Claymore is an anime about “Claymores”. Claymores are girls (there used to be dudes) who are half-human half-Yoma(aka demon). They chose to be a Claymore after tragedy struck them, such as Yoma eating their family’s guts and orphaning them. They have lots of powers but if they push themselves over a limit, they become a super-demon themselves. What irony. What this means is lots and lots of tragedy and sadness throughout anime.
Action in the anime is decent, imo. Nothing much that’ll make you go “WOW” unless the only anime you ever watch is Naruto crap. There is much blood and gore though, given the story of monsters eating guts and stuff.
Now, let’s move on to why I love about this anime: The story. My favourite story is the story of “Teresa of the Faint Smile” (episodes 5~8). It’s a very sad, tragic story that will absolutely break your heart. Damn, after finishing the whole show, I still can’t stop feeling sorry for her. Teresa isn’t just the only one with a tragic story to tell. Every Claymore has her own little sad story to tell. A beautiful story which explains their actions or powers.
The story’s amazing. So compelling that I watched the last 20 episodes or so in one day. (No, I’m no Otaku or Hikikomori) But the last 2 episodes kinda sucked. ‘Cause they’re independent I guess. If you wish to continue the story, start from volume 12 of the manga. I’ll give this anime an 8/10!
Claymore
Devil May Cry Anime Review
I have to admit, before I watched this Anime, I thought it’ll be another of those lame half-assed attempts at milking an established franchise. True, this Anime doesn’t live up to the name of the game but don’t let that deter you from watching it! Especially if you are sick and tired of Anime clichés. The reason I like this Anime is because it doesn’t not fall into the trap of Anime clichés. (Well, it does manage to dodge them really well.)
As an action Anime, this Anime fails horribly in its action. It’s action is mediocre, often ending as quickly as it began. Dante doesn’t spend too much time on killing a single demon in the game but that doesn’t mean the producers can skimp on the fighting ><
The demons look weak (that’s why Dante kills them so fast?) and boring. Urgh. Even the final boss didn’t look too impressive. They are huge, bulky and don’t move around much. All they do is get shot at. That’s partially why the action sucks.
The story isn’t very strong, overall. The ending wasn’t predictable because I never expected it to be so stupid. Guess Devil May Cry is another of those Animes with sucky endings. (Is this a growing trend in Japan or something?). The side stories are nice though. The one and only reason why I liked it is because it isn’t prone to stereotyping.
With quite a lot of girls around Dante, it’s amazing the producers didn’t crack their favourite harem jokes. The little girl does throw her temper around but she doesn’t go all acting cute and stuff (Good job!). She also doesn’t go around hindering Dante’s fighting (Huge sigh of relief!). The other women around Dante were also very womanly, very independent, and real! Japanese Anime has a tendency to portray all women (be they White or Asian) as kawaii lil-bitches who lust for the main character’s attention. The reason I’m giving DMC a lot of marks despite its mediocre action is because it’s breaking away from the sickening Japanese tradition in terms of characterisation. Good job!
I’d give this Anime 6/10. (It’ll be a 3 if not for the good characterisation) A must-watch for everyone who’s growing weary of Japanese Anime stereotyping.
Karas Anime Review
Basically, Karas is the coolest anime ever. No anime can surpass Karas in any aspect. I watched this anime and I was totally blown away. Karas isn’t just an anime. It’s a work of art, that took many many anime artists years to perfect. Karas is the Mona Lisa of the anime world. Perfect, yet available cheaply in your local anime DVD store!
Karas, as an action anime, has the coolest fight scenes ever. Forget Bleach. Bleach’s fight sequences are too repetitive and boring. Compared to Karas, it’s a snore.
Just look at that! OMG. That just makes me want to jump at someone, and give him a Karasy kick! Heeeya! One flaw is that the anime’s fighting doesn’t quite make sense (even in anime-sense). But hey! It’s cool! How cares?
Now, let me tell you why Karas is a work of art. The world in Karas is drawn with so much detail that it’s almost real. Every effort is put in by the producers to make every scene amazingly vivid and realistic.
A great example is the screenie above. Don’t you wonder why Japan seems very empty, quiet and cold in animes? When it’s not that way in real life? Well, because most anime artists are lazy. That’s why even cities are empty, except for 1 or 2 extras. It’s not easy to draw lots of people in anime. Takes a lot of effort. And that scene alone must have taken the artists weeks to draw. When watching Karas, do pay attention to the details in every scene and compare it to your daily dose of animes. You’ll be pretty surprised at the huge difference!
The only drawback is the story. Don’t get me wrong. The story is amazing, highly believable and very interesting. The problem is, at only 6 episodes (only 4 released so far), it’s squeezed a bit too tightly. It takes 3+ re-views to fully understand the plot. This sounds scary, but, it’s not really that hard. Watching it again allows you to find things you missed out initially. A lot of fun for me!
I’d say this anime gets 9.5/10. A must-watch for everyone, not just anime junkies!
Anime Reviews 