ashura

The protagonist of the series and the last living member of the Ashura clan, Ashura was born after Taishakuten had killed his father and seized the throne. His mother, Shashi, at the same time gave birth to Taishakuten's son Ten-ou, and tried to kill Ashura, whom she believed must stand in her way to rule Heaven at Taishakuten's side. However, Ashura's powers protected him and enclosed him in a cocoon where he slept undisturbed for three hundred years, until Yasha-ou awoke him.
Upon being freed from his cocoon, Ashura first appears as a baby, but grows rapidly to a child of apparently eight years. At first outgoing and friendly, he soon becomes aware of his cruel destiny, as Taishakuten has almost everyone with whom he has associated killed. Feeling guilty for their deaths, he vows to become strong enough to defeat Taishakuten himself.
However, Ashura has another side: He is, in fact, the "true Ashura", the merciless god of war whose wish is the total destruction of Heaven, Earth and Hell. This side was suppressed by several seals, one of which is the distribution of his true power among the Six Stars, but is freed upon their meeting. Only his love for Yasha-ou finally triumphs over his lust for destruction.
As his father's punishment, Ashura was born genderless so he cannot continue the royal line of Ashura, which Ashura-ou so desperately wished to preserve that he tried to defy destiny. Languages which do not have a gender-neutral pronoun usually refer to him by either the male or the female pronoun; the choice of either is often a source of much contention.
Ashura is also a crossover character in Clamp's manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, where he appears under the name Ashura-ou as the king of Shura Country, hosting Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona during their stay in this world. His clan is at constant war with the Yasha clan over possession of a mysterious castle in the sky, which is said to fulfill its master's wish. It turns out that he was in love with Yasha-ou, who returned his feelings, and wished to resurrect him from the dead. He dies as the castle, unable to fulfill this impossible wish, crashes down around him.
~ taken from Wikipedia.

Why Ashura?

Well, well, well. I owed you all - I'm never exhaustive when I try and summarize plots, but I really wanted to add a personal touch to this section and explain why Ashura, of all CLAMP characters out there. Yes, I know the reply sounds tame, but I find Ashura absolutely, obscenely gorgeous, despite the fact that my all-time favourite character is Sumeragi Subaru. First of all, I have to say RG Veda is my favourite manga, along with X and Tokyo Babylon (oh, come on, it's a draw match XD I just can't say one of them is my favourite) - I really got to love a 25-characters cast for the first time in my life, loving and feeling them intensely except that Shashi bitch *cough* in that special way that usually happens for a character or two. Ashura fills me with so much tenderness - and so much fascination - that it was really easy to be blown away by the depth of his/her concern and his/her love for Yasha-ou. Ashura is, in fact, the knot that ties the whole cast together and sends it all to face its own fate. Moreover (or maybe because of that?), s/he's a multiform character, torn between his/her double nature of childish innocence and sensual longing for neverending destruction, between the feeling binding him/her to Yasha - a blend of fatherly and romantic affection... all things a fangirl can't be indifferent about^^ and his will to follow his/her nature after the seal breaks. And what to say about his/her Tsubasa counterpart? Ashura-ou and the Shura arc are my favourite part in Tsubasa - and I daresay that particular one is worth all the rest of the series - I find him absolutely breath-taking. A mature warlord, a fine king in his Oriental-like court, his heart-consuming wish, in front of which his own land and people matter nothing, his everlasting love for a man that loved him in silence and continued to love him even in the afterlife... I really couldn't ask for anything more - and yes, I developed a serious crush on him X°°D.

Fanlistings

Fanlistings are virtual lists of fans sharing the same passion for a certain thing, a manga, a character, a singer, a book...

Credits & Disclaimers

RG Veda and Ashura © CLAMP; layout and contents © Juuhachi Go since August, 23rd, 2008; textures © masterjinn. Part of here and here. No copyright infringement intended. Don't steal.