Claymore, Chapter 2: The Point of No Return [DVD]

The second DVD in the Claymore series. The first three episodes continue the Teresa and Clare flashback from the first DVD and give necessary background on the tragic history that bind the two together. These episodes are vital in understanding Clare's motivation in becoming a Claymore and her ultimate goal. The last two episodes are the 'Those Who Rend Asunder' episodes that conclude on DVD 3. These episodes introduce three Claymore who will appear again in later episodes and start to raise questions about the true nature of the Claymore 'organization'. The extras include an interview with the Japanese director and as with all the Claymore DVDs there is commentary by two of the voice actors/actresses. On DVD 2 the commentary is by the voice actresses that voice Priscilla and Ilena. The series itself is first rate with a very good story line and above average graphical look and the English voice cast does a superb job. Keep an ear peeled for Helen aka Jamie Marchi who is also the voice of Masane in the Witchblade series.

I heard about the Claymore series in Otaku magazine. It was recommended for people who liked the anime Berserk (one of my favorites of all time, the re-mastered box set comes out in March :). The second volume tells the story of Theresa of the Faint Smile and how Claire met her. While the first volume of Claymore was action heavy, this volume, while still having incredible action sequences, really drew me into the story. Cannot wait until volume 3 hits stores in February.

I bought this anime after having the manga highly recommended to me and having watched an episode on Youtube. As a huge fan of dark fantasy anime, I was constantly on the lookout for a series that would scratch my itch the way Berserk did.And scratch my itch it does. I devoured both available volumes in two nights. The concepts of the world of Claymore are clever and cool, the story is well-paced and enthralling, and the art and character design is simply some of the most beautiful dark anime I have ever seen-- I found myself rewinding and replaying some particularly gorgeous sequences. Especially the battle scenes-- as Clare takes on the powerful demon-like yoma, I found my jaw perpetually dropped at the liquid grace of the animation, offset by the traditional dark anime barrage of geysers of blood and severed appendages.As a girl myself I also find a serious shortage of woman-centric anime that's not nauseatingly kawaii (i invariably prefer "seinen" or anime aimed at adult men to "shoujo" or anime aimed at girls). The Claymores around whom the story revolves, while not terribly sympathetic for the most part, are strong, powerful, independent women, and characters like that in any setting will hook me and keep me coming back anytime.Only two things stopped Claymore from getting a 4 out of 5: So far, the story has been almost unrelentingly bleak. I do like my anime dark, but it's hard to slog through without uplifting and redeeming elements being thrown in occasionally, as was excellently done in Fullmetal: Alchemist). Secondly there are minor plot holes and the world in which the story takes place is pretty bland stock fantasy cliche (general medieval europeanish looking, evil bandits, helpless villagers, etc).That having been said, it's a terrific series, highly recommended, and I am eagerly awaiting more.