Magic Knight Rayearth (Season 1) | Retcon_404 (Anime Retrospective)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Released in 1994 and adapted from the classic CLAMP manga, Magic Knight Rayearth is a fantastical combination of mecha and fantasy action. In this video I cover season 1 of Rayearth, and see if the 90's series still holds up.
-- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH --
Gaming Channel: / @retcon_404plays
#mecha #anime #fantasy
Fun fact: Most of the non-Earth characters in Magic Knight Rayearth, including Cephiro itself, are named after Japanese cars from the early 1990s. Nissan has the Cefiro and Presea, Honda has the Civic Ferio and Ascot, Toyota makes the Caldina and Windam, Mitsubishi used to make the Eterna, Suzuki builds the Escudo, Subaru's Alcyone is the Japanese name of the SVX, and Zagato is a famous Italian coachbuilder who rebodies Aston Martins. Some of the names used didn't see counterpart cars until well after Rayearth aired, such as the Toyota Innova (which first got sold in Asian countries in 2006).
Oh, how I miss the 90's-style Isekai anime. It was such an innocent time, where the worldbuilding and aesthetics could really run wild.
On another note, Mokona is CLAMP's general mascot character - they also appear in XXXholic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles in similar roles - and is also the pen-name for CLAMP's lead artist.
And character development! 90s Isekai weren't exactly deep, but they typically had actual character arcs for the MC(s) and showed how they were changing over the course of their adventures. Not to mention skills progression. One of my favorite little touches in Inuyasha, for example, is how Kagome slowly grows into a competent archer across the series.
Before isekai was a genre we had this bangers like rayearth and escaflowne which is a isekai before itwas a genre...
I mostly became aware of this show after seeing Rayearh in Super Robot Wars T and 30. They, left a good impression so glad the show they came from holds up well. Though I realized it seems all the enemies seen here were not in those games so guess they mostly covered the second season lol.
Rayearth and Aura Battler Dunbine are definitely shows that playing the newer SRW games successfully convinced me to give a shot. Fantasy mechs are awesome.
I think one of the most underappreciated aspects of Fuu is that she subverts the usual archetype of the quite mousy one being the shy one. She's actually the most confident of the trio, she just isn't loud about it.
Also, it's incredibly rare for the smart/nerdy one to get the romantic subplot, especially when it's the *only* romantic plot.
She’s voiced by Bridget Hoffman in the series and Lisa Ortiz in the OVA.
omg this is so from the left field but I love Rayearth!
And just as soon as I get off work Retcon_404 delivers.
: chefs kiss :
Funny, I rewatched this recently and was surprised at how well it held up, for the most part. It did feel like it was too much "Fetch Quest: The Anime" at points, although that was mitigated by the big tonal shift in the 2nd season. (You're in for a ride!)
Also I'd highly recommend "Revolutionary Girl Utena" if you're looking for more 90s shojo with a twist. And brother, does it have a twist. It was arguably the first dark magic girl show, before Madoka Magica, spending most of its time absolutely eviscerating both magic girl and western fairy tale tropes, as well as subverting gender roles in general. Plus it's got some cool swordfights, with amazing battle themes.
Oh, and if you do watch it, one warning: DO NOT SKIP THE RECAP EPS. It's such a bastard of a show that they drop major twists in the episodes that nobody watches. 🤣🤣🤣
Love that art style, makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Lots of Japanese automotive references in this series.
Toyota Windam
Toyota Caldina
Suzuki Escudo
Subaru Alcyone
Mazda Lantis
Zagato is an Italian automotive design studio, if I recall correctly
Toyota Innova here in the Philippines
CLAMP does interesting work. They have a lot of bittersweet stories and recurring designs/names that culminates in Tsubasa and xxxHolic.
Could you do a video on Big-O? A very cool and underrated noir detective style mecha anime
Big O is rather underrated. I've always been fascinated with how they did Dorothy and somehow balanced making her so robotic but also makes you question if she's so advanced that she's something more than machine.
Less Valley Girl and more Southern Comfort for the voice. Think Rogue from 90s X-Men. Always fun when you go off the beaten path with your content reviews!
As far as shoujo anime go, I think the two biggest ones I'd recommend are Natsume`s Book of Friends and Skip Beat! Natsume doesn't necessarily seem like shoujo at first glance, but Skip Beat! is a great one having romance, but also having a fiery and strong lead who bounces off others and vice versa in all sorts of antics. It's great.
My gf loves Skip Beat!
Fun fact: CLAMP also did all the character designs for Code Geass!
The CLAMP giant eyes / super long legs give it away
This anime is very popular in Latin America, where it was name "Las Guerreras Mágicas" (The Magical Warriors) as well as Escaflowne.
That was plot twist was pretty good. Also the mech designs rock!
This anime impacted me alot for what means a "fantasy" to me. This is the image that pops in my head. Those armor is soo beautiful
Rayearth is certainly an interesting watch. Also, If/When you get around 'Record of Lodoss War', watching the old english dub will really give you the impression that you're watching some group of friends' D&D session animated with how "well" their voice acting were.
