Product Description

A brutal scourge stalks the land. Yoma, monsters driven by a hunger satisfied by only one quarry – Humanity. The dark breed knows but a singular foe: Claymore. Human-Yoma hybrids of extraordinary strength and cunning, the Claymores roam from skirmish to skirmish delivering salvation by the edge of a blade. Thus begins the twisting tale of Clare, one such sister of the sword driven by pain in both victory and defeat. A child silent and suffering hidden in her past, Clare’s march toward vengeance unfolds along a path marked by violence, solitude and scorn. In a land where even the predator is prey, the haunted hearts of hunter and hunted alike wear the scars of the age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6436 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2009-10-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 620 minutes

Features

• Prey for Revenge.A brutal scourge stalks the land. Yoma, monsters driven by a hunger satisfied by only one quarry Humanity. The dark breed knows but a singular foe: Claymore. Human-Yoma hybrids of extraordinary strength and cunning, the Claymores roam from skirmish to skirmish delivering salvation by the edge of a blade.Thus begins the twisting tale of Clare, one such sister of the sword driven by

Customer Reviews

Fianlly, Claymore Gets the Box Set Treatment it Deserves
I'll come right out and confess it; there is much to be excited about when an anime company like FUNimation decides to release a beloved franchise in a single complete collection box set. Not only does it save the buyer money but it makes a given property much more accessible to viewers who would otherwise be reluctant to track down half a dozen volumes to enjoy the show in it's entirety. Enter Claymore the Complete Series, a property of which I've long been campaigning for a complete box set release. The show, which is really unlike any other anime series out there, has been released to the North American market thus far in a pace that could only be described as "trickling" as in six, 4-episode releases that each ran 95 minutes. I've got them all but won't lie about waiting impatiently for each release to come out so that the story could continue.

Coming in at a total runtime of 650 minutes, Claymore The Complete Series release contains all 26 episodes across 6 discs in three thin packs. The set is housed in a cardboard outer slipcase that is minimally artistically decorated (as should be with a show this mysterious). The show wears a very appropriate TV MA (17+) rating due to some rough language, topless female nudity (or maybe topless monster nudity is more appropriate), and a near-endless succession of violent/gory sequences.

Language options are standard fair sub and dub, which of course means dialog presented in either original Japanese (Stereo) or an English dub in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. And, like always, the choice to run English subtitles exists for either spoken language option.

Extras are surprisingly robust and include a pair of nice 24-page full color books highlighting key characters from the series, six commentary tracks from some of the English voice actresses and creative staff, Japanese staff interviews, original TV commercials, cast audition reels, textless songs, and a crop of Funimation trailers scattered throughout.

The story could best be described as a sweeping supernatural epic set in a grim fantasy environment in which an order of pale, blonde-haired girls are humanity's last hope in a struggle for survival against a race of beasts known as Yoma.

Yoma are incredibly powerful and twisted human/monster hybrids that come in many shapes and sizes and are driven by an endless appetite for consuming human innards.

The story primarily focuses on one of the Claymore sisters named Clare who sets off on a mission of bloody vengeance against the Yoma with hints of a disturbing and suffering-laden childhood popping up periodically along the way.

No ordinary pale girls, these Claymores, however as they are in fact only half-human and half Yoma themselves. Their beastie-half provides them with superhuman abilities (among them: strength, endurance, special attacks and healing capabilities), at the cost of a constant threat of accidentally "going too far" in a battle and hence allowing the Yoma portion of their being to forever consume them.

Should this happen, (a process called awakening here) the sister in question is to be slain by their own commanders-in-arms on the spot. As such the show presents a unique tension in the thralls of battle, as the temptation to push the limits of their fleeting humanity is a constant concern and more than a few Claymores will fall to the charms of the Yoma along the way.

Fighting the Yoma can best be described as a physically grueling hack-fest with blurring blades from multiple Claymores chipping away at the oftentimes massive forms of the flesh-eating monsters. The good news for the viewer is that this means some wickedly cool battle sequences where many (and I do mean many) lovely Claymores meet their gruesome demise in the hopes of taking down a few of the enemy with them.

