RG Veda Vol 9-10 (end)

[meganbmoore]

Uhm…rocks fall and almost everyone dies? Maybe I was spoiled by the endings of Basara and , where, halfway through, you’re pretty much convinced that everyone is going to be dead by the end, but you end up with a respectable body count and more survivors than not, and pretty much everyone who died died accomplishing something, or making it possible for someone else to accomplish something. Not in the middle of finding out the good guys had unintentionally been aiding in the apocalypse.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to “rocks fall, everybody dies” when it makes sense, but when you add it to learning that everything you’ve watched the characters go through wasn’t to save the world, but to destroy it, it starts to feel gratuitous. At one point, Zouchouten said he was sick of all the dying. I actually said “me too” out loud.

And yet, I’m still pretty fond of this thing.

But is Clamp capable of just writing a good old-fashioned bad guy? I mean, I’m all for complex characters and motives and twists, but it’s nice to just have a villain you can root to have defeated from beginning to end. For that matter, why does the reveal on these things always have to end up “and all this was because I loved someone”?

Other bits:

1. Kendappa was the 4th general. This pleases me.
2. That Lord Ashura and Taishakouten both married Sanshi because she had the seal while they had a thing going themselves didn’t exactly make me sympathize with them the way the backstory was supposed to. Not that I particularly sympathize with Sanshi, but really…
3. Kujaku is the spawn of an incestuous union between the former god king and his sister, was kept locked in a jail cell to hide his father’s sins, and his mother tried to kill him. I am deeply concerned that something like that no longer shocks me. Possibly even more concerned that it makes me go “Whee!”
4. Ashura really shouldn’t have made the “Everyone loves you”! speech to Tenou. While it was pretty understandable under the circumstances, it made me want to point to Yasha, Souma and Ryuu and go “What are they? Fertilizer?”
5. Thank you for at least leaving two characters I liked-Zouchouten and Tenou-alive, Clamp. (Though I feel compelled to point out that it was three until you went for the last second death.) (Yes, I do like Yasha and Ashura, too, but…)
 

Comments

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. That's all.

But is Clamp capable of just writing a good old-fashioned bad guy?

To be honest, I don't think so. That's why I think FWR will end like a deconstruction or something of The Bad Guy. He is like... too stereotypical.

And yaaay, CLAMP fan!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I know! I don't want them to do that! I derive great joy from hating him!

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Heh, my problem is that I can't hate him. I see him and think on... Inspector Gadget's villain. Or something.

Oh. You didn't mention RG Veda's cannibalism!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

That is true! And I even noted it as I was reading! I think I got distracted by being put out with the whole Sanshi thing. I almost wonder if they manipulated her into her betrayal.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

It's quite the wham ending, isn't it?

I was so very sad for Kujaku. But in a squeeing way as well XD so what says you less angsty or as angsty as Fay?

But is Clamp capable of just writing a good old-fashioned bad guy?
Nah, I don't think they are. Then again, there's Sashi, one of the rare evil character of CLAMP not motivated by love in the slightest. I kinda love her for that XD

Taishakuten and Ashura-Ou are both very much prat, yes, with or without the last revelations. I kind of think it's hilarious how the rare moments where Taishakuten shows compassion it's all about how it was similar to his own being screwed, but he's still a dick to most everyone in the manga in general and made a very bad job at fulfilling Ashura-Ou's request.
But the canon vore between the two still makes me squee.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I adore sashi's unrepentant evil-queen-ness. OTOH, they pretty much set it up so that she was almost Ashura and Taishakouten's victim.

As far as who's angstier, I'll have to think about it. It may be a tie. it's also entirely possible I'd rather have him alive and watching over things while Yasha waits forever than Kujaku dead so Ashura can get better.

I really wish Taishakouten eating Ashura hadn't been right on the heels of the "we both married Sashi for the seal" bit. My irritation with that distracted me from "ZOMG! CANIBALISM!"

ETA: Also, is Ashura/Taishakouten the only Clamp pairing (aside from married people) that we know that "yes, there was so sex" for sure?

