Three hundred years ago, a warlord overthrew the Emperor of Heaven and began a cruel and tyrannical reign, but a prophecy foresaw that Six Stars could bring about his downfall, and Yasha is determined to make the prophecy come true.
CLAMP originally began in 1989 as a twelve-member dōjinshi circle, but by 1990, the circle had diminished from twelve to seven. Of the remaining seven, Tamayo Akiyama, Sei Nanao, and Leeza Sei left the group during the production of the RG Veda manga. Other former members of CLAMP also included Soushi Hishika, O-Kyon, Kazue Nakamori, Yuzuru Inoue and Shinya Ōmi. Currently, there are four members in the group.
In 2004, CLAMP's 15th anniversary as a mangaka group, the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi (her name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters) respectively. The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of CLAMP simply wanted to try out new names. In a later interview with Ohkawa, it was revealed that initially Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking, while Nekoi disliked people commenting that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's. Ohkawa and Igarashi, wanting to go with the flow of Nekoi's and Mokona's name changes, changed their names as well.
In 2006, they made their first USA public debut at Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. They were well received at the convention, with 6,000 fans in attendance at their panel.
Amo la cantidad de personajes y seres que van apareciendo en cada uno de los tomos. Me preguntó a veces como es que habrán pensado el manga, porque realmente a pesar de que poco sucede, el mundo se amplia y los lazos se fortaleces.
Another volume drips with beauty, blood, battle, and magic. A demon child in an ice castle tries to claim Yasha as her own. It’s up to Ashura to save their devoted champion with Sohma and Ryu-oh fighting at their back. Sometimes Taishakuten’s forces come pouring down against them. Sometimes they’re just watching. What is their motivation? As for Kujaku, just what is he up to?
Kujaku revealed a lot more in these stunning panels while weaving an even greater mystery about himself. He seems genuinely fond of Ashura. It’s hard to read what lies behind his teasing of Yasha and the other stars. He can be quite ruthless toward his foes, showing a side quite at odds with the playful facade he keeps up around Ashura and Yasha. Taishakuten is an enigma as well. Does he want to be entertained by his foes, to destroy them, or both? I’m guessing both. The poor demon antagonist of this volume seemed quite simple in her desire to be beautiful and powerful. She was a lot less sympathetic and tugged less at Ashura’s heartstrings than in the animated OVA. There was a curious symmetry between this demon and Ashura which may have been foreshadowing, considering Ashura’s other aspect. Some of the banter was cute, some of it felt awkward. The omake was hilarious. Yes, Yasha is a simple, straightforward character compared to the others, including his beloved Ashura. Once again the beauty of the artwork was so overwhelming, it washed away much of my criticism, leaving me gaping at the panels. I look forward to more.
Oh I see, ternyata memang cermin air peramalnya Taishaku-ten nggak selalu bisa mengawasi Ashura dan Yasha-ou. Di sini ada kekkai yang blokir penglihatan cermin ketika mereka berada di kastil esnya siluman. Apakah itu semua karena Kujaku? Aku inget dulu pas baca ini pertama kalinya lihat Kujaku bisa ngeluarin sayap hitam. Keren, tapi juga menakutkan. Di balik tingkah lakunya yang slebor dan suka cengengesan, dia nyimpen sifat yang sadis. Apa dia juga yang nurunin pedang Yasha ke klan Yasha?
Taishakuten has murdered the Heavenly Emperor and conquered his throne. The once peaceful kingdom falls into a long period of tyranny where rebellion against the new Heavenly Emperor means the destruction of whole tribes. The legendary Ashura tribe was the first to fall, yet the young Prince survived and prophecy has it that he will gather the six stars who will be the downfall of Taishakuten.
Although RG Veda isn't CLAMP's first work, it is their debut manga. It is loosely based on the Veda Hindu scripts, but as I am not very familiar with those, I really can't say how much freedom CLAMP allowed themselves with this one.
RG Veda is not an easy manga to get into, and definitely not one I would recommend to someone who is new to reading manga. It has a very slow start with a lot of information getting thrown at you. This also leads to a somewhat rocky flow of the story. That being said, once getting through the first volumes, it turns into an emotional and complex story.
There are many characters involved and even though the length of this series doesn't allow us to know all characters in great detail, it is still very easy to feel their pain. What little we know of them looks very real and as the story progresses, one can find that there are many grey characters - even the most villainous ones have their good sides and there are many surprising twists towards the end. There is certainly a lot of drama and suffering in this one, despite the occasional comic relief, you really might not want to start loving these characters too much, CLAMP started early with killing off their characters.
Also typical for CLAMP is the stunning artwork and ambiguous relationships between characters. Although several of the male characters are a little too bulky for my liking, there's not much left to be desired when it comes to the intricate clothing, backgrounds, hair, weapons and general page layout.
Although he is clearly named as Prince Ashura, our young hero is said to be genderless and has fooled several potential readers, myself included, into thinking him to be a female. I've never felt comfortable with people romanticising his relationship with the god of war Yasha - yes, the two of them are very close, but I can't see it as anything other than a father-son kind of bond. However, there are other queer characters along the way and some of them really come around with a twist that I don't think many people would see coming.
So despite the slow start, this is a wonderful tale of gods, humans, age-long wars and family and love. For all who struggle with getting into this, give it another chance, the second half may very well prove worthy of your time and surprise you in ways you did not see coming.
This breathtaking volume continues the saga with stunning art, brutal battles, and a deepening mystery. A demon child in an ice castle attempts to claim Yasha, forcing Ashura, Sohma, and Ryu-oh to intervene. Taishakuten's motives remain unclear - his forces sometimes attack, sometimes observe. Kujaku, meanwhile, sheds light on his past while keeping his true agenda shrouded. His playful facade with Ashura masks a ruthlessness that leaves readers guessing. As for Taishakuten, does he crave entertainment, annihilation, or both? Even the demon antagonist appears one-dimensional compared to the complex interplay between the heroes. Yasha remains straightforward, a stark contrast to the layered characters swirling around him.
I really didn't like the God-king killing that little girl for absolutely no reason. It just seemed the like authors wanted a needless death to progress the plot but it didn't really seem like the character would do that. Or he would of killed more innocent people for no reason. Killing a loyal soldier's most beloved young sister. Doesn't seem in character. Well it looks like the next book is going to be all about her revenge. So I guess it's progressing the plot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Another great volume of RG Veda! I still can't get enough of the artwork, its truly beautiful, stunning, larger-than-life and breath-taking. This book had a great story arc, and the resolution was satisfying. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the ice demon in the end, even though it was clearly evil. I wonder what exactly Kujaku's real motives are - he's a really intriguing character! I enjoyed the Ashura succession ceremony, it was hair-raising-ly dramatic, I love poetic incantations like that, especially when they are combined with that energetic divine wind that always seems to be conventional, gusting here and there in these sorts of stories. That's part of the great thing about RG Veda, it's predictable, but still really unique and compelling. I look forward to seeing what will come next!
Die Hingabe zwischen Yasha-Oh und Ashura ist einfach alles. Aber wie gewöhnlich mit Clamp kann nichts wirklich glücklich enden - ja, ich spreche über Yasha-Oh und seinen Bruder. Und Yasha-Oh weiß gar nicht, was passiert ist, er glaubt, dass sein Bruder in Ordnung ist... Mein Herz!