Customer Reviews

Magic Knight Rayearth I, Book 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Magic Knight Rayearth is definite must-buy. Here are some reasons why:

~THE ARTWORK~

This series' artwork is the best I've seen so far.The shading foe textures, greys and blacks used is amazing, and the color artwork on the front and back is even better. So vibrant and lively, the shading used by this team makes the characters stand out.

~THE CHARACTERS~

The characters are thoughtfully created and easy for us readers to relate to.

Hikaru is lively, happy, cute, caring, optomistic (very so for someone her age) and very loyal as a friend to Umi and Fuu. She is also way too innocent and pure to be a real person.

Umi is probably the closest made-up character to reality as you can get. At the beginning, she thinks the entire ordeal is crazy, and comes out as a tad snobby. She has a bad temper, along with being annoyed very easily, but has a kind and brave heart. It also seems that she dislikes Mokona for constantly freaking the girls out.

Fuu, who is not a ditzy airhead, like some people like to portray her as, is bright and handles thier situtation with a logical manner. Fuu is very bright and probably the easiest character for me to relate to. If there was a brainiac in MKR, it's definetly Fuu.

~OVERALL~

I would rant on more, but my fingers are getting tired. However, I would not recommend this to a little kid because of some things like bloody (VERY VERY bloody) violence although the back of the manga says 'Youth - 10+'. This series definetly belongs in a teen's collection. (BTW , I am 15 and have a younger brother who likes to sneak reads at my manga while I am not there, so I'd know.)

There are no flaws in this series. Go buy it now!!!!!!!!!

This is the first manga I ever read, the first I ever even touched!!! (So I¡¦m obsessed, so what?) Anyway, it was excellent, I loved it, and I¡¦m dying to get my hands on more and more manga, but I¡¦m currently staying in Egypt where manga in nonexistent. Lot¡¦s of anime on TV, translated into Arabic, but no manga ƒ¼.

To get down to Magic Knight Rayearth.

It rocks! And so does CLAMP, the famous all-female team of four women who have earned fame¡Xand fortune¡Xthrough their breathtaking manga. Now, anyone into manga likes to know some things before they buy one, such as:

1. Story: Great story, very classical Shoujo storyline, but definitely original and captivating. The story is about Hikaru, Umi and Fuu, three 14-year-old girls who find themselves magically transported to Cephiro, a land where the strength of your will determines your strength. Will is everything in Cephiro. They meet Clef, a 745-year-old magician (and the cutest shonen ever!!!) who gives them magical armor, and sends them on an epic quest. They must revive become the Legendary Magic Knights and save Princess Emeraude from the evil Zagato¡¦s clutches! But first they must get weapons¡K Now if that doesn¡¦t spark your interest, than you are not a Shoujo manga fan. (Bow your head in shame)

2. Love Interest: Come on guys, it¡¦s a Shoujo manga; it¡¦s got the cutest love stories ever, but in the first cycle only Fuu gets a love interest, but boy! What a guy she gets! Don¡¦t worry parents, nothing offensive, and there isn¡¦t even any kissing ƒ¼.

3. Artwork: Gorgeous. And you can trust my opinion; I draw manga, so I know good artwork when I see it, seriously. Mokona and Fuu are not drawn to my tastes in the first cycle; Mokona has these weird cheeks, but that¡¦s just me. The rest of the artwork will have you drooling (especially over Zagato) and the character design is scrumptious, but some of the battle scenes are confusing until you get the hang of them and know what to look for.

4. Translation: Great translation; great fonts. Princess Emeraude and Zagato both have their own personal fonts, a really neat stylistic quirk. It really adds depth to the story. There is a small problem cuz Japanese isn¡¦t written like English, so the speech bubbles are taller than they are wide, but that¡¦s usually not a problem. ¡¥Why don¡¦t you¡¦ is spelled ¡¥Whydoncha¡¦ and Ferio charmingly greets the girls with, ¡¥who are y¡¦all?¡¦ but overall it was perfect.

