Rating: Summary: Once Review: Season 2 was good, but not great. I would recommend if you have a friend, to borrow it from them. It's not worth buying, but worth seeing. It is alot more serious than the first season and some parts don't quite make sense.
Rating: Summary: Season two is GREEEAT! Review: Season two of MKR is the best! So much irony! So thrilling! So much beautiful art work! An Anime that you'll never stop watching! Music goes great with scenes. Again and again your eyes will be glued to the screen. A deffinate must buy!
Rating: Summary: Second Season Magic Knight Box Set Review: The second season of Rayearth is really a must see if you liked the first season. As other reviewers have stated, it's considerably more serious then the first season, but it most certainly has its lighthearted moments. There are a few downsides, of course...for example, Hikaru becomes the sole main character. In the manga, the relationship between the three Knights is much more balanced, with each girl getting about equal screen time. The animation in the show can get a bit off at times, but that's what happens with all anime at one point or another. Honestly, I would reccommend the manga above the anime at any point in the Rayearth series. The manga art is breathtaking, the plot more intriguing, the story is faster-paced with fewer 'filler' episodes....and NO NOVA! And there was much feasting and rejoicing! Of course...with the anime, you get Ogata Megumi as Eagle's Japanese voice actress (Yes, he's played by a girl, you got a problem with that?!). So that more then makes up for Eagle's fate. (IwillnotspoilIwillnotspoilIwillnotspoil...) Overall, buy this if you're a Rayearth fan. But buy the manga first.
Rating: Summary: A beautifully packaged, wonderful series Review: This box set contains 29 episodes on 7 DVDs, which comprise the second (and last) season of Magic Knight Rayearth. The packaging is beautiful: a heavy box which opens in the front with artwork of the magic knights on the front and sides. This is by far the best box put out by an American anime company, and it puts the season 1 box to shame. Absent some spelling errors on the individual DVDs, the packaging is simply top notch.As for the show, it is a fair bit different than the first season. An underlying current in the first season was that the show was something of a parody of Japanese RPGs (role-playing games). Here, the situation is more serious; somewhat unexpectedly, the show has more humor as well. The magic knights, three 14-year old girls from Tokyo, are summoned again to the world of Cephiro by an unknown force and find it crumbling. Cephiro is ruled by a pillar, one person whose will rules all; in the previous season, Cephiro lost its pillar, and it is now crumbling into nothingness. To make matters worse, three other worlds are invading it and a dark enemy has appeared from within. The show does start a little slow, and there are some saccharine moments--but those are to be expected if you saw the first season. On the other hand there's no concerns about nudity (although there is an innocent exchange reflecting a girl's anxiety about her chest) or language or graphic violence, so it's a fairly safe title for kids to see. Note that there is fighting, death, and occasional blood, so this is not a show for those who want to avoid all violence. If you've seen the first season and liked it, you'll like this: at once darker and funnier, with characters you came to like.
Rating: Summary: MKR2 The Best work of CLAMP Review: This is the second series of Magic Knights Rayearth by CLAMP. The girls have returned to Cephiro. They must find the sacred Pillar or the world they known as Cephiro will be destroyed. The first season was a little episodic and RPG stylish but 2nd season adds a deeper plot and you can see characters evolving and falling in love. Hikaru must fight her dark side. If she lose, she will lose her life, Cephiro and her beloved one, Lantis. But what about her dark side? Is she really a bad girl? Probably not, she appeared using the power of angry and hatred desires from the first season. Maybe the darkside of Hikaru was misunderstood. The last war in Cephiro is a war of faith and trust. Even other planets are dragged into this sacred war a la ROLW. The ending is amazing and unexpected... I thought Mokona could become the new Pillar but the entire planet... a fluffy planet? If you didnt expect anything better from Season 1 of MKR, you should pay attention to this season, one of the best works of CLAMP out there... except for X/1999.
Rating: Summary: Great, though different from the manga Review: Well, I recently watched this and really enjoyed it for all the reasons much more eloquent writers have stated below. One point to note is that it is quite a bit different from the second "season" of Magic Knight Rayearth manga. Hikaru questions herself more (and is empowered less by her own loves and beliefs), but there is a lot more romance. Things just barely hinted at in the manga take striking form in the anime. The ending is also a bit different. Is this bad? Not at all. I enjoyed the manga and I enjoy the anime, and they're two separate things. Nothing wrong with comparing them, but it's important to keep in mind that to just make the manga exactly as is into an anime would be, well, not that exciting. I mean, once you've read the manga, why watch the exact same thing? ;) Just don't go into the anime thinking it will be exactly the same. Still, there is some satisfaction to the romance angle that the anime explores. The manga is quite short and so didn't touch upon that all too much. As a note for younger viewers, there's only brief nudity (in the opening sequences) but no swearing, sex, etc. At least, none that stood out in my mind. So in closing, if you sort of enjoyed the first season of Rayearth, or thought it needed "more," well, I think you'll LOVE the second season. The first was just "okay" in my mind. The second is one I'll watch again, and enjoyed it completely.
