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Magic Knight Rayearth - Memorial Collection 1

Magic Knight Rayearth - Memorial Collection 1

List Price: $149.95
Your Price: $134.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable for any age
Review: Magic Knight Rayearth isn't a pure 'magical girls in sailor customes' anime, nor a 'parody on magical girls in sailor customes' anime either.

Instead it finely balances between these two things, which not many anime try (or succeed in if they do try). What I mean is, the main characters (Hikaru, Fuu and Umi) aren't completely convinced the world they've been transported to (to save the world etc..) is real and yet the anime isn't reduced to a string of silly jokes about it, or a 'serious' anime about good vs evil.

The animation is average, the story reasonable (well, if I want to be objective, I happen to _like_ heroic fantasy, good vs evil, heros triumph over bad-guys etc..). If you want to know more about the story, search the Web for 'rayearth' or 'cephiro' (Google is good for that), because I won't elaborate on it.

The packaging is nice, a thin cardboard box with the 5 dvds in keepcases in it. The box is more of a wrapper itself, yet with nice print and raised golden areas/scrolls and such. A small thing, but better than a plain paper wrapping, I say :)

I only had one problem with the dvd (could be my software dvd decoder) on my pc. The Japanese language + english subtitles somehow was displayed as Japanese with japanese subtitles (?), but as soon as I realized that that was actually japanese with english subtitles it wasn't a point. After that I actually skipped to the dvd menu (which I usually don't on my PC) and found it was correctly written there, must've been either my player or some internal name messup on the dvd.

Anyway, if you use a normal player you won't have any problems. One thing I found annoying was that the chapters aren't organized logically (at least not very), which makes navigating outside hte menus (i.e. with a dvd player on a pc, I know I keep repeating myself) a bit nasty, which actually made me use the dvd's menus for once, which are nice and shiny, if a little slow on my setup.

Concluding, if you can see past the sugary theme (it's girls anime after all) and like me, like Clamp's style this is good value for your money (8 and a half hours!).

Else I recommend you either pick up a copy of the manga first (Mixx Manga has an edition, but rather badly translated) or rent/borrow a tape of one of the episodes.

Enjoy,

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Shoujo and RPG
Review: MKRayearth is a good start point to learn about different way to conduct a story. Sometimes it's very slow, as a way to show us that to solve a problem is not only a matter to have the answer. It's a way to show us the other Non-players characters, too. The western world usually thinks that coadjuvants are not important, so it's very unlikelly to develop them. It's a bit boring at first, but it's a way to understand "the other side of the story" and the bad guy. Otherwise it would be difficult to believe that kind of "The End".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nice series...
Review: Okay, I went and bought this dvd series out of curiosity and a recommendation from a friend. He said the mechs do magic which piqued my interest. Anyways, first off, I'd say this series is best described as Sailormoon meets Escaflowne meets Fushigi Yugi. It's like Sailormoon in that the three girls in the anime wear mostly that sailor-type uniform and do magic. It's like Escaflowne in that they are taken into another world that blends a bit of machinery and primitive culture. It's like Fushigi Yugi in the fact that alot of humorous elements in the series use the "superdeformed" image of characters to show some cuteness and laughs. It's a pretty good light hearted series at first and turns a bit serious at the end. Not quite as emotionally involving as Evangelion or Escaflowne, but it still has some good emotional moments. The art style is similar to El-Hazard in my opinion so it might not be the cup of tea of some individuals. The same can be said of the super-deformed part. If you found this aspect annoying in Fushigi Yugi, you might definitely find Rayearth annoying. On another note, people say this dvd is the first season which it is, but the series does end. Meaning, you are not left with a cliffhanger and pulling you hair out at the end of the series such as in Fushigi. So, if you are worried that you'll have to wait to see the current story arc of the first season end, have no freats because the set stands on its own. My only reason for giving this series a 4 star rating is in the fac that there were quite a bit of glitches in the extras. I couldn't get the Omake endings or Alternate Endings to work properly. When choosing options, the cursor takes forever to switch to another selection. And when the show starts, I couldn't switch the default language, English, to the Japanese track straight from the start of the show. I had to go back out into the menu and do it manually from the set-up screen. However, there were no problems with the show itself except for one or two pixellated scences which I noticed. Still, its a good series to add to any anime collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Average story-line?
Review: Rayearth is a great series with an adventurous plot about three junior high school girls that are called into a world named Cephiro to save the princess. This may seem like a basic story-line overused in any kind of movie or show such as this one, but you'll be surprised in the end to how it actually turns out, making it one of the better animes to watch. This is especially great for beginners since it focuses on the heroes' hearts and slowly moves through the story-line.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cry-Worthy Series
Review: Shiku...shiku... this series is definately a WONDERFUL series. Who knew that 3 girls, who've never met before, could be such wonderful friends when they only have each other to survive in a world full of evil witches (Alcyone), midget little boys who play with monsters (Ascot) Charmers who need money! (Kaldina) Swordmasters who lose their memory (Lafarga) and a Sorcerer who appears evil - Sol Zagato... This series is very cute, as the 3 girls, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu embark on their journey in Cephiro to become the Magic Knights to fulfil Princess Emeraude's wish so they can return home to Tokyo. Along the way, they acquire friends, Mokona, Presia, Guru Clef, Ferio, and even some of the enemies! This series is absolutely wonderful, and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: good series
Review: this is a very good series, it can also be found at bestbuy.com and rightstuf.com for less $$ rightstuf.com sells almost only anime and has great deals

