| Magic Knight Rayearth | |
Tokyopop's re-release of Magic Knight Rayearth I Volume 1 |
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| 魔法騎士レイアース (Mahō Kishi Reiāsu) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Magical girl, Mecha, action/adventure |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Clamp |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher | Tokyopop (former), Dark Horse Comics (current) |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Magazine | Nakayoshi |
| Original run | November 1993 – February 1995 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Toshihiro Hirano |
| Written by | Nanase Ohkawa |
| Music by | Hayato Matsuo |
| Studio | Tōkyō Movie Shinsha |
| Licensed by | AnimeWorks |
| Network | Yomiuri TV |
| Original run | October 17, 1994 – March 13, 1995 |
| Episodes | 20 |
| Manga | |
| Magic Knight Rayearth 2 | |
| Written by | Clamp |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher | Tokyopop (former), Dark Horse Comics (current) |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Magazine | Nakayoshi |
| Original run | March 1995 – April 1996 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| TV anime | |
| Magic Knight Rayearth 2 | |
| Directed by | Toshihiro Hirano |
| Written by | Nanase Ohkawa |
| Music by | Hayato Matsuo |
| Studio | Tōkyō Movie Shinsha |
| Licensed by | AnimeWorks |
| Network | Yomiuri TV |
| Original run | April 10, 1995 – November 27, 1995 |
| Episodes | 29 |
| Original video animation | |
| Rayearth | |
| Directed by | Keitaro Motonaga |
| Written by | Manabu Nakamura |
| Music by | Toshihiko Sahashi |
| Studio | Tōkyō Movie Shinsha |
| Licensed by | Manga Entertainment |
| Released | 1997 |
| Runtime | 45 minutes (each) |
| Episodes | 3 |
Magic Knight Rayearth (魔法騎士レイアース Mahō Kishi Reiāsu) is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp, a manga artist 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 two anime series in 1994 and an original video animation (OVA) in 1997.
Contents |
Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and 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 Cephiro by activating the three Rune-Gods (魔神 Mashin). They are given a bizarre creature named Mokona to guide them on their journey. After the girls find and destroy Zagato, they finally reach Emeraude, but they learn that she had fallen in love with Zagato, hindering her ability to pray solely for Cephiro's well-being. They at first believed that Zagato had attempted to solve the problem on his own terms by stealing and imprisoning Emeraude, but in truth, she imprisoned herself. Feeling responsible for her actions, she summoned the Magic Knights to kill her since no one from Cephiro could harm the Pillar. Her dark side then took over, seeking to destroy the Magic Knights for killing her love. After a short defensive fight against Emeraude, the Magic Knights had no choice but to kill her.
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. It is later discovered that Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu's will to go to Cephiro sent them back once again in the anime, whereas in the manga they were summoned by Mokona.
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 which, like Emeraude before her, effectively prevents 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.
The first season remains mostly faithful to the first arc of the manga aside from the inclusion of the original character Inouva and a multitude of subplots, however the second season shows a rapid departure. Most notable differences are the creation of two anime only antagonists, Nova and Lady Debonair, who were born from the intense despair of Hikaru and the people of Cephiro respectively after the death of Princess Emeraude. It is also revealed by the Rune Gods that the girls were summoned back to Cephiro by their own will, most notably Hikaru's as her strength of heart also allowed her to become the new Pillar, a position she rejects in a similar fashion to the manga.
Written 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 Comics 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 three or four of the original volumes in each of the new omnibus versions.[2] The series is also licensed in French by Pika Édition.[3]
| No. | Japanese | North American | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | ISBN | Release date | ISBN | |
| 1 | July 22, 1994[1] | ISBN 4-06-334642-0 | January 1, 1999 | ISBN 978-1-892213-00-6 |
| 2 | November 22, 1994[1] | ISBN 4-06-334643-9 | March 1, 1999 | ISBN 978-1-892213-08-2 |
| 3 | March 6, 1995[1] | ISBN 4-06-334644-7 | September 1, 1999 | ISBN 978-1-892213-16-7 |
| No. | Japanese | North American | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | ISBN | Release date | ISBN | |
| 1 | July 26, 1995[4] | ISBN 4-06-334659-5 | June 1, 2000 | ISBN 978-1-892213-43-3 |
| 2 | December 18, 1995[4] | ISBN 4-06-334660-9 | March 1, 2001 | ISBN 978-1-892213-52-5 |
| 3 | April 23, 1996[4] | ISBN 4-06-334661-7 | June 1, 2001 | ISBN 978-1-892213-72-3 |
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/Emerald), Ellen Wilkinson (Fuu), Kaeko Sakamoto (Mokona) and Lex Lang (Zagato/Lantis), respectively) on each disc in the first season.
A three-part OVA was released in Japan a few years after the end of the manga and the TV series (July 25, September 26, and November 24 1997). 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, who opted to use a different New York-based voice cast for its English release.
Three opening themes were used in the series and one in the OVA Rayearth:
Magic Knight Rayearth:
Magic Knight Rayearth 2:
Media Blasters' early 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 were included as an extra on the early DVDs, and was only in Japanese, however this isn't the case with the remastered sets, in which the dubbed openings were removed meaning, all three openings are left intact.
Three ending themes were used:
Magic Knight Rayearth:
Magic Knight Rayearth 2:
Media Blasters' early 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 was included as an extra on the early DVDs, and was only in Japanese, this again was eventually rectified in the remastered sets, in which, like the openings the dubbed endings were removed meaning all three endings were left intact.
In the early English releases of the TV series, Sandy Fox sang both the opening and the ending themes in the English dubbed version.
Rayearth:
A number of video games have been released that are based on Magic Knight Rayearth. Magic Knight Rayearth, an adventure RPG set in the first TV season, was released for the Sega Saturn. It was the last officially released game for the console in the US. All other games based on the manga were released exclusively in Japan, including a Super Famicom role-playing game (RPG), a Sega Pico title called Magic Knight Tanjou, two short RPGs for Game Boy, a raising sim, and another RPG for Sega Game Gear.
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