I was really ecstatic to find this place, Rayearth is a classic and one of my favorite animes, and i finally found a place to discuss this series that's not tumblr . Thank you so much for this forum!

I do not know if there's any extended material on this, but I believe the following:

regardless if  Ferio was aware whether the magic knights would kill his sister or not, he knew that Emeraude found her  role as a pillar a burden, and being one of the closest people to her, he witnessed her unhappiness . Deep down he knew his sister was incapable of governing and that her dying, was  after all the best solution for everyone.

Ferio himself was against the pillar system, found a burden to be a prince and couldn't bear to stay in the palace, so I think he had much pity and empathy for his sister who had twice of his responsabilities. He was resigned to any tragedy that would happen and wanted to relieve his sister's suffering regardless of her choice.

It has been a long time since i watched the OVA. But I need to review to get a more critical opinion

But honestly, I remember finding it weird. It was not a prequel, neither sequel to the anime, i never understood what's the point? Is there any reason for the alternate story in canon/universe? Was it based on any material of the franchise? Or it was just the producers launching their vision with the characters of a series that was popular at that time?

Umi would make complex recipes, like elaborated cakes, cupcakes, pastas, banquet for her and other people

Hikaru would eat whatever is disponible, and if she needed would prepare pratical foods like sandwich, hot dog, simple pure rice.

Imagine Fuu as healthy and light eater, salads, vegetables, natural juices, etc..

Hikaru is still the stronger being of that world, so she has all the abilities, with the difference that Cephiro doesn't collapse without her, neither depends on her will to be in order. Hikaru having the strongest will power doesn't mean she has absolute power. What is in force is the will of most people. I think if she has to go to war or something similar, she would have advantage over most people though.

I wonder, though, what kind of system was established in Cephiro. I believe it's something similar to idealistic socialism in contrast to the pillar system that was an  autocratic system.

  this is fun. When i was a kid always wondered why there was no earth knight and liked to insert myself as the fourth magical girl 

Anyway, i imagine she would have dark brown/black hair and brown eyes.
Umi and Hikaru are very ofensive, so her powers could be more defensive like Fuu, I guess.
No idea what the earth mashin could be based. An Moose? Tiger?

Not sure about the personality, but maybe someone more serious,melancholic  and not very talkative and  to constrast with the other three?

I don't think Alcyone was ever a true rival for Emeraude because Zagato never cared about her.
I dislike Alcyone as much I dislike Emeraude, and both characters are even similar in some aspects. But at least Emeraude is an interesting complex character, Alcyone is just annoying. 

Anyway, Alcyone has no self respect and doesn't respect others feelings, and I dislike characters and real people like that a lot, also I know and had to deal with some girls (aka ex friends) like that in real life as well, and it was very frustrating. 

I agree, she could be much more, but I don't think she was bad written at all. Unfortunately people like that exists irl and Alcyone embodies this sexist shallow behavior perfectly.

I love this pairing, my otp.

What i find quite ironic is that he run away from Cephiro's problems but in the end of the day he had the same fate of his brother: falling in love with the pillar. Lmao Good for him that Hikaru is smarter than Emeraude though.

Quote from: Down on October 20, 2012, 01:39:42 PM
*pause to stare and alternately sigh and wail at THAT MANGA PANEL shdasgdg it's only pretty much my favourite in ALL RAYEARTH*

I can understand people not liking him/his role, because he's very....... passive, in his action. And that concept of duty-right-or-wrong which he struggles with himself over is an older fashioned one, in many ways - particularly in anything created after WW1 - but that's one of the reasons his choices and his debate with himself hit SO HARD, because he DOES struggle with them. And the way he's been brought up/living within the system makes it such a huge thing that he would try to fight it, even from within - telling Emeraude not to summon the knights, planning to tell the next candidate the whole truth - but it's one which is overshadowed in some ways by the pov of the knights and the reader who are from OUTSIDE the system and can see 'make fundamental change' as an option. I mean, that's why he's there - and here I will SIDESTEP the essay about how the themes of change-from-outside and working-TOGETHER-with-others-from-outside instead of being-invaded-by-outside-forces when the old system is broken are resonant particularly in Japan which has had so many periods of closing-off-from-the-world-then-opening-up-again-for-various-reasons through her history, trying to find the balance between being her own country and being open to the rest of the world instead of dominated by it and losing her own identity but THAT IS AN ESSAY I WILL ONE DAY MAKE MY OWN VERSION OF AND CLEF WILL BE SO IMPORTANT IN IT - but he's here to SHOW that tension, that almost BLINDNESS which comes with growing up inside a system - hell, it's the same for any kind of privilege, and the privilege the Cephirans had in that system was HUGE. Endless peace and prosperity, defended by someone else!

