I'll have a review coming up on Bureau42 by next week at the soonest. ( )

Lord Yasha is sent out to find Ashura, the last survivor of his tribe, who will gather the "Six Stars," six warriors prophesied to overthrow the god-king Taishakuten.

This is typical CLAMP fare: a fantasy story told with beautiful, elaborate art, cryptic prophecies, a few twists, and a high body count. At ten volumes the pace is pretty fast, and while I'd rather a series be a little too short than too long, my only complaint is that there wasn't much time for character development outside of their backstories. It's still a quick, fun ride, and a must for CLAMP fans. ( )

Although I've enjoyed everything by Clamp that I've read so far, there are certain series I haven't tried due to what I've heard about them. I had put RG Veda off for a while because I had heard that the story is probably one of Clamp's most confusing works. And, considering how easily confused I am, I wasn't sure about reading it. However, this first volume surprised me in that I really didn't find it all that confusing.

RG Veda appears to be a fairly straight forward fantasy tale of a world once ruled peacefully under one king until a tyrant killed the king, married his wife and took over the kingdom to rule in horror and violence. When a stargazer (precog) the tyrant has held for 300 years goes missing he tests the young appearing warrior, Yasha, by charging him with the task of hunting her down and slaying her. Instead Yasha hears the precog's prophesy of doom and destruction for himself, the tyrant and the entire world. Told of a child who will destroy him Yasha finds the baby he names Ashura, after the warrior God who originally ruled and despite all warnings and prophesies to the contrary, vows to keep the child safe with him.

Now, one might wonder why Yasha would concern himself so very much with the protection of a child destined to destroy him. I have a theory on this. From what I've read of warriors, they see embracing death and destiny as a strength. His care for one who will ultimately destroy him would seem like the greatest test of a warrior. Plus, despite it all and in the course of the story, Yasha appears to have built a genuine affection for Ashura. I might be completely wrong, but that was my feeling.

Although I have a bad feeling about this as it has been repeatedly implied that the destinies contained in this book are stone set and will probably be unrelentingly tragic, it is such an interesting tale I think I'll just have to continue on to see what happens.

As for the artwork itself, it is some of the best I think I've seen so far. Yasha is very handsome, the women are all drawn to be exceedingly lovely and Ashura is quite cute, almost feminine despite the fact he is referred to as a "he" throughout the manga. ( )