A faint smile.

Like the volume before it, Claymore Volume Two has a monochromatic jacket. The front cover is an illustration of Teresa and a yoma (likely in combat). On the back are screenshots, mainly focusing on Teresa and Clare, along with the DVD synopsis. The menus are straightforward, each having background art and music from the show. The art style is beautiful and drives the series as much as its engaging story. The soundtrack is awesome and can go from serene bagpipes to mad guitar riffs in a second. It’s also one of the few anime titles with such a solid cast and script that it’s easy to enjoy in both the English adaptation and the Japanese tracks.

A few more bodies on the ground.

In terms of extra content, Claymore Volume Two might seem to be lacking at first. It has the standard textless songs and Funimation trailers. The trailer list includes Samurai 7, Str.A.In., Hell Girl, and several others. Episode 8 is available on the disc with commentary from the English voice cast. This is where the extras get more interesting, because it’s always a cool treat to get a glimpse of the actors’ opinions and experiences in anime. The last, and best, extra feature is a brief interview with Claymore’s director, Hiroyuki Tanaka. The most endearing part of the ten-minute interview is when he admits he thought the series would be just another series about swordswomen. He goes on to explain how wrong he was, and expounds on the depth of human emotion that is prevalent through the series.

The human heart has to be stronger.

As even the show’s director states, if you only look at the cover of the DVD you’d just write Claymore off as another swords-and-demons series. But the killing of yoma really plays a minor part in Claymore. It’s really a story of both a quest for vengeance and the gradual recovery of the human heart that Clare had discarded in her path to becoming a Claymore and finding Priscilla. In this volume you begin to see that there are so much more to Claymore personalities than one originally assumes, and that some of them are still quite human. The heavy battle sequences will thrill even the pickiest fan of action, and the series’ drama will hold lovers of good story-telling to their seats till the very last episode on the disc. However, it should be remembered that Claymore is suggested for more mature audiences, so those conscious of what their kids watch should be advised that this is a violent and bloody series that sometimes contains female nudity.