I loved this anime as a kid (I'm old) , it made me sad when she kept attacking the 90s tropes because frankly I miss all that stuff

Rayearth is a special anime trying to tell a well defined story. When you compare to them to their 100s episodes peers of the same era, it wraps its story in 19 episodes without any fillers. You see progress and character development while watching the series, unlike the formulation of "meet an evil minion with different flavor every episode". But the main reason this series is special is that it teaches the young adults to have empathy. There's no absolute evil in this anime (except the one added to the 2nd season, it's not in the original story/manga). Every evil character has their own motives to fight, and the show reveals them one by one, teaching you that not everything is as it looks, and to question before believe. This approach continues in the 2nd season too, which is darker than the first one, also introducing politics, power, democracy, responsibility, and love. Despite the negative feedback from the video, Rayearth is the perfect coming of age story, still way ahead from most of equivalents in the genre. And please don't forget the orchestrated epic soundtrack which is original and memorable to the many tracks (not just the opening), unlike the generic OST of the average anime series. Rayearth is definitely a 90s gem. I hope someday we can see a HD remaster for the next generation of young adults.

Caldina's southern accent was something they did back in the day for characters who in the original Japanese spoke with a Kansai dialect such as Kyoto-ben or Osaka-ben. I'm not sure if they still do it these days.

This is actually one of my favorite anime. I really like the mature themes the girls have to face in both seasons even though they're only 14. Season 2 may get weird for some people when the show starts *spoilers* focusing on their love lives

Three girls became Magical Girl versions of the Powerpuff Girls are sent to a fantasy world to save the princess from the bad guy only to find out that they have to kill her to save Cephiro, that went from 0 to a 100 real quick. I really love CLAMP and their stories, especially Cardcaptor Sakura. ^-^ I would like to try Magic Knight Rayearth, I'll try reading the manga since watching the series will be difficult. I really love the spoof too, Happy Thanksgiving! XOXO

Hikaru's reaction at the end of this season, when she is basically letting it all out after completing her quest, is just heartbreaking to me. I just wanted to hug her and tell her that it was all gonna be ok.

I freaking love this series! Sure, one can blame it for the entire isekai genre. All the tropes are there. A fantasy world filled with dangerous monsters and/or other humans with less-than-savory objectives of there own? Check. Said fantasy realm seems to follow the conventions of an RPG, complete with a combination of physical skills and highly advanced magic? Check. A group of humans pulled from our world into this fantasy realm? Check. Said humans taking up a quest to save this world from world-breaking stakes in order to return to ours? Check. But this was here first. This is the grandmother of them all. Before even .hack or Escaflowne, this was it. And it's great! Sure, each of the girls plays to a type (the high-fashion heiress, the shy and awkward bookworm, and the short and feisty tomboy-so basically Weiss, Blake, and Ruby! :p), but they grow, a lot, between the two seasons to become some of the most fully formed female leads I've seen in an action/fantasy anime. The villains are interesting in almost every case. The twist at the end of this first season still leaves me reeling every time, even though I already know it inside and out, and adds so much depth and raises so many questions about what's just transpired, and season 2 expands on everything so fully...god it's so good! And CLAMP's art style, with those huge expressive eyes, translates so well to screen! It's still one of the prettiest anime to look at!

Do season two! I love this series!

Powerpuff girls before Powerpuff girls

As this was one of the first animes I watched when I started getting into anime, I'm happy to see you review it and would love to see a review of season 2.

This was my childhood! And the first time I got to experience "the dark twist." in a medium.

Mokona before he helped Li and Sakura in Clow Country and the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Universe :D

I read the manga. I think the anime has more substance from what I've seen. Cardcaptor Sakura kinda works the same way.

Btw: that Powerpuff Girls thing is terribly inaccurate other than their colors. Fuu would be Blossom because she’s the smart one, Hikaru would be Bubbles because she’s sweet, and Umi would be Buttercup because she has the most combat training.

