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b-else-writes · 10 days

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 6: Shirahime-Syo

Part 1 (RG Veda) | Part 2 (Man of Many Faces) | Part 3 (Tokyo Babylon) | Part 4 (Duklyon) | Part 5 (Clamp Detectives)

I feel like I'm constantly saying in this early era of CLAMP, "here's one of their most obscure works", but this really is CLAMP's most obscure work. It has no anime, no drama CDs, I daresay beyond Shirahime herself, none of the other characters who appear have been remembered by CLAMP or their fans. Not to say this work is bad - the opposite! It's simply beautifully self-contained (what a rarity).

This exists because a magazine that would soon go out of print requested a series from CLAMP. Published in 1992, Shirahime was finished in just 10 days and marked a departure from CLAMP's style and tone. A hardcover volume was published in English by Tokyopop in the 2000s, collecting the 3 chapters, prologue and epilogue. Happily, I was able to snag a copy of this evocative, atmospheric work. Finally, some good food after the CLAMP School downturn!

Synopsis: Legend tells that the falling snow is the tears of the snow princess, Shirahime. Across three interconnected stories in ancient Japan, CLAMP explores human grief and folly, isolation, and the anthropomorphism of nature.

The Story: This is a manga written in 10 days in the best way possible. There's a frame story to the whole manga, where a man unknowingly encounters Shirahime and gives us the legend of Shirahime, warning of the snow's dangers. The epilogue returns us here to wrap up the thematic elements. The three chapters are each self-contained stories centered around snow and despair, and they feel ephemeral in some ways. But this works beautifully with the entire theme of bleak melancholia of snow covered mountains. CLAMP admits there's no specific time period as they had no time to do adequate research, but we get enough sense of a pre-modern Japan. There's a very folktale feeling to the entire piece that lingers in the mind, giving just enough information to each vignette to convey themes and emotions. I was especially moved by the first story where a girl goes after a wolf she believes killed her father, only to grow attached to it. The girl's mother kills the wolf in the end, telling her that it would only kill her in the end. We're left wondering if this is true or not - can we escape our natures? Do we cause our own grief?

The Themes: Which ties beautifully into the themes of the story. Shirahime ends the book by telling the man that snow is not her tears but the tears of man's grief and suffering. While seemingly rather banal, even edgy, it works within a narrative that explores how different characters anthropomorphize nature and ascribe human characteristics to it in an effort to push aside their own pain or make sense of the universe. Is the wolf caring for the little girl out of guilt or is it just a wolf without human morality, and there is no rhyme or reason to its cruelty and mercy? Are two herons lovers, or are they just birds who must mate by their natures, just as our protagonist is drawn to war? Is it right to envy a frozen flower, or will it only lead to destruction? There's such an interesting concept here about trying to make sense of a cold and uncaring world through story, the human need to narrativize and personify, which is such galaxy-brained thinking for something literally made on the fly. It's so utterly early CLAMPian in its melancholia, and yet so poignant.

The Characters: As each story is self-contained, no characters reappear beyond Shirahime, who exists as a framing device (she is wonderfully mysterious and otherworldly). The thinly written, archetypal characters work in a folktale setting. We don't need to know beyond Fubuki, brave young girl, or Kaya, heartbroken lover.

The Art: Unlike their other works, CLAMP did this entire manga with a brush, using ink wash instead of their usual screentone. It's a very smart choice given the time limit they had, and it's clear they picked snowy barren landscapes so they could crunch those backgrounds fast. The result is hauntingly beautiful, with grays that feel cold, and visceral emotional moments reminiscent of ink paintings. That panel of Kaya frozen in the ice, or Inuki getting shot? Will live rent free with me forever. Shirahime's design is also gorgeous. While the paneling is definitely simpler, it works so well with the art that I can't complain. The art carries the stories so far that it is part of the narrative.

Questionable Elements: There is none. Put down the pitchforks.

Overall: A haunting atmospheric read. I knew I was going to enjoy the artwork because I love soft traditional brushwork pieces, but I didn't expect to really be moved by it, and I was. It gave me the sense of reading particularly haunting folklore that cuts to something true in humanity: that nature doesn't have a reason or morality, it just exists, but it is in our nature's to try to make sense of it, to tell story and create myth and legend. We are storytelling creatures, to our wonder and our doom. This is a theme that I am an absolute sucker for, a meta-textual story that reflects upon their own work in many ways and their own place as storytellers. It's a short read, and I do highly recommend it to non-fans, if nothing else for how beautiful it is.

#clamp #shirahime #shirahme syo

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b-else-writes · 10 days

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 5: CLAMP School Detectives

Part 1 (RG Veda) | Part 2 (Man of Many Faces) | Part 3 (Tokyo Babylon)| Part 4 (Duklyon)

I don't know about all of you, but one of my first fond fanfic-adjacent writing experiences was painstakingly creating a magical school rip-off story where mine and all my friends self-insert OCs could go on adventures. And we wrote all this by hand in a notebook! I bring this up because CLAMP School Detectives says so much about CLAMP's doujinshi roots and how that thinking, of a vast playground for their characters to mess around in, was going to shape the road to Tsubasa. I also bring it up because this is self-indulgence to its core, in the way the best and frankly, worst of fanfiction is. Despite having an expanded anime adaptation, CLAMP School Detectives did not have the lasting cultural memory that their other adaptations did.

