The CLAMP Project: Episode 5: RG Veda Volume 4

I spoke too soon. Just an hour or so ago I was praising CLAMP for adding a strong female character, and here comes volume 4 of RG Veda, with only two women present at all.

The first is Taishakuten's soothsayer, Hanranya, who isn't even called by name. She's unable to watch Ashura, Yasha, and Ryuu in her water mirror because Kujaku is blocking her. Taishakuten has sent another of his generals, Vahyu, to lure Ashura, Yasha, and Ryuu near the lair of a monster that lives near the destroyed Yasha village in the north.

Without any clear direction in mind, Yasha has been wandering around at random. It's so nonsensical that Kujaku, ever present and ever-watching, even says so. After leaving the air castle in the south, they've wandered north to the ruins of the Yasha village. I still just don't get it. Why don't they go somewhere off in the woods somewhere and stay for a few months, let Ashura catch another growth spurt, maybe spread some rumors and see if any fellow rebels come to join their cause? Why go wandering around in circles? 

It's especially strange because it seems like both the air castle and the Yasha village are within a day's travelling distance of Taishakuten's castle. It's possible for Yasha to travel from the castle to Kuyou's hiding place to the village and then off to Ashura's woods in a day or so. It's also possible for the messenger from Taishakuten to kidnap Karyoubinga and take her back to Taishakuten in the amount of time that it took for Karura to take a walk in the market. So why on earth is Yasha staying so close when he knows that he has to gather more people before Taishakuten can be defeated? The answer is easy, but disappointing: because the creator just can't come up with any more places. That's why the world feels so small.

So Yasha, Ashura, and Ryuu end up at the Yasha village, where a monster who lives in an ice castle is waiting for them. This monster has been waiting all its life to attack Yasha, yet somehow never got the chance during the hundreds of years that Yasha was living in the village. It waits until now, when it's convenient for the story. 

The monster sends magical butterflies to attack Yasha and Ashura with disturbing psychic visions. Ashura sees Gigei, who is then killed before his eyes, and the villager who blamed him for the destruction of the village. Finally, he's faced with his mother, who tried to kill him as a baby. It's hard not to feel bad for little-boy Ashura, even knowing that demon Ashura lurks inside him. 

Yasha sees the dead Yasha villagers, who blame him for their deaths, and is sucked away into the ice castle, where a monster with a little girl's beautiful face and an insect-like body traps him in ice, planning to eat him and gain his strength. Before it can do that, however, Kujaku leads Ashura and Ryuu to the castle, where they defeat Vahyu's forces with the help of Sohma.

There's woman number two! It turns out that Sohma's not been following the group around after all - she's been back with Kisshouten. This shows the smallness of the world, because she could show up quickly enough to make a difference as soon as the attack started, so Kisshouten must be very very close to the Ashura village. It also shows how much Sohma matters to the story when her being with the characters is pretty much the same as her being away from them.

Kujaku performs a rite on Ashura that fully wakes the Shura sword - and the Ashura demon, which really freaks out Ryuu. Then they all enter the castle, where Ashura frees Yasha and Kukaju slays the monster, revealing his true black-winged form.

Kujaku, from the Tenmagouka artbook. Image source minitokyo.net

So there we go, 40% in to the story and we still only have 1 of the Six Stars. Meanwhile, Taishakuten is losing generals left and right. I think all that's left is his head general Bishamonten. It's clear here that Ohkawa, who is creating the story, just doesn't have the chops yet to keep together an epic of this nature. RG Veda should be a vast, world-spanning tale, but most of the time new characters are killed shortly after their introduction. The world is tiny, able to be travelled from end to end in a day or two, and the villain is so incompetent that it's amazing he's gotten anywhere at all. There's a saying that all authors should write their first novel and then throw it away, never to be seen by anyone else. I'm not going to go as far as to say that's what should have happened with RG Veda. It's entertaining, as long as you don't think about the logistics (or the women).