I really hope you do season 2 it got really dark, twisted and the like. I was already hooked on season one when I was a kid even though this was obviously aimed at females, yet the sword and sorcery tropes I would see in games like final fantasy were hook, line and sinker for me. I have always been a fantasy buff and seeing elves griffins and wizards and three "Magic Knights" made me a huge fan. Also it helped that in the Latin American Dub made in L.A. and that my country broadcast Ferio's name was the same as mine. This series was one of the many that shaped my childhood and made me develop a love for anime during Mexico's 90s anime boom. We had series like Saint Seiya (With a horrible at least to my latin american ears theme song composed by someone from Spain) Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, the Original Dragon Ball all the way through Z and GT (some of the movies had theatrical releases but were dissappointing due to being too far behind from the show.) Super Pig, Hamtaro, Pokemon, Yugioh, Captain Tsubasa sparked a huge soccer culture and even made kids try to kick a soccer ball, (I later realized im a much better thinker than soccer ball kicker.) Digimon (BTW american Audiences got really screwed with the theme song here in my country we got a spanish versión of Butterfly) Beyblade It really influenced my life and I still play anime based card games to this day due to Original Yugioh. There were som backlash from the clergy stating that pokemon and all anime was the devils work and 25 or so years ago mexico was still a very devoted god fearing country, things have changed enormously from those dark days... ill stop now cus im really pouring out a lot of feelings just to end with a final sentence. "My Childhood was great, thanks to Anime."

Good lord, I read the original manga, 1 and 2, and the ending made me cry SO HARD! The plot twist in the first series was brilliant and heartbreaking. If the manga made me cry, I can only imagine HUGE waterfalls when I finish the first season.XD

"My mind goes places" Yeah, that's Clamp for ya. Been making ambiguous shounen-ai/shoujo-ai since 1989.

How could you not talk about the Rune Gods more? They become freaking mechs! *Magical girls with mechs, Robyn!*

The very reason I became an artist and since then focused on improving my art. MKR had the best opening in like forever. CLAMP is a legend themselves.

I was enjoying this review just fine, but then you threw in that Taylor Swift reference. And I promptly died on the spot. XD

To be fair to Lenore she does have a lot of experience with southern accents from her time as rogue in the 90s X-Men cartoon.

the whiplash of the final episode, going from thinking they were heroes, to discovering their actual mission, to seeing emeraude scream in absolute despair when she found out zagato was dead, to seeing the three have to take her life, then immediately being sent back to their own world, such that they're still crouching on the ground and an emotional wreck in the crowd of entirely unaware classmates. Absolutely devastating ending. But it's so good I'm not sure I even want to watch the second season.

PLZ do season 2

9:20 I know I'm supposed to think of them traumatized, but DOS FACES. Just... made me laugh. Also earlier: "HELLO, WENDEE LEE!"

This anime a precursor to the Isekai genre as well Digimon.

Wait, blue elites and red misfits... So THAT'S where GX got the idea!

The Markiplier is strong with this one

The Isekai anime,the mecha anime , the magical girl anime of my life💜💙💚❤

Fun fact: That "underwater prison" Emeraude is in for 99% of the season? Sagato never put her there. Emeraude locked herself away in an attempt to forget about him and pray for Cephiro, summoning the Knights once she realized it was useless.

This was one of the first manga I've ever read. The twist at the end made me weep when I was a wee child. TAT

I'm actually interested in this show and that plot twist doe😨!

This was the anime that first got me into manga. The manga is VERY different from the series in many ways (spoiler: Makona created the universe), but the twist was brilliant.

I hope you do do season 2! I love the fun you had after you finished the review section. It made me smile and laugh.

I was an otaku starting mostly in the 90's, so I grew up with lots of 90's (and older) anime (Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, Revolutionary Girl Utena). Personally, I've always loved 90's fantasy anime (Magic Knight Rayearth, The Slayers, Vision of Escaflowne). On the the topic of fantasy I've also always loved 80's fantasy movies (The Dark Crystal, Neverending Story, Labyrinth). I love seeing older anime be reviewed. ^_^

Nice to see a Clamp classic being reviewed! I would love for you to over season 2!

