This Shojo Genre series is one of the most popular creations of the creative collective known as CLAMP, blending Magical Girl, Humongous Mecha and High Fantasy into a unique and entertaining mix.Schoolgirls Shidou Hikaru, Ryuuzaki Umi and Hououji Fuu are visiting Tokyo Tower with their respective middle-school classes when a mysterious force addresses them as "Magic Knights", begs for their help, and then transports them to another world. The three fourteen-year-olds find themselves in the magical world of Cephiro, brought there by a wizard named Clef. Cephiro, he explains, is held stable and safe by the constant attention of the Pillar, a princess named Emeraude. But Emeraude is now the prisoner of her former high priest, Zagato, and monsters have begun to overrun the countryside. Clef informs them that they are the Magic Knights of prophecy, who will save Cephiro from its impending doom. He gives them mystic armor and magical powers to use in their quest. But before he can explain how to use them, agents of Zagato appear on the scene, and the girls are dispatched on their mission with only the faintest idea of what they have to do.In the course of their adventures, the three girls must discover their magical gifts and hone them while fighting their way across the countryside through hordes of monsters. They encounter Presea, the Master Smith, who sends them on a quest to find the materials for their magic weapons. And they learn that to accomplish the prophecy they embody, they must find and awaken the great Mashin, the elemental god-creatures who sleep and waken only to protect Cephiro. In the process the girls, initially strangers, must learn about each other, and how to trust and depend on their teammates; they soon become fast friends. Dodging, defeating and even subverting the deadly agents of Zagato, they finally come to the point of fulfilling the ancient prophecy — only to discover that what they must do is nothing at all like what they expected.Magic Knight Rayearth, despite its deceptively simple "schoolgirls on a quest" appearance, is a surprisingly complex story, with layers of motivation and backstory behind the events of Cephiro's crisis. What seems at first to be a simple, straight-line adventure/quest plot turns out to be darker and far more complex, and the final revelation of the prophecy's true meaning forces Hikaru, Umi and Fuu to make mature, grown-up choices that belie the earlier impression of "fairytale fun".One of the story's greatest strengths is characterization. The girls are unique and clearly drawn — Genki Girl Hikaru, snobby Rich Bitch Umi and the bookish, excessively-polite Fuu (who addresses every creature they kill as "monster-san") are about as disparate a trio as can be found; how they work through their differences and forge a determined and skilled team of fighters is one of the show's triumphs of character development. But even the villains are surprisingly complex and even sympathetic on some levels.Although ultimately a drama, Magic Knight Rayearth leavens its serious storylines with occasional mild doses of slapstick and Super-Deformed action. Much like the gravedigger scene in Hamlet, this comedy doesn't detract from the story but instead throws its more serious aspect into sharper relief. Although supposedly targeted at young teen girls, it is easily watchable by adults of all ages.There's also an OVA, which changes around the plot to be set in the real world, and the manga has a sequel. The second season of the anime was adapted from the manga sequel, which primarily dealt with the aftermath of the Magic Knights' actions in the first season.There is also a video game adaption of it for a couple systems in Japan, with the Sega Saturn version released in the United States by Working Designs. This version is noteworthy not so much for the actual game, but for the Development Hell that it went through - it was delayed for so long that it ended up as the final title ever released for the Saturn in the U.S.There's also the Character Sheets.
This show provides examples of:
Adaptation Expansion (There's a lot of new contents in the anime compared to the manga which went straightforward to the Rune Gods. This is used to develop the girls further and other antagonists get developed this way)
After the End (The second season. Cephiro has been reduced to a wasteland and a crystal palace filled with refugees.)
A God Am I: Subverted. Hikaru actually becomes the Pillar of Cephiro, but immediately uses her powers to get rid of her status and the Pillar System, and allow Cephiro to be shaped by all its inhabitants instead of one person.
Anime Anatomy: The first episode where they get their magic.
Also one of the first shots in the third opening (second opening in the English dub), is of Hikaru naked with fire burning in the background, and sh is portrayed with no nipples or genitalia whatsoever.
As Long as There Is Evil: Is Lady Debonair's claim to immortality as The Heartless of Cephiro. Averted, however, after Hikaru pretty much rations out her godhood to everyone, and the Combined Energy Attack blasts her into true nothingness.
Backup Twin ( When Presea is killed in the anime, a HUGE plot hole appeared since she was alive in the manga. CLAMP fixed it by introducing Sierra, Presea's twin younger sister, who pretends to be Presea so she and Clef can keep the girls under a sort-of illusion that Emeraude revived Presea as her last wish, lest they'll be even more broken.)
BFS: Fuu's sword, especially near the end of the first season, is longer then she is tall. Her wind powers make it light enough for her to carry; no one else can even lift it.
Big Bad (Zagato in the first season (probably), and Debonair in the second.)
Bittersweet Ending: The ending of the anime series:Cephiro is restored, the Big Bad (Lady Debonair) is defeated, but the 3 girls have to return to their world.
Bodyguard Crush (One of the most heartwretching cases ever in CLAMP manga and anime: Zagato and Emeraude.)
