Magic Knight Rayearth is a classic 90s anime and one of my favorites, one time I came upon a “movie” and I couldn’t believe it was Magic Knight Rayearth but it looked totally different. I ended up really liking it despite having obvious differences form the original story. I later found out it was 3 OVAs that was a retelling of the story and just called Rayearth. It’s a wildly different take with some changes that are not for the best but it’s intersting to see a different take ont he idea. In a way it’s more obscure because of it and deserves some light on it since it’s the only other take we have on MKR and it’s a unique one at that.
Rewatching it, after rewatching the original anime might change my opinion on what it might be like and give me some bias so I’m putting that context here. Overall I feel it’s not a great story and misses the point of many characters. I was not as fondly for it as i was the first time I ever watched it. I mean it does tell a condenced version of the story in only 3 OVAs at around 40 minutes each. It’s an entirely different take though and not a big fan of the choices or the roles some loved characters get.
I do think it’s successful in setting up the world and making it logical for this story and it tells a complete one so there’s that. I absolutely love the darker look of the characters that they are given. It feels a far more mature and grittier take and it’s extremely refreshing. The art style in general might be my favorite aspect of this reboot alternate take on Magic Knight Rayearh. In fact I think the story doesn’t do enough justice to the awesome designs. and I will give this movie more shots just because of my love of the look of it.
The movie does include some aspects and characters from the second season of the show and as mentioned many roles are changed. If you’re not familiar with MKR perhaps some parts might be confusing and some characters not as fleshed out but at the same time you wouldn’t have expectations on who the characters are supposed to be. Here the girls go to the same school, simple enough change to make things simpler as they already know each other. The whole story now takes place on earth instead of Cephiro. This is also far more violent to fit the tone. The mechas are cooler as well.
The story moves fast but at the same time it can drag and you can get a bit bored. The plot of destroyinh earth is just not a great one sadly even if they try to make it make sense. There’s more drama and it’s not as fun as the original which makes sense because of the tone but it doesn’t help break up the emotions. Seeing characters you like die is also not a fun apect of the movie. Weird overall take and it has its ups and downs.
Sadly we don’t have much more Magic Knight Reyearth media out there. These movies prove other designs can work and you can make some other stories with the established characters. While Rayearth OAVs are a mixed bag of good and bad I think the good makes it worth a watch. Seeing alternate takes on a world you love can be difficult as you already have a notion of what you want from certain things so I can’t judge them badly for trying to do something different even if they didn’t succeed at their aim.