The stunning climax of CLAMP's epic debut! Six Stars have gathered at the god king Taishakuten's palace for their final showdown. Ashura's seal is now lifted, and he becomes the God of Destruction, caring for nothing but killing. Meanwhile, Kujaku reveals the meaning of the prophecy, and Taishakuten's secret also becomes clear. And in a final clash, Ashura faces of against Yasha, and one of them will fall...
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.
Creo que no había algo tan debastador en mi vida jajajaja a ver, me gustó!! Aunque hay algo de Ashura que no me termina de gustar pero es algo que el personaje arrastró durante toda la historia.
En fin. Me gustó el final, creo que es bastante... Original? Al menos nunca me había tocado leer algo así jajajaa no hay autores tan malvados 😂
Un tome riche en action et en péripéties, ce qui le rend sans doute le plus agréable à lire de la saga. Les révélations finales ne sont pas extraordinaires, et ça reste une série plus jolie visuellement que intéressante scénaristiquement (à mes yeux). Je ne la recommanderai presque que pour voir historiquement ce qu'a fait Clamp, ici on a notamment 2 couples homosexuels et des thèmes ou outils qui resteront récurrent (les promesses à l'être aimé comme but dans la vie, une prophétie qui structure l'histoire, une relation parent de substition-enfant,...)
Artwork: Solid 5/5 stars! Top notch work; definitely the most gorgeous of CLAMP's art that I've seen. Story: 4/5 stars. A bit confusing, especially towards the beginning, but overall very compelling. Characters: 3/5 stars. Somewhat confusing motives, and rushed arcs, but a few stand out exceptions.
CLAMP's debut manga is a stellar introduction to their work, and shows off all their greatest strengths. Firstly, THE ART IS UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS. I thought XXXHOLIC was their most beautiful manga, and in many ways, it is, but it's one major drawback are the character designs (those noodle legs, man....), whereas RG Veda has the advantage of beautiful character designs as well as fantastic backgrounds, details, and action. If Tsubasa and XXXHOLIC are their most complex and best work, then RG Veda is their most visually, aesthetically appealing.
The story, for the most part, is pretty standard: a terrible tyrant overthrew a beloved king, and reigns terror down upon the masses, both human and gods, for seemingly no other reason than his own personal pleasure. The people around him grow resentful and slowly build a rebellion, while a prophecy looms overhead.... Classic fantasy story, right? Well, yes.... except:
Unlike typical CLAMP fashion, there's no direct "age gap relationship," that is always, always ALWAYS my biggest beef with their work. I refuse to count Lord Yasha and Ashura, because though the art often depicts their bond as extremely deep (and borderline romantic), over and over again, characters refer to them as "father and son." So, I think any "romantic" inclinations are more a side effect of writers having trouble portraying any deep bond without making it look somewhat romantic. (Think of Frodo and Sam from Lord of the Rings.) Granted, if the writers were intending on making Yasha and Ashura a canon pairing......... Wellllll. I suppose it helps that they're both godlike, and long-lived.... ugggghhhhhh, why CLAMP?!
Still, this manga is definitely worth checking out. The exposition in the first couple of volumes are rather confusing and dense, but once you get the hang of it, the characters grow on you and the story draws you deeper and deeper until you're too invested to stop. Such is the case of pretty much any CLAMP manga. I'm glad I finally had a chance to read their "original" series, because it's definitely one I'll have to recommend to other fans of manga. (But I would suggest reading physical copies, not online, because the dialogue and exposition can get REALLY complicated and long, and I know how difficult it is to follow that reading online scans vs the real thing...)
It was fine, I guess. I was totally right that they would try to make Taishakuten a noble/sympathetic character in the end, and they absolutely failed. It doesn't matter how sad and brooding he was, dude was still genocidal and cruel.
Oh, and I kinda hate CLAMP's tendency to make everyone totally oblivious to how much they love their significant other until they're literally about to die. It's lame, it's melodramatic, and it's a cheap ploy to inject the scene with emotional depth.
One last thing: the conflict between was very, very stupid. It honestly felt kinda gross.
What a disappointing end to a series that started with such promise.
