Rayearth

As her graduation comes closer, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu realize their lives are going to change abruptly in some weeks. They are going to move and maybe they won't be seeing teach other for a long time. They gather under a cherry three which is said to be enchanted and ask for their friendship to remain eternally strong.

Suddenly a magical rabbit-like being –Mokona- appears and unchains a series of terrible events first in Tokyo and then in the rest of the world. The decadent planet of Cephiro has arrived to Earth in order to accomplish the orders of their mysterious princess. While some of the strongest warriors of Cephiro appear, Clef (a priest from the magic kingdom who doesn't agree with the invasion) and Mokona choose the girls to go through a divine mission that will save their planet and their friendship awakening three warrior deities.

"Rayearth" is a three-chaptered mini-series which re-tells the story of the comic book "Magic Knight Rayearth" and its popular 1994 adaptation on TV. As it is usual in the works of CLAMP group, the standards of animation quality are really high (even for nowadays) with haughty backgrounds, graceful movements and stylized character design.

The plot might sound too apocalyptic for those who followed the previous adaptation, but in its darker, melancholic and compelling tone "Rayeath" gets viewer's attention easily. Its heroines are well depicted with emotional depth and many layers of personality, although some others may remain superficially treated. It's mainly a series about a tragic separation and a fight for the three girls to survive not only this huge battle but also for their friendship to remain the same.

The Rayearth OAV series is one of the best works CLAMP has produced. People familiar with the TV series will find delight in seeing their favorite characters presented in new ways, but the series demands very little knowledge of the TV series, making it easy for almost anyone to watch. Shidou Hikaru, Ryuuzaki Umi, and Houoji Fuu are longtime friends who fear their separation after graduating from school. But, new forces are coming into Tokyo, threatening the populace and throwing the three girls into the battle. The animation is typical CLAMP (read: beautiful), but better than the TV series. The plot is darker than the comparatively bubbly TV series, but I found it more enjoyable this way. The characters are an assortment of faithful to the series and newly created personalities, but are still as captivating as always.

The alternate spin on the story of Magic Knight Rayearth is interesting, especially in how it differs in tone from the original. Much darker ambiance in this setting.

However, the quality of the translation is rather poor for being "professional", and I find that it detracts from enjoyment of the show. Unfortunately I first saw it on VHS and had no option to turn off the often-inaccurate subtitles. Even if you don't understand Japanese, you will probably notice that some of the lines are either clunky or don't seem to fit the scene. For example, one of Ferio's lines is translated to mean exactly the opposite of what it does, and viewers going by that translation will get a different idea of his character. That was a particularly inconvenient line to mess up, while others seem to be skewed simply because of lazy or outright incompetent translation.

Bottom line: enjoy, but take the English translations with a grain of salt. Unless they've bothered to redo them for recent editions, their quality is probably surpassed by a fansub floating around somewhere.

A three episoder, "Rayearth" is majestic, powerful and manages to excel in distance perspectives to create beautiful gigantic beasts set upon the cityscapes.

For the English dub the voice acting is superb, especially from the female cast; also being contributed by a magnificent musical score that roars with fire and energy.

While it's initial episode has a lot of gusto and thought, the second and third episodes end up being somewhat middling. This is due to a lack of real explanation or interesting satisfaction as to who the enemy is and why they are attacking. The overall final conclusion is mundane and anti climatic leading to further confusion.