Title: Magic Knight Rayearth Volume(s): 3 Creator(s): CLAMP Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Tokyopop MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Action/Fantasy Rated: Youth (10+)

Kevin in his reviews has mentioned that when a series is short, for example, two volumes long, then "you have to say goodbye almost as soon as you say hello." That isn't necessarily true; the stories in Confidential Confessions are short stories, and some manga would work better if they were shorter. Magic Knight Rayearth isn't very long; but it manages to tell a lot in a restricted amount of pages. Three girls, Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi, all meet in the Tokyo Tower, all on a field trip with three different schools. Suddenly, the ground disappears and they end up falling onto sea and cliffs. A magician named Guru Clef rescues them and explains that they were summoned as magic knights to rescue the princess of the land, Cephiro, from the clutches of a man named Zagato. Umi and Fuu don't like this, but Hikaru, having played fantasy games, is enthusiastic. Then they get attacked by Zagato's monsters, so Guru Clef creates an escape route for the knights to a weapon maker called Presea. Other than that, they don't know how to fight, and they don't know what they're supposed to do as "magic knights". That is how the story begins.

CLAMP once mentioned that if there were no Sailor Moon, there would be no Magic Knight Rayearth. Having heard this, I believed that Hikaru was going to be the central character. (In fact, Hikaru's, er, "knight guardian" is called Rayearth. The story explains everything.) However, it's not just about Hikaru; she, Fuu, and Umi learn to become great friends and warriors, as each learns more about themselves and each other and about what really happened to Zagato and the Princess. there are plot twists that you can't predict. What were several things I liked about this series? The characters for one thing. Fuu and Umi start out as stereotypes (meek girl, rude bad-ass), but when it comes to compassion and courage, these two show their true colors. Another thing I liked was the heart in this story. You can relate to all these girls easily, and you feel that they could exist in real life. You could put yourself in the same situation and not deny that you wouldn't do the same thing in that situation. In Sailor Moon, I had trouble liking Usagi because she was so ditzy. (Then again, I was watching the dub.) However, I easily related to Hikaru and Umi as I am a fantasy buff and I want to impress my parents.

The third thing I liked was the plot twists themselves. CLAMP put plenty of thought into Magic Knight Rayearth, and it shows. Instead of telling a simplistic story where the girls have to fight Zagato to rescue the Princess, they tell us a multi-layered tale where no one is really good or evil. That applies to real life as well (despite what everyone says, it is not possible for anyone to start out evil unless they're learning it from the cradle). What about the artwork? Well, the character designs are original (no odangos, thank goodness), although the clothing takes a while. The three girls start out in typical mahou shoujo armor with heels that reach the knees and miniskirts, but when they get their strongest armor, it looks awesome enough to make any action fans drool. The action scenes are well-choreographed, and the girls even get scruffy once in a while when they're fighting. There is even a villain that kicks butt; the only reason I'm not revealing her identity is because it would spoil the ending. She is the very last villain, though, I can assure you. And when CLAMP shows up at the end of the first two volumes to comment on the anime or on events featuring their creation, you have little trouble telling their chibi figures apart. Despite all this good stuff, however there are plenty of problems with this series:

1) The title itself. I had the opposite problem with Tokyo Mew Mew; it was the name of the team, but the series focused on one person in the team. Here it is the "knight guardian" of Hikaru, but the series, like I said, focuses on all three girls. A better name would've been Magic Knights of Cephiro, but I'm not CLAMP unfortunately. I'm just the reviewer. (Sigh) When will they get it right?

2) There's one point a boy shows up and helps the knights to a certain pool, but then he disappears from the rest of the story. We don't even learn who he really is until the sequel, Magic Knight Rayearth II. CLAMP, that is just plain mean! Had this been in prose, a fantasy editor would've picked it up immediately. It's one of the things you're not supposed to do.

3) Unoriginality with the powers. They are water, wind, and fire. Hikaru is fire, Fuu is wind, and Umi is water. Now, this series is based on Shinzo religion and Sailor Moon, but it wouldn't take long to think up better powers. This is the biggest problem with action mahou shoujo, including W.I.T.C.H. and Tokyo Mew Mew, but would it kill to be original once in a while?

4) The abrupt ending. In fact, it's so abrupt that I went, "That's it?" I'm not spoiling what happens in the climax, but in the denouement the girls immediately return to Tokyo Tower, and it's like nothing happened. Of course, we and the three girls know better, but CLAMP missed the opportunity to have a good discussion on what happened in Cephiro and what it may mean. If it weren't for Magic Knight Rayearth II, then I'd say that the ending is flat, but it's disappointing that the ending even requires a sequel as the story should be good enough to stand out on its own. It's not like Trigun, where the magazine got cancelled and the author had to continue with a new name; there are no chapters in Magic Knight Rayearth! It's like reading a fantasy novel, and if a fantasy novel has an abrupt ending, then you can bet that the fans won't like that.

5) The slang. This isn't Japanese slang with added notes people; it is American slang such as "jeez, Louise" and the such. Most likely Tokyopop replaced all the Japanese slang with American slang if there was any. It worked, but that may be because I'm American. -_-; Point aside, though, it's important to note this fact. I'm going to look that up and let you know when I find out. This isn't an outstanding series, but it is a good one. You should go pick it up the next time you visit your local bookstore or comic book shop.

- -Review By Jaya Lakshmi- -