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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:34#1552] |
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(Rent-/ Watch+) Rayearth is a series that is clearly geared for a young female audience in Japan considering to a good degree, the show sticks with a number of the mahou shoujo genre cliches typical of the genre. For no apparent reason, three young girls are whisked away to a magical land; and given magical powers and a cuddly sidekick to aid them in their quest to stop the main baddie who has abducted the princess of said magical land. Each girl has an archetype that they are tacked on with featuring Hikaru the pure-hearted and energetic girl, Umi the short-fused rich girl and Fuu the calm and level-headed of the trio. The first half of Rayearth is mostly focused on the girls in a "monster/ power upgrade of the day" style plot where they run into one of Zagato's underlings and become more powerful in strength as they press on with their journey. Also with the show often relying on "power of love/ friendship" plot devices to advance its plot, don't be too surprised for the girls to barely defeat powerful foes just by "willing" an episodic power upgrade. In addition, Rayearth doesn't have the best animation around as the visual style is clearly outdated and enough shortcuts are apparent with reused frames, still shots and characters advancing against a low-quality background clearly not the current setting. Still, the series does have its prominent elements that make it stand out enough from the cookie-cutter mahou shoujo mold. Nearly all the foes that the Magic Knights encounter have redeemable traits and/ or justifiable reasons for their actions to make one care enough for the villains where they aren't totally shallow and around just to be offed. In fact, several of the villains that the girls defeat in the first half of the series later become allies to aid them in later episodes. The final episodes of the first half even toss in a shocking plot twist that stirs up events for the show's second half which help add more dimension to the plot of the series as multiple factions become interested in claiming power in Cephiro for differing reasons with Hikaru being a prominent focus of the second half as she comes to grips with some inner conflicts concerning events that escalate from both the first half of the series and the current conflict Cephiro is dealing with. Despite having these prominent elements however, I have to admit that I felt a bit alienated watching Rayearth considering the audience it was made to target with its formulaic plot and character archetypes. While later CLAMP titles Kobato and Cardcaptor Sakura were targeted to the same type of audience, both offered enough fleshing out of characters and events, as well as their unique charms, where I could still get latched onto the shows. Yet in Rayearth's case, I can't picture myself wanting to rewatch this show again anytime soon as it felt too formulaic at points for me to maintain my interest. Last updated Sunday, October 30 2011. Created Sunday, October 30 2011. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
 Anonymous #489
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[series:34#489] |
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I really liked Magic Knight Rayearth! Then again, I'm a girl. This is a funny and light - hearted anime. The manga had more action and comedy in it and I enjoyed it more. The dialogue may be repetitive but it's because of dubbing issues. Each episode itself isn't reptitive in my opinion. There are of course changes (horrible changes) when you compare the anime to the manga. Certain characters die and there are those moments which are completely random and never happened in the anime. Most of these changes are just to fill in the each episode. the manga is better but the anime overall isn't that bad either.
Last updated Sunday, January 12 2003. Created Sunday, January 12 2003. | ||||||||
| Rent | 9 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
 kakyuu_prince
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[series:34#404] |
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Magic Knight Rayearth can be a very irritating anime. It's not the characters, music, or plot, but the dialogue and animation. The animation is okay, being very inconsistent throughtout both seasons and the colors seeming to be a bit off or to neonish at times. But the real problem that plagues both seasons of the anime is the dialogue. Sometimes it's absolutely horrid. Why? Because it's repetitive. If there's one thing that will greatly affect my opinion on an anime is the repetitiveness of the dialogue. How many times must the characters talk about how the girls from another world's hearts were hurt so badly and how many times must Hikaru proclaim that they shall become the magic knights and save Cephiro? At least once an episode making for a less enjoyable experience. The manga was a bit repetitive in the second half but the anime takes the manga's little bit of repititiveness and multiplies it by 10. There was also too much filler in both seasons for my taste and I really didn't like the massive changes between the ending of season 2 and the ending of the manga. My advice: get the manga, it's far better.
Last updated Monday, October 14 2002. Created Monday, October 14 2002. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Black Panther
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[series:34#142] |
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From what I have seen this looks very promising. Not the best mind you, but still promising, just the same. ^_^ Cat says its a must see, so sometime soon I will be finishing this series. Until then I remain unevaluated. ~Bpanther~ Last updated Friday, March 01 2002. Created Friday, January 25 2002. | ||||||||
| Buy | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
 Pai
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[series:34#196] |
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This was personally one of the first anime series' I saw as I went exploring for more to watch. It has humor, some cute guys(ah, Lafarga!)and even though the storyline is a bit old, I still thought it much better than Sailor Moon any day. The second season is a lot better though. I have just one hint for you people who watched dubbed anime, and are about to go buy a tape of MKR, don't get the dubbed!! AnimeWorks slacked off while making the dubbed version, it has some of the worst voices I have ever heard. (sigh of relief) Anyways, please see this anime, it's good.
