Magic Knight Rayearth (< rb>魔法騎士(マジックナイト)レイアース, Majikku Naito Reiāsu^? ), known as The magical warriors in Latin America and Legendary fighters in Spain, is a manga created by the CLAMP group in 1994 that combines elements of the mahō shōjo and mecha genre. Originally published in the monthly magazine Nakayoshi from November 1993 to April 1996 and in turn published in six tankonbon compilation volumes from July 1994 to April 1996 by the publisher Kōdansha. The first three volumes correspond to the first story arc of the series and the remaining three to the second story arc.

The manga was adapted into an anime series in 1994 by the Japanese studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment) and aired on the Yomiuri TV network, with a total of 49 episodes divided into 2 seasons (20 episodes for the first and 29 episodes for the second). In 1997, an adaptation of 3 OVAs was made that show an alternative story, with the same characters and names but a different relationship between them, as well as a slightly different physical appearance with a more stylized design.

In both the manga and the anime, the first story arc is a tribute to the RPG video games of which the members of CLAMP are big fans.

Argument

Magic Knight Rayearth tells the story of three teenage high school girls who are summoned to the planet Zephyr to fulfill a legend that would change the destiny of that world. In Japan, in the Tokyo Tower, suddenly, in front of three girls who do not know each other, Hikaru Shidō, Umi Ryūzaki and Fū Hōōji, (Lucy, Marina and Anaís in the Spanish-American and Spanish dubbing) a light appears that blinds them and transports them to the planet Céfiro, there they meet the sorcerer Guru Clef, who tells them that they are the legendary Magic Knights (Magical Warriors), summoned by Princess Emeraude (Esmeralda in the Spanish-American and Spanish dubbing), with the mission of rescuing the Princess who is the current Pilar of Céfiro and who was kidnapped by Zagato, her high priest. The three girls thus begin their adventure to obtain their magic weapons, develop their magical powers, awaken the Mashin (Geniuses in the Spanish-American dubbing) and thus be able to return to Tokyo.

Guided by the magical creature Mokona (Nikona in the Spanish-American dubbing), the girls (as if it were an RPG video game) advance in their adventure, evolving their powers and abilities, facing various enemies and Zagato's henchmen and thus awaken the three Mashin.

After becoming magical warriors with all their powers and abilities and their respective three Mashin, they finally confront, defeat and kill Zagato. After defeating him, the girls think that they have already achieved their goal, which is to rescue the princess, but it is discovered that the reason why Zagato kidnapped Princess Emeraude was not really to destroy Cefiro, but rather it was because the two of them were in love. one from the other, and Princess Emeraude, being the Pillar of Céfiro, cannot fall in love with a person since all her energies have to be fully dedicated to maintaining peace and harmony in the world of Céfiro, otherwise that world cannot survive. Zagato, totally dissatisfied with the Pilar system, kidnapped Princess Emeraude so that she would no longer suffer from not being able to express her love for the person he truly loved and put an end to a system that he considered very unfair to just one person. person. So, in a 180 degree turn in the plot, it is revealed that the real reason Princess Emeraude summoned the magical warriors was not to rescue her but to kill her, since in Cefiro no one has the power to murder Neither a Pilar nor the Pilar can commit suicide. Deeply feeling the death of her beloved Zagato, Princess Emerald loses her mind, the dark side of her personality is revealed and she furiously attacks the Magical Warriors, who are forced to fulfill her goal and kill her.. With her mission accomplished and her feelings strongly mixed about everything that happened, they are transported back to Tokyo Tower, exactly at the same moment they left. This is how the first story arc of the manga ends.

The second part, although it is not specified exactly how much time passes, it is implied that it was just a couple of weeks (even just days) since the events of the first season, the three protagonists are in the Tokyo Tower remembering the adventures lived in Zefiro, fighting with their feelings of guilt and despair for the role they played in the death of Princess Emeraude. It is at that moment that they are mysteriously transported back to Céfiro, there they arrive at the castle where they meet again with Guru Clef, who explains to them that since Céfiro was left without its pillar, it has been slowly collapsing, in such a way that all the inhabitants are lost. They find refuge in the castle. Guru Clef explains to them the need to find a Pillar quickly before everything is destroyed and also warns them of a new danger: three neighboring planets are trying to reach Zephyr to conquer it, these are: Autozam, Cizeta and Faren. As the story develops, the girls meet the representatives of the three planets, who see in Zephyr and the power of the Pillar an opportunity to solve the problems of their own planets.

