Books: Claymore Vol. 10

Norihiro Yagi’s Claymore’s been dismissed as “Berserk lite,” but I don’t think that’s a fair description of what is one of the better new manga I’ve come across lately. It’s got some of the same elements of Berserk — a medieval setting ruled by violence and superstition, a single warrior alone against all, and so on — but it’s not a clone or a retread, and it carves out a very worthy niche for itself. Part of my curiosity about the series was sparked by watching the animated series that has been adapted from the comics with a remarkable degree of fidelity, and when I was offered the chance to read the comic itself I jumped on it.

The premise: In a world reminiscent of Middle Ages Europe, creatures called yôma, which are carnivorous monsters that prey on humans, have appeared. They’re tough to destroy, not just due to their strength but also their ability to disguise themselves as other humans, and they also assimilate the memories and personalities of those they consume. To deal with them, there exist a special class of warriors called Claymores — young woman who have been biologically modified in certain ways to grant them exceptional strength and regenerative ability. They hunt down yôma and exterminate them, often without the help of society at large, which fears them almost as much as the creatures they hunt. Worse, Claymores (all of which are female) have a very limited lifespan: since they’re created from yôma, they eventually turn into yôma, and if they know the end is near they can elect to have one of their own kind finish them off before they devolve entirely into beasts. Such beings have a label of their own — “Awakened Ones” — and are in many ways far more dangerous than the original monsters.

Article originally written for AMN. Click here to read full text.