RG Veda

RG Veda
Original title	聖伝 RG VEDA
transcription	Silk RG Veda
genre	Fantasy , action, shōjo
Manga
country	Japan Japan
author	Clamp
publishing company	Shinshokan
magazine	Wings Magazine
First publication	1989-1996
expenditure	10
Original video animation
Country of production	Japan Japan
original language	Japanese
year	1991
Studio	Animate movie
length	45 minutes
Episodes	2
Director	Hiroyuki Ebata , Takamasa Ikegami
music	Nick Wood
synchronization

RG Veda ( Japanese聖伝 RG VEDA; Seiden RG Veda ) is a ten-volume manga series by the artist group Clamp . From 1989 to 1996 RG Veda appeared in Japan in Wings Magazine published by Shinshokan . Clamp took the name of the series from the oldest known book of Indian origin, the Rigveda . RG Veda was also implemented as a two-part original video animation and can be classified into the genres Shōjo , Action and Fantasy .

content

Three hundred years ago, Taishaku-ten, god of thunder, started a rebellion against the Heavenly Emperor. He defeated the army of the god of protection and war, Ashura-oh, because his wife Shashi betrayed him, and rose himself to be emperor of heaven. In the present, the general of the Imperial Army in the north, Yasha-oh, is being made a prophecy by the astrologer Kuyoh: Six dark stars will fall from the sky and Yasha-oh will have to raise a kinship child who is neither good nor bad. The six stars will ultimately defeat the god of thunder, but one of them will betray the others.

Following this prophecy, Yasha-oh awakens the sexless child Ashura-ohs, Ashura, who slept under a magical seal for three hundred years. He interprets the prophecy in such a way that the "six stars" can overthrow Taishaku-ten together, and together with Ashura he goes in search of them. Sohma, Ryu-oh and Karura-oh, who, like Ashura and Yasha-oh, turn out to be members of the Six Stars, gradually join them. Kujaku appears and disappears again and again just as quickly, a mysterious character with the purple eyes of a demon, who often gives Yasha-oh helpful advice, but whose intentions remain unclear. In addition, it turns out that Ashura has a double nature: In addition to the cute child who idolizes his foster father Yasha-oh, there is a bloodthirsty youth whose scheme warned Yasha-oh against touching Ashura's seal, otherwise the world would become a hell of flames .

Characters

The six stars

Ashura is the only child of the late Ashura-oh and the last survivor of the Ashura clan. Since he was born when Ashura-oh was already dead, he was a nuisance to his mother Shashi and she tried to kill him. But his powers protected him and sealed him in the Mayan enchanted forest, where he slept for three hundred years until Yasha-oh woke him up. Ashura is the first "true Ashura", a god of war whose lust is killing. But this side of Ashura is sealed and at first appears only rarely. When Yasha-oh breaks Ashura's seal, Ashura is initially a baby, behind whom the real Ashura appears in a youthful form. However, he quickly grows into what may be a six or seven year old child and remains in that guise for most of the manga. When the real Ashura awakens, he in turn grows into a youth. Ashura can produce flames and has mastered the Shura-toh sword, which has been in the possession of the Ashura kings for generations. It has been in his body since the succession ceremony and appears from his hand when he needs it. Shura-toh has two seals on the foreheads of the two Ashura priestesses, Shashi and her sister Kara. When Ashura uses the last of these two seals, he finally becomes the "true Ashura", who completes his resurrection with the death of the six stars, whose power flows to him. However, when he wants to kill Yasha-oh, he finally turns his sword on himself. Ashura is sexless as punishment for the sin of his father who wanted to rebel against fate, but since most Western languages do not have a sexless pronoun, will In translations, “he” denotes either the masculine or the feminine pronoun. In Germany the manga uses "he", the OVA subtitles make Ashura a girl.

