History Manga / MagicKnightRayearth

This [[{{Shojo}} Shoujo series]] is one of the most popular creations of the creative collective known as Creator/{{CLAMP}}, blending MagicalGirl, HumongousMecha and HeroicFantasy into a unique and entertaining mix. It was also the first of CLAMP's works to receive an anime adaptation.

This [[{{Shojo}} Shoujo series]] is one of the most popular creations of the creative collective known as Creator/{{CLAMP}}, blending MagicalGirl, HumongousMecha and HeroicFantasy into a unique and entertaining mix.

* PowerTrio: The girls.
** BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Umi is Beauty, Fuu is Brains, and Hikaru is Brawn.
** FreudianTrio: Hikaru is the Ego, Fuu is the Superego, and Umi is the Id.

* {{Troperiffic}}: A lot of the first season is full of RPG tropes and cliches--the evil overlord, the imprisoned princess, fetch quests and the like. [[spoiler: This makes the twist ending hit even harder]].

** As for the video game, Jennifer Stigle (aka Umi Ryuzaki) sings the opening song.

The manga has a sequel, which deals primarily with the aftermath of the Magic Knights' action in the first half. The anime, produced by Creator/TMSEntertainment, is split into two seasons, with the second season deviating more from the manga than the first.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Pretty much the point of the series. This is what saved Hikaru from being [[spoiler:[[FateWorseThanDeath dissolved]] when she insisted on saving Eagle from the Pillar's Trial]] in the manga.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: The whole story is built on this. It's how the girls manifest their most powerful spells, defeat their enemies, and convince their enemies to quit fighting.

* BadassCape: The final evolution of the girls' armor, which dons itself whenever they fight in the Mashin, includes a very long cape.

* PrecisionFStrike: The English dub of the anime "cleans up" most of the profanity used in the subtitled version, but there were two specific exceptions in the Japanese version. The first was in episode 35 when Tarta still calls Umi a "jackass" and the second was in episode 47 when Geo shouted, "Are you trying to piss me off or something!?"

* SchrodingersCast: Some characters who the anime killed off but were alive and well in the manga had to be "brought back" in the second season because they were needed for the plot. There's just one problem... [[UniverseBible it goes against CLAMP rules, you know]].
** SparedByTheAdaptation: And some were killed in the manga but not in the anime.

* ShouldersOfDoom: Zagato, Alcyone, Lafarga, Lantis, [[spoiler:evil]] Emeraude, Debonair, Nova, the three Rune Gods, and eventually the Knights themselves.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Umi.

->''Tomaaaaaranai! (Don't stooooop!)\\
Mirai wo mezashite (Aim for the future)...''

** The second half of the story, where Cephiro is mostly falling apart and there are invasion forces from another world, and each of them are not exactly cookie-cutter MonsterOfTheWeek, instead having their own justified reasons why they wanted to invade (mostly for the betterment of their own homelands). The anime version ups the darkness by adding the sadistic villains Nova and Debonair (Which didn't exist in the manga), causing more moments of angst and despair for Hikaru. The anime version also showed scenes of innocent civilians in danger and even [[spoiler: kills off Eagle Vision]].

** The second half of the story, where Cephiro is mostly falling apart and there are invasion forces from another world, and each of them are not exactly cookie-cutter MonsterOfTheWeek, instead having their own justified reasons why they wanted to invade (mostly for the betterment of their own homelands). The anime version ups the darkness by adding the sadistic villains Nova and Debonair (Which didn't exist in the manga), causing more moments of angst and despair for Hikaru. The anime version also [[spoiler: kills off Eagle Vision]].

** The O.V.A. is also darker than both the manga and anime.

* SceneryPorn: The girls sometimes stop and admire Cephiro's beautiful landscapes... which becomes SceneryGorn in Rayearth II, as it falls apart more and more.