CLAMP School Detectives ran from 1992 to 1993, concurrent with all of their early series, and is in many ways the glue that bridges all of them. It provides the backstory for Duklyon, features Akira from Man of Many Faces, is in the same world as Tokyo Babylon and X, includes RG Veda characters as AU cameos (reflecting their admiration for Tezuka's Star System), and dozens of other references to their doujinshi and uncollected early abandoned works. It is out of print and only had a 2000s Tokyopop English release, of 3 volumes comprising 13 chapters. Again, I read this entirely online and wouldn't pick up a copy unless I wanted to be a completionist. "Spoilers", I guess?

Synopsis: Imonoyama Nokoru, Takamura Suoh, and Ijuin Akira are members of the Elementary School Student Board at CLAMP School. Nokoru has the incredible ability to detect when a woman needs help, and the three precocious children decide to form a detective team that solves the problems of fair maidens everywhere - if only Nokoru could get his paperwork done, to Suoh's despair!

The Story: If Dukylon and Man of Many Faces had barely a story, this is even less than that - it's a bunch of barely mysteries that the trio solve every chapter, with the finale being a flashback to explore Suoh and Nokoru's past and bond. It's a gag manga that relies on whether you think the gimmick of Nokoru being able to sense a woman in danger is funny, and find the little adventures cute, and it just did not land for me. It feels like an overly saccharine attempt at Enid Blyton type school boys solving mysteries (but in Japan), and it was just plain boring. Mostly because they're barely even mysteries - I felt cheated as a huge mystery lover! This is either going to read as really cute, or really boring to you, and it was the latter for me.

The Themes: Uhh.....help out fair maidens. It's a gag manga, if you're doing analysis on this, good for you, but I have a very packed life and I don't think CLAMP wants me to learn anything but "Nokoru cutie".

The Characters: As always, the characters are largely enjoyable but quite plain. Nokoru is basically perfect, the little boy of an elementary school dream, but it's done in a sweet enough way that he reads as funny rather than irritating. Suoh is textbook tsundere who devotes his life to Nokoru (Ashura & Yama you will always be famous), and Akira is the ditzy one. There's not much here beyond Nokoru secretly feeling a bit distanced from people because he doesn't want to hurt others and Suoh being a ninja (interestingly he had his own series that never got finished or compiled into tankoban). If you like cutesy wacky elementary school stories, you'll like them. I found them fine.

The Art: I find this some of CLAMP's weakest character design - Nokoru and Suoh look too similar to me beyond the colour palette, and the different women featured feel unimaginative. It's overall decent art, but nothing special or groundbreaking. As someone who devoured RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon and even Man of Many Faces for just how damn pretty and creative they could get, it's lacklustre.

Questionable Elements: I don't know if this is just a translation issue, but Nokoru's behaviour is referred to as "feminist", and it is not. This is Victorian era paternalism that women need taking care of and can't be held responsible for our actions because we're the emotional and fairer sex. It's mostly played for satire, but it can get irritating. Also there's another "older person x literal minor bad, but only because older person is a woman". Are CLAMP ageist? One wonders.

Also. There is overt fascist imagery in CLAMP School Detectives:

CLAMP draws them in Nazi uniforms on another cover, and there are MULTIPLE images of the Rising Sun Flag (which is a symbol of fascist WW2 imperial Japan). It's abhorrent and there is much to discuss frankly about how fascist imagery is so ubiquitous in manga.

Overall: Putting aside the REALLY bad elements, CLAMP School Detectives is probably the weakest so far of CLAMP's oeuvre. The characters are charming and the premise itself is not bad, but it never quite lands. It's a very cutesy, almost slice of life manga, which is just really not my thing, which is way it took me so long to read through it. Not something I'd recommend to anyone beyond devoted CLAMP fans.

#clamp #clamp school detectives

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b-else-writes · 1 month

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 4: Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders

Part 1 (RG Veda) | Part 2 (Man of Many Faces) | Part 3 (Tokyo Babylon)

Where could CLAMP go from Tokyo Babylon? Let's go a bit backwards in time to their fourth work, Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders. It ran from 1991 to 1993, making it concurrent with all the series mentioned in my past review, and in the same world as Tokyo Babylon (and X). It definitely feels like the real start of CLAMP's interest with shared universes, meta-textuality, and self-reference, because so much of this series is tied to your knowledge of their other work. Crazy to think that a gag sentai manga from the 1990s would one day birth Tsubasa.

Like Man of Many Faces, I had never read this or even knew it existed, it's one of the few CLAMP manga with no anime adaptations (it did have 1 drama CD). It's out of print and was released in English by Tokyopop in the early 2000s, in two volumes comprised of 13 chapters. I read this entirely online and like with Man of Many Faces, am not likely to ever get a physical copy unless I feel like completing my collection. "Spoilers", in the loosest sense of the word.

Synopsis: Higashikunimaru Kentarou and Shukaido Takeshi are freshmen students who lead double lives as masked sentai superheroes Duklyon, protecting CLAMP School from evil! Aided by the General and the fiery Eri Chusonji, they've got to fight the fiendish Imonoyama Shopping District from world domination (and also keep being main characters in their own story!).

The Story: Listen, this is a gag manga in the purest sense of the word. It starts off mocking the repetitive nature of tokatsu and kaiju shows like Ultraman, and I definitely found myself slogging through the first volume because satirizing repetition by being repetitive is not actually funny. Volume 2 improved things by introducing a wacky alien love triangle and more self-referential humour, which did manage to land. The manga can overall feel kind of random and aimless at times, and while the latter chapters do manage to pull things together, the earlier chapters really struggle to actually be funny. The satire isn't particularly striking or witty, it's meant to ~crazy and poking fun for people who are long-term fans. I'd rate this somewhere a little less than average. When it leans into breaking the fourth wall and mocking themselves, it lands. When it parodies Super Sentai by just...being Super Sentai, it's just a poor copy.

