Manga Review: RG Veda by CLAMP
Mar. 2nd, 2026 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: RG Veda
Author: CLAMP
Published: Darkhorse, 2016–7 (1989–96)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 2070 (197+200+192+208+208+208+200+200+192+264)
Total Page Count: 566,540
Text Number: 2136–2145
Read Because: still working through manga referenced in that "the joke is that Hannibal is quite specifically a 90s dark shoujo anime/manga/light novel" Tumblr post also I just like CLAMP, borrowed from Multnomah Public Library via Hoopla
Review: This feels as it is, CLAMP's first effort: their later structure and themes are present, but in trial form. The mythic inspiration and structure, combined with retrospectively familiar and not particularly complex characters, keeps early chapters of this at a distance: character archetypes bond while defeating episodic, oversized villains; meanwhile, big and intense and much deeper interpersonal relationships are forming, queer and indelibly rooted in violence or social transgression, but these are backloaded into a too-little-too-late denouement. I'm glad I read it, it's certainly relevant to my interests, but I'm more glad CLAMP realized what they were able to achieve here and carried it forward; X in particular shares DNA, a mythic quality cut with more interpersonal, character-driven arcs, but the balance in X is significantly better and also it's one of the best manga (let's go ahead and say) of all time, so—it takes practice like this to achieve something like that.
Author: CLAMP
Published: Darkhorse, 2016–7 (1989–96)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 2070 (197+200+192+208+208+208+200+200+192+264)
Total Page Count: 566,540
Text Number: 2136–2145
Read Because: still working through manga referenced in that "the joke is that Hannibal is quite specifically a 90s dark shoujo anime/manga/light novel" Tumblr post also I just like CLAMP, borrowed from Multnomah Public Library via Hoopla
Review: This feels as it is, CLAMP's first effort: their later structure and themes are present, but in trial form. The mythic inspiration and structure, combined with retrospectively familiar and not particularly complex characters, keeps early chapters of this at a distance: character archetypes bond while defeating episodic, oversized villains; meanwhile, big and intense and much deeper interpersonal relationships are forming, queer and indelibly rooted in violence or social transgression, but these are backloaded into a too-little-too-late denouement. I'm glad I read it, it's certainly relevant to my interests, but I'm more glad CLAMP realized what they were able to achieve here and carried it forward; X in particular shares DNA, a mythic quality cut with more interpersonal, character-driven arcs, but the balance in X is significantly better and also it's one of the best manga (let's go ahead and say) of all time, so—it takes practice like this to achieve something like that.