ANIME REMAKE PRODUCTION CONFIRMED LETS GOOO!!!!!!

Still got the VHS series for them! One of my favorite anime growing up. When my sisters and I saw that plot twist, we were like "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?" I think it was the first time I ever was dumbfounded by a plot twist. Edit: Probably because by that point I was old enough to actually pay attention to stories

From what I remember from the manga, Hikaru's mashin (or Majin) wasn't named Rayearth. It was Lexus. Rayearth was the name of the Rune God when the three of theirs combined into one.

As for Hikaru being the center of attention, the same thing happens for instance with Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de aru. The other magical girls/kami/sacrifices may help and are really vital to the plot (with Yuki and Tougou even subtly forming the show's romantic couple), but from the title it's obvious who the actuall "hero" of the story is. This is very common and essentially there's nothing wrong with it, especially when we consider that a single person CAN actually change the world, so to speak (and sometimes, literally).

Magic Knight Rayearth S1 in a nutshell: "Tfw a magical quest turns into an assisted suicide request".

Wow a SheRa reference! I haven't heard that in years

This was one of the first anime I've ever seen, and the Knights some of my first anime crushes, lol. Those twists at the end were so heart-wrenching...season two only builds upon it, so I really do hope you review it.

I watched Magic Knight Rayearth in 2021 on a free movie/TV website named Filmrise, it's rated TV-PG on the same website. They have an "anime" region for both sub and dub. I watch the sub version, because Japanese is music to my ears. I like how each character is given different personalities which also affects the way they speak. Umi Ryuuzaki (blue knight) calls everyone by their names, Hikaru(red knight) calls everyone by their names with the honorific "ちゃん(chan)" has no English equivalent but it's used to address girls whom you know, and Fuu (green knight) calls everyone by their names with the honorific "さん(san)" which is equivalent to Mr./Mrs./Ms. And is used when talking to strangers and it also shows you're giving respect. This anime has inappropriate scenes that were let slide, like when Ascot came back to Lord Zagato after his defeat he said the s-word. And in Season 2 Episode 11, there's another scene...(spoiler alert) where Hikaru came back to Cephiro rescued by the Magic Knights after being defeated by Nova who also broke Hikaru's sword making Hikaru unable to call her Rune-God, Rayearth. Presea, the blacksmith, asked what happened to Hikaru and she was concerned and doesn't want Hikaru to be reckless, otherwise she'll risk her own death. Caldina, the illusionist, felt bad for the Magic Knights suffering depression and wants to cheer them up, one idea she came up with was for everyone to take a bath and have fun. Ascot started blushing thinking about it, Caldina aware that Ascot likes Umi, encourages Ascot to take a bath with her, but before Caldina could say more, Ascot grabbed her mouth to prevent her from speaking. The Magic Knights and a few others took baths with one another. Umi and Fuu described how beautiful each other are, Hikaru is by herself all insecure because outside of her family strangers call her a boy due to the fact that she's a tomboy. But Umi and Fuu and others expressed how beautiful she actually is. Then Caldina started hugging Hikaru squeezing her with her breasts, Hikaru started suffocating but Caldina released her, Hikaru then describes how big Caldina's breasts are with Caldina saying that Presea's are even bigger. Because of that scene, my Mom discouraged me to keep watching Magic Knight Rayearth for its suggestive themes. I don't mind the scenes but still it was unexpected, because it's very uncommon. I like Magic Knight Rayearth anyways, and it will always be a good anime.

It's interesting how you mention the 90s aesthetics, because that's always the case. Any "age" has its own aesthetics and standards. Many people today hate on the moe and kawaii aesthetics that dominate current anime, but all decades, so to speak, had their own look and style to them. In this sense, there are no totally timeless classics.