The Themes: There are no themes here. This is light and playful and silly and a way for CLAMP to poke fun at all the genres they like. I have learnt nothing from this and I think Takeshi and Kentarou would be proud of me.

The Characters: One thing I'm realising in these CLAMP re-reads is 1) the strength of CLAMP's character writing that elevates their weaker writing, and 2) how much they copy earlier character templates into newer characters. Takeshi and Kentarou are prototype Watanuki and Doumeki "stop saying we're close but actually they're in love (probably)". And it is charming to experience the second (first?) time, especially the flash-forward at the end where they're married (almost). I love Takeshi's grumpiness and frequent fourth wall-breaking. Sukiyabashi is pretty charming as a fail villain, and lovesick Eri is hilarious. There's nothing deep about the characters, but they're entertaining and hard carry the paper-thin plot.

The Art: It's competently drawn, comprehensible visual storytelling, and the detailing on the Sentai suits are pretty well-done (though something about how the codpiece connects to the legs bothers me anatomically). I do love the tokatsu villain costuming, but otherwise the character designs are quite plain. It was actually a little difficult to distinguish Takeshi and Kentarou at first. Like Man of Many Faces, it's fine, it gets the job done, but it won't change your life.

Questionable Elements: I do think it's funny this is the ONE CLAMP series where an adult person-teenager relationship is treated as gross, and it's (so far) the only one where the adult is a woman and the teenager is a boy. Something something ageism misogyny. But otherwise this is pure fluff, I only noticed this because CLAMP and their penchant for....shall we say, questionable age-gaps, is notorious.

Overall: A silly diversion after Tokyo Babylon, I can see why Duklyon is an obscure CLAMP work. But where Man of Many Faces had sweet charm to really carry it, Duklyon treads the more fickle ground of comedy and it just doesn't always work. There's some genuinely funny moments here, and I probably will be thinking about Takeshi and Kentarou for a while, but I don't think it's a necessary read for anyone but the most dedicated of CLAMP fans. I enjoyed my time overall, but honestly - I think that's because the fandom makes Duklyon funnier than the actual product is. It's good enough, but that's about it.

#dukylon clamp school defenders #clamp

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b-else-writes · 1 month

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 3: Tokyo Babylon

Part 1 (RG Veda) | Part 2 (Man of Many Faces)

And now we reach the CLAMP 90s series, and we are firmly back in serious territory. Tokyo Babylon ran from 1990 to 1993, which means it was concurrent with RG Veda, the CLAMP school series, Shirahime, Chun-hyang, AND X, which is just so much work to think about - and to wonder how X and Tokyo Babylon shaped each other (but more on that when I get to X). Tokyo Babylon (and X) is also set in the same universe as the CLAMP School with Subaru sharing a class with the Duklyon cast, which is very strange to consider given the tonal whiplash and thematic inconsistency, but it does reflect CLAMP’s early interest in crossovers. It consists of 18 chapters in 7 volumes, with each chapter being about 60 pages long.

While I'd never read it before this, it's famous enough (two OVAs, a drama CD, and a live action movie), that I went into this knowing some of the big spoilers, but not the details. So while my reading was coloured by the knowledge of its tragic end, it still felt revelatory to me. I'm very pleased that I found copies of the two omnibuses. The back of my Darkhorse Omnibus versions describe this as "CLAMP's first great work", which I don't entirely agree with - I'll die on the hill that RG Veda is GOOD - but it is the first CLAMP work where I think they were very consciously thinking of how to write a story that ties together on a thematic level, in every stage, and it's phenomenal. Heavy spoilers.

Synopsis: Onmyoji and thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan, Subaru Sumeragi is called upon to solve occult mysteries in post-bubble Tokyo. It's a time of glittering lights, a rotten economy, and city populated by lonely people desperate for an answer to their problems as the millennium draws near. Joined by his fashionable twin sister Hokuto and the kindly but strangely sinister vetenarian Seishiro Sakurazuka who is in love with him, the overly sacrificing and empathetic Subaru must solve these problems and learn how to live - but Tokyo is not a kind place, especially to those with gentle natures.

The Story: On its surface, Tokyo Babylon begins as a "case-of-the-week" style story, where Subaru has to solve an occult case and learns something. Its a deceptively simple premise that allowed for CLAMP to explore pressing social issues of their time (which still feel resonant due to the sensitive way they explored them), while also building upon Subaru's character development through this, and the suspense of Seishiro's true nature. The comedy is well-timed and CLAMP know when to pull back from it to allow the emotional aspect to come through. Every case is incredibly gripping and I even cried reading "Old". I have seen some suggest it would have been more effective to have a massive twist rather than seed Seishiro's psychopathy throughout, but I actually think this works on a thematic level, and finding out Seishiro is a murderer, the bet, and Hokuto's death, still hit like a gut punch. It's a brilliant usage of seeding information without the full context until the end. I have no complaints here. It's a poignant story of Tokyo in the early 1990s and its destructiveness, while never losing its humanity.

The Themes: Do you know why the cherry blossoms are red. Tokyo Babylon is a story about well, Tokyo. It's about how modern city living that pursues only personal gain and conformity leads to human loneliness, and loneliness is a trap that destroys us all. We can never know someone else's pain, which leads to loneliness - but to recognize that is also freeing because it means we cannot judge and be judged for it. Having empathy is good, but too much and for the wrong people and not for yourself, can only lead to death. Its a fascinating interplay between community and individuality, the reality of modern life of trying to be someone while also needing to generalize, without ever really settling on either side, but where it does come down hard is that humans are not the villains but Tokyo is, in what it represents - greed, selfishness, cruelty, and apathy. It is intensely tragic and yet, strangely, incredibly life-affirming. Despite everything Subaru suffers, people are not born and made evil and everyone should be taken for who they are, not a faceless mass.