Finally, the girls discover that Hikaru and Águila, a representative of Autozam, have been chosen by the creator of Zefiro so that one of them will be the new pillar. It is revealed that Zephyr's creator is Mokona, and she is the one who brought the girls back to Zephyr. The creator then decides to hold a battle to choose the new pillar, Hikaru refuses to fight and even though he becomes the new pillar of Zephyr, he refuses to return without Águila despite the creator's insistence that only one individual will be able to return. It is then that Hikaru decides to rebel against the pillar system, affirming and decreeing as an absolute law that the inhabitants of Zefiro have the right to decide the fate of their own world. Mokona agrees to the request and then goes to a parallel dimension together with the Mashin. The manga ends with the three girls returning to a new Zephyr to visit their loved ones, while they work together with the representatives of the other planets to solve their problems. Finally, Mokona contemplates her wish of having allowed the three protagonists to change. Zephyr.

Differences between manga and anime

The anime in its first season is a faithful adaptation of the elements of the first story arc of the manga. In addition to including in greater detail the friendship relationship between the three protagonists, it also expands and adds several subplots. In the manga, we never see the three girls visit or interact with the people of Céfiro, which does happen in the anime, where on several occasions they visit a town or talk to an inhabitant. Another difference from the manga is the inclusion of the character of Inouva (Nova in the Spanish-American dubbing), Zagato's assistant and right-hand man, as well as the role of Alcyone (Alanis in the Spanish-American dubbing) who dies at the hands of Zagato in the manga almost at the beginning, but in the anime he survives the rest of the story until the end of the second season where he meets his death. Presea's character also has a different destiny, since in the anime she dies, something that never happens in the manga.

The second part of the story changes a lot from its manga version, starting with having two exclusive antagonists for the anime, which are: Debonea (Debonair in the Spanish-American dubbing) who is the result of all the fear and pain of the inhabitants of Céfiro at the loss of their Pilar and Nova (Luz in the Spanish-American dubbing), a girl physically similar to Hikaru who is born as a result of the feeling of guilt of her for having killed Princess Emeraude. Another significant change is the fact that Águila died in the final episodes of the anime, contrary to what happens in the manga where she survives until the end of the work.

The role of Presea also changes, who despite having died in the first season of the anime, reappears in the second part. As the story progresses, it is revealed to us that it was not Presea, but her twin sister, Sierra, who pretended to be her so as not to make the three protagonists suffer any more. Only Guru Clef, Mokona and Alcyone manage to know the truth about Sierra's character. In the manga, Presea does not have a twin sister.

Another significant change occurs when it is revealed in the anime that the girls transported themselves to Zephyr while in the manga it is Mokona who does so. In the manga, in the second part it is revealed that Mokona is the creator of Zephyr and she plays a very relevant role in the development of the plot. In the anime, however, Mokona is not a creative goddess and her presence in the second part is much more secondary and as comic relief.

