By chance, I only now realized that there had been a new chapter released for Yagi Norihiro’s manga Claymore. Chapter 82 was released by FrankyHouse on the 4th of August, but I only noticed it today when I checked to see if new chapters had been released for Naruto and Bleach yet. I really wish he would churn out chapters once a week like most other series do. Instead of this irregular trickle he does. But damn, this series is good enough to make me tolerate it though!

Now, there have been instances in the series where I have been left wanting answers and when Norihiro provides the answers I’m always left anticipating the next revelation. Like the times before, this is no exception.

Rafaela and Luciela’s reunion and subsequent fight, for lack of a better term, left me unwilling to believe that that was the end of it. Rafaela was insanely powerful, a former #2 in the organization, and only relegated to the #5 slot because the Organization’s ego was wounded that their experiment wasn’t perfect. Despite her strength, I found it a little hard to swallow that Luciela could be defeated so easily by her sister, but at the same time I didn’t think she (Rafaela) could be dead either.

This was an interesting twist though, Rafaela used her youma power to kill her sister and save her at the same time. Now they’re fusing together! Not exactly dead, but definately not “alive” either; nor do they don’t respond to outside stimulus. Now Riful’s insistence on finding a Claymore who specializes in energy reading and awakening them makes more sense. She needs someone like Clare, Tabitha, or Galatea who can read a being’s flow of youma energy and manipulate it. In theory, they could provide the needed stimulus from within this Rafaela-Luciela being and awaken them that way. If the being that is now a combination of Rafaela and Luciela awakens it will be mighty scary. I mean, after all, it will have the combined power of an abyssal one and a former #2. I think Riful is taking a huge gamble though.

Will it be strong enough to take on Priscilla though? And what’s up with her traveling with Raki anyway? She’s shrunk in size because she hasn’t devoured a human in six years – that’s both scary and amazing! It looks like a confrontation between her and Clare is, at long last, on it’s way.

One question remains that I desperately want answered, is Irene still alive? I still find it horribly suspicious that Norihiro didn’t show us her battle with Rafaela and left it so open-ended. Sue she was severely weakened, and sounded like she was defeated, but Irene has proven that she is a survivor.

Damnit! I can’t wait until the next chapter comes out.