The Characters: Like the plot, everything in the characters is tied into the story of Tokyo. Seishiro is Tokyo: the slick, cool-cut well to do man in a suit with no empathy and a taste for violence. Nobody is special in Seishiro's eyes, nobody deserves to be treated as anything but an object. And then we have Subaru, poor sweet Subaru who is so empathetic and yet so detached from the world and himself because he's so focused on only his job, on not being an individual. He is what Tokyo wants him to be, filled with self-loathing and frankly suicidal impulses that he shouldn’t be alive. It's so tragic to watch Subaru finally grow into a person, but to do so to the one person who will hurt him. Subaru wants to to love Tokyo so badly, that it kills his sister, the one person he SHOULD have been pouring his love into, the person who could love him back and expect nothing in return. And Hokuto is just a showstopper, funny, kind, witty and cool. She's Subaru's northstar, the empathy and humanity where he cannot, almost co-dependent. I love characters that reflect one another and the themes.

The Art: The visual storytelling and panelling are fantastic. While less imaginative and fanciful than RG Veda, there's still some incredibly done spreads and pages, particularly anything to do with the bet. Subaru surrounded by cherry blossoms? Haunting. The fashion is impeccable, I love the bold design choices in the covers and spreads. The character designs in and of themselves are quite simple (and I don't love the seme-uke look of Seishiro and Subaru), but the personality-costuming is so well done and tell stories themselves. And the use of Hokuto and Subaru being identical to conceal the twist? Masterful character design. My only complaint is some of the scanned photo backgrounds are jarring against the lovely drawn art.

Questionable Elements: Subaru is 16 and Seishiro is 25. That being said, I do think from their interviews and the actual text, we aren't meant to ship them, and it's not unrealistic to be a teen and fall for an older person only for it to majorly fuck you up because they abuse their greater knowledge to harm you (which hey, might be a theme!). Some of the way issues are handled is dated, but not too badly. Again, I’m not going to comment on whether this is queer representation or not, since I don’t think that has ever been CLAMP’s intention. All the same, despite the stereotypical seme and uke stuff, the relationship feels real and tangible (which is why the payoff works).

Overall: A beautiful tragedy and an ode to human alienation and empathy. I went into this expecting to like it, and ended it never the same. It is genuinely a fantastic, fully complete thematic work from them that speaks as a reflection of the time it was written, and yet remains resonant. I know some people find it edgy, but I actually don't think edge is its intention, it's dark and it's tragic but never misanthropic. Yes, Subaru enters the adult world broken, but his refusal to become like Seishiro and to continue to count himself amongst humanity despite everything, reaffirms that life and people have value. You can see so much of their ideas crystallize here that they’ll repeat across X, Xxxholic, etc. We're all just lonely people and we hurt each other in it, and it's important to recognize that in ourselves and take of ourselves for it. Read it!

#clamp #tokyo babylon

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b-else-writes · 1 month

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 2: Man of Many Faces

Part 1 (RG Veda)

Moving onto the next work in CLAMP's oeuvre, Man of Many Faces (technically the title should be 20 Faces, Please!!). This ran from 1990 to 1991, and it is wild to think that it was running concurrently with RG Veda (and Tokyo Babylon!). It is also technically CLAMP's first foray into shonen, although aimed at I'm guessing is 6-10 year olds. I had never read this or even knew it existed, it's one of the few CLAMP manga with no anime adaptations (it did have 2 drama CDs).

It's out of print and was released in English by Tokyopop in the early 2000s, in two volumes comprised of 11 chapters. I read this entirely online and would probably only hunt down a physical copy if I'm feeling like being a completionist. Spoilers? I guess?

Synopsis: Ijuin Akira is a precocious 9 year old at CLAMP School who leads a double life as the gentleman thief 20 Masks/Faces. As 20 Faces, Akira steals beautiful objects to satisfy the whims of his kleptomaniac two mothers. One day, Akira ends up in the bedroom of 5 year old Okawa Utako, sparking off a romantic comedy due to his double life and the nature of love!

The Story: There really....isn't one. Whatever it bills itself as, this is not a heist story. Man of Many Faces is pure fluff, basically a gag manga, which is what makes it so crazy that it was concurrent with the dark, fatalistic fantasy of RG Veda and the tragic urban fantasy of Tokyo Babylon - did CLAMP need a cute comedy as a mental break? The chapters have a similar structure: Akira's two mothers spot something and cry "we want it!". Akira goes after the object and ends up entangled with Utako as they overcome the next (very low stakes) obstacle in their relationship. Akira often gets advice from his uncle and school pediatrician Akechi Shigetaka, while narrowly escaping his next door neighbour Kobayashi Ryusuke, who acts as the Inspector Javert. Along the way, he and Utako mediate on love and what makes a good man and good bride. The story ends with the two getting married and still working to make sure that their relationship is always loving and new. It's a light, charming read (I was able to read the whole thing in about an hour) and it did make me smile a few times. The Christmas episode is particularly cute. Otherwise, there's not much to say, the story is fine. Cute enough for a gag romcom.

