Magic Knight Rayearth
 | It has been suggested that Pillar System be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2007. |
| Magic Knight Rayearth | |
 TOKYOPOP's release of Magic Knight Rayearth I Volume 1 | |
| Genre | Science fantasy, Magical Girl, Mecha |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Magic Knight Rayearth | |
| Written by | Clamp |
| Published by |  Kodansha |
| Manga | |
| Magic Knight Rayearth II | |
| Written by | Clamp |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Toshihiro Hirano |
| Studio | Tokyo Movie Shinsha |
| Anime | |
| Rayearth | |
| Directed by | Keitaro Motonaga, Toshiki Hirano |
| Studio | Kodansha |
Magic Knight Rayearth (魔法騎士レイアース, Majikku Naito Reiāsu) is a 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.
Plot
Hikaru 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 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.
Characters
Hikaru Shidou (獅堂 光, Shidō Hikaru) 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.
Umi Ryuuzaki (龍咲 海, Ryūzaki Umi) 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) 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 the Magic Knight of Wind.
Publication
The manga was originally serialized in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine between November 1993 and April 1996. Since then, the manga has also been released in the United States in English by TOKYOPOP (initially named Mixx) 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.
Adaptations
TV Series
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 actually 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 both released on 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].
- Main Staff
- Original story & original character design: Clamp
- Producers: Michihiko Suwa (Yomiuri TV), Shigeki Nakamura (Dentsu), Mikihiro Iwata -> Masahito Yoshioka (Tokyo Movie Shinsha)
- Series composition: Keiko Maruo (1-18) -> Nanase Ohkawa (Clamp) (18-42)
- Series composition supervision: Nanase Ohkawa (Clamp) (1-18)
- Script writers: Keiko Maruo, Osamu Nakamura (1-18), Nanase Ohkawa (18-42)
- Character design: Atsuko Ishida
- Monster design & Mecha design: Masahiro Yamane
- Design works: Yasuhiro Moriki
- Art director: Tsutomu Ishigaki (Ishigaki Production)
- Color coordination: Reiko Hirayama
- Director of photography: Takashi Nomura
- Photography: TMS Photo, Studio Cosmos
- CGI production: Shinichi Nakagawa, Hiroshi Ono
- Editing: Hajime Okayasu (Okayasu Promotion)
- Sound direction: Yasuo Uragami (Audio Planning U)
- Recording: Yasushi Yamamoto, Hisanori Oshiro
- Sound effects: Junichi Sasaki (Anime Sound Production)
- Recording studio: APU Meguro Studio
- Sound production: Audio Planning U
- Music: Hayato Matsuo
- Music supervision: Koichi Sugiyama
- Music producer: Hiroki Horio
- Music production: Polydor, Sugiyama Kobo
- Production manager: Tetsu Kojima
- Craft manager: Hiroyuki Onoda
- Planning scheduler: Naohiko Noda
- Film development laboratory: Tokyo Laboratory
- Director: Toshihiro Hirano
- Production support: Dentsu
- Production: Yomiuri TV, Tokyo Movie Shinsha
OVA
A 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.
Media
 |
Volumes
ISBNs are for the most recent release.
- Magic Knight Rayearth
- Volume 1: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334642-0; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-082-0
- Volume 2: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334643-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-083-9
- Volume 3: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334644-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-084-7
- Magic Knight Rayearth II
- Volume 1: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334659-5; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-266-1
- Volume 2: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334660-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-267-X
- Volume 3: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334661-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-268-8
Episodes
- First season
| # | Title | Original airdate |
|---|
- Second season
| # | Title | Original airdate |
|---|
Theme songs
Three opening themes were used in the series and one in the OVA RayEarth:
- Opening Themes
Episodes #1-20
- Kanji: 「ゆずれない願い」
- Romanization: "Yuzurenai Negai"
- Translation: "Unyielding Wish"
- Artist: Naomi Tamura
Episodes #21-42/ II#1-21
- Kanji: 「キライになれない」
- Romanization: "Kirai ni Narenai"
- Translation: "I Can't Hate You"
- Artist: Ayumi Nakamura
Episodes #43-49/ II#22-28
- Kanji:「光と影を抱きしめたまま」
- Romanization: "Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta Mama"
- Translation: "Still Embracing Light and Darkness"
- Artist: Naomi Tamura
OVA
- Kanji/Romanization/Translation: "All You Need is Love"
- Artist: Naomi Tamura
Media Blasters' English DVD release used "Hikari to Kage wo Dakishimeta Mama" as the opening for Episodes 21 through 42. The original openings from episodes 21-42 is included as an extra on the DVDs, and is only in Japanese.
- Ending Themes
Three ending themes were used:
Episodes #1-20
- Kanji:「明日への勇気」
- Romanization: "Asu e no Yuuki"
- Translation: "The Courage Leading to Tomorrow"
- Artist: Keiko Yoshinari
Episodes #21-42
- Kanji:「ら・ら・ば・い～優しく抱かせて～」
- Romanization: "Rarabai ~ Yasashiku Dakasete ~"
- Translation: "Lullaby - Softly, Tenderly -"
- Artist: Minako Honda
Episodes #43-49
- Kanji:「いつか輝く」
- Romanization: "Itsuka Kagayaku"
- Translation: "Someday Shining"
- Artist: Keiko Yoshinari
Media Blasters' English DVD release used "Rarabai ~ Yashiku Dakasete ~" as the ending for Episodes 43 through 49. The original ending from episodes 43-49 is included as an extra on the DVDs, and is only in Japanese.
In the English releases, Sandy Fox sang both the opening and the ending themes in the English dubbed version.
Videogames
Magic 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 for Sega Game Gear. These were all exclusively released in Japan, except the Saturn game, which saw a release in the US.
Other Facts
In an Archie Comic episode, Jughead went into a manga shop and met a manga fangirl, who loved 'Tragic Knight Say Earth', which seemed to be developed from Magic Knight RayEarth