Magic Knight Rayearth ‒ Episodes 1-3
MKR would go on to be channeled, and plainly referenced in some cases, in a number of their later works (anyone else remember Angelic Layer?). And while they would go on to make other isekai series—in fact, Tsubasa Chronicle eventually becomes nothing if not the logical extreme of all things both isekai and crossovers—they never revisited mecha after Rayearth, unless you count Code Geass. But personally, I don't tend to count Code Geass among their works, since all they did was the character designs and illustrations.
The point I'm getting at here is that while MKR is as obvious a CLAMP work as ever, and certainly one that they continued to think about even well after it finished, it still holds a deeply unique place in CLAMP's massive body of work. In many ways, it's a quintessential CLAMP work. In others, it diverges pretty significantly from their norm. For this reason, I think MKR has broader appeal than most other CLAMP titles. Not to say their other works don't have broad appeal (try telling that to Card Captor Sakura), just that MKR is an easy choice if you're looking for something along the lines of, “CLAMP titles for people who aren't usually into CLAMP titles.” If this is your first time watching Rayearth, I'm sure you'll notice that as this series continues. And if this is your introduction to the CLAMP-iverse, I congratulate you! You're starting in a great place, and I think we're all in for an amazing time.
But that's enough about the background of this series—how are these first three episodes? In a word, great. Right out of the gate, a pet peeve of mine is when modern reboots of older anime—for no good reason at all—randomly just set things in the modern era, as though its original setting is arbitrary, and as though the presence of modern technology wouldn't completely disrupt the original story. In fact, on the topic of CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is among the many series that, unfortunately, do this. Since our protagonists are only in our world for all of maybe 2 minutes, it would've been a bit annoying, but this anime absolutely could've gotten away with giving the girls smartphones and such. And yet, even though it absolutely could've gotten away with it, it chose not to. I have so much intense love and respect for that.
Speaking of things I have so much love and respect for, there's the art. E&H production is going full 90s CLAMP, and it looks absolutely luscious. The eyelashes are tremendously thick; there's Dorito chins, Dorito bodies, the hair looks gorgeous, the coloration has never been so strong—combine this with some really cool direction by Yui Miura (who we interviewed here) and you have an absolute visual showstopper. I could—and by the time the series ends, probably will—sob, this is so beautiful. When I heard MKR was getting rebooted, the first thing I wondered about was what was going to happen to CLAMP's lovingly detailed artwork, and it makes me so happy to see it so exquisitely translated.
On the topic of the 90s-ness of it all, when the theme song from the original came on at the end of the first episode? Be still, my beating heart. The new opening is fine—it's actually grown on me a bit since the first time I heard it, and I'll probably find myself liking it more as the season continues—but the original is so iconic. I was so happy they took the opportunity to make use of that song. It's a shame, though—they missed one in the third episode to do something similar that would've sent so many millennials into orbit. Specifically: Absolute missed opportunity using footage from the MKR Sega Saturn game. I understand for a whole host of reasons that would probably be nigh impossible for several logistical reasons, but maybe it's just because I'm still fresh off of Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games; I just can't help but think about how cool that would've been.
Still, what we got going so far is more than enough to make up for it. Although the pacing is a bit different, fans of the original series will find the contents of these first few episodes pretty familiar. The first episode, especially, is pretty much beat-for-beat the original. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Admittedly, things do start a bit slow in MKR, but it gives you enough intrigue to last until the story picks up.
And what are those things, specifically? Well, we got our main trio, inexplicably transported to the fantastical world of Cefiro. It's here that they're told by a strange man-slash-child that they're chosen ones of sorts: the Magic Knights. It's their fate to protect Cefiro from the evil Zagato. The specifics of how they'll fight Zagato, and what makes him so evil, have not yet been revealed to us, although there's certainly a breadcrumb trail of sorts. We've also seen similar crumbs pointing to some kind of political drama happening in the backdrop of it all—after all, even if she's a beloved baddie amongst fans (new and old alike), we've quickly learned that Alcyone is a turncoat and is no longer in the good graces of her former master. There's quite obviously more to this situation than what meets the eye, but the audience has been thrown into all this just as suddenly as our protagonists.
Speaking of which, let's talk about Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, who seem charming thus far, even if they still don't know what's going on. It's been three episodes over the course of three weeks for us, but for them? A few hours at most, and even that feels generous. That very morning they awoke in their own beds, in their own world, eating familiar food, going to their familiar school, and all this didn't happen until they went on a school trip. The shock they must be feeling is off the charts, and it's amazing, all things considered, that they're keeping their composure so well. Fuu, especially—with all her silly remarks—doesn't seem to be as distressed as you'd think. But perhaps it's exactly because this all happened so suddenly, the full gravity of their situation hasn't quite hit them yet. Of course they don't seem too alarmed—their situation hasn't entirely sunk in yet. Give it time—not to mention a heaping helping of responsibility on their young shoulders—and they'll probably start to realize the full effects of their current situation.
And then, of course, I can't talk about Mokona. Named after the lead artist of CLAMP, Mokona would go on to appear in plenty of other CLAMP works, as well as be a pretty important character in Tsubasa Chronicle. But fun fact: MKR is Mokona's first appearance! And in a world where everyone can't help but notice that Pikachu has slimmed down so much over the years, I appreciate the defiance of MKR keeping Mokona as tubby, soft, and huggable-looking as ever. At least in my opinion, CLAMP is pretty hit-or-miss with how often its mascot characters are actually cute, but Mokona is easily their biggest home run in my opinion, and this reboot is capturing exactly why. The roundness is important.
On a closing note, let's talk about the dub! The first episode of it is out, and so far it seems charming. Although I prefer the sub overall, the dub still has its standout performances. If I had to single out one favorite, it would definitely be Bradley Gareth's perfectly sinister Zagato.
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Magic Knight Rayearth is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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