The Themes: Despite being so divorced from their serious works, I'd actually say you can see a lot of what would come to be CLAMP's attitude towards love - what makes a good love? Can love last forever and overcome all barriers? Are people destined for each other, and if so, does that make love easy? Some of the waxing poetic is very silly (Akechi at one point quotes the plot of Some Like It Hot, yes, the Marilyn Monroe film, to give advice) and very questionable, but there are some surprisingly nuanced takes too. Namely, you are entitled to your feelings (very CLAMP), that nobody can fully know another person's heart (very CLAMP hello Tokyo Babylon) so we must remember we are two people and not lose ourselves in each other, being understanding and kind, and that love and people will change, and love is about meeting that new person each day, which is shockingly mature for CLAMP, who I had always taken to be rather fatalistic in their attitudes towards romance. I definitely walked away thinking that I hoped these two kids made it.

The Characters: It's an 11 chapter gag manga - the characters are thinly written. That doesn't mean they aren't charming. Utako is a rich brat but a charming one, and Akira's maybe polyamorous mothers are very funny. Akechi and Ryusuke are especially funny, and Akira's father definitely leaves an impression. Akira himself is rather boring, he's a Mamoru with even less personality (interestingly this predates Sailor Moon by 2 years, but you can't read it without thinking of Tuxedo Mask!). They all serve their purpose, are funny and cute enough, but you're not going to be left thinking about them either.

The Art: It's very 90s shojo in style (despite being marketed for shonen) so it is competently drawn, comprehensible visual storytelling, and nice to look at, but it is not particularly transcendent. Akira's mothers are very pretty, and Utako is cute, but the character designs are unremarkable despite the nice outfits. It also hits one of my irritations, which is that the backgrounds are very ill-defined and replaced by patterned screentones. In short, it is fine but that is about it. I could not recall many panels that struck me.

Questionable Elements: The way gender roles was discussed did not sit right with me at times, it felt very regressive for 2024. This was written in the 1990s in Japan so I am not surprised it is so "woman are emotional and crazy and end up as housewives", but it is disappointing and can make some of the advice touted unpleasant. Also I see you CLAMP with Utako's first love being on her teacher, who rejects her with "I like you but you're too young", ugh.

Overall: A cutesy little sidetrack in CLAMP's oeuvre. After reading it, I wasn't surprised that it's one of their most obscure works with no anime. It's nothing special, really, just a nice charming breezy read. I was never bored or deeply unhappy reading it, and I liked it much more than I expected, but I wouldn't personally recommend it to anyone except diehard CLAMP fans. I would say that it knew what it wanted to be and it set out to do it, and it did its job and I enjoyed my time with it but will likely not pick it up again for a while (if anything, having to write this review made me think MORE about it than I would have otherwise). If you already like CLAMP and want to read a sweet little comedy story, read it. Otherwise, you lose nothing in understanding CLAMP or the CLAMP multiverse by skipping over it.

#clamp #man of many faces

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b-else-writes · 1 month

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The Great CLAMP Re-Read Part 1: RG Veda

So, recently a friend of mine recommended I read the manga RG Veda as I've been interested in mythology retelling and getting back into reading more comics and manga. I've read a few CLAMP manga across the years but not all, and had always been curious to read Tsubasa, but always put it off because of all the cameos and meta. So this became an opportunity to try to get through their whole oeuvre.

I'm just putting my reviews on this blog since it's my "writing" blog. I managed to find two of the 2016 Dark Horse omnibuses to read RG Veda, and then completed the series with some quite poor scanlations (so if anyone has Omnibus 3 pls i want it). RG Veda came out in 1989 and was CLAMP's first official work, spanning 10 volumes (though the chapters are almost volume long, so it only comes out to about 10 actual chapters). Some spoilers here!

Synopsis: Based so loosely off the Hindu and Buddhist versions of the Rigveda, 300 years ago, Taishakuten kills the God-King and the God of War Ashura and takes the throne of Heaven, ruling with cruelty and an iron fist. But a prophecy arises that six stars will gather when Lord Yasha awakens Ashura's child (also called Ashura), who will bring down Taishakuten. As the wheels of fate turn, Yasha and Ashura gather allies with their own reasons for fighting, and attempt to avert tragedy and find reason to live - but all is not as it seems regarding Ashura and the prophecy.

The Story: Is RG Veda cliche? Yes. Does it compel me? Absolutely. It's dramatic and over the top and tragic and once you settle into the fact that everything is larger than life and obsessed with destiny and love and other grand motifs, because these are gods in a mythological story, I loved it. I want to read more sweeping comic epics. Some of the writing is cheesy but again, it works because the story knows it's not meant to be realistic! It's about the spectacle of this tale of the gods and their loves and sins. The start of the story is clunky since you're dropped into this world with a lot of moving parts and characters, but it had just enough intrigue to keep me reading. The story has a real strong driving force since it's a race towards the palace to kill the God King, while also being rather non-linear as we jump between locations, time periods, and characters to create this incredibly high-fantasy world. It's a little self-indulgent in taking us on side adventures for character development or fun, but this never gets boring or frustrating, every side character contributes to the themes and the story feels like its building appropriately. I'd say the only place the pacing falls apart is the ending, which is really rushed and has a TON of last minute revelations, which makes it hard to register everything. It still sticks the landing thematically, I just think it maybe needed more room to breathe to hit that poignant ending.

The Themes: It's really interesting to see how even this early on, CLAMP already had certain themes they would continue to explore in their work: the immutability of fate and our natures, the power, both good and evil, of love, and how it clashes with duty and promise and selfishness vs. selflessness. I wouldn't say RG Veda made me think about anything deep, but I do think it is mostly consistent in what it wanted to say and do, which is that love is the force that overturns fate, for good or ill, and that being loved by others and finding your community, can make life worth living despite its tragedy. Nobody deserves to be unwanted. There's also a lot of interesting interplay about our culpability in evil due to our birth, the duality of people, and holding onto our promises despite the destruction they cause.

