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Magic Knight Rayearth (魔法騎士レイアース Mahō Kishi Reiāsu) is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp, a mangaka team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Ageha Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi and Mokona. Rayearth combines elements from the magical girl and mecha anime genres with parallel world fantasy. The manga was adapted into an anime series in 1994 and a OVA in 1997.
[edit] PlotHikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, Fuu Hououji are on a field trip to the Tokyo Tower with their respective schools. The girls are blinded by a flash of light and hear a voice calling for the Legendary Magic Knights to save Cephiro. They fall through the sky into another world, Cephiro. Once there, they meet Master Mage Clef. Clef explains, "[In Cephiro], one's will has the ability to change reality for better or worse. The dark fears in people's hearts become monsters, while a well-intended wish can do miracles. One person, the Pillar, whose will is stronger than anyone else's, is responsible for maintaining through her prayers the well-being of Cephiro." In the first story arc, the current Pillar, Princess Emeraude, has been captured by her high priest, Zagato. The three girls are charged with the task of saving the Princess by activating the three Rune-Gods (魔神 Mashin). They are given a bizarre creature named Mokona to guide them on their journey. When the girls finally reach Emeraude, they learn that she had fallen in love with Zagato, hindering her ability to pray solely for Cephiro's well-being, and had summoned the Magic Knights to kill her since no one on Cephiro could harm the Pillar. The second story arc deals with the complications caused by the first season's climax: three warring planets, Autozam, Fahren, and Chizeta, have begun their attempts to conquer Cephiro and a new Pillar must be chosen before the whole planet is destroyed. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are once again summoned to Cephiro. In the manga it is later discovered that the mysterious Mokona is responsible for their being summoned back to Cephiro, and he is, in fact, the creator of both the Earth and Cephiro. In the anime they return to Cephiro because of their (especially Hikaru's) strong desire to do so. Eventually, Hikaru is chosen to become the new Pillar. However, she rebels against the Pillar system, deciding that the fate of the planet should not be the responsibility of only one person, effectively preventing that person from ever being able to live and love freely. Hikaru, Fuu and Umi return to earth, but still can visit their loved ones in Cephiro. [edit] CharactersMain article: List of Magic Knight Rayearth characters Hikaru Shidou (獅堂 光 Shidō Hikaru) (Lucy Shido or Lucy González) is an eighth-grade girl, small for her age and often teased for her boyishness. She is headstrong, determined and loyal. She is the Magic Knight of Fire. She is in love with Lantis, Zagato's younger brother, but it is implied that she is also in love with Eagle Vision, the son of the president of Autozam. Umi Ryuuzaki (龍咲 海 Ryūzaki Umi) (Marina Ryuzaki or Marina Santana) is the only child of a rich family. She is quick-tempered and at first uncaring, though perhaps the best-suited for the task at hand, but is also the most reluctant. She is the Magic Knight of Water. Fuu Hououji (鳳凰寺 風 Hōōji Fū) (Anemone Hooji or Anais Araujo) is the voice of reason. She is also highly intelligent, though this goes more for booksmarts than streetsmarts. She often has moments where she doubts herself, but ends up coming out strong in the end. She is also in love with Ferio. She is the Magic Knight of Wind. Mokona is a seemingly intelligent rabbit-like creature with a gem on his forehead. It travels along with the three knights and helps them to find their way to find the runegods. [edit] MediaWritten and illustrated by Clamp, Magic Knight Rayearth appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi from November 1993 to February 1995. Kodansha collected the chapters in three tankōbon volumes. The first was published on July 22, 1994; the last was released on March 6, 1995.[1] The sequel also appeared in Nakayoshi from March 1995 to April 1996. Since then, the manga has also been released in the United States in English by Tokyopop in six volumes, with three volumes in each series. The English version of the manga was at first issued in a flipped left to right format, but was re-released in the original right to left format in later editions. It would appear that Tokyopop has lost their license for the series, as Dark Horse Manga announced at their San Diego Comic-Con International 2009 panel that they would be publishing the series in a new omnibus edition in honor of CLAMP's 20th anniversary. There will be either 3 or 4 of the original volumes in each of the new omnibus versions.[2] The series is also licensed in French by Pika Édition.[3] [edit] Manga
[edit] AnimeSee also: List of Magic Knight Rayearth episodes The anime series aired first on Japan's Yomiuri TV on October 17, 1994 and ended on November 27, 1995. It was directed by Toshihiro Hirano and co-produced by Yomiuri TV and Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment). The anime had 2 seasons, lasting 49 episodes altogether. The TV series is licensed in the U.S. by Media Blasters and is dubbed by Bang Zoom! Entertainment. It was released on both VHS and DVD. The DVDs contain both the Japanese and English language tracks, as well as bonus features including interviews with the English voice actors (Julie Maddalena (Hikaru), Wendee Lee (Umi/Emeraude), Bridget Hoffman (Fuu), Kaeko Sakamoto (Mokona) and Lex Lang (Zagato/Lantis), respectively) on each disc in the first season[citation needed]. [edit] OVAA three-part OVA was released in Japan a few years after the end of the manga and the TV series. The OVA was named simply Rayearth and its story was quite different from the original. The characters are all the same, but the relationships, places and events changed radically. Here we find that Hikaru, Umi and Fuu are already friends who go to the same school and will soon be leaving for high school. Suddenly, a strange fairy (which turns out to be Mokona, the creature from the original series) appears in front of them. At the same time, strange monsters and wizards start to appear in the city of Tokyo. One of them is Clef, who tries to guide the three girls in order to let them become the Magic Knights, awaken their Mashin and fight against the evil wizards from Cephiro, who are trying to invade the human world. The OVA is licensed in the U.S. by Manga Entertainment. [edit] Theme songs
Three opening themes were used in the series and one in the OVA Rayearth: Magic Knight Rayearth:
Magic Knight Rayearth 2:
Media Blasters' English DVD release used "Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta Mama" as the opening for Magic Knight Rayearth 2 Episodes 01-22. The original openings from episodes 01-22 is included as an extra on the DVDs, and is only in Japanese.
Three ending themes were used: Magic Knight Rayearth:
Magic Knight Rayearth 2:
Media Blasters' English DVD release used "Rarabai ~ Yasashiku Dakasete ~" as the ending for Magic Knight Rayearth 2 Episodes 23-29. The original ending from episodes 23-29 is included as an extra on the DVDs, and is only in Japanese. Rayearth:
In the English releases, Sandy Fox sang both the opening and the ending themes in the English dubbed version. [edit] VideogamesMagic Knight Rayearth, an adventure RPG set in the first TV season, was released for the Sega Saturn. A Super Famicom role-playing game was also released.There are also five other, less known video games based on the series: a Sega Pico title called Magic Knight Tanjou, two short RPGs for Game Boy, plus a raising sim and another RPG for Sega Game Gear. These were all exclusively released in Japan, except for the Saturn game, which was a localized release in the US. [edit] References
[edit] External links
Magic Knight Rayearth (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
Categories: Manga series | Anime series | Anime OVAs | Magic Knight Rayearth | Clamp (manga artists) | Fantasy anime and manga | Romance anime and manga | Anime of 1994 | Anime of 1997 | Manga of 1993 | Manga of 1995 | Literature featuring anthropomorphic characters | Magical girl anime and manga | Tokyopop titles | Media Blasters titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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