Finally! Después de leer el último tomo puedo decir que hasta hoy CLAMP no había logrado interesarme tanto (incluso con X 1999). Buena historia, con varios giros dramáticos, que evoluciona con cada capítulo y con un estilo que va cambiando hasta convertirse en estilo distintivo de las Clamp.
En fin, un trabajo que vale la pena... y que, sin duda alguna, es la base de todo el universo Clamp.
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.
Necesito como milenios para pensar la historia, pero a la vez es completamente entendible.
Y es extraño, la primera "publicaciòn" de Clamp y creo que es el mejor resultado aun cuando X y xxxHolic me gusten muchìsimo màs.
Terminè encariñado con los personajes, con todos y cada uno de los que murieron. Hasta con el malo, y sus intenciones.
Pero vaya, que hay incesto, homosexualidad, lesbianismo, parricidio, infanticidio, guerras, deseos, magia, fantasìa, necromancia, destino y no sè què màs. En una hisotoria que al final podrìa volverse X y Tsubasa, el precio de los sueños, o mejor dicho del DESTINO; y la idea de que solo el ser humano puede cambiar el destino.
En un àmbito màs personal, apenas valiò madre mi amistad con alguien por màs de 10 años solo por confesar que me gustaba; y por ello me llegò mucho el final; con tanto amor y destino y sacrificio y promesas y blabla. Què padre la idea del amor, pero que odio con que alguien lo consiga hahaha peor a la vez no se puede pasar por alto los miles de litros de sangre necesarios para lograrlo. O incluso còmo otros tuvieron que destruir el mundo solo por lograr una noche de pasiòn, al menos pasiòn de un lado, ya que el otro lado igual usò para sus fines y condenò a la otra parte.
Y todo gira en torno al amor, màs que al destino creo es el deseo o el amor lo que cambia el curso de las profecìas. Aun si despuès de la pantalla de crèditos ya no hay mucho mundo què salvar. Me recordò a la histoira de ICO. y obviamente a Yuko y Fei Wang; incluso te hace sentir mejor que Tsubasa, X o Holic no acabaran, porque el precio por su final o felicidad serìa muchìsimo peor que RG Veda.
Mau kukasih bintang satu tapi ini karya CLAMP yang gambarnya bagus banget 😂
Menurutku yang paling jahat di sini ya Ashura-ou dan Kujaku, deh. Ashura-ou aneh. Kalau dia aja bisa tahu dosa tersembunyi Tentei, masak dia nggak tahu tabiatnya Shashi kayak apa? Coba yang dia nikahin itu Shara, kan nggak bakal begini jadinya. Atau ya childfree aja gitu xD Siwalan.
Kujaku, bisa-bisanya dia gak ngasih tahu arti dari isi ramalan yang sebenarnya. Baru ngasih tahu setelah Yasha doang yang masih hidup. You are totally evil!
CLAMP members are the queens of sick love stories. Sickest of the sickest. Mulai Bishamonten yang mantu terburuk sepanjang masa, Kisshouten yang gak jujur sama perasaan sendiri, Kendappa-ou yang psycho. Taishaku-ten yang ngomongin soal jaga janji buat mencegah enam bintang bersatu tapi nyatanya malah dia sendiri yang bikin para bintang memberontak dengan tingkahnya. Haaaaaaaah! Big plot holes everywhere! As big as the moon!
Aku tahu sih maksudnya CLAMP itu menggambarkan ikatan dua entitas yang begitu kuat sampai melebihi seluruh dunia. Bagaimana seseorang rela mengorbankan seluruh dunia demi bisa bersama orang yang dia cintai. Konsep besar yang terasa romantis sekaligus mengerikan, sih. Aku masih ingat betapa terpananya aku saat membaca ending RG Veda untuk pertama kalinya.
Tapi mengingat bahwa kerusakan sebesar ini sebenarnya tidak perlu terjadi jika para tokohnya nggak bertindak seenaknya sendiri, rasanya segala tragedi dalam cerita ini seperti dibuat-buat agar pesan tema besarnya tersampaikan.