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Magic Knight Rayearth: Mark in history
Review: This serius is revlutionary. The characters are charismatic. You see the friendship in them. The villian are darks, intelligents and quite well created.

The History and the finalle are simple undescritible. You will be chocked. When you see Rayearth, you don't want to see any other movie or animation. MKR is one of the best animes ever created.

Congratulations CLAMP.

-zeo

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Innocent fantasy adventure story
Review: This set--the only way to get the show on DVD--contains the whole first season of Magic Knight Rayearth on 5 DVDs. For those worried about cliffhangers, have no fear: the first season is a complete story.

Rayearth deliberately resembles a Japanese console role-playing game (like you would play on a Playstation). Three girls are drawn into a fantasy world and set with the task of saving it; as they progress, they (in role-playing game terms) go up in levels and gain new powers. Also like many role-playing games, the story often focuses on little morals such as the value of friendship and the like. This may be somewhat too saccharine for some; on the other hand, there are many bloody battles (unlike many shows, especially when edited for US tv, these girls bleed when they fight). The end, without spoiling anything, becomes quite grim in tone.

Assuming you don't mind a little saccharine in your anime, there is nothing to complain about here. The artwork is gorgeous, as it is derived from CLAMP's original comic (also available in English and recommended). The score is fabulous (I bought an import CD to get it), and the English language dub is well-acted and voiced. If there is any little nitpick, it is that the vocal tracks were also dubbed, and there is one point in the title song where the singer can't quite match the high note of the Japanese singer. But, if that's the worst thing I can think of, that is some evidence that this is a great show.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful! Simply stunning.
Review: To really apreciate this you have to read the manga. Though the DVDs are still pretty good without reading the manga. The people who complain about the show's artwork should think about how hard it is to draw like Mokona Apappa (cheif illustrator for CLAMP) who I'm sure spends at least an hour on the eyes alone. Another thing reveiwers complain about is the "filler episodes". These episodes do annoy me but I am appreaciative of them because:
1. Rayearth is a 3 manga series, how many episodes could the get out of those 3
2. What fun would it be if the Anime were exactly the same as the Manga?
In conclusion, this is a great DVD set. I welcome the similarities and the changes and you should too!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pretty but Childish
Review: Visually this series is "eye candy." The designs and animation are beautiful.

Dubbing is OK.

While the overall plot has some merit, the dialog made me just cringe. It's no better in the Japanese; it was really written this badly. Mostly characters just state the obvious. Then, state it again. And then one of the other characters says it again, just in case you didn't get it the first time. You also get to watch characters agonize of delmas like "Should I run away and let my friends die or help them." It gets little deeper that this.

A minor point, the DVD setup is lame.


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