Claymore, Vol. 1

by Norihiro Yagi

Overview

A New York Times best selling, multi-arc, character-driven story with great battles and strong-willed females that will appeal to males and females alike.

In a world where monsters called Yoma prey on humans and live among them in disguise, humanity's only hope is a new breed of warrior known as Claymores. Half human, half monster, these silver-eyed slayers possess supernatural strength but are condemned to fight their savage impulses or lose their humanity completely.

A village is gripped by fear and paranoia when a Yoma claims six lives. The Claymore who is sent to slay the creature isn't what the villagers expect at all. In fact, she seems more monster than human.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421506180
Publisher:	VIZ Media LLC
Publication date:	04/04/2006
Series:	Claymore Series , #1
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	50,133
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Norihiro Yagi won the 32nd Akatsuka Award for his debut work, UNDEADMAN, which appeared in Monthly Shonen Jump magazine. His first serialized manga was his comedy Angel Densetsu (Angel Legend), which appeared in Monthly Shonen Jump from 1993 to 2000. His epic saga, Claymore, ran from 2001 to 2014 and was adapted into a television anime series and a video game.

Editorial Reviews

This nondescript but pleasant manga is set in the generic fantasy landscape where little medieval towns are separated by large tracts of wilderness, and monsters must be dealt with by traveling for-hire monster slayers. The monsters here are Yomas, shape-changing creatures with a taste for human innards; the slayers are Claymores, young women who have been injected with Yoma blood so that they can recognize and kill the monsters-but who then must struggle to keep their own humanity. In the episodes in this volume, a young boy watches one Claymore arrive in his village and do her thing. He sees her as a person rather than a creepy semimonster and follows her after he learns her name, Claire. The rest of the book shows Claire and her naive tagalong going through a series of confrontations with Yomas, in the worst of which Claire is summoned to kill her best friend, who feels herself losing control over her Yoma side. The elements of this story certainly aren't fresh nor is the art especially striking. However, as it goes along, the book does generate sympathy with Claire as slayer/victim, maiden/warrior, savior/fiend, showing that even tired material can still be interesting when presented unpretentiously. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly