Claymore 82 Review by natli

[natli]

CHAPTER 82: THE NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE
(Thanks to shrimpy for the translation and hereis for the scan!)


Dungeon Scene​

Riful is my all time favorite sociopath. Her madness is very subtle and well executed when she asks Renee for forgiveness for cutting off her legs and reasonably points out that it’s not a big deal for a defensive type. In most cases the villain who doesn’t have any redeeming qualities is one-dimensional and doesn’t make a believable character. But Riful is different. She’s pure evil with personality and style.

Rabona​

The first thing that caught my attention was Galatea using Clare’s name instead of the number. She consciously changed it and for me it fits with all the things we saw from her lately. When she run away she didn’t want to be a Claymore and she didn’t want to take revenge on the Organization. She wanted to live a normal life and was prepared to make sacrifices. She blinded herself so she wouldn’t be recognized. That’s why I don’t think she’s all that enthusiastic about going to war.

Father Vincent got used to dealing with Claymores and apparently nothing fazes him anymore. I like his sense of humor when he speaks with Miata and scolds Clarice What surprised me is that he thinks that Claymores are morally superior to humans.

Miata is definitely getting better. At first she could only repeat ‘mama’ but now she can speak using simple sentences and looks mentally stable. It was interesting that she decided to run away from Clarice to hide behind Father Vincent. She may be less dependant on her now.

Miria is clearly preparing the rest of fab7 for death. She’s telling Claire to avenge Teresa and find Raki. As Raki and Priscilla are now traveling together Clare can kill two birds with one stone and be back in time for the confrontation with the Organization. As for Priscilla there is high chance that Clare will kill her, because, as Raki admits, sooner of later Priscilla will snap. There is also the small possibility that Raki will convince Priscilla to fight against the Organization and Priscilla will go berserk during the last battle. Either way her prospects don’t look good.

I’m glad that Miria told Uma and Cynthia to go with Clare. I hope that we’ll learn something about them. Currently, I’m confusing Cynthia with Tabitha all the time and I know which one is Uma only because she has straight long hair.

Claymore body​

The most interesting part of the Rabona scene was the short exchange between Galatea and Father Vincent about the bodies of Claymores. One of the things I like about this manga is that it breaks shonen conventions. Yagi created perfect women, i.e. the perfect fan service, and then made their bodies so disgusting that it’s difficult to look at them. I’m really curious how this ‘defect’ looks like. At first I thought that it has to be some ugly scarring, but it has be worse. Father Vincent didn’t have a problem with treating an open wound but he couldn’t even look at…whatever it is that Claymores have on their stomachs.

Raphaela and Luciela​

The thing that Riful picked up seven years ago is the merged form of Raphaela and Luciela. They are comatose and don’t respond to anything. But it’s highly possible that they might respond to yoki manipulation. So Riful didn’t really need a yoki reader so much as yoki manipulator. Renee is probably up to the task as Organization’s Eye. So the real question is what will awaken from the combination of an Abyssal and a Claymore.

There are two aspects: it’s power and it’s consciousness. In terms of strength, it should be at least as powerful as an awakened Luciela but probably it will completely outclass her. When it comes to its mind, there are at least two interesting possibilities. If the yoki manipulation will make them merge further, their brains will also merge and we will get a powerhouse with a split personality. Or maybe they will have one shared consciousness, which will be a mixture of their personalities. If their heads will stay apart as they are now then they will retain their individuality. I wonder what conversations will they be having? In any case they might become the thing which the Organization is looking for: the perfect warrior with the powers of an Awakened and a human consciousness.

I’m assuming that Riful won’t kill them regardless of their strength. Either they will be weaker than Riful or they will kill her first. In any case it will be interesting to see how they will behave. They might be obedient and follow Riful, in which case she can wage war on Isley and/or Priscilla. If that’s the case, I’m not even going to try predict the possible outcomes, especially with Clare in the picture. If they won’t listen, we might get a duel between Abyssals. There is also the possibility that in the future the sisters will actually have their own agenda. Who knows, Clare might come back to Rabona with the two-headed monster and present it to Miria as an ally

One more thing worth noticing is that the undercover from volume 14 has two merged women: one with a blindfold and one apparently giving orders. When I first saw it I thought it’s Alicia and Beth, but who knows. It might be about Raphaela and Luciela.

The case of Raphaela and Luciela has implications for the rest of the Claymore world. A Claymore can revive a person by merging with them. Does it only work on fresh corpses? Or maybe the key is that they were both sisters? Can it be done with other creatures like a human, yoma or DoD?

Conclusion​

All in all, we got more questions than answers. We have Riful, Raphaela and Luciella on one side and Priscilla, Raki and Clare on the other. There is also the mysterious absence of Isley and the incoming war with the Organization. The bottom line is that from now on everything is possible.