The little end reel bits are hilarious!

Hey I like it when the good guys catch a break they are risking their lives so they deserve a decent camp and food.

Yeah, that sort of ending would make me a villain if was brought back.

Magic Knight Rayearth is my all-time favorite anime series and I was excited to see you review it! Looking forward to your review of season 2! :D Also, love the random bits at the end.

Please make a Top 10 Detectives in Anime.🙏🙏🙏I want to see if Detective Conan makes the top 3.😊

I saw this in 2015 and, whew it, was a trip....down memory lane.

Love this anime, but i hated the ending to the first season so much, it was so sad and made me cry, then came season 2 and well, it was alittle better but not by much! please review season 2 as well soon!

plz do a Top 10 Anime Characters with a Tragic Past

I stumbled upon this anime last year and even though it feels dated in some places, I consider this a great anime and the plot twist at the end of Season 1 caught me completely off guard. As for Season 2, I actually enjoyed it a lot.

One of the first manga I ever read (along with Gundam Wing).

I love Magic Knight Rayearth. It was the first manga series I owned, and it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

how about two top 10 lists for worst anime plot twists and most shocking anime plot twists?

12:58 - Neverending story theme - it perfectly suits that anime

Please do season two

"Hello, over-the-top 90s fantasy armor." :3

You should do review Wedding Peach. Omg I love that show so much

The reason this show stuck with me was the opening theme

Clamp made the manga based off of their d&d games so the start being vague is a nice thing. plus this is the series that started clamps party of three of later manga stories. one thing why are you gripping on Caldina's voice in the english dub watch season 2 and get back to this.

I actually ran into Magical Knight Rayearth when I was looking for SNES RPGs. YEP. I actually really liked it, back in the day I didn't have internet and has never got any contact with the anime. Humble beginnings I presume, haha Amazing review! The spoilers actually made me be willing to check out the anime.

Who else watched the OVA? Just me.. ok lol. But no seriously I was obsessed with MKR as a kid, sailor moon and MKR were my favorites. I had all the mangas and the DVD box set that I bought from this obscure anime store. It was so janky that the subtitles and sound were messed up on some of the episodes.

I LOVE this anime! Mostly because I did watch it during the 90's lol. In fact, this was the second anime I ever watched. And I was certainly too young for that twist! 😢 Eventually Sailor Moon became my number one Magical Girl anime, but for a long time Magic Knight Rayearth was my favorite, and it still holds a special place in my heart! 😊

Love the songs at the end! all my favorite cartoons and songs!

Heck yeah! Love the manga! Haven't watched the anime yet...

Had to rewatch this after seeing the 30th anniversary series announcement.

It's been over 3 years and you still haven't reviewed the second season. We're waiting!

6:07 "NOTICE ME SENPAI" lolol

11:00 I love how it’s just her voice for Aisha Clan Clan from Outlaw Star but not as exactly Wild

I absolutely loved the story of Magic Knight Rayearth. The manga is a fun but short read.

I'll be honest when i first heard the southern accent all i ever heard was Rogue from X-MEN who Zann also voiced so im guessing they just told her to do her Rogue voice . Also i hope you do the 2nd season as well .

When i saw the title my first thought was madoka Magica xD

I did watch the bit of the anime but I keep forgetting to come back to it thou ^^' But I did read the manga when it was re-release under Dark Horse. The twist ending was 'Holy shit, I didn't see THAT COMING O-O' Definitely one of CLAMPS best work

I became a big CLAMP fan in the early 2000s, checking out everything I could find by them in the local library network. Magic Knight Rayerth was a blast. Its a Shoujo series and I didnt even know what that was at the time. I didnt know anime too well so I just thought 3 girls go on an adventure. The ending for Part 1 of the manga floored me with Princess Emeraude being the final boss. Then Part 2 came out and it was different. Later I found the anime and it has a lot of filler episodes. Not a bad anime, but as I discovered later 1990s anime is PACKED with Filler episodes and low animation standards.