Bond Creatures (The Rune Gods. Whatever injuries they sustain, the Knights will, too, albeit at a smaller scale. Rayearth getting his shield sliced in half results in Hikaru having a very nasty cut on her arm.)
Brainwashed and Crazy: Lafarga, by hypnotic tattoos, while Caldina uses magical music to brainwash Hikaru and Umi. Alcyone as well but only in the second anime season. Ferio also falls victim to this via Alcyone but only in the Saturn game.
Bullying a Dragon (Heroic instance: when The Creator takes away Hikaru and Eagle into the Pillar's Trial, Lantis flies up to it and shoves his sword up right at Its face, threatening to kill It if It doesn't bring them both back, unharmed, RIGHT NOW.)
Chekhov's Skill (All three of the main girls, when they pick out their initial weapons. Hikaru's parents run a kendo dojo (broadsword), Umi was on the fencing team at her school (saber), and Fuu was on the archery team at hers (longbow).)
Chromatic Arrangement (Additive primary colors: Hikaru, Umi and Fuu have respectively red, blue and green uniforms and eyes. Hair colors almost fit, but Fuu is blonde)
Go-Go Enslavement (In the second season of the anime, when the girls are caught by their enemies, they're forced to dress up in their typical clothes. Fuu and Hikaru don't have much problems, but Umi (captured by Tarta and Tatra from Chizeta) has to wear an odalisque outfit and is not amused. )
The Heartless (Most monsters in Cephiro are created from negative emotions. So is the Big Bad of the second season.)
History Repeats (High Priest Zagato fell in love with Emeraude, Pillar of Cephiro. Tragedy ensued. In the second season, Zagato's younger (but identical) brother Lantis falls in love with the girl who would become Pillar, Hikaru. The irony was not lost on either.)
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl ( Lafarga and Caldina, Hikaru and either Lantis or Eagle, Ascot and Umi (though Umi is quite tall, Ascot towers over her.) Genderflipped (and the romance/platonic nature a bit more debatable) with Clef and either Umi and Presea or Sierra.)
Humongous Mecha (The Rune Gods; there's also several mechas from Autozam.)
Impossibly Cool Weapon (the swords, and the way they ensure only their users can wield them)
Informed Ability (Fuu's being a super-genius. She uses Spock Speak, but that's all we see of it - never do we see her actually knowing something the others don't or being able to work out something the others can't.)
Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha (The Rune Gods could have just bestowed powers to the girls, but making them mecha was just cooler.)
Meaningful Name (Hikaru = Light, although she has flame magic; Umi = Sea, Fuu = Wind)
Medieval European Fantasy - Actually subverted. Cephiro definitely is a Medieval European Fantasy. But Autozam represents the USA. Chizeta represents India. And Fahren represents China.
Mukokuseki (A CLAMP staple, though it's a bit oddly used here. Despite the "big eyes", all of the girls do have a characteristic "slant" to their eyes that many of the Cephirans don't, marking their ethnicity, and Hikaru's complexion is typically depicted as pretty standardly Japanese. However, none of the girls dye their hair, so they are, apparently, a natural fire red, a natural blue and a strawberry blonde, and both Umi and Fuu have skin lighter than most caucasians... yet they're still meant to be totally Japanese with no ancestry oddness. Obviously doesn't apply to any of the Cephirans, since they're technically aliens.)
Noodle People (Especially evident when Eagle or Lantis shed their armor and stand around in standard uniforms.)
Older than They Look (Anyone in Cephiro can invoke this trope. But poor Hikaru is mistaken for a grade schooler, both by her schoolmates as well as Umi and Fuu when they first meet her, because she's so short and underdeveloped even though they're all the same age.)
Chizeta: An oddly-shaped world with a teeny-tiny habitable biosphere, inspired by Arabian Nights motifs. Even the Princessess' starship is shaped like an oil lamp, and, true to form, two muscular and unsettling djinn burst from its spout at their masters' command. Stands for India.
Possibly justified in Chizeta's case, due to its small size.
The Power of Friendship (Pretty much the point of the series, this is what saved Hikaru from being dissolved when she insisted on saving Eagle from the Pillar's Trial in the manga.)
Power Gives You Wings (All Rune Gods change into Humongous Mecha forms with themed wings. The Knights, who had traversed the whole of Cephiro on foot, even comment on how this allows them to reach the Very Definitely Final Dungeon at the end of the first season.)
Schrödinger's Cast (Some characters who the anime killed off but were alive and well in the manga had to be "brought back" in the second season because they were needed for the plot. There's just one problem... it goes against CLAMP rules, you know.)
Tomboy and Girly Girl : Tomboy Hikaru, Girly Girl Umi, and Fuu has traits of both. Tomboy Presea and Girly Girl Emeraude, with Caldina having traits of both. Tomboy Tarta and Girly Girl Tatra.
Triang Relations (Type 8 with maybe a hint of 9, between Hikaru, Lantis, and Eagle. There might be some Love You and Everybody on Hikaru's end, too, though she says the ones she wants to marry are the other two.)
Year Inside, Hour Outside (The girls are whisked away by Emeraude's prayer in a flash of light. They have adventures spanning several weeks, probably months, then they return to Earth at the exact same moment they left. Even their schoolmates are still blinded by the light.)