Yasha-oh is the king of the Yasha tribe and, as a general of the imperial army in the north, is the strongest warrior god (Japanese Bushinshō ) in heaven. When Taishaku-ten has his tribe wiped out as punishment for Yasha-oh disobeying his orders and, instead of killing the escaped Kuyoh, Ashura has wiped out his tribe, he swears vengeance and sets out with Ashura to search for the Six Stars . His sword, Yama-toh, resonates with Shura-toh and was forged by Kujaku to control Ashura.
Ryu-oh is the young king of the Ryu tribe who live by the sea in the west. He originally only joins Ashura and Yasha-oh to test his strength in the fight against Yasha-oh. He fights with the man-sized sword Ryuga-toh, which channels his ki - the blade of the sword is blunt.
Karura-oh is the queen of the karura and general of the imperial army in the south. Each member of the karura, who are deities associated with heaven, has a spiritual bird that shares their life. Her name is Garuda and it also serves as her weapon. She joins Yasha-oh's group to avenge the death of her little sister caused by Taishaku-ten.
Sohma is the only survivor of the Sohma, a tribe of healers who were destroyed by Taishaku-ten because they feared that, according to legend, one of their enemies could drink the blood of a Sohma and achieve immortality. She was saved by Kendappa-oh, to whom she is very attached. Sohma is a ninja and uses two crescent moons as a weapon.
Kendappa-oh , Queen of the Kendappa, is the music master Taishaku-tens. She is the last of the six stars to be found, and with good reason: She swore allegiance to Taishaku-ten as a child and serves as Jikoku-ten, the shogun and warrior god of the East, in the succession of her father. Her sword is cleverly hidden in her harp. Kendappa-oh is in love with Sohma, but she doesn't even want to break her oath for her: as long as Taishaku-ten is the strongest, she will serve him.

Ashura-oh

Ashura-oh was the king of the Ashura clan, the gods of war, the strongest god in heaven and the right hand of the previous Tenteis. He learned through the prophecy of Kuyoh and his own visions that his son would awaken as the true Ashura through the coming together of the six stars and destroy the three worlds. Nevertheless, he wanted his tribe to continue and rebelled against fate to enable his child to live. It is he who started the events in RG Veda: He married Shashi, who has one of Shura-toh's seals on her forehead, in the hope that Ashura would not want to kill his own mother. He secured Taishaku-tens' help in preventing the Six Stars from coming together. He let Kuyoh Yasha-oh make the prophecy. And he made Yasha-oh promise to protect Ashura when he was still a child.

Ashura-oh died fighting Taishaku-ten when he took the throne of heaven. His last wish was that Taishaku-ten should kill him and eat his body so that Taishaku-ten would have the strength to kill Ashura if necessary.

The imperial family

Taishaku-ten , the god of thunder, won the throne by killing the old emperor and his patron god Ashura-oh. That is why he is considered the strongest in heaven. His government is cruel; he had innumerable tribes wiped out for treason. He appears completely numb. However, it turns out that it was his sole aim to prevent the coming together of the Six Stars and thus Ashura's awakening. He made this promise to Ashura-oh, who knew the fate of his child from Kuyoh's prophecy and his own visions. In exchange, Taishaku-ten asked for Ashura-oh, with whom he is in love, himself.

Since he took the throne of Heaven, Taishaku-ten has been marked with the "data," the third eye of those who have done worse than demons, and his fingernails are deformed into claws. Both happened when he ate Ashura-oh's corpse at his request.

Shashi was originally a human woman who was given god status when she was selected as Ashura priestess with her sister Kara. She married Ashura-oh. But her ambition knows no bounds: In order to gain control over the kingdom of heaven, she revealed the secrets of the Ashura clan to the rebellious Taishaku-ten, who was able to win, and married him. Their son Ten-oh is supposed to cement their rule.

On Shashi's and Kara's foreheads there are two jewels that serve as Shura-toh's seals. They can only be taken from them by killing them.

