RG Veda

gknight★ 6

I actually found this OVA pretty decent considering the widespread hate it got. I'd say it delivers what it promises, and I'd really love to see more of this story animated. The premise is about the journey of the young king Ashura, who fell from his throne, and his six guardians lead by warrior Yasha, who try to help him reclaim it. The OVA focuses the journey of the king and his guardians through deserts, castles and icy landscapes in search of the 6th and last guardian, while briefly encountering the main villain, Taishakuten. Although having a pretty generic fantasy-adventure setting I found the cast to bewhat set it apart from other titles of the genre. Being from the shoujo genre, the guardians consist of beautiful and delicate yet kick-assing guys and three girls who aren't hyper-sexualized for a change. Being only 2 episodes short it's hard to say the supporting characters have depth but their basic archetypes are unique enough and I would love to see similar representations more often in anime. The two characters that gets most of the screen time are the main couple, Ashura and Yasha, which are simply adorable. In the manga, which I plan to read following this OVA, Ashura is born genderless and thus being referred to mostly as male, I also saw him as male yet the DVD English translation insisted on referring to him as a girl, which is annoying since his being male is one of the things that make his character, and his subtly-romantic relationship with Yasha so interesting. Yasha is being very protective of Ashura and they both seem madly in need of each other which is very sweet to see. Other than that, the art is gorgeous. The animation, detail and movement, can't be compared with today's standards but the shoujo-ish art is something that is sadly very rare in modern anime and it gives a great feeling to return to it. The character and world design is also very pretty. In conclusion I recommend this OVA for any lover of romantic adventures, I was surprised at how much I found it enjoyable.

NanashiMoriko★ 3

Hmmmmm, this was not exactly what I was expecting from this anime, I'm not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it. Taking it with a view of the manga its.... odd. The main premise is the same but Ashura has changed sex and the God King was Lord Ashura. Slight differences which can be explained by less time to tell the story in the OAV's run. Except they don't tell the story, they don't tell any story, maybe a quarter of a story or half a story, but not a full one. It's left with no resolution. Taking it without a view of the mangaand ... well I can see why it didn't get picked up for a whole series. It's a middle section of a story with no start and no end, not even a semi resolution. In my opinion without the plot of the manga to lean upon this OAV flops, and I am so disappointed about that. The characters have been brought to the screen well, I have no qualms there, the music is fitting and the animation is good for its age. One other thing I feel the need to comment on is that the OAV doesn't have the grip on you that the manga has. It's a lot less intense and emotional, I didn't shed a tear watching it and I had been hoping for that, I love CLAMPs ability to tear your heart out but it just wasn't there. That could again have been time constraints but in the manga it doesn't take long for you to love a character and then have him/her killed. I'd say don't watch this if you haven't read the manga, there's not much to be gotten from it (except pretty Soma). If you have read the manga then watch it but with no expectations, it's nice to see the characters on screen but that's about it. Nanashi Moriko *disappointed fangirl* 29/05/07