So, for all its flaws and its (IMHO) inferiority to the manga, the anime did give us some interesting concepts. I'm particularly fond of the beast episodes and the Knights getting captured myself.
My question is, what other kinds of episodes do you wish they'd tried? I'm not talking about stuff that was in the manga but got cut for Mokona knows what reasons, I'm talking missed opportunities for new character development/interactions or world building. Perhaps we could call this an episode wishlist? I'll start.
- A flashback episode or two about stuff that happened during the season gap.
- An Ascot+Caldina team-up in the first season where they actually combine their talents against the Magic Knights. Illusions mixed with a few real beasts? Not only is there danger that can't be avoided by just closing their eyes, there's also the added uncertainty that comes with having to distinguish between real and fake, and consequences for guessing wrong ("I just wasted my breath fighting this whole team cause I couldn't tell which one was the original!" or "Please, that's so obviously fake- OH GOD IT'S NOT!").
Other ideas?
Most of my ideas are more along the lines of 'what if' scenarios, and most of those are in season 2. season 1 is pretty legit, except for killing Presea, but if they could have gotten away with it if they'd just handled season two better.
Flash backs to a few scenes between the two seasons would have been awesome, I also liked the small flash backs we get to right before season one, more of those would have been cool.
I've argued this before, but I really never liked the idea of Debonair. Either they should have followed the manga closer and not had a real 'big bad' or all three of the girls should have created a being similar to Nova and they were the main problem in season 2. I guess they figured they couldn't fit that much character development and drama in one season. And they were too busy beating Hikaru with an angsty sick.
Really I just hate Debonair, she's the exact trope they were deconstructing in season one with Emeraude and Zagato, why fall back onto it?
actually leaving Clef's character arc intact seriously whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy OHKAWA YOU GAVE WITH ONE HAND AND TOOK AWAY WITH THE OTHER AND WHY DID YOU STEAL HIS FLASHBACKSSSSSSSSSS
Non-Clef Cephirans actually doing anything useful
This make me think that Rayearth should gain a remake, following the manga properly but adding some episodes to flesh out the story.
I'd love more flashbacks of before the Magic knights were summoned: showing the girls daily lives as normal humans, to constrast with their lifestyle in cephiro. And also how Emeraude and Zagato felt in love, what kind of people they were before the incident; Lantis life in Cephiro and relationship with his older brother. and Clef's relationships with them all. This all could be showed in part 2 through Lantis and/or Clef's memories.