* BittersweetEnding: The ending of the anime series. [[spoiler:Cephiro is restored, the Big Bad (Lady Debonair) is defeated, but Eagle is dead and the three girls have to return home for good. However, in the last few minutes, the trio manages to get a glimpse on Cephiro being restored to its former beauty thanks to Hikaru abolishing the Pillar system, [[EarnYOurHappyEnding and it's (vaguely) implied that they can now return whenever they wish similar to the manga]].]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: [[spoiler: Hikaru turns toward the reader on the final page of the second manga series and asks "you who have watched over us from the beginning" [[PleaseSelectNewCityName to write in what Cephiro's new name will be.]] ]]

** Autozam: Dedicated to [[MagiTek high-technology based on mental power]]. Its primary exports are HumongousMecha, [[CoolShip interstellar warships]], and [[{{BFG}} ultra]]-[[FrickinLaserBeams advanced]] [[WaveMotionGun weaponry]]. Stands for the USA.

It has its own wiki [[http://magicknightrayearth.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Knight_Rayearth_Wiki here]].

[[Characters/MagicKnightRayearth There's also the Character Sheets]].

** The second half of the story, where Cephiro is mostly falling apart. The anime version ups the darkness by adding the sadistic villains Nova and Debonair (Which didn't exist in the manga), causing more moments of angst and despair for Hikaru. The anime version also [[spoiler: kills off Eagle Vision]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the RescueThePrincess genre of Heroic Fantasy, [[spoiler:as it turns out that the real reason she summoned the Magic Knights to Cephiro was not to rescue her, but to ''kill'' her. This is due to her massive inner conflict between her role as Cephiro's Pillar and her love for Zagato, her supposed kidnapper]].

* {{Samurai}}: Loosely speaking; all three girls are accomplished swordswomen by the end of the show.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the RescueThePrincess genre of Heroic Fantasy.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the RescueThePrincess genre of Heroic Fantasy.

Other media include ''Anime/RayearthOVA'', a UsefulNotes/SuperFamicom game done as a turn-based {{RPG}}, and a UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version released in the United States by Creator/WorkingDesigns. The latter version is noteworthy not so much for the actual game, but for the DevelopmentHell that it went through - it was delayed for so long that it ended up as the final title ever released for the Saturn in the U.S. In 2019, it would become the first MagicalGirl[=/=]{{Shojo}} series to embrace the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series (that [[OddballInTheSeries isn't]] ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsXOmega'') via ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT''.

* AGodAmI: Subverted. [[spoiler:Hikaru actually becomes the Pillar of Cephiro, but immediately uses her powers to ''get rid of her status and the Pillar System'', and allow Cephiro to be shaped by all its inhabitants instead of one person]].

* AMechByAnyOtherName: The Mashin (a PunnyName that can mean both "demon-god" and "machine", rendered as Rune God in the anime). They're living beings, but entirely controlled by what the girls do.
** Subverted with Autozam's mecha: they're simply called FTO and GTO, and Fuu calls them robots when comparing 'em with both of Chizeta's Djinn.

** Justified with Debonair because [[spoiler: she is the manifestation of Cepherio's fear, sorrow, and despair after Emeraude's death]].

* BrokenBird: [[spoiler:Emeraude in Part 1. The Magic Knights themselves become this in Part 2 as a result of what Emeraude forced them to do. Sierra also is one thanks to being the BackUpTwin for her dead sister in the anime rendition of Part 2... and ''where'' do we start with anime!Alcyone's issues?]]

* Creator/{{CLAMP}}

* DeathByAdaptation: In the anime, [[spoiler:Presea dies shortly into the first season]] as a SacrificialLamb, and the second season has [[spoiler:Eagle]] killed by Debonair. In the Saturn game, [[spoiler:''every'' minor villain the girls face ends up dead]], sometimes as a YouHaveFailedMe punishment from Innova.

** The Sega Saturn game called Emeraude 'Emerald' and Zagato 'Zagat', and renamed Hikaru's dog from Hikari to Flash.

* {{Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe}}: The English Dub is usually not filled with this but when the Rune Gods themselves speak, they use the words "thee", "thou", and "thine".

** The second half of the story, where Cephiro is mostly falling apart. The anime version ups the darkness by adding the sadistic villains Nova and Debonair (Which didn't exist in the manga), causing more moments of angst and despair for Hikaru. The anime version also [[Kills off Presea and Eagle Vision]].

** The second half of the story, where Cephiro is mostly falling apart.