Rayearth .. Introduction

Another of the more popular Mahou Shoujo (magical girl) animes - Magic Knight Rayearth. Based on a manga created by the well-known group CLAMP, this was made into a two-season 49-episode TV series, and also a short OAV.

The Rayearth TV series tells the tale of three girls - Hikaru, Umi and Fuu - who are transported to another world, Cephiro, which they must save from destruction to return to their home world. They must do this by summoning special mechas called Mashins, and then defeating the evil priest Zagato who has kidnapped Emeraude, the princess of the country. The three girls later return to Cephiro after completing their mission, in order to save it from three other countries who have launched an invasion. This anime was quite good, though not a favourite... it had a lot of potential (particularly with cool swords and mechas), but didn't use it as well as it could have, in my opinion.

The OAV was much better in my opinion - similar story elements, but in the OAV Cephiro invades Earth, and the three girls must defend their world from destruction, again by summoning Mashins. I'd recommend the OAV as being much better than the TV series... unless you're a *strong* mahou shoujo fan, watch the OAV, or read the manga instead.


Please note - this site contain spoilers. Special thanks to Chirlind for the song lyrics here. Please contact me if you have a problem with anything contained in this site - all information is written by me after viewing the series, except where credited otherwise - and thus should not be used on any other sites without permission. The copyright for Rayearth is held by CLAMP, Kodansha, Dentsu, YTV and TMS-K.