Rating: Summary: Once Review: Yeah, I love MKR. Season 2 is good, but doesn't follow the Manga close enough... I still like this. I find that Nova, Hikaru's...uh...shadow is an awesome character, but she wasn't in the manga...but hey! It is still an awesome series from CLAMP and is worth every penny. Dvd boxset box looks MUCH better than the first season's did. Pretty...picture. (I'm obsessed with pictures, fyi.) One of my most hated moments in this season. I'm sorry to say this if you haven't watched this is that different from the manga, Eagel dies, which I hate! Thus why this is my least favorite of the MKR collection. My MK Rayearth rankings: 1: MKR Magna (Direct from CLAMP's minds, of course.) 2: MKR TV Season 1 (Yeah...it's BASED on the Manga by CLAMP) 3: Rayearth OVA (Screwed up; twisted revamp of the story. Still cool.) 4: MKR TV Season 2 (Yet again BASED on the Magna; THEY CHANGED IT TOO MUCH FROM THE MANGA!)
Rating: Summary: ^-^ MKR2 Review: Yeah, I love MKR. Season 2 is good, but doesn't follow the Manga close enough... I still like this. I find that Nova, Hikaru's...uh...shadow is an awesome character, but she wasn't in the manga...but hey! It is still an awesome series from CLAMP and is worth every penny. Dvd boxset box looks MUCH better than the first season's did. Pretty...picture. (I'm obsessed with pictures, fyi.) One of my most hated moments in this season. I'm sorry to say this if you haven't watched this is that different from the manga, Eagel dies, which I hate! Thus why this is my least favorite of the MKR collection. My MK Rayearth rankings: 1: MKR Magna (Direct from CLAMP's minds, of course.) 2: MKR TV Season 1 (Yeah...it's BASED on the Manga by CLAMP) 3: Rayearth OVA (Screwed up; twisted revamp of the story. Still cool.) 4: MKR TV Season 2 (Yet again BASED on the Magna; THEY CHANGED IT TOO MUCH FROM THE MANGA!)
Rating: Summary: Season 1, but better, what more could you want Review: You could think this is just regular shoujo anime, but you couldn't be off farther. The second season is a solid step away from the cutesy rpg-styled story that was the first season. (Not that I didn't like the first season) A lot grimmer and darker and a bit more mature. First of all, the packaging looks fabulous. No flimsy wrapper, no flimsy cardboard packet. Instead you get a thick, dark-looking case with flip-down cover. One up for Media Blasters. The dvds are in standard cases, which are in the same style as the box. Unfortunately they contain some glaring spelling mistakes, which while not overly bad is still something that should've been corrected. Menus are basic and functional. Not too flashy, standard choices of languages/subtitles. Extras on most discs include textless openings/endings (2 of each), character bios/galleries and some miscellaneous things. You select chapters and such and they've divided each episode into 4 parts, beginning, part A, part B and ending. Video quality is good and there's little problems with the encoding. Animation quality is a bit up from the first season, but it's a TV series after all. That means re-use of animation and stills :) Nothing too repulsive though and it's only really apparant if you watch A LOT of episodes in a short time. Some scenes are a bit too bright and I usually have to turn the brightness UP to see something in dark scenes. I found the audio a bit on the dull side. It lacks a bit of direction and I had to twiddle with my usually correct audio settings to get a 'vibrant' sound. Once I got used to it (Not all series can have THX 5.1 sound I know) it was ok. The voice-actors (I listened to the original Japanese) do a good job even if some (Can I mention the haughty laughter?) overdo it a bit. As for the series itself, without spoiling too much, I can say it's a good step forward. A much deeper and enthralling story with a good 'twist' at the end. Throughout the series you get hints and such so it's not so much a surprise what happens at the end if you paid attention. One point of warning though. This series revolves around Hikaru for the most part and while Umi and Fuu star as usual, they are in much more of a supportive role. In fact I'd almost think that the two countries Chizeta and Fahren were just added to give the two girls some decent enemies to fight. Lastly, I can recommend this to anyone who enjoys some mecha-riding magic-using swashbuckling anime, which while having girls as the heroes, isn't too girly :)
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