Characters

Main characters

• Hikaru Shidō (,に, Shidō Hikaru, means "Light of the Lion Temple") (Lucy. on the fold for Hispanic America, and Lucy González in the folding for Spain) is a 14-year-old teen with long red scalp braided, (although less apparent on the sleeve). Its enthusiastic and persevering personality makes it the protagonist of the series, being the first to want to become Magic Guerrera. She is the youngest of four brothers (she is the only woman), and has a faithful pet named Hikari. His weapon is a sword and his Genius is Rayearth. In the second season he met Latis, Zagato's younger brother, with whom he began to share a lot of time with him, with a lot of internal conflict because he killed Zagato, until he ended up falling in love with him, and he did not hesitate to let him know, as he did with all his friends. In the anime due to so much sadness his heart develops a being called Light that seeks to end those who Lucy most wants, especially Latis. At the end of the second season we see that Lucy turns out to be the next Céfiro Pilar, and that Latis is also in love with her. Lucy decides to remove that sad and lonely system from the Céfiro Pilar and return to Earth. In the anime you don't see him coming back to Céfiro, but in the sleeve version if he returns. His elemental magic is fire. It is the main protagonist of the anime and manga.
• Umi Ryūzaki (purchasing, Ryūzaki Umi, means "Ocean of the Nascent Dragon") (Marina on the fold for Hispanic America, and Marina Santana in the fold for Spain) is a 14-year-old teenager belonging to a wealthy and comfortable family. It is very beautiful and higher than the average of the girls of its age, it has a long and smooth blue scalpel with a dark blue or black diadem. His weapon at first is a sword similar to a fencing floweret, although then it becomes a sword with a thin blade and the grip of it with a similar form of a blue dragon (in its final form). Of a strong character, at the beginning of the series we are presented with arrogant and selfish attitude, not wanting to help the inhabitants of the Céfiro save the Emerald Princess and only wants to return to her normal life and thus be able to compete in a fencing circle that she had next week. As the plot progresses, with the evidence, obstacles and events that are being presented, Marina gradually changes her attitude and mentality by bringing a personality of a great nobility to a shine. This personality change is much more marked on the anime than on the sleeve. As he wakes up his Genius, Ceres, he realizes how much he needs and appreciates his new friends Lucy and Anais, and decides to fight for the future of Céfiro along with them. It is common to fight with Nikona, being the object of her games and mischiefs. His elemental magic is water.
• Fū Hōōji (H margin φ, Hōōji Fū, means "Wind of the Phoenix Sanctuary") (Anais on the fold for Hispanic America, and Anais Araujo in the fold for Spain) is also a 14-year-old adolescent. It is the smartest with short blond (or dark blond in the anime) of the three protagonists, and thinks the things before doing them, is the quietest and most reserved of the protagonists, being many times the voice of reason and very polite in their treatment towards others. During the series, Anais has a slight romance with Paris (Ferio), a swordsman found in the Forest of Silence. Practice the archery and that is why your first weapon is a bow with arrows, then get your definitive weapon that is a long sword. Anais is able to analyze enemies and situations that allow her to create strategies of attack and defense, also thanks to the affection that develops by her friends her magic is oriented to healing and defense, it also proves to be a girl sensitive to the feelings of others and has a lot of determination, that is why she fully trusts her friends to save Céfiro. His Genius is Windom and his elemental magic is the wind.

Production

In 1993, during the celebration for finishing the bunkobon publication of Yoshiki Tanaka's Sōryūden novels, which CLAMP had illustrated, the editor of Nakayoshi magazine, Hideki Yamaguchi asked them to create a series for the magazine; the editor wanted a story that would appeal to young and adult readers, while CLAMP wanted to attract young readers. Without direction from their editors, the group decided to create a story based on mecha, since the group is fond of mecha anime and RPG (Role Playing Game), which enjoyed good popularity at the time; and fantasy. To counteract the effect of the mechas which would alienate the target audience, according to Nanase Ohkawa, the success of the Sailor Moon manga in the magazine (1992-1997) made it possible for the group to establish the idea of a series with highlights to their editors.

A friend of the group, illustrator Takeshi Okazaki created the "Rayearth" in the title, while Ohkawa came up with the rest, at that point CLAMP had a basic idea of the plot, for the character names they decided on car names, as they thought it would be interesting and memorable for children, who otherwise might have difficulty learning to write names in katakana. Including giant mechas was complicated for the artists since, due to their size, it was difficult to do a single shot with them and the protagonists. Likewise, they omitted to draw the mecha cabins, drawing only their faces, at this point and anticipating the end of the plot, CLAMP saw that developing stories for its protagonists was relatively simple and had it known that the target audience was now older people and men, the work would possibly have been finished after the first part. The second part turned out to be more complicated than the previous one, as the group felt that they had reached a plot corner which was difficult to overcome.

