Creator: CLAMP
Format: Right-to-Left
Original Publisher: KADOKAWA
US Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: 9/6/16
Pages: 656
ISBN: 1616559888
MSRP: $24.99
Genre: Fantasy
Rated: T (Teens)
Description: RG Veda, pronounced Rig Veda, is based on the classic Indian saga of the same name. The lush, sprawling epic follows Yasha, once a mighty warrior king, but now the lord of a slaughtered people he could not save. Yasha journeys the land as the companion and protector of the genderless Ashura, even knowing Ashura's fate is wound with doom for many. Together they seek the other four of the "Six Stars," whose prophesied gathering will at least defeat Taishukuten, the evil usurper of Heaven's throne. But all prophecies are open to interpretation...
Contains 7 Parts:
- The Ressurection of Ashura
- Star Festival
- Storm of the Six Stars - Part 01
- Flame of Destruction, Thunder of the King
- Traveler's Light
- Storm of the Six Stars - Part 02
- Ice Castle, Fire Prison
Revew:
Cover: The cover for this volume has a Gold colored background. The main image is directly centered and features Ashura and Yasha. The series title and mangaka are along the left side of the cover, with the volume number on the right side.
The spine from top to bottom contains the series title and mangakas side-by-side, the volume number, an image of Ashura and Yasha taken from the front cover, and the Dark Horse Comics company logo.
The back cover mainly has everything shifted to the right side. The top portion has an image of, yet again, Ashura and Yasha taken from the front cover. Then we have the series title, the mangakas, and the volume description.
The only thing great about this cover is the front cover. The background color used was a great choice! The image used as well, on the front only! There was so much art that could have been used for the spine and the back cover, but nope! We got the same image used over and over. This is an Omnibus. It was originally 4 Volumes! And we got artwork from just 1 cover? This is probably one of the worst cover designs I have seen in a very long time.
Artwork: This series is done by one of my favorite group of artists of all time, CLAMP. Even if their stories are terrible, their artwork makes up for everything! RG Veda is their very first work, and it still shows just how beautiful of art they can truly create. The artwork is very Shojo-esqe, but it has a lot of detail to it. If anything, if you are a fan of great art, check this volume out!
Translation: Character names, places, artifacts, sound effects, and pretty much everything you can think of was left intact. However, from the nature of this series and knowing CLAMP, the one thing that was not kept were the honorifics, which was a bit disappointing to see.
Extras: There were absolutely no extras with this release. This was a bit disappointing as well weith all the extra content that was included when the series was originally released; the Tokyopop releases had the extra chapters and content.
Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): The prophecy tells of one man who will one day destroy the Earth completely. It is said that if he is revived that he will one day end all life. This is basically where our story begins. A man named Yasha hears this prophecy, yet still does not believe in such nonsense and decides to awaken a child, Ashura, who has been sleeping in a forest for 300 years. It is said that the child will bring bad luck to anyone who encounters him, including killing Yasha. Yasha still does not believe the prophecy and will do whatever he can to change the destiny and bring balance to the planet.
Thus we now begin a quest in a sense. Yasha decides to raise the young Ashura as his own, gathering his Six Stars and regaining the Sword that the original Ashura once possessed. But there is a lot to this tale and it is rich in history.
Ashura was actually born from a woman who did not love the original Lord Ashura, but an evil god Taishakuten. There were two children actually born and were seperated. The child Ashura was sealed in the forest because the prophecy told of him killng the god Taishakuten, which is also the reason Yasha is protecting the boy cause the god actually wiped out all of Yasha's tribe as well.
There is a large blood soaked path of destrucition whereever our protagonists seem to go, and the main quest in this volume does not really move that far along. By volumes end we have Ashura basically just regaining his sword and still looking for his Six Stars, which two of them have already been found just not really shared with the readers.
As a whole, this story is a bit confusing. The chapters don't really flow with each other and are all over the place without really telling the readers what happened and at what point in time the chapter takes place in the story. However, it is still a very rich tale, and if you can get through it, you can pretty much catch on to a lot of it if you pay really close attention to the details. As this is a CLAMP title, I wasn't expecting the story to go off in a complete weird tangent at times, but it is also their first work as well. The story has an intriguing plot, that I will stick around for with the next volume at least, but if you have a hard time following stories, this might not be something you want to get into.
Thus we now begin a quest in a sense. Yasha decides to raise the young Ashura as his own, gathering his Six Stars and regaining the Sword that the original Ashura once possessed. But there is a lot to this tale and it is rich in history.
Ashura was actually born from a woman who did not love the original Lord Ashura, but an evil god Taishakuten. There were two children actually born and were seperated. The child Ashura was sealed in the forest because the prophecy told of him killng the god Taishakuten, which is also the reason Yasha is protecting the boy cause the god actually wiped out all of Yasha's tribe as well.
There is a large blood soaked path of destrucition whereever our protagonists seem to go, and the main quest in this volume does not really move that far along. By volumes end we have Ashura basically just regaining his sword and still looking for his Six Stars, which two of them have already been found just not really shared with the readers.
As a whole, this story is a bit confusing. The chapters don't really flow with each other and are all over the place without really telling the readers what happened and at what point in time the chapter takes place in the story. However, it is still a very rich tale, and if you can get through it, you can pretty much catch on to a lot of it if you pay really close attention to the details. As this is a CLAMP title, I wasn't expecting the story to go off in a complete weird tangent at times, but it is also their first work as well. The story has an intriguing plot, that I will stick around for with the next volume at least, but if you have a hard time following stories, this might not be something you want to get into.
Objectionable Content:
- Language: No
- Violence: Yes
- Nudity: No
- Sexual Situations: Yes
Score:
- Cover: 2/10
- Artwork: 10/10
- Translation: 7/10
- Extras: 0/10
- Story: 6/10
Overall Rating: 5/10
Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 10/31/16
No comments:
Post a Comment