Introduction
The Earth lies darkened and deserted. Despite the best efforts of the film's heroine, Hikaru, the evil-filled castle of Cephiro has taken over the world and stands in the center of a lifeless Tokyo. Before the ice-witch Alcyone can take her revenge on Hikaru, she is rescued by Lantis, a young man who seals her into a magical maze where she is challenged to prove her powers while her friends are hunted down by Cephiro's warlocks.
Fleeing through the silent city, Umi and Fuu must seek out the sleeping Mashin; godlike creatures that will fuse with them to form giant warriors of awesome destructive power. But the Magic Knights are afraid, untrained and alone... will even the Mashin be enough to save them from the evil acts of Cephiro?
(Source: AniDB)
Audience reviews
8 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
gmerah
I loved Magic Knight Rayearth. It was a beautiful series full of fantasy, magic, and adventure.
This OVA, however, is not it. It's neither a continuation nor a remake of the original series.
On its own, this might have been a good movie trilogy. Unfortunately, they were being presented as Magic Knight Rayearth. However, there's very little resemblance to the Magic Knight Rayearth series that we all know and love.
The only thing that resembled Magic Knight Rayearth in this OVA were the characters' names and faces. That's it. The story, the personality, even their relationships to each other were all different. People who weren't supposed to be villains were somehow turned into villains in this OVA.
They're so different from the manga and the TV series that they might as well be an origi…
Read at the sourceThePacISBack
Oh gosh where to even begin with this thing. It is not bad as far as Super Robot Horror anime go, but this is not Rayearth. It is not even an Isekai like every other version of Rayearth is. This all takes place in the city that the characters grew up in.
So, what is Rayearth OVA? Well let us start with what it is not. This is not a faithful adaption of the Rayearth manga in any regard, this is basically a fanfic-y alternate universe that involves some of the characters. The reason that this was made is because Hirano (he also was the director of the Rayearth TV anime which was slightly more faithful until season 2 when it also goes into its own separate place from the manga), basically, this Hirano director guy, he got asked by Clamp to not spoil the manga, they gave him permission to do w…
Read at the sourceCorrectorYui
I don't understand why this OVA was made. Magic Knight Rayearth was completely adapted with generally the same story beats even if some changes were made here and there. This was completely unnecessary.
I think the only change I liked in this "retelling" of Magic Knight Rayearth was Emeraude looking more adult for most of it but that's about the only praise I have. For all the changes it made, they didn't really do anything for my enjoyment and with how little runtime this OVA had clocking in at a little over 2 hours, I understand why since there simply wasn't enough time to meaningfully explore things.
The original manga and anime for Magic Knight Rayearth was a unique blend of isekai, magical girl, and mecha with interesting lore and a hopeful message of friendship and perseverance d…
Read at the sourcefuntime43_tr
Ok, I think this OVA was an average retelling of the show with few exceptions.
Good stuff: the English dub (in which has Tara Sands, Amy Birnbaum, Lisa Ortiz, and Debora Rabbai as the saving grace es of the dub, the animation is so beautiful.) the characters are giving a fresh new look in the ova and the relationship are twisted into a fresh new eyes.
Bad stuff: the dub script was so literal that the writing sounded so stiff and weird. The plot might be a little confusing to those who never watched the tv show.
Overall, the ova had some very enjoyable moments.
Read at the sourcebanichan
There are some parts of this OVA that are serviceable, and other parts that are just really terrible. The art is nice (and more modern than the original series) and the sound is solid. The first of the three episodes is actually pretty good as a start. If you don't know much about the original series or are open to a new take, the premise (at least the beginning) is pretty interesting.
The show is definitely more grim and dark, in my opinion the result of it being made in a post-Evangelion world. It has the hallmarks of a lot of late 90s/early 00s shows (which...admittedly was a lot of my early exposure to anime, so I may be biased) where everything is super edgy and some of the writing is still questionable. It does feel different from the decidedly 80s/early 90s original series, which…
Read at the sourceeruciform
I'm sincerely surprised that the rating for this is above a 2 or a 3. It's horrendous. The art is terrible, they "sexed up" the teenage girls and stripped them nude in one scene, the plotline makes as little sense as I've ever witnessed in any film or series ever, and all the character interactions are unnecessarily different and confusing.
Whereas the Utena movie, while a very weird and surreal retelling of the original series, actually added something to the experience by being at least coherent, and having an ending that in an interesting way enhanced and explained the original ending...
This does the opposite. It's a complete bastardization of the original, wonderfully done series, no doubt as a cash grab with zero attention to care for the characters or the world they inhabit.
I w…
Read at the sourceSilyon
Japan has an affection and an affinity for making movies and TV shows about giant things battling each other. The kaiju genre of film is one of Japan's most well known exports with Godzilla being a recognisable icon no matter where in the world you are. And not just kaiju films, but also things like Gundam or Power Rangers feature giant robots that fight to protect a city (which they usually end up trashing).
The Rayearth OVA is that kind of anime. It's basically what would happen if you took Power Rangers made the rangers cute anime girls and added a whole bunch random fantasy elements to it. It's an odd mix to say the least.
The best part of this OVA is definitely its presentation. The anime looks great with its character and monster designs and overall aesthetic. It knows how to use co…
Read at the sourcenapolean86
This OVA was created as a stand alone adventure, so if you're looking for a manga based movie then forget it. The only things that are the same are names of people and locations. The biggest difference in this movie is character relations. People who are friends or would become friends in the manga and TV series are enimies all the way through the movie. I personally like the movie because it gives a fresh perspective on a proven title, but don't go watching this movie expecting certain people to be the same as in the manga and TV series or you'll dissapoint yourself.
Read at the source