neko's thinkbox

A challenger appears…

I just felt like watching something else than Gundam SEED Destiny. Other than obviously trying to get more attention in the community with newer series, I also feel that I should watch more anime. I hope this will somewhat contribute to resolve the problem I stated in one of my earlier posts here, and that I’m moving in the good direction. However, with a little more than 2 weeks left until my finals, this sure is a reckless risk to take. But I think I can handle it. At least I hope I can count on everyone’s support this time… Yet, my hopes have always been proved wrong until now, and I doubt this is going to change. It’s always worth a try though ^^

The story begins in a dark and morbid atmosphere. A female knight engages a bloodthirsty monster, who is devouring a human corpse. As one would expect, the woman takes her opponent out easily and slices them apart with her huge sword. Her silver eyes turning golden when facing such creatures, she’s a Claymore.

Click here to skip the summary and proceed to the thinkbox.

Episode 1: Claymore 「クレイモア」

The “Youma”, those demonic creatures that rip out people’s guts for their own hunger delight, are on the loose in a small medieval town. Following the many recent casualties, the mayor decides to call upon a Claymore to try to resolve the problem. Since the Youma can take the physical appearance of a normal human being, the Claymore are the only ones who could recognize them, since they themselves are half-human, half-Youma. Although people call them “Claymore”, it’s just an imaginary name; the organization itself, that for some reason consists exclusively of female members, claims not to have any name.

The entry into town of the said Claymore already is an event out of the norm. Every inhabitant stands alongside the road, watching in anguish how that hybrid creature marches into town. Everyone fears the “silver-eyed Witches”, since they incarnate part of the Youma as well. Many seek shelter in their own house, for fear of getting attacked. All except for one young boy, Raki, who keeps following her with a certain interest. This curiosity nearly got him killed though; the Claymore stopped her sword a few inches away from his head.

The boy expresses his admiration for the Claymore, emphasizing on the fact that they look completely human and are absolutely nothing to fear about. He actually even imagined they would look scarier than that, which slightly surprises her However, she doesn’t show any emotion at all.

They walk until the other end of the town. Raki tells her that he had to see how his parents were cruelly eaten by a Youma, and that he and his older brother now need to stay at at someone else’s place. Raki hopes the Claymore will be able to kill the Youma, but she replies that she only came to the town because she was asked to, not to avenge someone’s death.
Raki needs to leave already, he has to make supper for his host family, but that’s fine by him since he claims to be good at cooking. Before leaving, he tells the Claymore his name, hoping that she would give hers to him. She won’t tell him though, for he would forget it soon enough anyway.

Raki gets home, and runs into the kitchen apologizing that he’s a bit late. But, in the kitchen, only the corpse of an old man laid there in a lake of blood. At the same moment, Raki’s older brother appears from the shadows behind. Raki asks him what happened, but soon he will notice that it isn’t his brother anymore. The Youma had already taken possession of his brother’s body ever since their parents had been killed. And now he’s going for Raki. But then, the Claymore appears and chops off both of the Youma’s arms, before slicing his whole body in the half.

Raki was safe now. But, the villagers decided to get rid of Raki and abandoned him in the desert, for fear of having him turn into a Youma as well. A day later, our young protagonist wakes up in a hotel in the town of Egon. His stay already had been paid for by a Claymore, most probably the same one as before. So it was also her who picked him up in the desert and brought him into the town. Raki immediately runs off into town to search for her.

After a while, as he still couldn’t find his life-saver, a person on the street tells Raki that a Claymore had been searching for him, and that she would be waiting for him in the forest near the town. As he reached the forest, he also sees a Claymore… But not the same one as earlier. She claims to have saved him, and tells him that Claymores originally had a good heart. This sentence instantly made it clear to Raki that she was a fake. Indeed, it was a Youma. As soon as it reveals its true appearance it catches Raki from behind in the blink of an eye, making him a hostage to lure out the real Claymore that is hiding in the forest.