Almost in a video game style of presentation, the show bides its time with the Claymore girls having to dispose of countless lesser beasts (such as the Abyss Feeders) while reserving the major player (think bosses) bad guy battles for the conclusion of the major story arcs. Among these is the wicked cool Silver Eyed Lion King (Rigardo), The White Silver King (Isley), and the Blood Soaked Warrior (Ophelia).

The show's art is fantastically appropriate with shadowy backgrounds, eerie lighting, and clear-cool skies that are sure to inspire a shiver. The character-model art is deliberately pale, bordering on black and white in fact, which goes a long way to provide an almost vampire-like appearance to the Claymore girls.
The soundtrack is made up of intense musical numbers and subtle stray electric guitar notes that are so well integrated that they tumble away into the creepy sounds of the night.

It should be noted that the finalized cover art is actually a bit different from the photo Amazon has shown here. The box is indeed white and features a depiction of lead character Clare but not quite so closely cropped. Rather she is standing to the right of the frame with her silver cape flowing over the title, "Claymore The Complete Series". A small discrepancy, sure, but not to worry, the finished art works just as well.

In all this is a must-have collection that will delight fans of most anime genres. Kudos to FUNimation for putting the fans first with a full boxset release at an asking price of little more than the 4-episode volumes have been going for until now. I simply cannot recommend this collection highly enough.

Claymore-Something new, in an old idea.
When I heard about Claymore I was suspicious. I'm usually suspicious of anime. Lets face it, anime is generally either really awful, or really good. The really good series's usually get most of the money giving them the ability to make a good series better, and the bad ones, well they generally don't. Yes, I'm being optimistic. I've seen many bad series get lots of money too, and they have disappointed me over and over again.

I discovered Claymore after trolling Anime forums while home from university about 8 months ago. I decided to watch it because I had nothing better to do. I thought it would be terrible, that the hype would lead me to some "Bleach esque" idiocy filled with filler and poorly voiced characters at best, and at worse, some B-grade movie quality story line with stiff dialogue. I figuered I should watch it though, since it was getting rave reviews. I wanted to know about it, but I went in expecting utter garbage. I was pleasantly surprised!

I was hooked after the first episode. I watched it non-stop until I had watched every single episode. I was shocked. The story is very unconventional. Some reviewers argue that it's weird... well yes, but the best anime's are a little weird, especially when you have to describe them to someone. I take it as a BLESSING that it's weird! Its DIFFERENT! Thank God. There is an underdog hero. Yes, there is NO super-powered for no reason teenage boy who is all angsty and has been some how against his will thrown into a plot to save the world, with the help of buxom anime babes and laughable joking less attractive male side kicks, while the main character broods and nurtures his effeminate looks all the while some how coming out on top of every ill-matched battle that faces him. I am SICK of watching that story over and over, and Claymore is a pleasing departure from the whole cliche anime story line. While I have read on forums that the manga is leaps and bounds above the anime, (well, that's sort of to be expected, right?) I have heard the manga readers claim that it is a very good start to the series, and they expect more from FUNimation. Manga readers are happy with the series? Seriously? that's amazing.

I watched Claymore with no idea what it was about, that made everything very exciting and new. I strongly suggest doing this, I found it made it even more exciting. It's a very unique, very exciting, very unexpected anime. There are so many moments you wont see coming, really, it breaks tons of expectations and cliches. It's really a very amazing series, I can't possibly explain it better, I do not want to give you a summary of the plot, (I hate spoliers) and I don't want to tell you about specifics too much (see above reason) but I do want to help sell you. So I'll say this... I've had this on pre-order for 6 months, and I dont regret it at all! This series is really great, something fresh and new, daring and unique, and I love it for that.

Cons, well I would say it's not as complete as I would like, but I regret to put that as a con, as I've heard buzz (which I dont know whether or not is true) that the anime will have a second season, because of the large volume of story in the manga. People have said that the anime covers the beginning of the manga. I haven't read the manga myself, as I said before, but if this is the case, then I can only be excited. It's a great series, and I can only see it getting better. It's worth the money, its beautifully animated, great voice acting (at least in the original Japanese) and a very unique and interesting story.

AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! Solid release, many special features, two booklets...awesome series!
Definitely one of the best anime series I have watched in 2009 thus far. "Claymore" is a violent, dark fantasy anime series that is gripping, action-packed, well-animated and well-written. I was totally engrossed by the whole series from beginning to end. Based on the popular ongoing manga series, if you want a solid and well-done anime series, look no further... "Claymore" is fantastic!

In 2001, the manga series "Claymore" debuted on Monthly Shonen Jump. The popular series created by award-winning mangaka Norihiro Yagi ("Undeadman", "Angel Densetsu").

The series has remained popular and is still ongoing in Japan via Jump Square. Animation studio Madhouse adapted the first eleven volumes of the manga series in the 26-episode anime series "Claymore" which debuted on NTV in 2007.

"Claymore" takes place during a time where monsters known as yoma have lived in villages, disguising themselves as human. They feed on humans and when things get to the point where countless murders are happening in a village, a mysterious organization sends a Claymore to dispose of the Yoma.

The Claymore are humans that are half-human and half-yoma. They are the only ones that are capable of defeating yoma and are primarily female, blonde and have silver eyes. They carry with them a sword and some have supernatural abilities.

Upon defeating the yoma, someone in black collects the money for them. If a village does not pay, a Claymore will no longer defend the city. Claymore also have a rule that they can not kill any humans and also, as a Claymore tries to keep their humanity, by using their supernatural talent, they unleash their own personal yoma but each time they do that, they lose part of their humanity.

The animated series focuses on the Claymore known as Clare. She comes to a village who has been terrorized by a yoma and defeats it. But a boy named Raki becomes attached to Clare and will follow her everywhere to become close to her.

Clare is warned not to have a human close to her but for some reason, she allows him to be close to her and also feels protective over him. Over the course of the series, we learn about Clare's history and why she is protective of Raki. We also learn what happens to Claymore who overuse their yoma energy and when they become the "awakened" and more.


The following 26-episodes are featured on six DVD's. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode of "Claymore":

DISC 1:

* EPISODE 1 - Great Sword - The introduction of Clare and Raki.
* EPISODE 2 - The Black Card - Clare receives a black card and that means that they must terminate one of their own. But what happens when Clare discovers that the Claymore she must defeat is her closest friend.
* EPISODE 3 - The Darkness in Paradise - Clare must take on a "Voracious Eater" but the problem is the city doesn't allow Claymores.
* EPISODE 4 - Clare's Awakening - Clare takes on the "Voracious Eater".
* EPISODE 5 - Teresa of the Faint Smile - We learn about Clare's past and how she attached herself to a Claymore named Teresa, the #1 Claymore in the organization.

DISC 2:

* EPISODE 6 - Teresa and Clare - We learn of how Teresa became fond of Clare and has protected her. But when bandits murder innocents in a town and intend to kill Clare, Teresa makes a decision that will alter her status as a Claymore.
* EPISODE 7 - Marked for Death - With Teresa making a decision to defy the organization in order to protect Clare, Claymores #2-#5 must kill her.
* EPISODE 8 - Awakening - The episode that introduces to how Clare became a Claymore.
* EPISODE 9 - Those Who Rend Asunder I - Clare is assigned to take on an "awakened beings" and is teamed up with Miria, Helen and Deneve.
* EPISODE 10 - Those Who Rend Asunder II - Part two of four Claymores taking on the awakened beast.

DISC 3:

* EPISODE 11 - Those who Rend Asunder III - Deneve reveals to the other three Claymores of why she thinks the three of them were assigned the suicide mission.
* EPISODE 12 -The Endless Gravestones I - Clare is assigned to go on another mission against another awakened beast but this time, she meets her partner...the bloodthirsty #4 Claymore Ophelia who is intent on murdering Clare and Raki. Clare vs. Ophelia and a mysterious person from the past shows up unexpectedly.
* EPISODE 13 - The Endless Gravestones II - Irene trains Clare the "Quick Sword Technique".
* EPISODE 14 - To Be Qualified to Fight - Clare takes on the awakened Ophelia.

