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

A writer, or even a filmmaker will make a sequel to their original work for the following reasons: they want to improve on the story, they want to make their original work a commercial franchise, or they haven’t finished telling the story. I’m happy to say that Magic Knight Rayearth II was created because the story isn’t finished and so that CLAMP could improve on their hit manga. In fact, it’s one of the best Sailor Moon-based manga that I’ve read aside from W.I.T.C.H., which no one and nothing can beat so far. (If someone mentions Tokyo Mew Mew, then I’m going to commit murder.) Magic Knight Rayearth II starts out with the three main characters back in Japan after their adventure. No one is happy because of the way the climatic battle turned out. It’s affecting the trio badly.

One day Hikaru, Fuu and Umi return to Tokyo Tower for a reunion meeting. Then, out of nowhere, something strange happens! You guessed it; they fall back into Cephiro! But this time Guru Clef claims innocent. So the girls have no real quest or reason to be hanging out in this magical land . . . or so it seems. The princess of the land had been its pillar making sure that the country was stable. But now that she’s gone thanks to circumstances from the first series, Cephiro is crumbling. Unless there is a new pillar the land will turn into ultimate chaos. Because of this, three countries are invading Cephiro. Not one, but three! And each will fight each other to the death for it. So the three Magic Knights have to find the path to finding another pillar, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Once a person becomes a pillar, they have to give up everything to love Cephiro with all their might. To say that this story was a big improvement on the original is an understatement. Not many sequels can add so much depth to a series. True, we have X-Men 2 and Spiderman 2, but those tend to be the exceptions rather than the rules. We get funny and realistic three-dimensional characters, cute humor (Umi clashing with Mokona has developed, but she still teases him), awesome artwork and a storyline where you only have an idea of what’s going to happen, and that’s if you’re lucky. We finally meet new characters that add their own colors; the boy who helped the girls in the first series is the prince of Cephiro (and we know at LAST), Zagato, the supposed villain of the first series has a brother named Lantis, and we also have the characters from the three countries.

One thing that has improved is the character development. The girls are no longer the innocent junior high school girls they once were; they’ve learned from their last time in Cephiro and they don’t want to make any more mistakes. They also care about each other more than they did before. The girls are especially worried about Hikaru, as she seems to be sick and no one knows why. And this manga has become a little bit like Sailor Moon by introducing love interests for the trio, two whom are mentioned above. But this doesn’t end up in stupid love triangles or backstabbing soap operas; instead no one is shy about their feelings. It seems too idealistic, but compared to most mahou shoujo it’s a breath of fresh air. (If people like this were open in real life, then soap operas would be pure fantasy.) The best character development is between the villains, however, because we hear of their motives to invade Cephiro and of their conversations between each other. Even if we don’t like them in the beginning, by the end we come to pity them. The only reason why this series isn’t perfect is because most of the themes and speeches in Magic Knight Rayearth II are repeated in Card Captor Sakura. In fact, I’m willing to bet that many of CLAMP’s notorious themes were born here. I have to say that this series shares Card Captor Sakura’s optimism. There is no tragedy like there was in the first series. Which is fine considering how grim the first series was, but you’d think that gaining a new pillar would have a higher price. I’m only complaining a little, though, as I appreciate the happy ending more than I did in Chobits. And I suppose CLAMP was remembering that kids who are ten years old would be attracted to this series as well. The only thing that hasn’t improved is the artwork, but that’s like saying that you haven’t improved an A++ average in school. Action scenes remain beautiful and violent. Character designs do remain original for new characters, though I wish that there were enough new characters to confirm this. I can’t really say anymore other than the backgrounds also add depth.

I’m sorry I have to end on such an abrupt note. But like I said before, Magic Knight Rayearth II improved on the flaws in the original Magic Knight Rayearth in the same number of volumes, but there weren’t that many flaws to begin with. We now know more about different characters, the ending is the best possible ending you could find, and I know now why the title mentions only Rayearth when it’s about the three girls. The only moment that was confusing was when Umi was asking why an English term such as “Magic Knights” was used in Cephiro when terms for other people were in a different language. Do people speak Japanese in Cephiro then? Whatever the reason, it’s not too big a problem as the manga was originally in Japanese. I wish that Tokyopop would include reference notes like Del Rey did, though. It would make things a lot easier to understand. But every company has their ups and downs with preparation.

- -Review By Jaya Lakshmi- -