Claymore/Ho Yay

There's more than one way to thank someone for saving your life...

Claymore is chock-full of kickass females, most of whom hide a tender side and at points the Les Yay levels rise to high heavens. Most of that is probably due to the fact that it's a series with an almost entirely female cast that spends a reasonable amount of time exploring the relationships between its characters. However, there have also been indications that Claymores are not interested in that kind of thing, perhaps, as a side effect of their mutation.

Think Nanoha with huge swords instead of magic. There is a reason some of the fans jokingly refer to the series as "Gaymoar".

Tropes used in Claymore/Ho Yay include:

• As a general rule, any time a Claymore invokes I Cannot Self-Terminate with another Claymore, you can expect the Les Yay level to go through the roof, especially since the Claymores will almost always invoke this trope with very close companions.
  • The first bit of a Les Yay in the series involves Clare carrying this out on an old friend of hers, Elena. According to Clare, they shared a bed on a regular basis in order to comfort each other during the painful process of transforming into Claymores.
• Helen and Deneve probably have the most Les Yay of any two characters in the series, on account of the fact that they're very close friends who do just about everything together.
  • The fact that they have contrasting personalities and often have a Jerk with a Heart of Gold / Tsundere dynamic doesn't help in the slightest.
  • Helen also has a fair bit of Les Yay with Clare, such as going into a screaming rage with Berserker Tears when Clare is afraid she's gone past her limit and asks Helen to kill her before it's too late.
  • Deneve also gets quite a bit of it with Undine during the Northern Campaign arc. The fact that after Undine's death Deneve carries her sword as a tribute only adds to it.
• Jean is grateful to Clare after she saves Jean's life, and subsequently becomes extremely protective of her and spends the rest of her time the series constantly following her around. She also pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save Clare from becoming an Awakened One.
  • For Clare's part, when Rigardo severely injures Jean, Clare goes into an Unstoppable Rage and taps far deeper into her Super-Powered Evil Side than she ever had before.
• Ophelia has quite a bit with Clare, since about five minutes after the two of them meet she's feeling Clare up and commenting on how good she smells. Of course, since five minutes is also how long it takes Ophelia to decide she's going to kill Clare, she's a Psycho Lesbian.
  • Ophelia and Clare's second battle is also loaded with Les Yay, especially at the end. Ophelia actually yells at Clare when it looks like her Heroic Resolve is starting to falter, and the battle ends Ophelia's naked torso clinging tightly to her as Ophelia stares into Clare's eyes and promises to entrust everything to her.
• Tabitha is very devoted to Miria after the Northern Campaign, something that several characters point out at varying times.
  • She also gets into a fight with Deneve when Deneve tries to prevent her going to rescue Miria from the Organization. Shortly after that, Tabitha punches out Deneve for insulting Miria. It bears mentioning that Deneve is a much stronger fighter than Tabitha.
• Yuma and Cynthia get quite a bit of it when Cynthia uses her body to shield Yuma. The subsequent revelation that Cynthia has been a Death Seeker, which Cynthia follows up by invoking I Cannot Self-Terminate. Yuma answers by Straddling Cynthia, placing her hands on Cynthia's chest and delivering a How Dare You Die on Me! speech while Mega Manning a new healing power.
• Fans of intergenerational pairings among the fanbase have picked up Teresa's quasi-maternal relationship with Clare and run with it. Clare taking off her clothes before hugging Teresa provides fodder for quite a few fanvids and fanarts.
• Pages 25 and 26 of chapter 116 scream "LES YAY" so hard that it's funny.
  • On that note, the amounts of Les Yay Cassandra and Roxanne are generating is going through the roof, especially with this line in Chapter 117. “Inveigling Cassandra was a simple task for Roxanne. Days of training when they would share the same pillow and occasionally cross swords.”
    • Roxanne is made of this trope, gaining the nickname "of the Love and Hate," after becoming obsessed with a series of warriors and becoming close to learn their techniques until she surpasses them and loses interest, which doesn't turn out well for the other warriors. That Cassandra blushes when Roxanne waves or smiles at her just makes it all the more-so.
  • And now one scene shows Cassandra licking Roxanne.
  • It could be said that Roxanne has turned Les Yay into a superpower.
• Cassandra herself had a Les Yay filled relationship with a younger Claymore in her backstory. It was her death and Roxanne's deliberate failure to save her which led to Cassandra attacking Roxanne and getting killed.