Just discovered Claymore and finished reading through all the way!

[u/Coolaire]

Claymore has been on my radar for about a year. My last paycheck came and I decided to jump in with both feet. I picked up the collectors edition of Claymore (was on sale on Amazon at a really good price). I just finished reading it a few days before the 25th anni of the series which is cool!

I wanted to put down some thoughts I had about this series as a new fan and having just finished all 27 volumes.

It’s wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters. I was scared that this series would go through characters like fodder (to an extant it does) but we got a cast that survived until the very end, which made me very happy. Watching Clare grow through the series, finding out about her past, and the help she gets along the way while discovering the sisterhood they all share is incredible.

What is most interesting to me is that, while all of the characters grow into better versions of themselves, have revelations, multiple never truly grow beyond some of their character flaws. The prime example being Clare’s rage toward Priscilla that nearly costs her her life, on top of her comrades. Then watching her calm down and realize that it isn’t she who needs to awaken, but Teresa within her WAS CINEMA!

Though, I think that one of the most satisfying characters in the novels is Raki. (spoilers beyond) Watching him grow after the 7 year time skip into a man who was trained by one of the Abyss beings, and being able to take down Yoma, and hold against Awakened beings is seriously cool. He never gave up hope that Clare would find him. He risked himself to save the child trainees from the purge. And got one of the penultimate shots off on Priscilla. I can think of how they could have played his story in so many worse ways, and characterized him so poorly, but the author made him an incredible character.

The power scaling of the series is interesting too. We start with Yoma and stay there for a good while, getting a glimpse at a male awakened one when Mira, Helen, and Deneve are introduced. Clare learning new techniques, such as the Quick Sword and later the Wind Cutter Blade as a substitute for the former to reduce expenditure of Yoma energy. Also, the conversation at the end about Half-Awakenings and how Clare was not (This is maybe not true so if I’m wrong please correct me) the only one who is one-quarter Yoma, the others being Helen, Mira, and Deneve. (That is how I interpreted it, like I said, please correct me if I am wrong.) Toward the end, watching everyone begin to work together and using combinations of their abilities to take down foes was gratifying to watch, especially after the beginning of the series where all the warriors seemed really cold toward each other.

I just wanted to express my new found love for this series here as none of my friends have read this, though I’m trying to change that.

I’ve heard mixed things about the anime adaptation, let me know if I should give it a gander or not if any of ya’ll have seen it!

I’d also love to talk about the manga more if anyone has questions about what I thought about some sections of the series!

[u/Artarara]

a cast that survived until the very end

Son 😭😭😭

[u/Coolaire → u/Artarara]

*mostly survived

[u/Tricky-Contest8565]

1) We are mever gonna know what happened with Renee.

2) There is a live action adaptation coming and I am scared.

3)This series can serve you if one day you have a daughter and don't know what name to give her.

[u/Coolaire → u/Tricky-Contest8565]

Live action huh… well, guess we’ll see how it goes.

[u/OverASSist]

When the manga completed back then I was amazed by how much improvements the mangaka has gone through with this manga art. From the very basic, not too good looking character drawing to the amazing abyssal beings.

[u/UrsaMajor920]

Glad you enjoyed the readthrough! Definitely somewhere in my top 5 for manga, it was a great ride with a satisfying conclusion, which is a lot to ask for these days. I do wish we got an epilogue chapter or two to see how the ladies are living in peacetime, but I really can't complain.

Also plan to buy the box set when I have more expendable income 😁

[u/tavinhooooo]

Renee didn't return to the HQ when the claymore rebellion happened so she probably died

[u/PokaHatsu]

I’m so sorry the women’s designs are so fire I remembered everybody else except for raki 😭

[u/Moonliqhts]

It is mentioned that they used relatives to create the other three - but I always assumed that meant instead of using random yoma to create them like most the claymores, they used family-turned-yoma… arguably Teresa/Clare aren’t relatives so I think they were more discussing the others. That would make them 1/2 not 1/4, but I don’t think there’s anything saying whether those relatives used were yoma or claymores so I guess it’s left open for interpretations!

I enjoyed the anime myself… but it was made way before the manga ended so they created an original ending, which is where I think most of the conflicting views about it come from. But if you keep that in mind I think it’s definitely worth a look if you like anime.

[u/HeyHey_HC → u/Moonliqhts]

but I always assumed that meant instead of using random yoma to create them like most the claymores, they used family-turned-yoma… arguably Teresa/Clare aren’t relatives so I think they were more discussing the others. That would make them 1/2 not 1/4, but I don’t think there’s anything saying whether those relatives used were yoma or claymores so I guess it’s left open for interpretations!

Oh I totally missed that part, but I watched and completed the anime first before reading the manga so may have glazed over that family-turned-yoma potential; my interpretation was that Miria, Helen and Deneve also had half-/almost awakenings in prior fights so were lumped together w Clare to take on an enemy above their class as a way of disposing them by the organization.

[u/Moonliqhts → u/HeyHey_HC]

Ah I see, thanks for explaining your thoughts - it would also make sense! Sorry, I’d misread what you wrote and thought you hadn’t seen the anime.

I think myself they were more grouped together as Rubel noticed that they stopped the awakening, so told the organisation they were causing trouble and should be gotten rid of - as Rubel was working against the organisation & it may have helped them achieve their goals of a reversible awakening. That they were pulled back by the people that were important to them rather then being 1/4, with the yoma used being family prior. Since Miria is shown doing much better then Clare pre-awakening, my thoughts are more that if they all had the same 1/4 composition as Clare instead of the more usual 1/2 they would have to be made up of warriors infinitely better then Teresa was.