Claymore Vol 1-3

[meganbmoore]

In another world, monsters known as yoma have prowled the land for decades, preying on humans.  In response, humans have found a way to combine the DNA with humans-women, specifically, as the procedure kills every man it's tried on-turning them into warriors capable of killing the mosters.  The women are known for their silver eyes, and are just as feared asthe yoma they kill.  Neither the organization nor the women have a name, but the people call them Claymores because of the large swords the women carry, which they are able to weild with only one hand.  The women travel the land on foot, going from town to town, killing yoma in the towns they are summoned to.  They do not take the money themselves, but tell the leader of the town to keep it until the yoma is dead.  If the woman dies, there is no need to pay.  If she succeeds, a man will come to collect the money after she leaves.  If a town ever fails to pay, the organization will never again send a warrior to aid them, no matter how desperate they are.

In one town, a warrior named Clare saves a young boy named Raki from the yoma who killed his family and impersonated his brother.  Later, the townspeople chase Raki out, fearing that someone who lived with a yoma may be a yoma himself.  With nothing else to do, Raki follows Clare, and she eventually takes him in, officially as her "cook," sometimes using him to help her with a cover.  In each town, she asks that Raki be provided for if she dies, and offers him the option of staying behind.  The first volume tells of how Clare and Raki meet, and has several one-shot stories setting up the world.  The second is a rather fun story of Clare and Raki investigating a yoma in a holy city while undercover and brother and sister.  When that wraps up midway through volume three, we switch to Clare's origin story, where she, as a child aboutr Raki's age, latched onto Teresa, the strongest of the warriors.  Teresa warms up to Clare far more slowly than Clare did to Raki(probably why) and seems to think that the organization sends the yoma to villages for their own purposes.

So far, I like it.  Like most shonen, there seems to be a largely(probably conspiracy) plot that we haven't gotten into yet.  Clare isn't just a super warrior, but is also extremely adaptable and intelligent, and has been trained to undertake any rask and impersonate any lifestyle.  She is, however, cursed, as in time, the yoma blood in them that gives them the ability to fight will eventually overtake the warriors, causign them to become yoma themselves.  When they begin to feel the monster inside take over, they send for another of their kind to kill them before they become a danger to people.  I also like the complete gender reversal for this type of story.  Generally, the hardened warrior/cute young sidekick setup comes in these formats:  female warrior/female sidekick, mae warrior/male sidekick, and male warrior/female sidekick...female warrior/male sidekick isn't one I've encountered before(and I seem to recall someone lamenting the lack of the young male with and older female mentor/guardian figure not long ago, but can't remember who it was.)  There's also Rubel, Clare's money collector, who wears glasses and a hat.  He seems to have an interest in Clare and Raki beyond pure professionalism, though I'm not sure what yet.

So far, I really have no use for Raki, though at least he isn't annoying, and is pretty sympathetic.  I do like Clare a lot, but worry she may have softened to Raki a little too quickly.  The story, though, is very interesting, and the world pretty complex, and I like having a "strong female warrior" lead who actually dresses sensibly(Clare has short hair  and armor, and is covered from head to toe) and is strong and independent, with no need of saving, without being relegated to secondary character.