The Lodoss war dub is awesome
I thought it was a bit odd in the beginning that this series had mecha. I mean, CLAMP is really good at drawing people, but mecha seems out of their comfort zone. Course, they still managed to interpret it in their unique style. Like the NSX battleship in season 2, shaped like a Harp, it screams more "High fantasy" than "High tech"
"If the monsters are your friends, you shouldn't let them fight!" And there goes the entire premise of Pokemon!
Ay, wasn't expecting to see one of my fav animes of all time here.
From a time when Isekai was a good genre instead of a cringefest.
The video is awesome! The opening song is really good as well. I hope that you would cover B't X too!
Reyearth is fantastic!
A series I really like and recommend is Cross Ange, it has girls, mecha, magic and dragons!
I know it's trash, leave me alone!
Lately I'm finding trash series which most reviewers avoid somewhat enjoyable due to abundance of many high-profile series. Still I have to be careful of many pitfalls from the trailers and promotions.
I have both the original "Record of Lodus War" & the reboot, which was supposedly closer to the manga/book, I guess.
Both aren't thaaat good, as in anime or fantasy. To be fair, it's fine, it's not bad.
1st one is better, even if changed a lot.
"Escaflowne" is great, even though I fucking hate someone from our world going to a fantasy-world, not realy neccessary, and the ending story-wise could be a bit more conclusive.
The movie is another weird watch once, then forget situation.
That art style looks sick. Where did we go wrong
Clamp still consults on character design for some stuff very infrequently, their famously responsible for the character designs in code Geass, despite that not being their story
@@Hikariinu124 Yeah but the design in Code Geass just used their base as a springboard. It's completely different in anime itself and looks straight out of Gun X Sword and I think both had the same character designer (not clamp)
Seriously, play SRW 30 and they look STRAIGHT OUT of each others series. And just on the note of Code Geass charcter design he did the uncensored CC drawing which showed everything lol.
@@HSE331 little late for that recc as I've already played it :)
@@HSE331that’s just cuz the character adaptation was done by the same person
Also CLAMPs artstyle changed a lot from this point as well, which effected it
Rayearth my beloved--
Another show my wife and I watched together!
Please check eureka 7!
Flying mechs on boards!
Most of the earliest isekai are mecha shows, but this is is one of only one or two magical girl mecha isekai ever. The final armor upgrades really remind you that CLAMP started as a doujin circle doing Saint Seiya doujinshi. And the RPG-like elements that get briefly commented on are that much funnier to experience in the console RPGs, of which there are many. (Some even retain the different weapon types!)
CLAMP has a huge range of work, in part because different members take on different roles (writing, character design, &c.) in each series. Mokona-the member of CLAMP-is the eponym of the character in MKR, which explains some things.
We're just going through all of Super Robot Wars T now aren't we? :P
I wish these had more model kits. Especially Regalia from season 2.
0:13 You had my curiosity and now you have my attention
As somebody who isn't all that big into Magical Girl shows (aside from Madoka Magica) but does like Slayers I found season 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth to be...ok. Definitely not for me but as a Giant Robot show in Magical Girl shows clothing it certainly is competently made. It wasn't exactly thumbscrews for me but I'd be lying if I didn't say that things really picked up for me when the Magic Knights finally got all three Rune Gods. Still, that final fight with Zagato and Emeraude was pretty cool and you could really tell that killing Emeraude really scarred the trio. But season 2 really made getting through season 1 worth it, at least for me so looking forward to that and all the insanity that comes with it.
i'm from the philippines and most of the anime you watch are the ones i grew up with, specially rayearth. we tend to watch this every sunday morning around 95 or 96, and it was one of those girl power animes back then, along with sailormoon and such. it was a great treat back then and i loved the aesthetic the mecha had, which made me love the facial features of gundam in the next few years because of their similarities. looking forward for your s2 retrospective for this anime
This anime is very popular in Latin America, where it was name "Las Guerreras Mágicas" (The Magical Warriors) as well as Escaflowne.
yeah the mosnostalgia is also the tagalog dub opening theme
To this day this still has one of the cruelest 11th hour twists I’ve ever seen
Literally one of my top 5 anime of all time. I own the whole first season on 5 DVDs and the full 6 volume manga. I also own a model kit of Windom :)
I remember going home from school turning on the TV and watched every episode when this came out in the 90s. I still love this anime up to this day. Tsubasa Chronicles has both Card Captor Sakura and Rayearth.
This manga / anime is actually quite ahead of its time. Before isekai became main stream, before Inu Yasha was the most popular anime, we have Magic Knight Rayearth - it's mahou shoujo, it's isekai, it's mecha, it's also a bit shounen battle. Unfortunately it never got very popular, and was superseded by Card Captor Sakura.
One way to gauge how important the work is to CLAMP is to see how often the characters from the show appear in Tsubasa. In this case, on top of my head, the only character from Magic Knight that shows up in Tsubasa is Mokona.
Emeraude and a character based on Lady Debonair from season 2 appeared in two different worlds in Tsubasa, and the three Rune Gods were Kudans for Syaoron, Kurogane, and Fai in the first world they visited.
And way before Rayearth was Dunbine, the very first isekai on tv (because there were isekai manga even before Dunbine).
