Magic Knight Rayearth is one of the many female oriented works by the all-female group known as Clamp. If anybody is familiar with Magic Knight Rayearth should definitely be familiar with the rest of Clamp’s works such as "Chobits", "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Tsubasa Chronicle", and so forth. The series is available on DVD and the Magic Knight Rayearth game is available for the Japanese Sega Saturn consoles. The game can be played on American Saturn consoles but you need a special cartridge that allows you to play imported games.
There are forty-nine episodes to Magic Knight Rayearth. You can get the whole series for under forty to fifty dollars online at places such as animeniacs.com. The manga is available online at TokyoPop.
The main characters of Magic Knight Rayearth are Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji. In a sense it feels like Sailor Moon but at the same time is way different. I first got familiar with Magic Knight Rayearth was when my friend came over with his Sega Saturn and had that title as one of his games. The whole adventure starts out at Tokyo Tower where the girls come from different schools on a field trip. However, the three girls are pulled downwards into another world where the adventure begins.
They meet Mokona and the three girls are charged with the task of saving the world of Cephiro or Zephyr. Though it has the magical feel, there is a mecha feel to it as well. Magic Knight Rayearth feels like a merging of elements from Sailor Moon and Escaflowne. Escaflowne is another fantasy anime series with the theme of mechas.
There are two storyarcs to Magic Knight Rayearth. The first was to save Cephiro from Zagato. The next arc is to save Cephiro from three warring planets.
Though the characters look sexy but most of the core audience are female. I do not know of many guys that watch Magic Knight Rayearth as it’s too "gay" for their tastes. Ironically, I know of a few guys that like to watch Chobits which is just as feminine as Magic Knight Rayearth.
But Magic Knight Rayearth has an interesting storyline. It allows for the story, the characters, and the characters’ relationships grow and evolve. There’s a lot of bishonen to keep your average fangirl happy. For non-anime watchers that want to know what a bishonen is, it’s dubbed as "beautiful boy." Bishonens are more feminine than your average metrosexual.
Like many of Clamp’s other works, there are plenty of bishonens present. Which is why there are plenty of fanfics present with the guys of Magic Knight Rayearth having same-sex relationships with each other. Those are known as yaoi fanfics. Which is another reason that Magic Knight Rayearth is so popular because many of the fangirls are obsessed with the guy characters and fantasize about them having relationships with each other.
Magic Knight Rayearth is a top choice amongst many fangirls let alone yaoi-loving fangirls. For the masculine male water, Magic Knight Rayearth is definitely not for you. You’re not going to like Magic Knight Rayearth if you fall into that category. Possibly if the males were much younger, then they could appreciate the artwork and the storyline of Magic Knight Rayearth.
The typical masculine-male audience pretty much aren’t into that stuff. For people that hardly watch anime, they’re pretty much are going to wonder why the males look some feminine. Which is why Magic Knight Rayearth is one of many animes targetted by yaoi fangirls.
For the female anime fans, then definitely watch Magic Knight Rayearth. If you enjoy Magic Knight Rayearth, then you’ll pretty much enjoy the rest of Clamp’s other works. Though "X" is questionable because it’s the only work from Clamp with plenty of blood and violence. Magic Knight Rayearth serves as a good alternative from Sailor Moon or Magical Girl Pretty Sammy.