The Youma tries to put pressure on the Claymore with its hostage, assuming that she might have developed a liking for Raki, and orders her to throw away her sword. As soon as the Claymore throws it down the hill, the monster charges towards her and thrusts its arm through her stomach. Fatally wounded, she takes a hold of the Youma’s arm and drags both of them down the hill, where she previously threw the sword. Finally, she takes the sword and puts an end to the Youma’s existence.

Although she’s been stabbed right into the stomach, the silver-eyed witch recovers from her deadly would in an instant. Raki apologizes, saying that she had to go through all that because of him, but she tells him throwing of the sword had only been part of her plan to kill the Youma. Still, Raki expesses his deepest gratitude. His despair makes her remember sad memories, and, out of sympathy, I guess, she tells him that he can accompany her as her cook, since he’s good at cooking. Raki gladly accepts, and asks for her name.

Her name is Clare.

Next Episode: The Black Card 「黒の書」

the thinkbox

Hmm. This anime turns out to be a tad more interesting than I expected it to be. You know, when I really am bored, or during some extreme procrastination period, I usually check out the first minute (until the opening) of the animes that I am currently downloading. Although I barely don’t watch any of them, I keep downloading and collecting over 25 different anime series. Rule 7, etc… xD
Claymore really didn’t look promising from the first few seconds. I mean, it’s pitch black, and a female knight with golden eyes slays a monster, what’s so special about it? There wasn’t really an incentive for me to wonder about the story background of that specific scene. Also, the darkness didn’t really reveal anything about the design. If it hadn’t been for my boredom, I most probably would have closed the video by then.

However, the Opening changed my opinion a little bit. Unlike the less detailed mainstream cuteness à la Kanon, Lucky Star, and the likes (you know what I mean: huge eyes, multicolored hair, age/looks mismatch, emphasis on the female’s secondary sexual characteristics, etc etc), Claymore looks more… human, may I say. At least a lot more realistic than your usual happy-go-lucky anime. Don’t misunderstand me, I do like those as well ^^ But I guess I also have a hidden liking for the more detailed, the more realistic designs. Especially the “sharp” edges of Clare’s eyes for instance turned me on. I find her eyes sexy (her golden eyes remind me of Arcueid… <3 <3 <3 (but also, Sauron...))

Big neechan is watching you…

The medieval setting often is a factor that scares me off, anything pre-WWII usually earns my inattention. I prefer more futuristic backgrounds, like Gundam for example. But I figured now that I need to balance it out in some way or another, or else I will get tired of it soon. So Claymore is about perfect in this precise moment.
Overall, I do like the art and the character designs. Many scenes are very dark, and I already thought the encoder of Eclipse was to blame, but it seems like they went with the original brightness of the anime. Good thing they didn’t alter the image any further as well, brightening it would look bad. One thing about this anime really makes me happy: the smoothness of ~29.97 fps. I just love it. Makes the whole thing look twice as great. And the blood, OMG, finally an anime where the blood doesn’t look like some kind of sticky starch syrup gushing out of the stomach in clots, making slimy noises as if you just dropped some rice pudding… Good good.

Story-wise, I think it’s good, it’s a short introduction to the main characters, and existence of the Youma and the Claymore. Although I don’t understand why the Youma would specifically go for people’s guts, I guess that will be explained in a later episode. I’m eager to know more about the Youma-Claymore relation.
Heh, poor Raki sure is going through hard times. I mean, parents killed, brother killed, banned from his home town, and nowhere to go to, that’s pretty much for a young boy like him. Good thing there’s Clare. I find her mysterious personality quite attractive. Although she keeps justifying her actions on her mission of eliminating the Youma, we can recognize some hidden kindness in some of her actions. And the flashback of her childhood at the end of the episode only makes me more interested in who (or what) she really is.

All in all, I’m very satisfied with this first episode, and I feel like watching more. I will try blogging is as efficiently as possible… With the last sprint to my finals, it will be a very difficult task. But I will hang in there, go me! Faito!!~~~