Magic Knight Rayearth [TV]
Magic Knight Rayearth: The Power of Three will set you free
Synopsis
Magic Knight Rayearth is one of the most famous animes created by CLAMP. It was directed by Toshihiro Hirano and went on air for the first time on October 17, 1994. The first season had 20 episodes followed by the second season with 29 episodes.
The series is about 3 female 8-graders from different schools, were suddenly transported to the magical realm of Cephiro from their field trip at the Tokyo Tower by the powerful prayer of an imprisoned Princess, Princess Emeraud. Upon arrival, Master Mage Clef oriented the youngsters as the 3 Legendary Magic Knights who will save their crumbling world and that they can only return to the present after fulfilling their mission. In their quest to “save” the Pillar of Cephiro from the hands of Zagato, they risked their lives in fighting difficult battles and discovered not just the power friendship but also the secret behind Cephiro’s near end.
The Characters
Hikaru Shidou: A 14 year old junior high student from Japan, The Leader of the Magic Knights, and the master of the Rune God, Rayearth. She stands 4’9 ( 145 cm ) and is mistaken to be an elementary school student. She has long, red, wavy hair done in a single braid. She’s pure-hearted, courageous, and a loving friend. She’s sometimes acts like a child and a little tomboy-ish because she grew up with his 3 older brothers. Their Family also owns a kendo school which is headed by his Father. She also has a natural ability to relate and communicate with animals. Hikaru is mostly seen in red clothing. Her magical element is fire and usually plays offense in battle.
Fuu Huouoji – is a quiet and reserved girl and 1/3 of the 3 Legendary Magic Knights summoned by Princess Emeraude. She controls the power over wind and the one who can summon the emerald Rune God, Windam. She’s got short, wavy, brownish- blonde hair and wears a pair of glasses. Her eyes are green which, is also the dominant color of her usual outfit. Fuu is polite, calm, and logical. Her strongest asset is her intelligence, hence, She’s the strategist and brains of the team. Despite her nerdy looks and gentle attributes, She excels in archery, and just like an arrow, she could be straightforward and hit you bull’s eye. She is the love interest of a young man from Cephiro named Ferio.
Umi Ryuuzaki –The Magic Knight of water. One of the young warriors summoned from the present like Hikaru and Fuu. A Sophomore in middle school coming from a wealthy family. Umi is a beautiful and elegant girl who looks like a model. She’s got long, straight, blue hair that matches her eyes. Most of her clothing is in blue which is contradicting to its cool association since she has a short-temper especially at the beginning of season 1. The blue –haired heroine was the most skeptical of all at first but as the anime progresses, she has learned to accept her fate as one of the 3 legendary Magic Knights and became best friends with Hikaru and Fuu. Later on she played the role of the big sister in their trio. Umi was the second one who received her magical powers, but the first one to meet one of the powerful Rune Gods, Ceres. In her past time, she likes to bake sweets and practice fencing.
Princess Emeraude – The summoner of the 3 Legendary Magic Knights who came from Earth and The Pillar/Ruler of a magical world called, Cephiro. She has a golden blonde hair and porcelain-white skin, making her look like a Goddess. Because of her powerful prayer, Cephiro is blessed with Peace, prosperity, and protection. In the climax of the first season, It was revealed that she summoned that 3 Magic Knights in order for the trio to take away her life, since it’s the only way she could be set free from her responsibility and be able to love Zagato with all her heart. As the Pillar, she needs to follow the Law of Cephiro that the heart determines all. That she must dedicate her whole life in praying for their world to have peace, and should not be distracted by her feelings towards anyone. The princess turned dark and went berserk after Zagato was killed by the girls she has summoned. Because of this, the lands of Cephrio suffered a colossal destruction. What the Princess really wants is to save Cephiro…from HER. In the end, her wish was fulfilled by the Magic Knights and found her eternal happiness in the arms of her beloved high priest.
Zagato- is a man with long black hair and is dressed in Black robe and armor. Because of this image, mostly everyone would think of him as a dark mage who is just hungry for extreme power, Wherein he only wishes to see his beloved’s smile more than anyone else. He was once the High Priest of Princess Emeruade and was introduced as the main villain of the series. He was chosen to aid the prayers of the Princess as the Pillar of their world. After discovering her feelings towards him, He captured and imprisoned Princess Emeraude in a water dungeon. He tried preventing the Magic Knights with all his power from fulfilling their mission but he was killed by the earth warriors. In episode 19, Zagato’s true intent was to unleash Princess Emeraude from her destiny. The destiny to not have freedom and must only pray for the stability of Cephiro and stop the Legend of the Magic Knights…to end Emeraude’s life even if it means surrendering his own.
Clef- Also known as Guru/ Master Mage Clef is the wisest and most powerful sorcerer in Cephiro. He has an appearance of young boy with light-purple hair, wearing robes of white and carrying a staff. He was the one who sent a humungous flying fish to catch the Magic Knights from falling after being summoned. Master Clef guided The trio with their powers and how to use them in battle. He mentored Princess Emeraude, Zagato, Lantis, and Alcyone the arts of Magic which earned them their status. Before the Magic Knights were summoned, He served as Princess Emeraude’s adviser and confidante during her reign. He was turned into stone by Zagato after meeting the Magic Knights but thanks to Mokonoa, he was still able to communicate with the girls and helped them along their journey.
Mokona – A white,fluffy, bunny-like creature with long ears that hops around and says “puu” most of the time and in different intonations. Mokona was introduced in episode 2 and It is unknown what kind of specie he is. He has a magical red gem on his forehead that serves as communicator and item provider for the girls. Mokona is the mascot of the anime and is featured in many anime series by CLAMP.
