Claymore
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Claymore (クレイモア Kureimoa) |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Yagi Norihiro |
| Date(s): | May 2001 - present |
| Medium: | manga, anime |
| Country of Origin: | Japan |
| External Links: | Jump Square's Official Manga Site (J), Shounen Jump's Official Manga Site (E), NTV's Official Anime Site (J), Shueisha's Official Anime Site (J), FUNimation's Official Anime Site (E)
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| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Claymore is a shounen manga series created by Yagi Norihiro. It was originally serialized in the now-defunct Monthly Shounen Jump. After Monthly Shounen Jump folded, Claymore was published for a brief period of time in Weekly Shounen Jump before moving to its current home, Jump SQ, in November 2007. The manga was adapted into a 26-episode anime in 2007.
In the words of one fan:
Claymore is a manga series about half-human, half-yoma (demon) lady warriors who are essentially living weapons created to combat the yoma menace terrorizing the countryside. (There's also a 26-episode anime that's pretty faithful to the manga until the last 5 or so episodes.)[1]
However, many fans feel that the basic summary doesn't do the series justice and describe the series in other ways:
It's got dangerous ladies! With big swords! Who wear armor! And later trade the armor in for black leather! And they fight crime kill monsters! Also, in what other fandom can you find a blind nun who rips her habit up to her waist and saves the young, handsome, strapping guardsman from a rampaging female tentacle monster? Not many, I think![1]
Both the manga and anime have been licensed in the English-language market. In North America, Viz Media holds the license for the manga and FUNimation holds the license for the anime.
English-language Fandom
Claymore's English-language fandom is considered small and light in fannish activity. It has appeared on the nominations list for Yuletide, although stories are regularly posted on fanfiction.net. [2] This often leads to frustration on the part of fans who've recently discovered the canon. [3]
Because Claymore's cast is predominantly female, it is a favored canon among those femslash and yuri fans aware of its existence. This leads to disappointment when some fans choose instead to focus on one of the few male characters in the series or opt to ship a slash pairing such as Isley/Rigardo rather than one of the many potential f/f pairings instead. [4] A popular f/f pairing is Irene/Teresa, and there are several AUs based on the premise that Teresa survived.
One reason why many fans like Claymore is because of the way it handles traditional shounen manga tropes while also incorporating characteristics from other genres:
As a shounen series, Claymore has the reputation of subverting various shounen tropes, conventions, and expectations. What's not addressed quite as often is the fact that Claymore also addresses tropes and conventions found within the ero-guro genre. The truth is nearly all of the monsters in Claymore draw from that tradition, whether in their character designs, behaviors and attitudes, or both. [5]
Resources
- Claymore Wiki
- Claymore on TV Tropes
- Livejournal
- Fanart
- Tumblr
- Primers
- Things you should check out: Claymore
- Gaymoar Gaymoar Gaymoar (note: images are hosted on photobucket, so the images may not appear)
- Fanfiction
References
- ^ a b blackmagie, in the Yuletide pimping post, dated October 19, 2009. (Accessed October 31, 2009)
- ^ Claymore stories on Fanfiction.net (541 stories with the most recent update being on November 28, 2011, as of November 29, 2011)
- ^ comment thread from inkstone's Claymore primer (Accessed November 29, 2011)
- ^ comment thread from girlgay Femslash Anon Post (Accessed November 29, 2011)
- ^ Devour: a tribute to the female tentacle monsters of Claymore (Accessed May 11, 2011)