5. Quality: Excellent Quality, it¡¦s a beautiful book that will not fall apart like the Sailor Moon manga reportedly does. It reads from right to left; Japanese form, but since I can read and write Arabic, it came naturally to me. On the last page is a quick, useful tutorial to show you how to read authentic manga in it¡¦s original form. Words don¡¦t lead off the page or anything, and the paper is beautiful.

6. Mokona: Puu! Puu! (seriously, how can you resist a book with Mokona, the pokemon-like fluffy bunny creature in it?)

7. Nudity: NONE

8. Price: Ok, now, as much as I love manga, ten bucks for a 120-page comic book is kind of a lot. I have to buy everything online, so I¡¦m under my parent¡¦s thumb, and though I would gladly produce the money myself, they don¡¦t approve of it. ƒ¼ -sigh-

This is as good as you can get, an original storyline, cool characters, nonstop action uninterrupted by chapters, and a shocking ending! Buy it now!

Puu! Puu! (Mokona says to buy it, too) =^-^=

When I first started reading this series, I admit that I didn't really see anything special about it. The plot and characters seemed to be a little generic and the series got off at a bit of a slow start. However, I wanted to know what the big fuss was about with this manga, so I kept on reading it and by the time I got to the end of the second volume, I was hooked. There's a lot more to this series than what meets the eye. One thing I like about Rayearth compared to other magical girl series is that even though Hikaru is clearly the star, she doesn't steal the spotlight from Umi or Fuu. All of the Magic Knights get an equal amount of character development and magic spells. They all have their own weakness and strengths, and unlike other magical girl battles, the fights in Rayearth are unpredictable as each of the Magic Knights also get an equal chance to use their attacks. I thought the inclusion of mechas in this series was a unique addition, too. I think that plot twist right there was what got me so interested in the series.

All the characters are developed well and you really become attached to all of them. I like how none of the characters in Rayearth are truly good or evil, but rather they all have their own reasons behind their actions, making them a little more interesting than your usual Saturday morning cartoon villians. My favorite of the protoganists in Rayearth is Umi. She's really funny with her spunky attitude and the arguments she constantly gets into with Mokona. My favorite of the antagonists is Caldina. She's also a very funny character and she has a neat Osaka accent, too. The artwork is fantastic as always from Clamp, but the most impressive moment in Rayearth has to be the ending to the first story arc. I was so wowed by it that I couldn't put it down until I finished reading it, and by the time I got to the end, I was moved to tears. It was just one of the best manga endings of all time.

When Rayearth was first released in English by Tokyopop back when they were called Mixxzine, it was originally released in a flipped format. The artwork suffered by being inferior in quality to the Japanese release because of this, Ferio was given a Southern accent when he originally didn't have any accent, Caldina was given a valleygirl accent when she originally spoke with an Osaka accent, attack names were constantly being screwed up, and the dialog was Americanized. Fortunately, Tokyopop has re-released the manga unflipped with a new, revised translation. Unfortunately, the translation for the re-released manga is still less than perfect. While they did keep any mentionings of Japanese culture and got the attack names right this time around, Ferio still spoke in a Southern accent and Caldina still spoke valleygirl. Even the Magic Knights appear to be a little snobbier than what they actually should be. For example, in the original English release of volume one, when Hikaru is spying through the telescope from the top of Tokyo Tower, she just comments that she can see a baby from there. But in the unflipped release, Tokyopop has her rudely say, "That's one fat baby down there!". Now, you tell me, would the real Hikaru say that?

Despite the poor translation, the Rayearth manga is still an enjoyable read. Although it is a little bit of a slow starter at first, it starts to become more interesting later on and just the ending itself makes the series worth reading. Fans of RPGs will also enjoy Rayearth since it pokes fun at the RPG genre along the way. Rayearth is a classic manga series and now I can understand why it was such a break-through hit for Clamp. But if you already have the flipped version and don't care about the artwork being flipped or having some of the dialog Americanized, then you might just want to stick with that version instead, since the unflipped version isn't that much better. However, I highly recommend this series, especially to fans of magical girl manga and Clamp.