Ferio- A young, green-haired warrior whom the Magic Knights met in the Forest of Silence. He’s usually seen giving aid to the heroines in their battles. He’s real identity was revealed while the girls were fighting a monster in episode 17 .Ferio is actually Princess Emeraude’s little brother and Prince of Cephiro. In Ferio’s flashback memory, he decided to live alone and wished for her sister to erase his memories of her, so by the time she becomes the Pillar of Cephiro, she won’t have to worry about him. Before his memories got erased, he was given 2 orbs that serves as a communicator so even if Ferio’s far away from her, she could still hear her precious little brother’s voice. According to Emeraud, Ferio’s memories have returned because her powers are already weakening and the seal on his memory has been released. In order to help her sister, he came to the Magic Knight’s rescue by revealing the weakness of their foe. He came back to the Castle of Cephiro as its rightful Prince in the second season. In the series, Ferio and Fuu have mutual feelings for each other.
Presea- The Best female blacksmith in Cephiro. She was a student of Master Clef and asked the girls to search for her so the latter could make them weapons, made especially for each of them. She was found by the Magic Knights in an empty building by trying to catch up with the hyper Mokona. After realizing that the 3 girls were the chosen ones, She led them to an armory so they could choose their weapons for their quest to the spring of eterna. The naïve Hikaru gave her a piece of candy and with this cute gesture, She decided to loan the girls some of her blades that they could use in their quest to seek the “escudo”, which is according to the blacksmith, The one ore in Cephiro that can become weapons that evolve. Weapons that created from escudo evolve based from the owner’s skills and mental strength. After gaining the eskudo, Presea started to forge their swords by performing a war dance. The blacksmith died from falling debris caused by one of the enemy’s beasts in the process of creating their weapons.
Alcyone- is a female magician and a loyal subordinate of Zagato. She will do anything what Zagato will say for she’s madly in love with him but her master doesn’t reciprocate her feelings and was the first antagonist to attack the girls in the series. Alcyone’s powers include summoning beasts from the spirit world and performing ice-magic.
Lafarga- An incredibly strong Swordsman with a towering height and blonder hair, was used to be the Captain of the Royal Guards protecting Princess Emeraude after the post was left by Zagato’s younger brother, Lantis. He was sent to kill the Magic Knights under Zagato’s spell but was defeated after being set in flames by Hikaru’s sword when he tried to touch it. Because of the incident, He was set free from Zagato’s power.
Ascot – is a young boy who has the ability to control monsters which he considers his friends. Because he was homeless, He accepted Zagato’s offer in exchange of serving him as one of his minions. His beasts caused the death of the Talented blacksmith Presea. In his second encounter with the Magic Knights, she was slapped by Umi and realized that he shouldn’t be using his friends as weapons to hurt others. With this realization, He had a change of heart and stopped fighting for Zagato. He also developed a crush on Umi.
Caldina- is a dancer and One of Zagato’s 5 powerful followers. She has pink hair and tan skin. She’s an expert illusionist and hypnotist. With her power, she can control other people’s minds and command them to do anything as she pleases. She’s fond of Ascot and treats him as her younger brother. She’s also good at playing cards and is greedy in money. In the second season, She was already an ally of the Magic Knights. It was revealed that she’s a native of Chizeta and is in a relationship with Lafarga.
Inouva- One of Zagato’s trusted allies and his most faithful companion, A tall, thin man with pale skin and elf ears. He was originally a wolf-like beast with 2 long tendrils and a single horn. He was given by Zagato to Princess Emeraude as a present to protect the Pillar of Cephiro. He was turned into human by his Master in order to help him fulfill his desire. He was about to defeat the Magic Knights if not for Fuu, who was able to revive The Run god Windam in episode. Because of his desire to help Zagato defeat the Magic Knights, He asked him to return him to his original form knowing that he won’t be able to look like a human again. With the help of Ferio, Inouva was killed by Hikaru by breaking the purple jewel embedded on his forehead, discovering that it was his weak spot. Lord Zagato and Princess Emeraude mourned in his demise as he released his last howl. Inouva in his beast form can summon lightning. He can also embody the element and unleash his full power in this form.
The Three Mashins ( Rune Gods ) : They are the 3 Legendary Robot-like Guardians that protects Cephiro. The 3 Mashins are consists of Ceres, A Blue Water Dragon commanded by Umi, Windam, A green four-winged bird that responds to Fuu and Rayearth, a giant wolf with a blazing mane under Hikaru’s power. These 3 Rune Gods combined defeated Zagato and Killed Princess Emeraude as it was her plea.
What I noticed:
- If it’s a trio, the color coding is always Red, Blue and Green. They’re like Power Puff girls except for the fact that Blossom is in Pink and not in red. Also, it’s more hardcore.
- It’s like Sailor Moon meets Gundam meets Fushigi Yuugi ( Though MKR was released before FY )
- They’re magical girls minus the long transformations, chants with ballet-like dance steps, and colorful batons that release hearts, stars, and ribbons.
- It’s something that young boys won’t be ashamed to watch since it’s not super girly despite being a shojo anime series.
- The characters’ names especially Zagato’s followers: They were named after cars
Magic Knight Rayearth is actually one of my favorite animes of all time and one of the reasons why my childhood days were fun. This is something I’d recommend since it’s easy to follow and visually pleasing. For me, it’s one of those animes that proved us that not everyone wearing in black is the evil one. Episode-wise, It’s not too long and not too short, compared to others that only have 12 to 13 episodes, while some are more than a hundred so this is something you won’t feel tired to watch at the very end.