DISC 4:

* EPISODE 15 - The Witch's Maw I - The organization sends Galatea to hunt after Clare since Clare has not reported in for three months. As for Clare, she sees a Claymore that looks as if she was mauled and goes to check on the other Claymores.
* EPISODE 16 - The Witch's Maw II - When Clare tries to check on the other Claymore's she runs into two Awakened Beings - The "Abyssal One" (Riful of the West) and Dauf.
* EPISODE 17 - The Witch's Maw III - In order to beat Dauf, the Claymores need Jean's special ability to defeat Dauf.
* EPISODE 18 - The Carnage In the North I - Clare and Jean meet up with 23 other Claymore's in the North to prepare to fight a horde of Awakened Beings.

DISC 5:

* EPISODE 19 - The Carnage in the North II - While the Claymores take on the awakened beings, Raki ends up in a village where he meets Priscilla who takes him to a man named Isley.
* EPISODE 20 - The Carnage in the North III - The Claymores talk about their fight after the awakened beings, meanwhile Raki asks Isley to train him on how to use a sword.
* EPISODE 21 - Invasion of Pieta I - The Claymores go on to their next major battle against the awakened beings.
* EPISODE 22 - Invasion of Pieta II - The Claymores take on Rigardo.

DISC 6:

* EPISODE 23 - Critical Point I - Clare takes on Rigardo but uses too much yoma energy which can make her become an awakened being.
* EPISODE 24 - Critical Point II - Clare has pushed herself to far using Yoma energy and is unable to revert back to human form. Will the Claymores slay her?
* EPISODE 25 - For Whose Sake - Clare's long time dream of fighting against Priscilla (to avenge the death of Teresa) finally comes true.
* EPISODE 26 - To the Successors - The final episode featuring Clare (in awakened form) vs. Priscilla (who is unaware that she is an awakened being).

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Claymore: The Complete Series" is featured in 16×9. "Claymore" is a television series and knowing that most animation studios tend to work on an episode quickly (especially if other animators and staff are working on several titles), this series is done very well. The backgrounds and the characters definitely give this dark fantasy atmosphere to the series. Colors and lighting play a big part in the series and there is a special feature in which this is discussed. But for the most part, the animation and character designs really capture your attention. The scenes are action-packed and the fighting sequences and swordfighting is also well done. "Claymore" definitely features solid animation and I can only hope that this series receives an HD presentation someday.

As for audio, audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Japanese stereo. For the most part, voice acting is well done and the fact that there are so many characters in this series, both fans of English voice dubs and Japanese voice acting for anime series can expect some of their favorites involved in this series. Audio is front and center channel driven but for an immersive soundtrack, I had my receiver set on stereo on all channels. I wanted to make sure the action and the growls of the yoma were more immersive but for the most part, both dialogue are well-acted.

Although I tend to watch a lot of anime series with the Japanese voice dub, for "Claymore", I enjoyed the voice dub for the series because it was more mature in dialogue. For example, the character of Ophelia is one deadly woman and when you see her in pain, she's cussing up a storm. And this is one of the few times where I felt the "F-word" and profanity was well utilized in an anime series (thus the TV MA rating). There's no hiding from the pain a lot of these women must endure and so I felt that the dialogue for the English dub was well done and well-written and much more mature than its Japanese counterpart.

Subtitles are in English only.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Claymore - The Complete Series" comes with the following special features:

DISC 1:

* Episode 1 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by voice actress Stephanie Young (who does the voice of Claire), Director and voice actor Todd Habekorn (who does the voice of Raki).
* Cast Auditions - Featuring the audio cast auditions for Clare, Teresa, Rubel, Sid and Yomi.
* Textless Songs
* Trailer - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

DISC 2:

* Episode 8 Commentary - Audio commentary featuring voice actress Brina Palencia (who plays Priscilla) and voice actress Wendy Powell (who plays Elena).
* Interview with Director Hiroyuki Tanaka - (7:00) Director Hirouki Tanaka talks about his impressions of the manga when he first read it and then being assigned to the series and the challenges he encountered on the series.
* Textless Songs
* Trailer - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