The CLAMP Group with four members, Miku Nekoi, Mokona Apapa, Satsuki Igarashi and Nanase Ohkawa managed to develop the story of Magic Knight Rayearth that would later be published in November 1993. Their main roles within the group are:

Character design — Mokona Apapa / Miku Nekoi / Nanase Ohkawa

Story — Nanase Ohkawa / Satsuki Igarashi

Art and backgrounds — Satsuki Igarashi / Miku Nekoi / Mokona Apapa

Content of the work

Manga

Written and illustrated by CLAMP, Magic Knight Rayearth was published in the monthly magazine Nakayoshi from November 1993 to February 1995. Kōdansha combined the chapters into three tankōbon volumes, from July 1994 to March 1995. The second part was also serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi, from March 1995 to April 1996. and its compilation volumes published in three tankōbon by Kōdansha from July 1995 to April 1996. In 2002, the publisher Kōdansha reissued the six original volumes, changing the original covers (red, blue and green) to new white covers with representative art of the protagonists in each volume.

In 1997, it was licensed and translated into English in the United States by the TOKYOPOP publishing house (initially called Mixx) in six volumes and in turn in September of the same year in Mexico the Toukan publishing house published a version of the manga, redrawing and adding color to the panels so it is a different product from the original, only 4 editions of this version were published and it was canceled due to legal problems with copyright, since the original license in Latin America was granted to the Navarrete publishing house located in Peru and it was not authorized to sublicense the title.

Later in 1999 in Mexico it was published together with Sailor Moon in a dual magazine, called M/XX Zine by VID Publishing Group, this time taking the original manga and reversing the vignettes to adapt it. to a Western reading, although neither of the two mangas were published in their entirety. In Spain, the publisher Planeta DeAgostini serialized the first volume of the manga in 1996 in its magazine Shounen Magazine for six issues, under the name Luchadoras de Leyenda. Later, the series was picked up and finished in half-volume format, covering the entire series, 12 volumes.

The manga has also been published in Spanish by the Kamite publishing house of Mexico in three volumes. On the covers you can see the protagonists in each of the volumes.

Anime

The anime adaptation was co-produced by Yomiuri TV and the Japanese studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment). It was broadcast on the Yomiuri TV network and NNS (Nippon Television Network System) in Tokyo, from October 17, 1994 to November 27, 1995 with a total of 49 episodes divided into two seasons. After its broadcast, the series was licensed and dubbed into English, Spanish, French, Italian, Tagalog (Philippines), Portuguese, among others.

In Latin America the title of the work was adapted to "The Magical Warriors" and was broadcast in Peru, on the Panamericana Televisión channel in February 1996, in Brazil a few months later on the SBT channel and in Mexico in August of the same year through channel 7 and 13 of Azteca Television.

From July 2020 to 2021 it was broadcast again both in Mexico and almost all of Latin America on BitMe, with the remastered version in HD quality made from Chile by AEDEA Studio for the distribution of TMS made between 2013 and 2020. This The remastering included the additions in Spanish of several of the intros and endings that were not broadcast at the time in the nineties, as well as a small roulette game where you have to guess a character at the end of each episode.

In January 1998 the anime was broadcast in Chile by Megavisión (Canal 9) and was later broadcast by Etc...TV and in October it arrived on the Argentine subscription channel Magic Kids. Other countries that also broadcast the anime were: Panama, El Salvador, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela.

The Spanish dubbing of the anime was done between 1995 and 1996 by the company All Post from the city of Los Angeles, California, United States, later the dubbing division of All Post was sold to VDI Point 360 and eventually acquired by SDI Media Group. The series was distributed for Latin America by Dicitel Television Distribution, who had the rights to the series for this region until 2005 when Cloverway acquired them, which had the license until 2007, currently the anime distribution rights are owned from TMS Entertainment. The anime has been licensed in the United States three times, the first by The Ocean Group, the second by Media Blasters and currently by Diskotec Media since 2014.