As others have said, this is a classic manga--many of the CLAMP titles published by TokyoPop are I think required reading for real fans of Japanese comics.

There appear to be instances of bad retouching in the book--overstruck characters or text bleeding out of word balloons and the like. They don't detract from enjoying the book too much, but they are a small nuisance. Hopefully TokyoPop will fix this in later editions.

Also, fans of Clamp's artwork should check out the chapters of Rayearth that appeard in the old Mixxzine (Mixx being the company that later became Tokyopop). The magazine printed CLAMP's artwork at a full page 8-1/2 by 11 inch format, and it's amazing to see how CLAMP's work fills a page. The small manga format is handy, but it doesn't do their rich artwork much justice.

Keep in mind, this is only a reprint of the English virsion. This is in that so-called "Authentic" format(right to left).

*NOTE: the only thing "Authentic" is the pannels, the cover and the size of the book are not.(in the English version, I mean,uh,...1-6 the covers and size are orinagal.)(This was the reason for 4 stars insted of 5)

But the overall story is wonderfull!!! I LOVE IT!!!! I read books 1-5(haven't read 6 yet, thats now called 'Magic knight II vol.3', I say '6' for short). If you are a Sailor moon fan or a Cardcaptor sakura fan,or just simpily like good a Anime or Fanasty, this is for you!!! A friend of mine who is a huge fan of Sailor moon, read one of my Magic kinght Rayearth books and liked it just as much as I did. Whats really sad is that theres only 6 books..... and its such a wonderful series and its my favorite out of all the comics that I have ever read!(Remember, its not just for girls....)Make shure you read all the books in a row(so don't read 5, then 1, then 3, etc.) so you don't get confused,(like how the first book I read was 3, I was really confused,....but I loved it and wanted to read the first two just to figure out on what happened)

Read it!!! Trust me, you will love it!!! Because this is CLAMPs best story EVER!!!

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Now, I know there have been a lot of other reviews for this manga, but I just felt like I had to add my input.

I had heard many good things about Rayearth, so I decided to try it.

~*~The art~*~ The art was great, which is something I have seen in many other CLAMP manga. Character designs were very nice, and the scenery was detailed. I also think the battle scenes were nicely done. If I had to give it a rating based on the art, it would be four stars, only because some of the monsters looked odd and unrealistic, and the constant chibi drawings didn't really fit my taste.

-RATING: ****

~*~The Story~*~ When I read the plot to Magic Knight Rayearth, I must say that it sounded quite unoriginal. Three normal girls end up in a magic land, and discover that it is their destiny to save it all. After reading the manga, that opinion has not really changed. I mean, there were some nice differences that seperate it from other manga, but I must give the story a two.

-RATING: **

~*~The Characters~*~ The characters are what make up any book. Bad characters, bad book. In this case, I actually like the characters. Hikaru, who seams to be the lead in the manga, is a short, optimistic, red-haired girl who the other two think of as a younger sister, even though she is their age. Umi is the blue-haired one, who comes off as a bit snobby at first, but quickly turns out to be a loyal friend. Fuu, who would have to be my favorite, is the blonde with glasses. She is a smart girl, and seems to be the most down-to-earth of the three. Even though they were a bit stereotypical, I liked the characters. I give them four stars.

-RATING: ****

~*~Overall~*~ The first book was good, but I still thought it needed to get better. I bought the second one with that hope, and was pleased to find that, with Ferio joining the group, it did. However, when I bought the third book, I couldn't make it through. Near the end of book two it began to slow down and become predictable. I'd hoped three would take off again, but in my opinion, it didn't.

-RATING: ***

This is a great starter manga, but that's about it to me.