Ten-oh , the son of Taishaku-tens and Shashi and twin Ashura, appears as the opposite of his parents. Kind and honest, he prefers reading to sword fighting, although he is very strong. He falls in love with Kendappa-oh.
Kissho-ten is the daughter of the previous emperor and wife of Bisham-ten.
Kujaku is the son of the previous Tenteis and his sister, the astrologer Sonsei-oh. As a child of siblings, he is marked with the mark of the Fallen ( Dates ), a third eye on his forehead, has purple eyes and black wings - hallmarks of demons. He is also an astrologer. He directs Ashura and Yasha-oh because he wants to change fate and prove that there are no unwanted children.

The Shitennō

Bishamon-ten is the general of the north and Taishaku-ten's closest confidante, as well as Yasha-oh's superior. It is he who is wiping out the Yasha clan. He is a very loyal man who has no friends among the other Shitennōo (whom he has spied on). Bishamon-ten was in love with Kissho-ten, the daughter of the previous Tentei, and asked Taishaku-ten for her hand in return for his services. However, he thinks she must hate him because of it, and until shortly before she dies they both consider each other to be indifferent.
Zōchō-ten is the general of the south and thus Karura-ohs superior. He follows Taishaku-ten because he admires his strength, but disagrees with his methods. He holds his hand protectively over Karura-oh, which he loves very much, a few times.
Kōmoku-ten is the general of the West and the one who was initially charged with tracking down Yasha-ohs and Ashura. In the pursuit of this task he gradually loses all his subordinates, but also kills Yasha-oh's half-brother Rasetsu and drives his wife Shara to suicide before he is defeated and killed by Yasha-oh. Komoku-ten has a daughter, Tamara, who is in love with Ten-oh.
Jikoku-ten , the general of the east, was unknown for a long time. Only Taishaku-ten and Bishamon-ten knew that as a child Kendappa-oh succeeded their father, who was killed as the shogun of the previous emperor of Taishaku-ten, to this office.

Mythology and name meanings

In the first place the mythological original is given, in brackets the respective equivalent in the manga. RG Veda is primarily based on Hindu mythology as it has found its way into Japanese culture. Since the story is not based directly on the Hindu stories, some of the characters are represented significantly differently and have different names than in the Indian original. For this reason, the roles of the protagonists are reversed: the hero of the Indian Rig Veda Indra becomes the evil god Taishakuten and instead of a demon Ashura is the girl who is supposed to restore harmony in heaven. These changes were not made by the authors, but rather come from the version of the story that was already widespread in Japan and that had been brought into the country by Buddhist monks. In addition to the base of the story originating from India, some figures were also borrowed from Japanese or Chinese deities.

Rig Veda (RG Veda) is the oldest and most extensive of the four Vedic text collections, and also the oldest evidence of Indian literature. Between the 12th and 18th centuries BC The work that was created in BC includes 1028 hymns with 10580 verses. Rig Veda mainly contains those hymns that one of the four main priests recited during the act of sacrifice to invite the gods to enjoy the sacrifice.
Indra (Taishaku-ten), the god of the firmament, the atmosphere personified. In the Vedas he is the highest of the gods. He rules the weather and sends rain, lightning and thunder. He is revered as the giver of rain, the source of fertility, and feared as the ruler of storms. He ruled together with his wife Indrani.
Asura (Ashura), demon, evil spirit. In the Rig Veda the word initially still means God, as an adjective also living, divine. It was only in later hymns that Asura became the symbol of dark forces and the Asuras' struggle against the gods became a recurring, popular theme.
Yaksha (Yasha), there are two versions:
1. Version: Says that they are a group of supernatural beings, servants of Kubera , the god of wealth. They have no special characteristics and are not violent, which is why they are called Punyajana ("good beings").
2. Version: demons who lived in the forest and deceived people by taking the form of beautiful women and luring mortal men into the forest, where they then turned into trees and left the hopelessly lost men to their fate.
Yama (Yasha's name before he became king of the Yasha clan)
1. literally: "self-control", the first of the eight stages of Raja Yoga.
2. God of the dead . A very unpopular god, but he played an important role in judging the dead.
Naga (Ryu's name before he became king of the Ryu clan), literally: "snake". A snake, especially the cobra, as a mystical, semi-divine being with a human face, the tail of a snake and the splayed neck of the cobra. They are considered water gods and live in rivers, lakes and seas.
Soma (Sōma)
1. God of the moon . He sent the morning dew and drove through the night sky on a cart that was pulled by ten white horses. Some said there was a rabbit in the moon, which is why all rabbits were considered an incarnation - a very central theme in Hinduism - somas.
2. " Soma " was also the name of the ambrosia of the gods, the elixir that brought immortality. Since the ambrosia was used as an intoxicant, Soma itself (i.e. the moon god), like its Greek counterpart Dionysus, was associated with drunkenness.
Garuda (Karura's soul bird Garuda), a mythical "bird", half human, half bird. Garuda is the king of birds, the mount Vishnus (important god, symbol of preservation) and a great enemy of snakes. He took this hatred from his mother, who had quarreled with her concubine Kadru, the mother of the snakes. Garuda is represented with the head, tail and wings of an eagle and the body and legs of a human being. Its face is white, its wings are red, and its body is gold.
Vasu (Taishakutens Shitennō and Bushinshō), a group of eight gods known as the servants of Indra. In Vedic times they were personifications of natural phenomena. They are: Apas (water), Dhruva (polestar), Soma (moon), Dhara (earth), Anila (wind), Anala (fire), Prabhasa (light) and Pratyusha (dawn).
from Zen Buddhism : In Zen Buddhism, Bishamon, Zōjō, Kōmoku and Jikoku are four gods who each symbolized one of the cardinal points, they were supposed to protect the world. In addition, each was assigned a color: blue for Bishamon, white for Zōjō, green for Jikoku and the dear Kōmoku did not have a color, but he was considered an "artful god".

