The manga artist group known as Clamp is now known worldwide thanks to hits including Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, and Tsubasa. However, their start was with a much lesser-known series, RG Veda.

RG Veda is pronounced as “Rigveda,” the name of one of the four Vedas in Hindu scriptures. The Rigveda is one of the four sacred texts and contains more than 1,000 hymns and more than 10,000 verses in total.

The series ran from 1989 until 1996 for a total of ten volumes and established Clamp’s signature art style: highly detailed and extravagant, especially when compared to other shoujo manga of the time period. RG Veda follows Ashura, who has slept for three hundred years after the god of thunder, Taishakuten, rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor and took the throne for himself. Ashura joins Yasha-o as they seek to rejoin the “Six Stars” in order to fulfill a prophecy that would bring the thunder god’s reign to an end.

However, despite Ashura’s childlike demeanor, his true nature comes forth once the Six Stars are together; he is the god of destruction, and in a plot twist, Taishakuten’s goal was all along to prevent Ashura’s true awakening.

RG Veda was originally planned by Clamp to be a one-off story rather than a series, but reader response to the story caused them to plan out more volumes. Thanks to the success of the series, Clamp was propelled to further popularity and are still one of the main names in shoujo manga today.