Gazing at the cover of Volume 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth, I saw just what I wanted in a manga! The cover showed three girls in the middle of battle and I was immediately interested. The stuff I had been reading as of late had been a lot more mellow, low key, and I was very happy to be giving this story a shot. I was however sorely disappointed.
Magic Knight Rayearth follows the story of three thirteen year old school girls. Each of their schools take them to the Tokyo Tower on a field trip, and just as the three girls cross paths, they hear a voice calling to them in the distance. Suddenly, they are sucked into another world! The girls, short Hikaru, selfish Umi, and intelligent Fuu, soon discover that they are in a world called Cephiro, a place where the power of one's will shapes the world. The Princess, who has the most powerful will in all of Cephiro has been kidnapped, and the only ones who can save her are those called the Magic Knights-our three heroes! Hikaru is given magical ability by Clef, a sorcerer they meet, and they are sent on their way to the Forest of Silence. There, they meet Presea, the Chief Artisan of Cephiro and the pet given to her by Clef. The pets name is Mokona, and he happens to look alot like Pikachu...and talks a lot like him too (Pu! Pu! ). Mokona is the last to join them on their adventure. After meeting up with Mokona, the group embarks on the first in a series of missions they must go on to save Cephiro-they head out in search of materials for weapons.
I can't say I liked this Manga. The story was not bad, but it was incredibly goofy. The characters weren't very original and seemed a bit contrived. They fit into you're basic categories that seem to exist in shoujo stories. The nerdy girl with glasses (Fuu), the childlike short girl (Hikaru), and the beauty queen (Umi). One of these stereotypes I can live with. Three of them seemed to be too much. Add to that the cute little animal that follows them around with seemingly no purpose as of yet, and you've got a very droll story. Even the world they are traveling in feels like it got pulled straight out of a Final Fantasy game!
The art was also hard to follow for reasons I can't fully put my finger on. It was tough to see what was happening where, especially during the fight scenes. I am not an expert on how Manga art should look, but while the characters look amazing, it's hard to tell what exactly is happening during any of the high action scenes. I believe the problem may have had something to do with the dark shading, but it made it nearly impossible to follow the story.
All in all, while having very few cute moments, Magic Knight Rayearth is not a book I would advise you to pick up. The jokes fall flat, the characters are uninteresting, and the story is cookie-cutter. This is surprising as CLAMP is very highly praised in their industry. Perhaps Volume 2 will bring us better things. Until I see that, I think we can safely say this book just isn't worth its price (editor's note: TOKYOPOP will soon re-release the title under its normal $9.99 priced manga line).
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