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen Sashi as their victim, more like mutual using (well, three way), but I see your point now. It is sort of sad.

I'm pissed off Kujaku had to die, too. It's hard to see what made them deserving it. OTOH I think Kujaku's projecting on Ashura - seeing him as someone like him, unwanted yet who could find someone to love him, something which Kujaku himself never had - which makes me even sadder.

Also, is Ashura/Taishakouten the only Clamp pairing (aside from married people) that we know that "yes, there was so sex" for sure?
I can think of one other couple. Wait, two other couples. Both in X.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's why I said "almost." It's like...did she have an idea of how she was being used? Did it influence her decisions later? Did they choose her instead of her sister because she could later be manipulated into furthering their plans?

I think the world would have benefitted a lot more from Kujaku's guidance than it will from having Ashura back (and I like Yasha best when he's drowning in angst) but I think Clamp wanted a "love and sacrifice" ending after the rockfall climax.

X, eh? Interesting. If I remember the anime right, the evil priestess and the blond guy on her team (I forget names now) are one. Dunno about the other.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

If I remember the anime right, the evil priestess and the blond guy on her team (I forget names now) are one.
Yes, that's one of the two I was remembering (Yuuto and Kanoe).

[rekallthegreat.livejournal.com]

But is Clamp capable of just writing a good old-fashioned bad guy?

Nope. I'm completely convinced we'll never see a good old-fashioned bad guy from them. I don't mind it for the most part but I like hating FWR and don't want to feel any sympathy for him.

I am deeply concerned that something like that no longer shocks me. Possibly even more concerned that it makes me go “Whee!”

Welcome to the darkside! XD

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the darkside! XD

I blame Angel Sanctuary.

I really hope they let FWR stay evil.

[kakkobean.livejournal.com]

*starts thinking of the bad guys in CLAMP fiction that she has read*

Hmmm...uuummm...don't think so. Unless you count the dude in Clamp Campus Defenders Duklyon, but then again no one really thinks about that series (because he ends up not being so stereotypical in the end, but whatever). Or maybe the villains in Rex, the story with the dinosaur where all of the bad guys just want to capture him for science. Then again, Alcione from Magic Knight Rayearth seemed kind of stereotypical to me (in the whole "I am a crazy psycho bitch who kills people because the man I love one-sidedly told me to" way)...and then there's Evil Sheep Beast Wooltar 8DDD (loves on Evil Sheep Beast Wooltar)

So. Uh. I guess it depends on where you look in CLAMP literature, since the Legend of Chun Hyang never got beyond volume one (so no more info on the guy responsible for her mother's death), nor do we have any more info on any "bad guys" for Legal Drug since that series died...and--and gah, a loosing battle I am fighting here =_=

[amewarashi.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, not everyone. BTW, I'm still amazed Tenoh survived the whole deal. And happy, too. I love him dearly, the poor, cute thing ♥

Okay, so, I'm still pretty annoyed at the fact Kujaku died like that. Then again, the fact I was never fond in the least of Ashura and Yasha (as characters and as a pairing) doesn't help. And trying to look at it from an objective point of view, I think that such a butchery of a story getting a "happy ending"* feels so strange and anticlimatic. At least to me.



* For the two main characters, that is. And you could argue that for Kendappa as well, in a twisted way. But ARGH! Then I remember Ryuu-oh's puppy face while dying and how it didn't matter to anyone (not even Ashura), or Karura-oh never getting her revenge, and I go D:

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It was the last second "Kill Kujaku, save Ashura" thing that really pushes it into "oh, come on, Clamp, really?"

ashura and Yasha as a pairing kind of weirds me out. I mean, Kujaku was still calling Yasha Ashura's father 10 pages from the end.

But yeah, I like them, but liked most of the people who died-often senselessly-for them even more, so seeing them suddenly get a second chance and happy ending is a bit of a kick to the gut.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

"But is Clamp capable of just writing a good old-fashioned bad guy?"
Probably not. However, now that I've seen one too many time, I've come to suspect that Fei Wong Reed is very likely to be a good guy, too. That'd be highly annoying.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I REALLY don't want to end up being told to like him.