Alternate Continuity: This is described as a shortened retelling of MKR. That is really inaccurate. There are so many changes to the plot, it's another story entirely.
Be Careful What You Wish For: The girls attend the same school and don't want to be separated after graduation. They wish to stay friends forever, and this story really tests that wish.
Bond Creatures: Even worse than in the mainline series. Physical injuries while in Rune God form translate directly on the summoner's body.
Darker and Edgier: Cephiro is dying; Zagato sacrificed his life in a vain attempt to avert this. Emeraude is alive, but is clinging to a dream that Zagato is with her. The actual story has more violence, some blood, and about half the characters from Cephiro are killed off (although Emeraude lives).
Also, remember how the anime and the manga have these moments where our three heroines and their friends go into chibi-mode? Well, they're gone.
Enfant Terrible: Ascot isn't in to save his friends in this version. He just wants to kill everyone.
Older than They Look: Averted. There is no mention of appearance-changing in this story, so Clef looks like a grown man, and Ascot is actually a young boy.
Out-of-Clothes Experience: While "piloting" the Rune Gods, the girls appear entirely naked (their foes are never shown, however.) Also, their invocation of the final attack starts with them floating naked in the void.
The Other Darrin: Dub-only for the entire cast. This is due to being dubbed by a separate studio from the TV series.
Pimped Out Dress: Emeraude's dress is far fancier than in the main story.
Product Placement: There is a Subway restaraunt, but it's actually used for an important scene in the story.
The Tokyo Fireball: Large sections of Tokyo receive a pretty thorough trashing in the duration of the OVA.
Trapped in Another World: Inverted. Instead of being sent elsewhere, the girls are the only living things on Earth after Clef whisks everyone else to another dimension, for safekeeping.
This Shojo Genre series is one of the most popular creations of the creative collective known as CLAMP, blending Magical Girl, Humongous Mecha and High Fantasy into a unique and entertaining mix.Schoolgirls Shidou Hikaru, Ryuuzaki Umi and Hououji Fuu are visiting Tokyo Tower with their respective middle-school classes when a mysterious force addresses them as "Magic Knights", begs for their help, and then transports them to another world. The three fourteen-year-olds find themselves in the magical world of Cephiro, brought there by a wizard named Clef. Cephiro, he explains, is held stable and safe by the constant attention of the Pillar, a princess named Emeraude. But Emeraude is now the prisoner of her former high priest, Zagato, and monsters have begun to overrun the countryside. Clef informs them that they are the Magic Knights of prophecy, who will save Cephiro from its impending doom. He gives them mystic armor and magical powers to use in their quest. But before he can explain how to use them, agents of Zagato appear on the scene, and the girls are dispatched on their mission with only the faintest idea of what they have to do.In the course of their adventures, the three girls must discover their magical gifts and hone them while fighting their way across the countryside through hordes of monsters. They encounter Presea, the Master Smith, who sends them on a quest to find the materials for their magic weapons. And they learn that to accomplish the prophecy they embody, they must find and awaken the great Mashin, the elemental god-creatures who sleep and waken only to protect Cephiro. In the process the girls, initially strangers, must learn about each other, and how to trust and depend on their teammates; they soon become fast friends. Dodging, defeating and even subverting the deadly agents of Zagato, they finally come to the point of fulfilling the ancient prophecy — only to discover that what they must do is nothing at all like what they expected.Magic Knight Rayearth, despite its deceptively simple "schoolgirls on a quest" appearance, is a surprisingly complex story, with layers of motivation and backstory behind the events of Cephiro's crisis. What seems at first to be a simple, straight-line adventure/quest plot turns out to be darker and far more complex, and the final revelation of the prophecy's true meaning forces Hikaru, Umi and Fuu to make mature, grown-up choices that belie the earlier impression of "fairytale fun".One of the story's greatest strengths is characterization. The girls are unique and clearly drawn — Genki Girl Hikaru, snobby Rich Bitch Umi and the bookish, excessively-polite Fuu (who addresses every creature they kill as "monster-san") are about as disparate a trio as can be found; how they work through their differences and forge a determined and skilled team of fighters is one of the show's triumphs of character development. But even the villains are surprisingly complex and even sympathetic on some levels.Although ultimately a drama, Magic Knight Rayearth leavens its serious storylines with occasional mild doses of slapstick and Super-Deformed action. Much like the gravedigger scene in Hamlet, this comedy doesn't detract from the story but instead throws its more serious aspect into sharper relief. Although supposedly targeted at young teen girls, it is easily watchable by adults of all ages.There's also an OVA, which changes around the plot to be set in the real world, and the manga has a sequel. The second season of the anime was adapted from the manga sequel, which primarily dealt with the aftermath of the Magic Knights' actions in the first season.There is also a video game adaption of it for a couple systems in Japan, with the Sega Saturn version released in the United States by Working Designs. This version is noteworthy not so much for the actual game, but for the Development Hell that it went through - it was delayed for so long that it ended up as the final title ever released for the Saturn in the U.S.There's also the Character Sheets.
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