style

The first work of the group Clamp shows a style that was still unusual at the time, in which the men were depicted in a similarly provocative manner, as previously known with women in stories directed at men. They were part of a movement of female draftsmen who show sexuality in their stories from a female perspective. The mixture of fantasy and action in a shōjo manga, which is aimed at girls, was unusual for the time.

publication

From 1989 to 1996 RG Veda appeared in Japan in the Wings Magazine of the Shinshokan publishing house and then came out in 10 edited volumes. A second edition in Bunkoban format followed in seven volumes. In Germany, the manga was published in these seven volumes by Carlsen Comics from October 2004 . Manga Cult has been releasing a new hardcover edition since May 2019 . An English version was published in 2005 and 2006 by Tokyopop and later a new edition by Dark Horse . The French edition of Édition Tonkam 1995/96 was with Tokyo Babylon at the same time the first manga that appeared in France in the original, that is Japanese reading direction and not mirrored. The manga has also been translated into Spanish, Italian and Chinese.

In Japan, the series was accompanied by two art books containing story illustrations and an interview.

Anime

In 1991 an anime adaptation of the manga was made in two parts, each 45 minutes running. The production of Animate Film was directed by Hiroyuki Ebata and Takamasa Ikegami . The script was written by Nanase Okawa and the Clamp group was responsible for the designs. The artistic directors were Masuo Nakayama and Yōji Nakaza and the producers were Kazuhiko Ikeguchi, Yasuhisa Kazama and Yumiko Masujima. Nick Wood composed the soundtrack and the closing song Six Star Cluster Storm . The two episodes were released as original video animation .

The plot is set in the middle of the manga. The first episode tells a largely self-contained chapter from the manga, The Castle of Ice and Hellfire , in a slightly different form. In the second episode, which has no equivalent in the manga, Ashura, Yasha-oh, Ryu-oh and Karura-oh invade Taishaku-ten's Zenmi palace, but have to leave it after a few adventures without having achieved anything.