CLAMP appears to maintain a shared multi-universe with the protagonist of Angelic Layer (it's like Build Fighters except using dolls) naming her "Angel" as Hikaru with looks almost identical to MKR's Hikaru.
This certainly is the most anime-looking anime.
Another gem from this era is called Lost Universe, pretty sick story iirc.
The theme song is one of the best
I have never seen this before so hey I can’t say no to CLAMP. My CLAMP knowledge extends beyond Cardcaptor Sakura. Although Tsubasa and Xxx Holic are the only CLAMP manga I have read and I finished Xxx Holic.
"Mashin" doesn't translate well, but that's what the Rune Gods were called. When I realized they were "machines", it was a face palm moment.
And season 2 doesn't exist. Don't bother.
Definitively I'm waiting to hear what you think about season 2, because it gets plenty of magimech action but also gets... Really weird... And 90"s corny... But something tells me you will enjoy that... ~_~💧
MKR was one of the first anime I watched as a kid - my older cousin that babysat me would plop me in front of whatever (sort of child appropriate) dubbed anime she had on DVD. it has a very special place in my heart and I loved hearing your thoughts on it. I really look forward to seeing you talk about season 2, it was my favorite of the two growing up. Also there is an OVA which is WAAAYYYY different than the anime & manga and you would probably like it
Absolutely DESPISED the anime and it's later forms because it isn't like the Manga. Still don't really enjoy it
My all time favorite anime! Yes!
If covering fantasy will be a regular woud be awesome to cover Berserk 1997 If mechs are needed umm....Guts's is arm ? okay Im reaching with that one I just really love berserk.
When I was like 8 years old my brother and I would ride our bikes to the library to read manga because it was the only place we could get access to them. This was always one of my favorite series and no one I talked to ever knew about it. Really glad you made this video! Hopefully there are some new fans because of it
While I love it I found the 2nd season to be pure CRAP theirs also a few OAV movies but those kind of take place BEFORE Season 1.
I remember this show from my childhood
I watch this in my childhood days
If I wasn't already subscribed your pitch this time would do it. Drop a colony on Sydney...
this series was really popular in the Philippines having tagalog dub oepnign theme. the mechs are cool before the popularity of gundaming wing
oh i had no idea that there was a dubbed op in Tagalog, thats pretty sick.
@@Retcon404 th-cam.com/video/caG3eNCkByM/w-d-xo.html
Some of the voice actors in the dub are in the Viz dub of Sailor Moon.
👏👏👏
Weak analysis. Stop talking about the plot
I second whoever in the comment section who asked you to review "B't X" anime 👍
I watched the Latin-American dub when I was just a kiddo. Loved it. Even the awful, awful, awfuuuuuul rendition of the opening (Ranks among one of the worst latin dub openings entering so bad its good status)
You can't imagine how thrilled I was when while playing SRW 30, a game I on purpose entered as blind as possible to avoid seeing what teams I would meet, ended up encountering the Magic Knights teaming up with the kids from Knights & Magic (Another great magical mecha series)
One of my favorite CLAMP projects.
PS: I wonder if you plan to cover the weird OVAs
The English dub of the ova will blow your mind.
Please a Second Season of Rayearth
This is the 1st time I got in the top part of the comment section keep up the good work my friend
whats with the inverted pentegtam?
i had this game for saturn.
Rayearth needs a Remake!!!
6:12 That's interesting, because I wonder that if she had dressed up like Uncle Sam and had been singing Yankee Doodle Dandy in a comedic way, then it makes me wonder if that would have been seen in a similar war.
Does this mean you might cover rurouni kenshin?
One step closer to Geass
2:11 But I live here.
16:53 true
We need a BIG O retcon
Dubs is the right way in watching anime...
For this one.
I discovered MKR via bootleg VHS back in the mid 90s,Magic knights rayearth is an amazing anime never saw the second season though
I remember watching this for the first time when it aired in local TV. Defense one of the best decision I've ever did.
If you want to branch out of Mecha a bit, I'm down for it. This video was really refreshing, I didn't even know this series had Mecha in it.
Thank you for making a video of one of favorites series, I still love the art and mix of genres. Nice choice of music for the video, by the way
Does this dub still hold up?
If you like 90's dubs its a pretty good blast from the past.
Clamp also did all of the original character design for Code Geass. The lanky limb look is their trademark.
Love videos bro can’t wait for season 2 and future videos. Blue Gender will be great.
Yes! Needed this for my drive to the office today. Thanks!
Oh I wasn’t expecting this here.
I wouldn’t count this as mecha myself, since the “mecha” in question are more akin to kaiju. But it’s still pretty much considered mecha the same way Gridman is I guess. Lol
As for stuff CLAMP worked on, you’d probably like Code Geass since they worked in the art.
So awsome you found this cause I couldn't remember the name of it
I grew up with the SNES game based on this show
I wish this aired on Toonami back in the day.
Thanks for the coverage homie👍
Rayearth is definitely a fun series
In dub for both tv and ova
I enjoyed both the dub and sub versions.
Is that Rogue from X-men lol?
Yes