I look forward to that top 10 list Robyn

LOVED the manga, but had no idea it became an anime!

Robin didn't realize that Rayearth Debut in Super Robot Wars

As a fifth grader I liked Umi best and had a crush on Clef This show introduced me the concept of shipping in second season lmao

That plot twist, with that mecha transformation, is very good

For people out there claiming Madoka was groundbreaking... it is a great and memorable show, especially from its intertextual structure with Goethe's Faust, the characters are deep and complex (let's forget the Rebellion cash grab...). But as far as twists go, Rayearth takes the palm for me by a mile. I was never so astonished with a plot twist in my life. Granted, I was very young, but not that young, when I first watched this series. But even so, I never saw that ending coming. And boy, was it sad!

What is Mokona? "Mokona is Mokona. You count one Mokona and two Mokona and stop there there's only two."

Me and my friends had a mad nostalgia trip recently cause Magic Knight Rayearth was annouced for a Super Robot Wars game for PS4/Switch. Me and my friends played the ever loving crap of the SNES with that awesome music that covered the first season in a decent way.

the very second I got notification..... I knew this was guna be fun ride. lolz. and yes. please do 2nd season. and can you also pretty please do xxxholic and tsubasa chronicles? pretty pliziz?

This was my very first manga and nothing has ever been as beautiful to me. I love it so much. Clamp's artwork is really incredible. Another favorite of mine is RG Vega.

Did you all also noticed that the names came from CARS?? Like Inova, Lantis, Ferio, Ascot, Presea, Cefiro etc.

I've watched this anime about 3 - 4 times, and I can't get enough of the opening theme songs for each seasons, because they are that awesome 😊😇

I bought the DVD pack with season 1 and 2 from BestBuy years ago.

I cannot blame the princess at all, she cannot live not truly live, because her eternal duty is to pray until she is killed, and nothing else

Thank You so much for this review . Please review Season 2 !!! This is one of my all time favorite animes and I feel like its so underrated !! Maybe for a suggestion you could review Wedding Peach or Tokyo Mew Mew :)

This was the very last anime I bought on VHS before I started buying shows on DVD. I remember being let down by the art which was a shame as I had the entire series since it was published in Mixx Zing magazine (later renamed Tokyo Pop , America's first manga publication. I loved that series and was so bummed when it was canceled. The anime was alright though everytime Caldina talked, I just heard Rogue from _X-Men TAS._

It’s honestly kind of a brilliant story. It presents itself at first as a generic, jRPG-style fantasy and then completely subverts its own premise with one of the all-time best twists in shoujo storytelling. The girls embark on a simple “save the princess” mission complete with a clear framework and video game-like level progression. They follow what they believe to be a path of righteous destiny only to discover that all along they were merely the pawns of a cruel world whose peace and stability comes only at the expense of another’s tremendous suffering. And so they find that the perceived villain was never the real obstacle; it’s the systematic injustices of the world themselves that need to be overturned. And that following the path of least resistance thrust upon you by an uncaring society can never save the world. To do that, you have to be brave enough to change the world. But changing the world doesn’t come with a convenient instruction book and map built into a cute little Mokona mascot. Season 2 of the anime is massively overplayed with filler, but the manga is quite lovely and worth a read for sure. It’s a classic coming of age story built upon the very essence of youthful idealism.

I watched this when I was first getting into anime and I found it really interesting and it was fine for me. If I rewatch it now I would probably feel the same way. I would love to see you review season 2.

Can't wait for your review of season 2!! :)

The entire 1st season is available on media blasters official youtube channel (MediaB) for free. Do note they never did playlists so you'll have to manually search for them.

TMS has this posted on their KZfaq channel now! As well as season 2! 🙂

OMG Did I just hear Tsumi as Mokona

It is on the official tms youtube channel.

Those ending jokes are all on par!!! Good Job!!