Just released on fansubs, I decided to give first episode of Claymore a try. The setting seems to be the standard medieval world, where yoma (demons) terrorize the people and are able to disguise themselves as human. The beings termed the Claymore by the humans are the only ones that can detect and defeat yoma, mainly because they are themselves half-human and half-yoma. They are also always women with silver irises. When fighting a yoma, the Claymore's eyes turn to a gold color and have cat-like pupils. The first episode introduces us to one such Claymore who was requested to come in to defeat a yoma that is hiding in a town inhabited by Raki, a young teen.

So yeah, it does seem that this setup is just an excuse to show anorexic-looking women in medieval armor swinging around huge freaking swords (probably why the name Claymore was given to these women), and the first episode doesn't grab me like Berserk's did, but I'll probably keep up with this one. The images on the Claymore website intrigued me enough to check out the first episode, and it hasn't repulsed me at all, yet. It'll probably end up being a mindless action series, but that's ok; I'm looking for something light to watch anyways. Funny, how I call this series light, with demos being beheaded (with purple blood spraying everywhere!) and people being disemboweled, while something like Asatte no Houkou still has my mind moving when it's basically an actionless slice-of-life.

The animation seems a bit on the lacking side at times; it seems to lack polish. Not a big deal for me, and anyways, I've been spoiled by some amazingly works of visual art lately. Frankly, it is perfectly serviceable for this type of series if the animation stays consistent throughout the episodes.

The music is a pretty standard fare, though the hard rock and heavy metal at points were a pretty nice touch. Oh, the bagpipe music in the middle of the series seemed to fit well.

Certain parts of the story felt a bit too convenient and the episode as a whole didn't seem to flow well. Maybe it'll settle down as the series moves along as there was quite a bit of information to convey in this one.

I'll post more as the need hits me.