In a fictional medieval world the Claymores, augmented humans wield the swords that give them their name against the Yoma, demons who can assume human form, and if they consume your brains can also take on a humans persona. Clare is a Claymore who moves from place to place fighting the Yoma, for a fee...

Claymore: Volume One: Silver-Eyed Slayer is a manga by Norihiro Yagi (Angel Densetsu, Undeadman). The book follows the main character, Clare, who has been transformed by being joined with a demon; this gives her the power and speed to defeat the Yoma.

The first thing you notice about the book is the sparse nature of the artwork. Characters are drawn with a few flourishes of the pen, the characters have few facial details and some of the panels are completely missing any backgrounds. This isn’t throughout the book, but enough to make some sections look unfinished.

As volume one works as an introduction we are first introduced to Clare. There is little in the way of background provided for her character. We do discover that her family had been killed by a Yoma, which explains why she accepts the companionship of Raki - a young boy she meets on her first mission - who also lost his parents to the Yoma. Like the Bene Gesserit, all the Claymores are women as any man who tries to bond with a demon dies.

That is not to say that the Claymores get away scott-free as the last story in the book sees Clare hunting down a fellow Claymore who has used her demon power to the point that the demon has started to take over.

So the opening book does little to raise itself above the generic. Clare, as a character, is interesting, providing a good brooding presence and,considering she is a young girl, Yagi has thankfully not felt the necessity of portraying her with impossible breasts that fly around in the fighting scenes.  That said, there are enough elements put in place to give the book a chance to develop into something worth while.

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Charles Packer