Manga Review – Silver-Eyed Slayer (Claymore, Vol. 1) by Norihiro Yagi (4.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 208 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Release Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-1421506180
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Claymore Manga series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I was excited to start reading this manga series. I originally watched the anime series for Claymore. My husband has been reading the manga for a while and kept asking when I was going to read it. This book was an excellent opening to this series, I really enjoyed it. Right now there are 24 volumes in the Claymore series.
This volume follows the first anime episode very closely. It is an excellent introduction to Claire and the demon fighting Claymore. The demons are called Yoma, and in this book we learn about the Claymore’s role in society and how the Claymore become these powerful demon-fighters.
It is a very engaging world with characters you really care about…and of course some awesome fighting scenes between Claymore wielding women and evil demons.
Yagi does an excellent job of humanizing Claire and making us care about her. This isn’t all about kicking Yoma butt (although there is a lot of this). We learn about the sacrifices the Claymore make in their effort to protect humanity and we learn how painful it is for them to leave some of their humanity behind.
The illustration throughout is very well done, I really enjoyed it. Some of the scenes are beautifully detailed. I never had trouble recognizing characters or following the story.
This is a traditional Japanese manga, so you read from back to front and right to left.
Overall I really enjoyed this first installment in the Claymore manga series. Excellent world-building, explosive fight scenes, and characters I actually care about make for a wonderful read. This is highly recommended if you like action-packed dark fantasy manga. I can’t wait to see what volume two holds.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