Last updated Sunday, July 15 2001. Created Sunday, July 15 2001. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 CatWoman
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[series:34#65] | ||||||
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After seeing the first season...I hate to say it BUT I HAVE TO SEE THE NEXT ONE! They do a GREAT job with the graying the lines of what is good and bad by the end of the serise! WAY good job with that, but it isn't until the last 3 episodes that you get it all of what is going on, though there are a lot of clues in throw out the story! You should at least give this one a try, like Coyote said it starts out with you going, DEAR LORD...another Sailor Moon...except no DARION! But to be honest I like the main Character and though they all have a bet of underdeveloped depth to themwell give them a brake are only like 14 or something, so yeah there depth is just about what it would be at that age! But it is a good show!
Last updated Friday, August 03 2001. Created Sunday, July 08 2001. | ||||||||
| Rent | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
 The Coyote
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[series:34#64] | |
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Ok this is a kid's show Its geared toward the 10-13 year old group especailly girls so keep that in mind now when I fist started watching this I was muttering to myself something about how I couldn't belive I was actually sitting through this.... but you know what by the thrid or fourth episode I was accually enjoying it this thing really grows on you. Now don't get me wrong Its not a top ten or anything but it has its entertainment value and isn't half bad. definaly worth seeing
Last updated Tuesday, March 20 2001. Created Tuesday, March 20 2001. | ||||||||
| Rent | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
 Kaitou Juliet
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[series:34#137] |
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The first season was memorable mostly for the interesting characters, the introduction to the world of Cephiro, and the growth of the three heroines. The famous big plot twist at the end of the season wasn't that surprising to me, though it was developed well. If the series had ended there, I'd have given it respectable marks—probably 6's and 7's. But the second season is where the plot really starts to get good! I liked the way they didn't just try to push the main characters into brand-new adventures. Instead, they came back to the first-season plot, exploring its consequences and implications in a much deeper and more thoughtful way. That was what lifted this series from "good" to "really good" for me. However, I'm not ready to give this a "buy." Although I enjoyed seeing how the story played out, nothing about it made me want to rewatch it. I'd say rent it first, then buy if it really grabs you. Last updated Monday, July 22 2002. Created Saturday, March 17 2001. | ||||||||
| Buy | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
 Cenit
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[series:34#45] | |
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Well, this is one of the first series I see in my life, and I have no regrets of that. Mainly because is a fine piece of art. The original story and comic produced by the CLAMP girls was just awesome, and the anime is great too. I have only checked out the first part, and let me share these things. The story, the main story from the three parts, is the classic argument the good vs. evil, save the planet, etc, but, BUT they added some new characteristics, they used a lot of legends, mythical monsters and everything, but not the normal legends of the Japanese culture, they made up and entire culture for this comic, really really cool. The character design is also pretty good (not as good as SMJ, but really close), making serious characters, but they know how to treate them, to make them look funny sometimes. The story is fun, entertained, also is very mysterious, the real deal remains in the dark until the end of the comic and the anime. I dont know what to say about the music, the music for Spanish really sucks, the music in Japanese is very cool, but I havent listen it in English. Something funny, most of the names of the characters are really car names, for example, Clef is the name of a Mazda Sedan (discontinued). Well Ill say buy it, no matter what, buy it, is one of my favorites anime ever. Last updated Monday, June 19 2000. Created Monday, June 19 2000. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Jenn-chan
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[series:34#31] | ||||||
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Note: This review is based on the first season only. Mokona has to be cutest critter since Ryo-ohki! This is kinda of hard for me to review because I watched it on bad quality tapes, and I saw the last volume dubbed. Let me say something about the dubbed version..IT SUCKS. They ruined opening and ending themes, at LEAST get someone that can sing! Not to mention that Emeraude sounds like a squeak toy...but I digress. Overall, not bad. Girls get armor and swords, fight lots of monsters and do noble acts to improve their equipment, meet some interesting people, and it all leads up to the evil overlord who has been causing all the trouble. Well, that's not exactly the case, but I don't want to spoil anyone. The whole thing was pretty predictable, and the ending a was a bit disappointing. I really want to see the other seasons :)
Last updated Thursday, April 27 2000. Created Thursday, April 27 2000. | ||||||||
| Rent | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
 Tsuki
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[series:34#8] |
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A very nice story, a little bit predictable in my own opinion. I think the second series is more interesting and touching.
Last updated Monday, September 06 1999. Created Monday, September 06 1999. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| IMDB | http://us.imdb.com/Title?%22Magic+Knight+Rayearth%22+(1995) |
