Slight Spoiler Warning. Also I would like to take the time to preface that I do not read manga as much as I watch anime (I'm actively trying to change this so recommend me things to read/review) .

Claymore is one of my favorite franchises with many characters that I enjoy. It's one I often tend to gush about in detail as the concept is one that has a lot of depth looking into it.

The main characters are Claymores an organization of half demon (known as Yoma) and half human hunters that kill the Yoma for a price. Said Yoma love to eat human remains and take over their bodies. The Claymores use Yoki energy to fight off the Yoma but risk tapping into this power too much and go insane.

Now, I do have a few minor complaints that are why I chose to review the manga. First of which is that the anime abruptly cuts off and has no more content after all these years. The anime also suffers in one regard that the manga gets rid of almost entirely.

That is the lack of character depth. They do have personality and life to them but given where the anime ends off it never fully gets to show this. In the manga each character regardless of importance feels whole and that is one thing I love.

Another thing that I admire is the progressive evolution of the panels especially towards the end. We the reader get the pleasure of witnessing this growth as well as progression of the story.

One of the main themes prevalent in both the manga and anime that I appreciate are the fight to remain oneself and the fight for ones freedom. I always had trouble believing that the organization was established in good faith (The characterization clearly contrasts this given the way ordinary people fear the claymore for their half demon capabilities.)

My reaction when I found out the truth of the organization it hooked me in and was what hooked me even more to the franchise than I already was.

To sum up what happened,

The organization were both a glorified mafia to the people of the island they live on and a science experiment to a war going on in normal human civilization.

__Or a more descriptive context of what's going on..
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The claymores have things in common with one another.

1. They survive a Yoma attack or some traumatizing shit early in life.
2. They get exiled out of fear that the Yoma took over their body to hide in the shadows.
3. They get snatched up by the organization.

Adding to this the process of becoming a Claymore is super graphic and fucked up and only adds to what pain the characters feel . They get split open across their entire body and get Yoma organs shoved into them and stitched back up. After that and their combat training the hell isn't over because there is a hierarchy of 47 Claymores which is rated by how strong their form would be if they fully went Yoma.

The even more fucked part is that the organization were the ones behind all of this madness because of their own enemy they could not defeat. Dragons that could awaken like Yoma and become damn near invincible. Yoma are the result of combining part of these dragons with a human. The organization lied just to cover themselves and were gonna pay for it.

And that payback is one thing you must bare witness to yourself.

I may have missed some things but at the end of the day this series needs talked about more.

I give it a 9/10 because no story is perfect and worth a 10/10 rating although some may argue this is one deserving of it as well as a few other franchises I plan to review.

Give it a read.