November 2007

In a medieval world, the human race is threatened to extinction by horrid demons known as Yoma. Clare, a member of the Claymores, seeks out her mentor’s slayer, Priscilla, in attempts to kill her. This story filled with heart pounding battles and struggles for survival will surely fulfill your viewing needs.

Claymore
3 & 1/2 Stars

Yoma are demons who disguise themselves as humans. These demons change shape to live among the humans and harvest their organs for food. A group of warriors stood together to fight these beasts and named themselves Claymores. These Claymores are in fact half Yoma, and half human, giving them all the strength and powers of the Yoma. The Claymores retain their human side, only they have silver eyes; people refer to them as Silver Eyed Witches because of this. The organization is made of all females. Males are excluded because they gain sexual pleasure from using their powers and they abuse it. If a Claymore uses too much of his/her power, they become an “Awakened One”, a more powerful form of a Yoma and lose all human conscience.

The show starts out with Clare, the main heroine of the show, doing her normal duties that come with being a Claymore, coming into a small town and ridding it of a Yoma. People try to distance themselves from the Claymores because they have the blood of the Yoma, so they give her a distasteful welcome and treat her like a beast. Claymores are very cold hearted, so she disregards the villagers and goes out to find the Yoma. Although shunned by most of the village, a boy named Raki takes interest in Clare and begins to follow her around. She tolerates it for a bit then dismisses him for her duties, only to find out, Raki’s family were the Yoma. Clare eliminates them and then continues to the next town, leaving Raki to the mercy of the village. Since his family where the Yoma, the villagers beat him and banish him from the town. They falsely claim he is a Yoma too and they leave him to die out in the wild. Raki desperately walks on, hoping to find someone to help him when he runs into Clare again. Clare shows some empathy and lets him tag along, being her personal cook. They both travel from town to town destroying the Yoma at every turn.

They find out that Priscilla is building an army of Yoma and “Awakened Ones” to sweep down from the north and eliminate all humans. Clare is sent to go kill them with 26 other Claymores, in a hopeless battle to bide time. Clare and her comrades nearly defeated the head “Awakened One” when the overlord of the Northern Yoma Army takes her and flees, leaving a lot of questions unanswered and opening for more episodes or another season.

Over all I really enjoyed this anime. You’re guaranteed a amazing battle in every episode (some even being 2-3 episodes) and the story line is very fulfilling. What is also unique about this show is the development of Clare’s character. She starts out being cold and inhumane to others, to being a very loving woman. Being a Claymore means you live with death and destruction at every turn. Relationships with humans and even other Claymores are impossible to maintain. Raki helped her gain a more human aspect with the ability to love and cherish life. She shares her human teachings with the other Claymores and they form an even stronger bond and fighting force than before. They used to rely on individual skill and strength, but with Clare’s teachings and understanding of teamwork and the importance of it, the Claymores found a new strength to fight off the Yoma.

With such a intricate story line of teamwork and love, Claymore is a very good show. Being lesser known than some of newer and bigger hits, it still has its charm that makes it definitely worthwhile to watch.

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the currently popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.

Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
4 Stars

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.
This movie does not require previous knowledge of the television series, but does deal with a lot of the same things the television series covers. All you really need to know is that the movie and the series for that matter are set in the feudal era, in ancient Japan where demons roam and are constantly trying to dominate everything in their world.  Everyone is in search of Shikon Jewel shards.  The Shikon Jewel is also known as the Sacred Jewel or the Jewel of Four Souls. The Shikon Jewel is extremely powerful and can easily make any demon the most powerful being. To know why the Jewel is split up you will have to watch the series, which I highly recommend.

The story starts out with an oversized scorpion demon and the gang defeats it easy. Soon after Sango’s faithful companion, Kirara begins to react from the scorpion’s poison that she was injured by. Kirara runs away underMenoumaru’s minions, Huri and Ruri’s spell. Kirara begins to fight against Sango. Sango continues to struggle throughout the entire movie with trying to save Kirara.
Miroku has problems of his own; Ruri uses her power to copy Miroku’s Wind Tunnel. She uses it against him until she is sucked into her own Wind Tunnel. Allowing Miroku to see what is in the future for him.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, and the son of Lord Hyoga. Lord Hyoga was defeated over 200 years ago by InuYasha’s father. Menoumaru’s moth minions bring souls of the near by villagers, increasing his strength, power and size. With the combination of absorbing the souls and Lord Hyoga’s powers, Menoumaru becomes strong enough to deflect InuYasha’s Wind Scar. InuYasha alone cannot defeat Menoumaru, but with Kagome and him working together, they stand a chance. Kagome and InuYasha team upand attempt to attack Menoumaru, but nothing seems to work since he is so strong. Eventually Kagome and InuYasha discover how to defeat him, with Kagome’s sacred arrows and InuYasha’s Back Lash their attack pierces through Menoumaru’s barrier.
A little background information to better understand the six main characters.
InuYasha is a half demon, which allows him to wield the Tessaiga. He has a short temper and a lack of common sense when it comes to dealing with Kagome’s feelings. He cares for Kagome, much like how he felt for Kikyou. His lack of patience and his hot head nature gets him
Kagome, a japanese junior high school girl who has the ability to travel back and forth between our time and the feudal era. Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyou, a priestess, who also inherited Kikyou’s exceptional archery skills.
Miroku is a monk who is cursed with the Wind Tunnel, a hole in his hand that sucks everything in its path into a void, which he inherited from his father.
Sango is a demon slayer who uses a Hikaikotsu made out of the bones of demons [it looks like a giant boomerang].
Shippou is a child fox demon who was orphaned and the others took him in. He tries to help, and sometimes succeeds but he really is too young to make much of a difference.
Kirara is a nekomata demon, a small two tailed cat that can transform into a large flying fire cat. When under the control of Huri Kirara breaks the spell and returns to Sango’s side.
This movie has three main antagonists, Menoumaru, Huri and Ruri.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, son of Lord Hyoga, he attemps to take revenge on InuYasha for his father’s downfall over 200 years ago.
Huri is one of Menoumaru’s minions, she uses her power of mind control to take Kirara from Sango.
Ruri is another one of Menoumaru’s minions, she has the ability to copy others powers. She uses her power to have a Wind Tunnel like Miroku’s.

InuYasha has been one of my favorite television series for a few years now, that might have something to do with it being aired on Cartoon Network’s AdultSwim over the past few years.  The movie is equally as good as the series.  I enjoyed the focus on one main antagonist.  In the series InuYasha and the others are trying to rid their world of a character called Naraku.  I was surprised to see that they did not even include Naraku in the movie, but glad none the less to see a different demon try to take on the team.  The love triangle between InuYasha, Kagome and the dead Kikyou is one that is entertaining.  Not to mention the love interest between Miroku and Sango, Miroku the lecher constantly flirts with any woman he meets while Sango punishes him with her jealousy.  This movie is one to check out, and hopefully it will turn you into a fan of InuYasha.