Magic Knight Rayearth (魔法騎士レイアース, Mahou Kishi Rayearth) is a 1994 television anime series based on a manga series written and illustrated by CLAMP. The anime was adapted and published by studio TMS Entertainment (previously known as Tokyo Movie Shinsha). The series aired during the Autumn 1994 anime season in October.
Background:
“Following their epic adventure, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu have been reunited with their families at last… but their story is still far from over. Returning to their original meeting place at Tokyo Tower, the three girls once again find themselves transported to the magical world of Cephiro, where their abilities are called upon once again.
With Princess Emeraude missing, the land is now under attack from three different nations, and only our intrepid trio of schoolgirls and their impressive powers stand in the way of catastrophe as Cephiro seeks a new Pillar to restore its balance.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2020.
As previously mentioned with the unboxing for Part 1, Anime Limited acquires the occasional classic series for the UK. This time it was both Revolutionary Girl Utena and Magic Knight Rayearth for the month of July and now the second half has arrived. The TV anime adaptation for Magic Knight Rayearth was previously never released in the UK while the 1997 OVA anime adaptation Rayearth (レイアース) was.
Both seasons of Magic Knight Rayearth was spread across the two part release, with the second half covering the remaining episodes in HD Remaster glory. Japan never released the Rayearth OVA series on Blu-ray but was included in its Blu-ray Disc Box as a DVD disc which is what we are getting over here. North American distributor Discotek Media was not able to include the Rayearth OVA series with its Blu-ray release, so that makes this UK release a little bit more special. It does help that the Rayearth OVA series was once released by Manga Entertainment so that saves costs on the BBFC side.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited offers their traditional digipack packaging design for the Magic Knight Rayearth collector’s edition Blu-ray sets. A rigid box that houses a digipack which contains the discs and for this part a couple of art cards to accompany the set. The digipack is larger than the previous part due to including a total of four discs rather than three.
2023 UPDATE: Unfortunately, likely due to licensing restrictions, the Rayearth OVA series is exclusive to this collector’s edition release. Therefore re-releases in limited or standard edition sets will only cover the television series.
Like the other Anime Limited sets, this release is 1000 units only and I received my copy early as part of pre-ordering the set during their early bird sale. The SRP is £59.99 and the early bird price was £34.99 (I paid £31.50 for being a premium member of Screen Anime).
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specs and sticker on wrapping for BBFC logo
- 5 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 24th August 2020
The collector’s edition release for Magic Knight Rayearth Part 2 contains episodes 28-49 (aka episodes 8-29 of Magic Knight Rayearth II) across three Blu-ray discs using the Discotek Media author. The audio options available include the main Japanese language with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom!/Media Blasters English dub.
As this is a Discotek authored title, we have yellow subtitles for the main dialogue and blue subtitles for the lyrics, both of which are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray. As previously mentioned in Part 1’s unboxing, all of the bonus on-disc extras are included here.
Also included is an additional 4th disc which is a DVD that contains episodes 1-3 of the Rayearth OVA series. The audio options available include the main Japanese language with English subtitles and the Skypilot Entertainment English dub commissioned by Manga Entertainment.
Rayearth‘s white subtitles are locked during playback and the DVD disc is region locked to 2. The master has Japanese intro and ending, I’m going to assume this is based on the Japanese NTSC master rather than the previous UK & US releases which usually have English credits instead.
Both Magic Knight Rayearth and Rayearth shows are presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio layout. The Rayearth OVA is interesting as you can see the top part is not lined up if you set the aspect ratio correctly on your TV (I tested it on both PS3 & PS4 – the PS3 filled the screen whereas the PS4 has its original view like the TV series would). If you’re one of those people who wants the video to fill up the screen, just use your TV settings to adjust the ratio.
Blu-ray Specs (Magic Knight Rayearth):
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
DVD Specs (Rayearth OVA):
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 4:3 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Magic Knight Rayearth Disc 6:
- Interviews
- Interview with Toshihiro Hirano, Series Creator
- Interview with Yasuo Urakami, Audio Director
- Interview with Julie Maddalena, English voice for Hikaru
- Interview with Wendee Lee, English voice for Umi
- Interview with Ellen Wilkinson, voice of Fuu
- Interview with Kaeko Sakamoto, voice of Mokona
- Interview with Lex Lang, voice of Zagato
- Group Interview with English Voice Cast
- Episode Extras
- Episode 4 Alternate English Pilot
- Episode 8.5 Recap Episode
- Episode 18 Home Video Next Episode Preview
- Episodes 19-20 Original Broadcast Bumpers
- Episode 49 Commentary with Voice Director
- Season 1 English Outtakes
- Season 2 English Outtakes
- English Character Greetings
- Video Game Cutscenes
- Openings & Endings
- Creditless Opening 1 (Japanese)
- Creditless Opening 2 (Japanese)
- Creditless Opening 3 (Japanese)
- Creditless Opening 1 (English V1)
- Creditless Opening 1 (English V2)
- Creditless Opening 1 (English V3)
- Creditless Opening 3 (English)
- Original Broadcast Openings
- International Opening
- Creditless Ending 1 (Japanese)
- Creditless Ending 2 (Japanese)
- Creditless Ending 3 (Japanese)
- Creditless Ending 1 (English)
- Creditless Ending 2 (English)
- English Home Video Credits
- Textless “Who Is It?” Segment
- Sponsor Cards
- TV Spots & Trailers
- Japanese Pilot Trailer
- English Pilot Trailer – Version 1
- English Pilot Trailer – Version 2
- “Coming Soon” Series Preview Trailers
- “On Tonight” Series Preview Trailer
- Promotional Spot Collection 1
- Promotional Spot Collection 2
- The “How to Draw Mokona” Song
- Production Art
- Production Art Slideshow
- Model Sheet Slideshow
- Opening 3 Storyboard Animatics
- Ending 3 Storyboard Animatics – Concept Version
- Ending 3 Storyboard Animatics – Final Version
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras included on this disc
Unboxing Photos:
Last but not least, here are photos of the two parts together for the series.
Final Notes:
Magic Knight Rayearth Part 2 is available to own as a collector’s edition Blu-ray over on Amazon UK. Part 1 is also available to order in the same fashion.
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment