The Girls are back – no, I don't mean Charlies Angels, although some of us older guys might like that. I am speaking of those deadly women/demons with those awesome swords, the Claymores, but this time they are coming at you in the High Definition of Blu-ray.
As we have covered several times at ComicsOnline Claymore is a series of noteworthy status. The journey of our main heroine, Clare, and her wimpy sidekick, Raki, is something of a journey of discovery between what makes you human and what makes you a true demon. The Claymore are a group of women who are half human and half demon, or Yoma (as they are called in the series). They struggle to defend humanity from these Yoma while at the same time are shunned by the very humans that they protect. Their eminence power comes from this blend of races, but it does carry a price. The more they call on the demon within them, the more they become the demon and will at some point be consumed by this evil side. When this happens, they call on their sisters to come and dispatch them before they lose all humanity. They all want to die human and not Yoma.
Raki clearly represents the humans they defend, but he does honor the Claymore by his loyalty and affection toward Clare. Raki clearly sees the good in them and would rather they be all human rather than Yoma. He is weak and rather useless when it comes to helping Clare with her job at hand, but does step in from time to time to bring Clare back from being lost to her Yoma side. There is a simple love affair here that speaks volumes to what the word love really means. It is not a sexual one, but rather a love of the soul, an affair of heart not body. It does create the binding glue for the series that gives the viewer a reason to care.
Overall
I have covered Claymore before and have had a very positive opinion of the show. This has not changed at all. The Blu-ray release does have me stumped. This is a series that I would have never thought to be a good translation to Blu-ray. The overall color pallette of the series leans toward the monochromatic and also has a general haze or foggy feel to it. I am not saying that I didn't enjoy the Blu-ray version, but I did not find it to be a worthy Blu-ray candidate. It was still beautiful in the High Definition and the action jumped off the screen. It just did not excite me to have this in a Blu-ray product.
The extras were much the same thing that was provided in the standard version, and the only difference was that there is a 48 page booklet and in the standard DVD version of the complete series there were 2 booklets that provide the same material. I still liked the booklet because of the high quality art, but would not give this the nod as to why I would go for the Blu-ray. Of course there is the simple reason why you would choose the Blu-ray, that is because you own Blu-ray and the superior image quality is really what it is all about.
This series is a pure joy to watch and I still have the same high opinion of it. If you own Blu-ray and are interested in this series all I can say is go for it, you will not be disappointed.
ComicsOnline gives Claymore: The Complete Series on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 women I would never make mad.
