If you’ve read about Claymore you’ll know it’s quite violent and almost relentlessly grim.

Claymore (Kureimoa) 2007

It’s not without hope however – and heroes do actually exist in the show. And while the muted colour-scheme adds to the oppressive feel of this medieval series, vivid uses of green, pink and blue sometimes provide nice levity throughout.

For me, what was most engaging were the characters – obviously Clare, but the ‘half-monster’ hunting ‘true monsters’ set-up allowed for a lot of other interesting players to feature too, but I won’t spoil anything there.

(I will note that without voices, close-ups and variation on hair style and eye-shape, the key players would be hard to tell apart from one another at times.)

What did disappoint me was that after 20 killer episodes with consistent rising tension, the last few fell quite short, especially given the build up. For me, things fell apart pretty much right after the Rigaldo fight sequence.

Not sure whether the creators planned a second season and it just never got green-lit, but a few plot threads seemed simply abandoned – and I do mean ‘abandoned’, compared to ‘left unresolved’, which I’d have had no trouble with as a viewer.

Another key problem for me was that the vengeance sub-plot. It definitely becomes a key reason to keep watching but the way it is handled by the end is kind of baffling – again, if I accept that the writers thought they were going to have a chance to adapt more of the manga, then it possibly makes sense!

Still, I think the series deserves the ‘classic’ tag as it’s compelling, even when disturbing and a few times, it can be kinda heart-rending.

If you’re a fan of Beserk you’ll probably like Claymore, if you haven’t already come across it – after all, the anime is a few years old now.

4 Stars