma, or shapeshifting demons. The series made its North American television debut when it started airing on the FUNimation Channel on September 6, 2010. Netflix also made Claymore available for streaming, but the series has been removed as of April 2012. All 26 episodes are available on Hulu, however, and Funimation via their streaming video service and DVD.

Plot
A young boy, Raki's whole family was killed by a Yoma (demon), so a Claymore (half-demon, half-human hybrid) is hired to kill the Yoma. Raki interacts with the Claymore when she arrives. Raki later goes to his uncle's house and is met by the Yoma, who had taken the form of his brother, but is subsequently saved by the Claymore. After the attack, Raki is banished from the village by the frightened villagers and left to die in the deserts before he is saved by a Claymore, and subsequently attacked by another Yoma when he goes searching for her, believing her to be the one who saved him from the first. After the Yoma attacks him, the Claymore who saved him before does so again, and as she leaves, she gives him permission to join her in her travels as a cook, along with her name; Clare.

Clare receives a black card from mysterious man who seems to be working with the organization she works for. Raki witnesses as Clare confronts another Claymore named Elena. Clare explains that when Claymores use too much Yoma power, they eventually succumb to the influence of their Yoma half. Once this occurs, Claymores, knowing they will have to die, often make the choice of dying with human hearts, so as they feel their humanity beginning to slip away they send a black card bearing their individualized insignia to the Claymore that they want to be slain by. Clare's closest friend, Elena, was on the verge of succumbing to her demonic nature and becoming a Yoma, a process called "awakening". Despite Raki's protests, Clare slays Elena, granting her the solace of dying as a human.

Clare is hired to kill a "Voracious Eater" in a holy city where Claymores are not allowed. Forced to use a special drug to disguise her Claymore-specific characteristics, she has difficulty sensing where the Yoma is hiding. She poses as a human in order to infiltrate the church and meet her organization's client. At night, she makes her way to the church again and is caught fighting two suspicious knights, but escapes. The next day, the same two knights barge into the inn room she and Raki are staying at and accuse her of being a Claymore. Raki comes to her defense saying he believes that she is more kind than anyone and doesn't deserve being accused as a monster. After the two knights leave when they find no proof of Clare being a Claymore, she tells him to give up searching for kindness within her as he will ultimately end up disappointed. At night she goes back into the church to look for the Voracious Eater, but the two knights interfere and when it shows up they only complicate the fight between it and Clare. Ultimately, as it is about to kill them, Clare does everything she can to protect them, including jump into the path of its deadly claws.

Clare comes close to awakening when she uses too much of her Yoki (demon energy) in the battle against the Yoma, the Voracious Eater. She intends to commit suicide before her awakening is complete in order to find peace through dying while she is still human, but Raki pleads and begs her not to do it, saying that him meeting her was the best thing to happen to him. His pleas halt Clares awakening transformation, and one of the two knights fighting in the battle later gives Raki a sword in appreciation for what he and Clare have done for them while the other wishes for Raki to grow strong.

This is the beginning of a flashback arc. Teresa, the most powerful Claymore of her era, is hired to kill a group of six Yoma in a village, and easily kills them, and one extra, who is one that had been abusing a young, human, and mute Clare. Since she has no one else to care for her, Clare follows Teresa through the wilderness, despite Teresa's best efforts to abandon her until Teresa decides to accept taking Clare under her wing.

Teresa and Clare approach the next small town, and Clare still refuses to leave Teresa. In the forest at night, the bandit whose hand she cut off the last time they met returns and tries to rape Teresa, but Clare hits him with a thick branch, infuriating him. He begins to stomp on Clare, angering Teresa and making her threaten him while assuring him that while his knowledge about the rule prohibiting Claymores to kill humans is not misinformed, her choice to obey that rule is entirely her own. He flees at her warning, and Clare cries because she feels sorry for Teresa, whom, Clare says, always looks to be in so much pain even when she's wearing her smile. This deeply moves Teresa. When they arrive in the village and Teresa complete another job, she asks the head of the village to give Clare a home and a caretaker, but Clare refuses with pleas and tears, but Teresa leaves anyway with an unspoken apology and a wish that Clare will grow up a human, live a human life and die a human. Not long after, Teresa sees a troop of bandits on their way to the village she just left, and heads back to find the entire village in razed. When she sees Clare is in danger, she kills every one of the bandits. A hooded figure working for the organization watches, and soon after organizes a group of Claymore to execute her. After Teresa escapes the initial execution attempt, her overseer, Orsay, dispatches the second- through fifth-strongest Claymores to deal with her.

Episodes

 * 26 (total)

Theme Songs

 * Opening


 * Reason For Being (all episodes)
 * Closing


 * Guilty Sky (all episodes)

Voice Cast

 * Japanese


 * Motoki Takagi as Raki
 * Houko Kuwashima as Clare
 * Romi Park as Teresa
 * Aya Hisakawa as Priscilla
 * Kikuko Inoue as Miria
 * Hana Takeda as Deneve
 * Miki Nagasawa as Helen
 * Junko Takeuchi as Noel
 * Emi Shinohara as Ophelia
 * Nana Mizuki as Riful (Abyssal One)
 * Hiroyuki Yoshino as Sid
 * Kazuma Horie as Galk
 * Kotono Mitsuishi as Jean
 * Ai Orikasa as Galatea
 * Koji Yusa as Isley
 * Hiro Yuki as Rigaldo
 * Kenji Hamada as Dauf
 * Miyu Matsuki as Flora
 * Miho Miyagawa as Cynthia
 * Minami Takayama as Liena/Irene
 * English


 * Todd Haberkorn as Raki
 * Stephanie Young as Clare
 * Christine Auten as Teresa
 * Brina Palencia as Priscilla
 * Monica Rial as Miria
 * Caitlin Glass as Deneve
 * Jamie Marchi as Helen
 * Leah Clark as Noel
 * Luci Christian as Ophelia
 * Brittney Karbowski as Riful (Abyssal One)
 * Eric Vale as Sid
 * Christopher Sabat as Galk
 * Laura Bailey as Jean
 * Colleen Clinkenbeard as Galatea
 * John Swasey as Isley
 * Vic Mignogna as Rigaldo
 * Christopher Ayres as Dauf
 * Trina Nishimura as Flora
 * Anastasia Munoz as Cynthia
 * Wendy Powell as Liena/Irene

Trivia

 * In episode 18 to 24 the story takes place in city of Pieta. Pieta (italian for sorrow) is the name of the Michelangelo's sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The same sculpture can be seen in the middle of the town square in the city of Pieta on several short occasions.
 * Did you know that on DVD 2, it will show the episode number wrong on one episode? It will show episode 10 for episode 9. Then it will show episode 10 for episode 10.
 * The episodes remain quite faithful to the manga series (until ep 20 that is). However, ep 01 is actually a combination of chapter 01 and 03, while ep 02 is actually a combination of chapter 02 and 04.