RG Veda, Vol. 06

聖伝 ‐RG VEDA‐ #6

by Clamp

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.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics Manga, Comics, 漫画, Shounen Ai

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 25, 1992

About the author

Ōkawa Nanase 大川七瀬
[born: 2 May 1967; Ōsaka, bloodtype: A]

Mokona Apapa もこなあぱぱ
[born: 16 Jun 1968, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]

Nekoi Mick 猫井みっく
[born: 21 Jan 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: O]

Igarashi Satsuki 五十嵐さつき
[born: 8 Feb 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]


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.

Reviews

[MaguiWorld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peeeeero!!! No se salva nadie en este manga eh. Vamos de muerte en muerte.

Es peligroso encariñarse con algún personaje porque puede morir en el mismo tomo en el que lo presentan 😂

Me gusta como va avanzando la historia aunque se ocupe todo un tomo en presentar alguien que después va a morir en ese mismo tomo y poco haga. Y también se muestre un nuevo villano.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for complete series


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.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if Yasha has lost everything, look! He keeps finding more to lose. He still has Ashura. ven though Ashura can’t get over their mother’s rejection, Ashura still has Yasha. The loss of the Yasha clan comes back to haunt Yasha again in a return home, a surprising survivor, and a look at Yasha’s youth, revealing that Yasha still had someone to lose. I’m not sure if I understood Rasetsu’s change of heart, but it was beautiful. CLAMP gets away with a lot due the beauty of its artwork. Yasha’s devotion to Ashura, the way it was depicted in stunning, exquisite panels with just a touch of menace was breathtaking. Ashura’s beauty and innocence, their utter devotion to Yasha while their power swirled around both of them was epic. Kujaku continues to support Ashura’s bond with Yasha, or perhaps he’s supporting Ashura. He drops hints about his own past even while comforting the ancient lost child he’s concerned himself with. Kujaku is such an intriguing character. Speaking of intriguing, Taishakuten continues to hint that he’s got a secret, even when he’s being goofy in the omake, even if he’s lost the evil smile. The evil smile is quite hot, especially when it’s enigmatic. I’m imagining all sorts of ways he might appear in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles; from comparing shoulder guards with Zagato to playing another engimatic adversary or ally. All in all; I’m once again too smitten with the artwork to object to the problems and drawn in by the mysteries.

[Kyla Sixkiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yasha grapples with renewed loss upon returning to his ravaged homeland, a reminder of his shattered past. Despite their individual traumas, Yasha and Ashura find solace in their unwavering bond, beautifully depicted in CLAMP's exquisite artwork. The panels capture both the tenderness and undercurrent of menace within their devotion, alongside Ashura's mesmerizing power. Kujaku remains an enigma, offering cryptic support to Ashura and hinting at a veiled past.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un nùmero que me gustò mucho.

Sobre los hermanos, gemelos, destino y elecciones. Empezamos a ver alteregos/gemelos que son idènticos y tècnicamente buscan lo mismo, o se odian o son odiados por las mismas razones y que a la vez buscan su propio camino.

Està buena la filosofìa, lo de fantasìa èpica se mantiene, y siempre hay como 1312893918 espadas en cada toma hahaha.

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rasetsuuuuu! Nuooooo!!! Gila, bisa-bisanya pasukan Taishaku-ten langsung muncul di tempat klan Yasha. Sepasukan nyerang satu orang. Pengecut sekali. Kok bisa tiba-tiba dateng? Karena cermin air Hanyaraka kah? Kalau iya, kok Ryu-ou belum ketahuan? Hmmmmmm!

Semoga di volume berikutnya mereka udah ketemu Karura-ou.

[Brujaxa · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Leído en español]
De forma muy tonta me leí este volumen pensando que era el 1. Si me gusta la serie volveré y haré una reseña en condiciones.

[Robiok · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t say this lightly but…this might be the first truly pointless death in the whole series. Still a beautiful volume but yea, not a fan of that choice.

[Freya Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good one