Ya udahlah yang penting aku udah puas karena bisa baca cerita ini secara lengkap dan urut. Dulu cuma tahu awalan, sedikit pertengahan, dan akhirnya aja. Gimana ga kejang-kejang? XD
Now, aku mau maraton Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle! XD
Strange how this ended so tragically, yet opened up to reveal a happy ending waiting behind the tragedy, born of yet another tragic sacrifice. Powerful and beautiful, the final revealations were shocking, yet a path of hints lead to them throughout the entire series. The cruelty of a tyrant concealed the heart of a ruthless romantic. The sweet face of a romantic was a mask for the stubborness of a tyrant. Love conquered in the end for two people, watered by the blood of the many it destroyed. Organic, sensual, and disturbing as the many hearts which opened, revealed themselves and were crushed on the twisting vines of this epic, it remains unforgettable.
This captivating series finale delivers a powerful emotional rollercoaster. A tragic ending unfolds, yet a glimmer of hope emerges from the sacrifice. The narrative masterfully weaves shocking revelations with subtle hints sprinkled throughout. A ruthless tyrant hides a romantic heart, while a charming romantic masks tyrannical tendencies. Love triumphs for two, but at a devastating cost. Sensual, disturbing, and unforgettable, this epic story leaves a lasting impression.
I just.... I read the entire thing in such rapid succession I don't even know how to write a proper review. I need at least another week to process this
Watched the first movie, left it on a cliffhanger. Found out there was no second movie made for it, had to wait ages to find out what happens, A really gooending with a few twists in the plot
What an amazing adventure! This was a true epic, it was larger-than-life on every level! The story was tragic, heroic and memorable, and the twists and turns kept coming right to the end! The artwork for this series is rich and enchanting, it took me forever to read the whole thing because I had to stop on each page to take in the beauty of it and appreciate scale and detail. This last book in particular was full of twists and turns, with all the questions finally being answered and all the intricately interwoven plots finally resolved. What was also great about this story, was that even though the very end was so full of jack-knifing plot twists, they weren't incongruous or contrary to the plot up to that point, they actually worked really well into the remaining plot holes that had been building since the first volume. I was really blown away! I can't believe Taishakuten turned out to be a good guy (sort of). I knew there had to be something behind his seemingly completely random acts of ruthless brutality, but I never thought I'd end up liking him best of all the characters. He's like the ultimate dark and tragic anti-hero, literally ripping apart all of creation to keep his promise to the one he loved. Kendapa's murder-suicide with Souma kind of irked me, but her logic in this case made a twisted sort of sense, as did Taishakuten's, when he dragged Souma away from Kendapa's body before she could make her immortal. I'm not sure why Ashura's defiance of the prophecy made him turn into a giant tentacle creature, or why Kujaku's blood sacrifice brought him back, but by that point, you're too shell shocked by one dazzling scene after the next to the point that you just come to accept it as 'that's the way it works in Tenkai' and proceed to enjoy the show. I love the ultimate moral at the end of the story: the bonds of love within the human heart are powerful enough to overcome destiny itself. Forget two thumbs up, I'll raise all ten fingers and it won't be enough - I'm totally blown away! Awesome series!
Un manga increíble, impecable en todo sentido. Los dibujos están muy bien hechos, escenas de batalla prolijas y la historia te atrapa desde el inicio al estar muy bien lograda. Se sintió tanto lo transmitido por los personajes que no pude dejar de leer ni un instante. La infinidad de detalles y su ambigüedad juegan un rol muy importante a lo largo de la lectura y encajan perfectamente sin dejar pie a hilos sueltos. Para recordar, 10 de 10.
I bought this manga like over 15 years ago in a mexican comic convention and still treasure it today. Sadly for better or worse, not only I can only understand very basic japanese this is the last volume of RG Veda meaning not only I got spoiled the ending but I don't understand anything.
It's such a shame this manga hasn't been translated to spanish in Mexico, it's seriously underrated. I would love to read the english edition someday.
volume 1-9 nanti nyusul aja dirate & ditambahin ke bookshelf-nya :p
saya pusing sama plot twistnya sebenernya, trus ngerasa banyak tokoh yang matinya sia-sia -___-. tapi, huh, ashura-yasha definitely one of CLAMP's best pair. ever. cant help but ship them -/////- #heh.