An English version of the anime was initially released on VHS by Manga Video in the UK. For this purpose, both parts were cut into a feature film, with the opening and closing credits and a fight between Ashura and Taishakuten being omitted. In the USA a subtitled version was initially released on VHS. After the Manga Video license expired, US Manga Corp released a new dubbed DVD version in 2001, uncut in the original form as two episodes. A publication with German subtitles came out uncut at the Erlangen Comic Salon in 2000 by OVA Films on a VHS cassette. Since the sub-license of Manga Video expired in the same year, no further editions followed. Korean, French, Spanish and Italian dubbed versions of the anime were also released.

role	Japanese speaker ( seiyū )
Ashura	Kazue Ikura
Yasha-oh	Sho Hayami
Ryu-oh	Kappei Yamaguchi
Karura-oh	Yoshiko Sakakibara
Sohma	Yuriko Yamamoto
Kendappa-oh	Arisa Ando
Taishaku-ten	Norio Wakamoto

reception

Mason Templar does not consider Clamp's early work to be worth reading; For fans of the group's later series, reading it may be painful. The drawings are "rough and ordinary" and are more reminiscent of You Higuri than the other Clamp works. Although a lot is happening, there is little action, but instead shouting and “banal and repetitive” dialogues. Only the successful ending and the classic figure of Ashura stand against the many bad sides of the manga. In the German magazine Mangaszene , too , the drawings are criticized as still immature: "Weaknesses [...] in perspective and in the hands, there is little background and a lot of screen film". But "the characters grow dear to the heart and until the fatal end the story remains extremely exciting", so that RG Veda is still the favorite among Clamps works for the critic.

In the Anime Encyclopedia , the film adaptation is criticized as a poor implementation that only serves to promote the manga. The story ends before it has really started and the international viewers who do not read the manga are left without a proper conclusion to the plot. The English dubbed version was only mediocre: the translation was okay, but the British accent of the speakers rarely matched the characters. The implementation of the mythological Hindu template, which can hardly be recognized in the English version, offers some interesting scenes, but the theme has already been implemented much better in other works. The Animerica highlights how confusing the story is told in the anime, even though the narrative is pervaded by explanations of the story. The distinctive style of Clamp is also clearly recognizable in the film adaptation and provides the only visual and narrative highlights of the two episodes. However, ugly fashion trends of the 1980s also left their mark on the anime in the form of the protagonists' clothes, and 10 years later the animation looked outdated and the colors pale. The synchronization of Manga Corps is no better and at least questionable in translation and cast. The manga scene calls the new dubbed version of US Manga Corps getting used to, but the characters are at least well cast. For the version with German subtitles, Animania 2000 writes that both anime and manga are “among the finest that Japanese high fantasy has to offer”. The story is a "dark, exciting and action-packed fantasy drama", but it is best not to watch the anime alone, but to supplement it with the manga. The animation can still be seen after years and the beautiful pictures are "an optical pleasure".

Web links

Manga and Anime on Anime News Network (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Mio Bryce and Jason Davis: An Overview of Manga Genres . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 35 .
^ Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation . Carus Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-8126-9332-9 , pp. 63-65 .
^ Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation . Carus Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-8126-9332-9 , pp. 15 .
↑ ^a ^b Manga scene No. 24, p. 36.
^ Paul M. Malone: The Manga Publishing Scene in Europe . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 323 .
↑ Manga scene No. 3, p. 53.
↑ ^a ^b Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia. Revised & Expanded Edition . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 2006, ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5 , pp. 535 f .
↑ ^a ^b Manga scene No. 9, p. 24.
↑ ^a ^b Animania 4/2000, p. 17.
↑ Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8 , p. 296. (English)
↑ Animerica Vol. 9/6, p. 72.

[:52-1] Mio Bryce and Jason Davis: An Overview of Manga Genres . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 35 .

[2] Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation . Carus Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-8126-9332-9 , pp. 63-65 .

[3] Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation . Carus Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-8126-9332-9 , pp. 15 .

[:0-4] Manga scene No. 24, p. 36.

[5] Paul M. Malone: The Manga Publishing Scene in Europe . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 323 .

[6] Manga scene No. 3, p. 53.

[animeenc-7] Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia. Revised & Expanded Edition . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 2006, ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5 , pp. 535 f .

[:1-8] Manga scene No. 9, p. 24.

[:2-9] Animania 4/2000, p. 17.

[Thompson-10] Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8 , p. 296. (English)

[11] Animerica Vol. 9/6, p. 72.