History Anime / RayearthOVA

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Eagle has gone from trying to save his country to being willing to destroy Earth to save Cephiro. He's also Emeraude's brother instead of [[spoiler:Ferio]]. Hikaru has gone from a [[GenkiGirl Genki]] PluckyGirl from a kendo family to a particularly [[BreakTheCutie Broken Cutie]] in the gymnastics club.
* AdaptationNameChange: The mascot Rune God's name was changed to Lexus. The fact that Rayearth no longer has anything to do with the Rune Gods but instead refers to planet Earth and its unique place is telling.

* SoundtrackDissonance: This extremely somber version of Rayearth features as its ending theme a peppy song called "All You Need is Love" (No, not that [[Music/TheBeatles one]]) which almost sound like “The Courage Leading to Tomorrow”, the ending theme of the LighterAndSofter first season of the anime.

* PinkMeansFeminine: The outfits worn by Emmeraude and Alcyone are pink, when they were white and red respectively in the series.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Emmeraude lives in this story.

* FanDisservice: Yes, the girls [[FullFrontalAssault ride the Rune Gods while naked]]. No, it's '''not''' [[FanService hot]] because the injuries that the Rune Gods sustain are translated directly to their bodies.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original series, even at its heaviest moments, is a pretty fantastical and optimistic action-adventure tale. This OAV is more akin to an apocalyptic disaster story with the fantasy elements as a backdrop, and unlike the original ''Magic Knight Rayearth'' there is no certain happy ending.

* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Cephiro is dying; Zagato sacrificed his life in a vain attempt to avert this. Emeraude is alive, but is clinging to a dream that Zagato is with her. The actual story has more violence, some blood, and about half the characters from Cephiro are killed off ([[spoiler:although Emeraude lives]]).
** Also, remember how the anime and the manga have these moments where our three heroines and their friends go into chibi-mode? Well, they're gone. In fact, while most of the first half of MKR is bright and adventurous, and the second half had a very strong message of optimism and cheer despite the exterior atmosphere, the OAV is relentlessly ''bleak'' and the girls fight desperately to cling to any kind of hope.
** The Mashin no longer look like animal-themed armored knights, but rather like gigantic, vaguely humanoid living beasts and demons, and their hand-to-hand combat is not pretty --especially when they lose limbs.
** Time passes normally on Earth as the battles escalate, and literally half of Tokyo is flattened to a ruin, thus leaving its citizens suddenly destitute when they return from the pocket dimension.

* AlternateContinuity: This is described as a shortened retelling of MKR. That is really inaccurate. There are so many changes to the plot, it's another story entirely.

An {{OVA}} loosely based on the ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' saga. While there were similar elements that was in the original show, it was executed differently that it was another story altogether.

* ChestBlaster: In the last part of the first episode, Hikaru unleashed a fire blast from Lexus' chest in a similar manner to [[Anime/MazingerZ Breast Fire]], something that she never had in the original series.

* AdaptedOut: Amongst the 'bad guys' of the original manga, Caldina and Lafarga do not appear. While Eagle is given an AdaptationalVillainy, his Autozam compatriots Geo and Zazu were written out; and so do the Chizeta and Fahren people. And it goes without saying that the anime-exclusive characters (Inova, Nova and Debonair) do not appear.

An {{OVA}} loosely based on the ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' saga.

The three girls actually went to school together, but fear they might never see each other again. Then invaders from a dying world come to Earth to take it for their own. The girls have to stop them.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Hikaru isn't a GenkiGirl, instead being a target of mockery from her classmates and sad over graduating, as it will separate her from Umi and Fuu.

** Zagato, being a PosthumousCharacter, didn't seem to have any bad bones within him anymore. He's no longer sending minions to kill innocent girls, and sacrificed his own life in an attempt to stabilize Cephiro, [[SenselessSacrifice even if it proved futile.]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: While she is still quite nasty in this adaptation, Alcyone has some heroic qualities. Despite intentionally torturing the Magic Knights in her battles with them and enjoying it, her reason for aiding the villains is out of genuine concern for the welfare of Cephiro. In addition as opposed to the source material and most adaptations, she is loyal to Emeraude to the end and before Eagle executes her, her last words was requesting a second chance so she can continue battling for Cephiro.