Shining Star

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To be honest, when i first saw this on CLAMP's list of published manga, i didn't think it looked too interesting. Recently, though, i found myself wanting to read something new and short, and this fit the bill, so i tried it and was surprised how much i liked it.
-Story- To be honest, there isn't much to the story, but at 23 pages, that's to be expected. Two men meet by chance and fall in love. It's just a bit of pure fluff.
-Art- It's an early CLAMP manga. Of course the art is gorgeous. A lot of detail is put into the hair and eyes, ... and it turns out looking really good.
-Character- Here's where my main enjoyment of the work came from. As has been known to happen in CLAMP manga, the characters come form other series they've done: in this case, RG Veda and CLAMP School Detectives. The two leads are reincarnations of Ashura-ou and Taishakuten, and the three eponymous detectives make a guest appearance as high school students. Other RG Veda characters make small appearances as well. Interestingly, though, Shining Star was published 3 years before RG Veda and 5 years before CSD, making this possibly the first appearance for either group of characters. It was interesting to see these characters in a modern school setting.
-Enjoyment- Despite my preference for dark and angsty manga, i found myself grinning throughout the whole thing. I found Ashura and Taishakuten to be two of the most interesting characters in RG Veda, in that it was their choices that shaped the whole story more than anyone else's, and yet very little is shown of them. I was also extremely disappointed that Ashura didn't get a chance to live a happier life in Tsubasa, despite most characters from CLAMP's darker manga getting that opportunity. It was very nice to see the two in a sweet little piece for a change.
-Overall- Honestly, i think only RG Veda fans will appreciate this piece. The main reason i liked it so much was because RG Veda has been one of my favorite manga for over 4 years. There's not much going on except as a treat for RG Veda fans. I'd recommend it to everyone who enjoyed RG Veda, but if you haven't read that or didn't like it, you should probably give this one a miss.