DISC 3:

* Episode 11 Commentary - Audio commentary by line producer and voice actress Colleen Clinkenbeard (who plays Galatea) and voice actress Monica Rial (who plays Miria).
* Interview with Sound Director Yasunori Honda - (8:37) Yasunori talks about his responsibilities for the series are for the anime series. Also, his responsible of working with the many voice talent on the series.
* Textless Songs
* Trailer - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

DISC 4:

* Episode 16 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by voice actress Laura Bailey (Jean) and Director Leslie Patrick.
* Interview with Art Director Manabu Otsuzaki (Kusanagi) - (6:30) Otsuzaki talks about the use of color in the anime series and what his responsibilities are.
* Textless Themes
* Trailers - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

DISC 5:

* Episode 19 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by Caitlyn Glass (voice of Deneve) and Jamie Marchi (voice of Helen).
* Interview with Art Setting Nobuhito Sue (Kusanagi) - (4:14) Nobuhito Sue talks about his responsibilities for the anime series. Shading of sketches on the computer and creating the guidelines for the animators.
* Textless Themes
* Trailers - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

DISC 6:

* Episode 26 Commentary - Audio commentary featuring voice actresses Brina Palencia (who does the voice of Priscilla) and Stephanie Young (who does the voice of Clare).
* Original TV Commercials - (4:21) Featuring the original Japanese TV commercials.
* Textless Themes
* Trailers - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

Also, included are two books. One is a 26-page booklet which features a character guide plus a staff interview with Hiroyuki Tanaka (Director) and Ryohei Takahashi (Animation Producer). Plus another interview with Yasunori Honda (Claymore Sound Director), Houko Kuwashima (Voice of Clare) and Motoki Takagi (Voice of Raki).

The second book is 26-pages and continues the character guide plus illustrations and artwork.

JUDGMENT CALL:

My first impression after watching "Claymore" was "WOW!".

The series reminded me of what I enjoyed with classic anime series such as "Hokuto no Ken" (Fist of the Northstar) and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventures" in which villages are being terrorized by evil beings and hopes for a hero to come and save them. But instead of male characters that kick butt, "Claymore" features a storyline about a group of female warriors that take down the evil monsters. So, that was pretty cool to see in this anime series!

With "Claymore", what's interesting is how this dark fantasy manages to capture your attention through the action but also character development and its character designs. The Claymore women (and there are many of them) have each been given a sort of personality that makes them unique in their own way. For the most part, their character designs and their supernatural abilities are very cool and exciting to watch but the fact that these women can easily turn on each other and their certain attitude is quite refreshing to see in an animated series.

This is one of the few anime series that I have seen in 2009 where I literally watched one after the other in a marathon-like setting because the story was so captivating and you just wondered what was going to happen next. Granted, there are a lot of action-based anime series on television right now with a large cast of characters but the fact that "Claymore" is much darker, takes place in a fantasy type of world and the fact that the main protagonists can easily be the antagonist is very different. Just watching how the story arcs are developed with Clare and Raki in the beginning, to Teresa and Clare right after and then back again to see Clare vs. Ophelia and various storylines of multiple Claymores and how violent the series can get but yet maintaining a well-paced, action-packed storyline featuring cool characters is a plus. Typically in an anime series, when a character doesn't show up that much, you don't really care for them but somehow the writers managed to make you care about the various Claymore warriors that you wonder when you will see them again.

The manga series is still ongoing in Japan but I just hope that Madhouse Studios continues to make another Claymore series and cover more of the chapters from the manga because for a TV series, I was literally captivated by it. This is definitely one of the best anime TV series I have seen in 2009.

"Claymore: The Complete Series" is a more mature, dark and violent anime series. Granted, it was a TV series, but expect to see a lot of blood and severed limbs from time to time. It's not disgusting at all but I know some anime viewers may be sensitive to those type of scenes.

Overall, "Claymore: The Complete Series" is an excellent release from FUNimation Entertainment. Plenty of special features, two books included. I was very impressed by the presentation of content and of course, the quality of this television series. This series is highly recommended!