The Characters: The characters are definitely highly archetypal but again, it works in the context of an attempt to write new mythology. I liked Ashura and Yasha decently, but they lacked a complexity. I did find Ashura's death-seeking nature to be compelling and wish it had been explored more in how they doom the world and are unwanted, but still deserve life. Yasha never quite grows beyond the stoic dark haired seme (his brother is wayyy more interesting) but I do think he had an interesting side to him in terms of dooming his people in order to protect Ashura, and what that means as king. The side characters are more complicated; I'm obsessed with the tragic pathetic nature of Taishakuten cannibalizing his lover to be with him yet lose him forever, I also really liked Kendappa, Kujaku, Kaara and Kumara, Ratetsu, and Karura and her sister. Ryuu was totally superfluous. I won't comment on whether this manga is good representation, CLAMP are fujoshis so you get what you expect.

The Art: The art is very late 80s/early 90s shojo, which isn't an issue once I got past the anatomy (though some of the anatomy is really off). It's such a pretty manga with gorgeous and creative paneling, and really gives the sense of a sweeping epic. The backgrounds are especially nice, as well as the costume design, everything is richly detailed and feels beautiful and dreamy. While CLAMP only knows how to draw one face, the character designs are still distinguishable and memorable. There are some issues with readability during action scenes but having read some of their other works, it's clear that they're just bad at drawing fight scenes. Some of the more elaborate panels are also lost in detail, but overall, it's pretty.

Questionable Elements: Ashura having no sex so that they can't reproduce and "pass on sin" feels iffy to me. The relationship between Yasha and Ashura is also hmm because Ashura is 300, but also stuck in a child's body because being who they are will doom the world, and Yasha raises Ashura and loves Ashura for who they are, so its clear from the ending they're meant to be lovers, but also the relationship is said to be father-child. It's definitely icky and while I understand thematically what they were trying to do with having Ashura be in a child form vs adult form for most of the series, they could have just made him an adult the whole time. Ugh.

Overall: A beautiful, entertaining, tragic spectacle that tries to create a sweeping mythological epic that mostly sticks the landing, with some truly interesting characterizations going on. Some heavy pacing issues at the rough start and end, and it's not groundbreaking or necessarily progressive, but worth a read all the same, if nothing for the incredible panelwork, the mythopoetic scale, and the unique ultra-high fantasy world. Definitely a new CLAMP favourite for me.

#long post #clamp #rg veda

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b-else-writes · 2 months

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my greatest fear of the ATLA live action is that they fundamentally misunderstand Katara (and Zuko, but I think Zuko is such a beloved character that they’d still try to hew close to his arc). Katara is just so deeply misunderstood that I really worry that they’ll remove all her “bad” qualities and fighting skills and focus only on her being “motherly” and “the healer”. Like given the episode titles and the cast reveals, they are skipping Imprisoned (Haru wasn’t cast) which is like….the beginning of Katara THE “I will never turn my back on people who need me” icon. Like give us our girl Netflix. I can’t do yet another ATLA piece of media that butchers her.

#atla live action #katara #yeah so this happened

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b-else-writes · 2 months

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after watching ep 1 & 2:

the live action ATLA: what if we removed all of katara's righteous anger, her desperation, her jealousy, "i will never turn my back on people who need me, other key moments in her character arc (waterbending scroll!) and made her softer and sweeter....?

me, a year ago writing about how i could sense the live action series would misunderstand katara's character:

(and to say nothing of making zuko MORE villainous? ironically after all the fuss it's SOKKA who has the best writing in the adaptation so far)

#atla #katara #WHERE is my girl #natla #atla live action

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b-else-writes · 3 months

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I know people have already talked about this topic, but I want to too.

There are a lot of jokes on the Internet about how Katara constantly mentions her mother as if it were the most important event, but...

Isn't that so? I mean, in the life of a little eight-year-old girl, this is truly the most important event in her life and she wants to share it.

Katara took on the role of an adult too early, and she didn't have the opportunity to work through this problem with anyone, because she's already an adult => she cannot afford to rely on someone. But she needs it, and that's what traveling with Aang gives her: the opportunity to find children like her and share with them the burden that she has been carrying all this time. Note that Haru, Jet, and even Zuko are people who not only have experienced loss, but also have some kind of responsibility for others: for their family or even for a group of people. She doesn't tell adults about this because she isn't looking for care, she's looking for understanding of her feelings.

The problem is that it's not enough for her. Her sadness turns to rage because the further the story goes, the less satisfied Katara becomes.

The closer the heroes get to the end of the war, the more angry Katara gets: first at her father, then more specifically at Zuko. And, in the end, she finds the cause of this anger, as well as the opportunity to satisfy the thirst for understanding of her grief - the murderer of her mother. She needed revenge not just because it was fair, but because from the very beginning of the series, Katara was looking for an opportunity to calm those feelings that were rushing out. And her attempts to do this by expressing the problem were not enough. She needed more, and she got it by facing the biggest monster in her life.

In general, the “monster” metaphor obviously speaks not only about Yon Ra, but also about Katara herself. Or rather about her anger. Judge for yourself: she had to restrain a storm of emotions from the age of eight; she began to reveal her grief only in the first season, that is, at the age of 14. She ignored her pain, pushing it deep inside until it became a raging monster rushing out. And what Katara really needed was to face it. So when she flies to find Yon Ra, she also finally meets the version of herself that she has carefully ignored and hidden for the benefit of others.