Sayonara! ^_^

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Magical happenings often occur around Tokyo Tower . . . at least in the realm of anime and manga.

Schoolgirls Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu have nothing in common except their age. Hikaru is bubbly and childlike, Umi is an elegant model and fencer, and Fuu is a brainy wallflower. The three have never met. They don't even attend the same school. One day, all three happen to be on field trips to Tokyo Tower when a bright light engulfs them and sends them plummeting down to another world--the magical world Cephiro.

Greeted by the mage Guru Clef, the girls are told that they are the legendary Magic Knights, three girls from an outside realm who will awaken the Mashin and save the world. Cephiro is built on the wishes and prayers of Princess Emeraude, the "pillar of Cephiro." Emeraude has been kidnapped by her once-protector Lord Zagato. The girls must forge their own weapons, master magic use, and confront their deepest fears if they are going to become strong enough to rescue the princess. Lord Zagato, however, is fully aware of the Magic Knights' presence. He sends out his generals, each with devastating powers, to hunt down the girls and destroy them.

This series comes in two parts, each three volumes long. The first trilogy works fine as a standalone; it leaves the reader satiated, though perhaps curious to know what happens to Cephiro and the girls afterward. The second trilogy isn't so self-contained; however, it does give a satisfying follow-up.

Magic Knight: Rayearth is considered one of the classic shoujo series. Female-targeted, fantasy manga is what Clamp (a collective of female artists) does best. Rayearth is an excellent series for a young audience, but it can also be appreciated by more mature crowds. Certain parts of it may seem a bit adolescent, but then there will be shocking twists that make a reader second guess just who exactly this story is intended for. The emotions and the relationships the characters form are all very believable. The series also has a very distinct and expertly drawn signature art style. Every page is filled to the brim with imagery, and the cover art is superb in sheer elegance and detail.

Fortunately, Rayearth's weaknesses do not drag it down. There are some major clichés related to manga-style art and storytelling in general. The characters "super deform" (an art style in which the characters become small and squat, usually when surprised or shocked, for comedic effect), which makes this series feel a bit immature since it happens so often. Another general cliché is in the names. For example, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu translate to "fire," "water," and "wind," respectively. Each girl uses the type of magic that corresponds with her name. Then there are the Mashin, which are rather typical Japanese mecha (giant robots), but in this case lean toward the mystical side rather than the technical. Rayearth also beats the reader over the head with the whole "friends forever" theme.

On the other hand, Clamp seems to be aware of its own clichés. Characters even point out on multiple occasions how their experiences are a lot like the kinds found in video games (which is especially ironic, because there is a Magic Knight: Rayearth video game).

Readers not familiar with anime and manga may not even notice any of these clichés. If you are familiar, but willing to let them slide, then this will be an enjoyable reading experience. The story is very well structured, and the art is solid.

-- Courtney Kraft

When I first read about Magic Knight Rayearth, something told me that I would end up liking it better than Sailor Moon. My intuition was right. Upon reading this first manga volume I decided I wanted more of it. That there was much more than met the eye- that things were not what they seemed to be. But nothing prepared me for the plot twist of the century that happens in the third installment! No matter what your favorite genre is- fantasy, sci-fi, RPG, comedy, drama- Magic Knight Rayearth has something for you.

I first read this series when I was 10 years old. It is a good series for ages 9 through 14.

There's some blood and battle scenes here in Magic Knight Rayearth, but it is very mild. There are also some monsters that aren't very scary, but I don't think it is a good series for young children.

But I loved it!

n_n

This is a great manga for any beginners new to manga (or shojo for that matter). This is shojo, but I have like a few guy friends who like it. And ya know what? This is probably CLAMP's best work. Now, I haven't read "Tokyo Babylon" yet, but this is still CLAMP in their finest. The three girls really know how to be friends. There is everything a girl could ask for in it! Romance, girl power, friendship, strong emotions, and a ton of humor. It is shojo at it's greatest!!!