Groundbreaking ‘90s isekai shojo anime series Rayearth getting new anime adaptation【Video】

Back to Cephiro we go as Clamp anime celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Last week, the big news in the anime world was the announcement of a new anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2. The ‘90s nostalgia is continuing to surge, though, as another beloved classic is also getting a new anime, and this time it’s Magic Knight Rayearth.

Starting off as a manga in November of 1993 from creative team Clamp, Rayearth made the jump to TV anime series less than a year later, premiering in October of 1994 and running for 49 contiguous episodes. Though a shojo (girls) series, Rayearth is also an isekai fantasy adventure series, liberally borrowing its world-building blocks from role-playing video games, and the mix of personal emotional drama, spectacular action sequences, and unabashedly frequent sight gags where the cast goes super-deformed gave Rayearth a very broad appeal, making it one of the first big success stories for a shojo anime series among English-territory anime fans in the mid-1990s.

“30 years since the anime TV series broadcast, you will see them again,” promises the teaser video, with “them” no doubt referring to the three ordinary schoolgirls who cross paths on separate field trips to Tokyo Tower before being whisked away to the magical land of Cephiro: primary protagonist Hikaru…

…emotional Umi…

…and gentle Fuu.

The video includes images taken from the original manga and TV series (though not the 1997 alternate continuity OVA series). As long-time anime fans will see, Rayearth’s character designs are very indicative of their mid-‘90s origins, and the teaser only shows the core trio from behind, saving their new facial designs for a later reveal. The orchestral background music also doesn’t give any hint as to whether or not J-pop vocalist Naomi Tamura’s original opening theme “Yuzurenai Negai” will be coming back, nor if the opening animation for the new Rayearth, if it turns out to be a TV series, will once again be done by legendary action director Masami Obari. But with the original Rayearth TV series ending roughly half a year before the manga’s finale, it’s likely that the new anime will be a more faithful/complete adaptation of its source material.

Source, images: YouTube/TMSアニメ公式チャンネル
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