It's funny that Zuko is the one who helps her. In general, it was his complete understanding of Katara in this matter that amazed me. He, like no one else, knows what it’s like to face your inner demons and knows how useful it is for knowing yourself. And how dangerous it is when you're alone in it. So he accompanies her to keep her safe. So that she has a person on her side who will be there, no matter what choice she makes. He will support anyone. (I'm crying because of how beautiful it is wasgffv💖)

(A small antikataang insert: this is the reason why their relationship doesn't work. Aang only supports the right decisions, even if they require Katara to sacrifice inner harmony, while Zuko will simply support her for whatever choice she makes. It's funny because Aang has to keep balance and as a monk he knows a lot about that. The show focuses heavily on the theme of yin and yang, that is, the balance of good and evil. In order to achieve internal balance, Katara needed to turn to internal evil, because she tilted this scale towards good. She was imbalanced to begin with, and instead of understanding this, Aang insisted on continuing the preponderance of good. It’s as if he doesn’t understand that the preponderance of good is as bad as the preponderance of evil, and this will only harm Katara. I hope my point is clear)

Finally, Katara finds inner peace when she faced everything that was raging inside her, when she did what she needed and poured out everything she ever wanted. Every word about her mother led us to this moment, as did Katara herself.

And do you know what the point is? Why am I telling all this? It's all a character arc that unfolds linearly over three seasons.

Now think back to the arc of Aang, the main character of the show, in relation to his family. Did he bring them up in seasons two and three in a way that was linear? I mean, the one who constantly grieves over his father's death should have been Aang, because he learned the pain of loss so recently, he didn't have a chance to get used to it. But even in the episode SR, Aang compares the loss of mother not to the loss of his mentor and father, but to the loss of Appa and his people. It’s as if he doesn’t care about the individual connection with Gyatso and it’s nominal.

Katara, on the other hand, has emotions that she smoothly carries throughout the show and resolves in it. She has a huge number of Chekhov's guns, which each fire at its own time. Her feelings about her mother, the development of these emotions and their resolution are the most beautiful thing about this show along with Zuko's arc (even though I have problems with him in book 3).

And making derogatory jokes about it like Katara is whining and annoying is blasphemy. After all, she's the only one of the Gaang who has a single development arc throughout all three seasons, this must be respected

#katara #atla meta

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b-else-writes · 4 months

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I’m excited for the ATLA live action, but also dreading it because I predict there will be a second ATLA renaissance and it will be even more toxic than the one in 2020

#i don’t think i can handle another katara hate train for getting in the way of whatever male character and or ship #atla live action

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b-else-writes · 6 months

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it’s really fascinating how people treat Zutara shippers as not having media literacy when there is ample evidence of people involved in ATLA’s production having been Zutara shippers, including members of the writing team, and that Kataang was a decision that came down to the wire of the finale. If anything I’d say we have a lot of media literacy that we can pick up the fact that Zutara was definitely a possibility floated around during the production of the show and it bled into the final product whether you like it or not. But hey we are all just dumb women desperate to self-insert ourselves into the story to imagine we’re fucking Zuko, we don’t know anything about writing and comprehending media!!

#the live action show is really awakening the age old arguments huh #zutara #also the self insert argument is so lame. Bryke lit admitted they committed the self insertion

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b-else-writes · 6 months

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damn, i barely remember writing this! i think it was way back when there were a lot of rumors that Katara was going to be aged up and Sokka would become her younger brother, and everyone was going crazy that it was all Zutarians fault (because everything bad about the fandom is our fault). of course, now we know that Katara is still the younger sister and fingers crossed, she will still be the badass we all love.

but i definitely agree that if the LA does badly, they will blame it on us and them "pandering" to us (even though there is still zero proof Zutara is gonna happen). personally i'm quite neutral on the live-action adaptation. there are live-action adaptations I like (Lord of the Rings, the live action Sailor Moon), and those I find unnecessary and boring. Mostly my worry is the series will rely too much on you already being a fan and be a poor television show, with too much exposition, cramming everything of Book One in, weakly developed characters because of lack of time, etc. It's something I think about as someone trying to write my own original work - if I was the luckiest person ever and it were adapted, would the adaptation be good? I've always suspected that was the reason Bryke dropped out, because they weren't being given the episodes and budget they wanted, not because of Zutara. But we'll have to see, really. In the end, if it is bad, well, there's always the OG and fanfiction!

It truly never even crossed my mind that they would attempt to put in a sex scene into the ATLA live action (I was naive) but now I see the news of the Katara age lift… there’s a high chance they’re really going to sexualize minors (even if Katara is played by an adult, it’s still going to be a 16 year old in a sex scene), aren’t they? And the one who will come out the worst for it is Katara (and her actress), the one brown girl. They’re probably going to add “sexual tension” to her scenes with Zuko when he ties her to a tree, just to really drive it home that this ATLA is for grown-ups (read: the Reylo fandom).

Can’t wait for everyone to say that the Zutara fandom is the one who wanted all this. Yes there’s lots of nasty creeps out there writing fanfic of 14 year old Katara having sex, etc, but most of us did not want this. Many of us are WOC ourselves and we just wanted Katara to have a powerful arc and a healthy love interest where she is respected. I will bet money that they will also reduce Katara’s fighting prowess, etc. in the Netflix adapation. If they are altering her dynamic with Sokka, what else will they alter? They need to cater to the people who want minors in sex scenes and simpering Katara. I’m probably being overly negative but I just do not trust live action adaptations of childhood properties, especially not with how they treat WOC.

#atla live action #girl how did you find this post!!! a detective!!

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b-else-writes · 6 months

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This is round two, because I got a lot of comments saying they were sad they didnt get to vote. Remember to reblog this poll so it spreads further and we get a larger sample size! It will last one week, starting 10/24. Thanks guys!

#thanks for tagging me <3 #HOW is sokka/zuko winning tumblr you've lost me on this one #is it because they look like those voltron characters. is it.

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b-else-writes · 8 months

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No, there’s nothing wrong with including politics. In fact I’d say it’s necessary to include post-war given that not repeating the mistakes of the past makes sense or else you’re just backsliding into the same problems that led to the fall of the Republic the first time. The problem is that writing political intrigue requires a deft hand and a smart and skilled writer, which frankly, is not the business of the Star Wars novelist.

Vector Prime (1999): Some Thoughts

so i've decided to re-read the old EU (maaybee because i'm gonna write some more fanfic) and arbitrarily decided that I would start with the era for which I first ventured into as a child - the NJO. it's going to be a total chore but let's get started. Spoilers for a book that came out 24 years ago, this is just my thoughts as I was reading:

the Yuuzhan Vong: contrary to whatever revisionist stuff fans say, opinions on the old EU were very mixed and the Vong were a major point of contention. the whole idea was to end the repetitive formula of "evil Emperial Warlord and their Death Star knock-off" of the past books, but people disagreed as to whether they felt Star Wars. i think the idea of an invasion of religious war zealots who hate the Jedi and technology is not a bad idea per se, and i do think that the parts of the story that feel like a thriller as we learn more and more about the Vong and Yomin Carr hunts the scientists on Belkadan, are quite gripping. but i don't know if they feel Star Wars, the sadomasochism and orc appearance especially.

Luke: i feel like the NJO is when the writers realised that Luke had already concluded his character arc and didn't know what to do with him in a main role but people would cry blood if he wasn't in a main role so they were stuck (the original idea was to kill Luke and not Chewie). Luke is fine but unmemorable, and his conflict is external - whether Jedi operate as a law force of its own or not, and whether to have a Jedi Council or not (because the PT was airing) to keep all the Jedi in-line, and Luke is largely wishy-washy.

Han: the best written of the trio, i think his characterization was spot-on, especially in grief and rage.

Jacen: contrary to revisionist history (2), fans LOATHED the Solo children and you can straight up find fan polls on which Solo spawn is the worst from like 2002. i'm a contrarian and you know what? i like Jacen here. i think he has a good point about whether the point of the Force is to be a Space Police Officer or whether it's a source of self-enlightenment and growth and that he wants the Jedi to be less bureaucratic. like Anakin straight-up says the Jedi are the Law, and Jacen says no, and you know what? he's right. unfortunately Jacen can never be right because SW runs on the hamster wheel of endless violent conflict, but sue me, i like Jacen.

Kyp Durron: sue me (2), i like Kyp Durron. Kyp was never meant to have this role (it was meant to be a new character) but someone who no doubt hated Kyp suggested he take the role of the cocky trigger-happy "the Jedi should act like a law onto themselves" that puts him at odds with EVERYONE else. they try to justify it that Kyp wants to prove to everyone that he's good and atone, and in principle, I think the idea can work, but without writing Kyp as an arrogant, cocky, and smug asshole with zero compassion for others. leave my man alone!! he's just trying to earn redemption!!

Mara, Leia, Jaina, Danni: they are all lumped together because Salvatore doesn't know how to write women. they are all "strong willed and beautiful" (except Leia because she's old and how dare women be old) and that's it. Jaina's personality is lit "fly good".

Lando: the writers have no idea what to do with Lando either.

Anakin Solo: the Solo Spawn i am sending to the execution squad. joking i think he works as a stupid teenager who needs to grow up.

the big controversial death: i actually think it works as an emotional beat (and i don't object to death in SW), but the writing was very confusing as to how the whole thing actually happened. how fast is the Moon coming down that the Falcon can fly away and have enough time to loop back to see Chewie die?

blowing up Helska: this made zero sense and was resolved in one chapter and i suspect was tacked on because the book couldn't end at Sernpidal, which would actually have worked better because while the writing isn't great, the imagery of the Moon crashing down is really effective.

overall, it's a brisk read but the cracks in the old EU are visible. i think some of the writing decisions were plain bad to downright side-eyeable in the case of Lando and all the female characters - also is EVERYONE in this galaxy white except Lando?? (Kyp is Asian you can't take this from me, child-me thought this and it is my truth now) - and tbh trying to drag Luke into more adventures at this point feels like extending something beyond where it should be. it is fairly gripping though, the writing is serviceable and nothing special, but i never felt bored reading.

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b-else-writes · 8 months

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@rebeljedi1138 i think i just erased the Senate section of the book out of my brain because it was so badly-written conflict for the sake of conflict but yeah, it is another part of the book you can tell was written because the Prequels were airing and they wanted some """political intrigue""" and also they had to give the trio something to do and Leia always gets the badly-written politicking, save her. In principle, I think the idea that the Senate would question the power and autonomy of the Jedi is a very interesting one to explore, but the issue is SW can't actually be that critical of the Jedi (the Prequels are the closest you get where the Jedi are criticized for growing stale and arrogant, but not as an institution in and of themselves), because SW is a fairy tale power fantasy in the same way superheroes are, so you end up with irritating obviously self-serving senators vs. the inscrutable but will always end up right Jedi, and it's boring. I'm not on the edge of my seat reading wondering oh damn, what political maneuvering will our heroes have to deal with, I'm desperately waiting for them to get out of Coruscant. The political angle should have stuck to something like nobody wanting to fight a war again, wanting to negotiate with the Vong, issues with the Imperial Remnant, etc, because that is something SW can adequately explore.