RG Veda

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rg veda is a classic. it's not as well known to today's younger generation of manga fans, but those who have read it never forgot it.

it is one of clamps earliest works, and its first major work.

and what a story they have spun! gods and goddesses, war, forbidden love, betrayal, loyalty and trust. unfulfilled desires and hidden wishes.

love that spans across centuries. characters who have sold their souls for their wishes. characters who have all but died from the loss of their love.

the first few volumes are a little confusing, since clamp has a tendency of introducing several characters at a time, but ... once you get past the first four (or less), you will find yourself drawn into the story like never before.

you will be mesmerized, i assure you.

this has themes of shounen-ai (the ones labeled androgynous still look like men, albeit very pretty boys),and shoujo ai, so those with squicks, you have been warned.

but this is clamp, and if you like their other series you must not mind it, ne? i myself, find their standard, that love transcends without discrimination, that love is between souls and things like gender are made inconsequential, very, very romantic.

I honestly didn't think I'd like this and it was absolutely prejudiced of me. The name sounded too much like it would be filled with Mecha and Action (which aren't my cup of tea.), but it was the closest manga in reach and I needed something to read.

I was very pleasantly surprised, the characters and artwork were brilliant. I fell in love with each new character, wanting to know more about them and felt my heart being crushed as I saw them being brutally killed. I'm not sure if I've read a manga containing more innocent bloodshed, except maybe Hellsing, but that's debateable.

For CLAMPs first ... ever manga its very good quality. The art work is pretty, the dialogue flows, the characters are well thought out and the plot is thick but unravels at a good pace. There are bits of comedy thrown in and a fair bit of action with lines like:

"stunning wolfblade go!"

In my opinion maybe too many of those likes, and too many pages of pure action. But even though I say that and I don't like action too much, I don't think it's a failing of this manga. It wasn't pointless action, it had its place and it filled it well.

If you like CLAMP, angst, action and fantastical worlds then give this a read. It's most definitely worth the money and I can't wait for Volume 10.

Right now I'm off to hunt down the OAV!

Nanashi Moriko *Not quite an RG Veda fangirl but a Soma fangirl*

11/05/07

Note: This review was written before volume 10 had been released in English translation. At the time of writing I have read volume 10 and will be updating soon

First, I have to mention that I read it on my laptop so the quality of the art and the narrative is lost in the screen, but it still can be appreciated.

The Art and the narrative is good, but is the later that suffers the most. The fights scenes can be confusing to follow the action and know what’s going on, this as well happens in some flashbacks where there are no texts and this can be worsen by the character design, something that I think is one of the biggest flaws in all of CLAMP’s work.

The Story is good as well, it is ... about destiny and if you can break it or not, a common theme in all of CLAMP's work. I theme well treated here making it enjoyable and interesting, the relationships with the characters and how they are connected is good as well, despite the fact it can be obvious where the direction is going, they can twisted a little and bring it to some unpredictable places.
The pace is good giving it space to know the characters and the world, but a little rushed towards the end, not so much to ruin the story.

The characters is the only part of the manga I did not like so much. Something that CLAMP likes to do a lot is making bad guys, good guys and vice versa. I'm not saying that is wrong is just that when you do it you have to be very carefully or you could spoil the character making it inconsistent, regardless to their actions and what they say, and well that is what happened here. Hopefully this didn't happened with all of them, but when it does it's just hard to believe.

Overall if you like CLAMP's work read it!! and if you don't like it give it a chance it's not their best work, but a good one, and what a great job to be one of their first published manga.

Regardless to the score i think it should be around a 6 or a 7, but who cares.