OVAs

In 1997, 3 OVAs produced by TMS Entertainment called simply Rayearth (instead of Magic knight Rayearth) were made that show a alternative story, with the same characters and same names but different relationships between them and even different personalities, also having a more stylized drawing, quality and design. They were broadcast in Japan in three episodes of 45 minutes each, on July 25, September 26 and December 12, 1997. In Mexico the OVAs were broadcast in March 1999 on channel 7 of Televisión Azteca, while which in Spain was broadcast on the Buzz channel and was distributed on DVD by Jonu Media.

On December 2, 1998 TMS released (Japan only) a special edition of the OVA as a 2-hour movie called Special Edition - The Wings of Hope" (Special edition - The wings of hope). This is a version by director Toshihiro Hirano with several new scenes and dialogues changed to give more meaning to the story.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the anime contains music composed by Hayato Matsuo and performed by theS.P.S. Orchestra, these are compiled in six soundtracks released from December 1994 to November 1995, additionally for the OVAs two albums were released with the soundtrack of the same composed by Toshihiko Sahashi and performed by Rayearth Grand Orchesta in 1997.

There are also original songs performed by the seiyū of the main characters released in several singles and two albums: Magic Knight Rayearth Original Song Book 1 and 2 and a third album with the opening and closing themes and songs of the main characters called Magic Knight Rayearth Best Song Book.

Three entry themes were used in the series:

• "Yuzurenai Negai" — Episodes 1 to 20 sung by Naomi Tamura.
• "Kirai and Narenai" — Episodes 21 to 42 sung by Ayumi Nakamura.
• "Hikari to Kage wo Dakishimeta Mama" — Episodes 43 to 49 sung by Naomi Tamura.

Likewise, three closing themes were used in the series:

• "Asu e no Yuuki" — Episodes 1 to 20 sung by Keiko Yoshinari.
• «Rarabai ~ Yasashiku Dakasete ~» — Episodes 21 to 42 sung by Minako Honda.
• «Itsuka Kagayaku» — Episodes 43 to 49 sung by Keiko Yoshinari.

The OVAs had their closing theme "All You Need is Love" sung by Naomi Tamura

For the Spanish-American version, the original Japanese intro was replaced by a version sung by the Peruvian Carlos Carrrilo, with lyrics different from the original.

For the country of Brazil, eight original songs were composed and compiled on CD. It was produced by Mário Lúcio de Freitas and Augusto César, with the voices of Brazilian singers Larissa Tassi and Sarah Regina.

Video games

There are several video games based on the anime series, almost all of them being role-playing video games. Among them are Magic Knight Rayearth for Sega Saturn, Mahou Kishi Rayearth for Super Nintendo, Mahou Kishi Rayearth and Mahou Kishi Rayearth 2: Making of Magic Knight for Game Gear as well as Mahou Kishi Rayearth and Mahou Kishi Rayearth 2nd: The Missing Colors for GameBoy. Also for the Sega Pico children's console, the educational video game Magic Knight Rayearth: Magic Knight Tanjou was released.

The series has also been part of the Super Robot Wars saga, appearing in the Super Robot Wars T games, released in 2019, as well as in 2021's Super Robot Wars 30.

Hispanic-American dubbing cast meeting

The Mexican dubbing actress Angelines Santana, who voiced Marina (Umi in the Japanese version), brought together a good part of the cast that dubbed The Magical Warriors in the 1990s for Latin America via Zoom in the course of 2020 and published this meeting on his YouTube channel.

Apart from Angelines herself (who served as moderator of the meeting), Ivette González, the voice of Lucy (Hikaru), Marcela Bordes, the voice of Anaís (Fuu), Juan Zada, the voice of Zagato and Latis (Lantis), also participated. Ana Grinta voice of Alánis (Alcyone), Ulises Cuadra voice of Paris (Ferio), Gabriela Lopetegui voice of Caldina (Cardina) and Luz (Nova), Gladys Parra voice of Ascott in his child version and the character of Águila (Eagle Vision) as well as Gabriela León the voice of Presea, Nikona (Mokona), presenter and narrator of the story.

The meeting, made up of three parts plus a trailer, had elaborate editing work, which was accompanied by the music of the series and the OVAs, with a lot of incorporation of images from both the anime series, the OVAs and the CLAMP sleeve.