and and and where the heck was I even going here THIS IS WHY I AM NOT ALLOWED TO GET STARTED ON CLEF. XDDD

I think... being sent to guide the people who are going to kill his leige is an awful, awful situation and it breaks my heart every time I reread that first bit, and then the thank you/apologies scene in Rayearth 2, because I honestly think he doesn't WANT to like these girls, doesn't actually want them to win - how can he? - but he knows their losing would be worse than anything else for Cephiro even if he hates it - and that accounts for how VERY VERY short his temper is then. He doesn't want to be charmed by Hikaru's idealism, and he certainly doesn't want to face Umi's blunt honesty (we're NOTHING TO DO WITH CEPHIRO'S PROBLEMS indeed) and yet he has to TEACH THEM MAGIC

which, even just for a moment, can't be anything but an intimacy between him and them, because magic comes from the heart, the soul.

I think he's so torn at that beginning bit because he really thinks he's sending them off to die, these children. Only then the reaction of magic to them (of CEPHIRO to them?) is so strong, and Hikaru's WILL and KINDNESS is so strong, wanting to stay and help him - that maybe he starts to believe that they can do something. That maybe Emeraude hasn't chosen the wrong people - and that leads to that smile when he sends them off, but it only lasts for a moment of relief before reality and the rest of the situation kicks in again, and he knows what their WINNING will mean.

His apology is sincere, because he could have done so much more - he could have gone with them. There was no reason not to go with them! He could have faced down any one of Zagato's minions! Though his getting involved in that conflict MIGHT have disturbed what peace Cephiro had left at that point..... But he doesn't want to help them! and that's why that apology and his reaction when Umi thanks him for Mokona WHO HE DIDN'T EVEN GIVE THEM but accepted from Emeraude and abandoned with Presea was so strong and BREAKS MY HEART (and why it makes SO MUCH SENSE that they turn him to stone in the anime, because as a metaphor it's pretty damn PERFECT especially with the term 'pillar' going about - CLEF YOU ARE MY FAVOURITE FLYING BUTTRESS~~~ - and it gives him the excuse he needs to not act, and hides what would be a very very obvious LACK of action spread across that many episodes...)

and I'm being ridiculous and headcanony all over the boards when I should be editing, heh, PLEASE EXCUSE ME I SHALL DEPART THIS THREAD. >.>

I have not so much to add, but this is so beautiful.
I love this series because every single character is so much more complex than what they appear to be at first instance.

Dremcasts are so fun, I love to imagine how anime characters would look if they were real lmao
Liked Caldina's choice,  i think it match perfectly lol I love Redmayne, so to me he could play any role.
I don't know enough japanese actors, so i'll go with weastern ones. 

Hikaru - Lily Collins


Fuu - Saoirse Ronan


Umi - Kaya Scodelario


An younger Jared Leto would make a good Ferio if characterized properly


Emeraude as the Emilia Clarke (looking more or less like Daeneris)


Zagato/Lantis should be played by the same actor as they look almost identical.
Ben Barnes (Actually I can't think on many actors who look like i imagine them realistically. Ian somerhalder with darker lenses maybe?)


Presea - Erica Durance (years back, now she looks quite different)


Alcyone - Angelina Jolie (Well, she's the typical femme fatale, now that you mentioned Angelina, well, she fits Alcyone)


I have no idea for Clef or Eagle

Quote from: Mokonalord on December 08, 2017, 06:04:43 AM

Quote from: milady on December 06, 2017, 01:24:07 AM
Imo it's fair simple: the summoners in Cephiro have a bad rep, and like Ascot's they may have given too much freedom to untamed creatures and abused their power, especially before Cephiro got out of control without the pilar protection. Ascot is just one of them (or the last of them, maybe)

Cephiro having a history of bad summoners is another possibility, yes, or perhaps just them being blamed for regular monster attacks. It could also be that summoning lends itself more to abuse of power than other forms of magic, considering that it involves one person directing the actions of other at least semi-sentient creatures. Though, given that Emeraude was constantly praying for peace, I can’t see a bad summoner being able to cause too much trouble, but enough of them being enough of a nuisance to get a bad reputation seems possible. Really, any relationship in which one party holds almost all the control is very susceptible to abuse of some sort.

I like to add elements/stipulations to summoning that give the beasts agency of their own for that reason. For example, while it’s possible to force a beast to do exactly what you want, it takes a lot more energy/willpower, so it’s in a Summoner’s best interest to have them acting voluntarily. In the anime, Vigor and Capella (canine creature who Hikaru ‘adopted’ and armored sea monster who Ascot controlled at the Selece Shrine) were, IMHO, good demonstrations of how an adaption can positively expand on the original source. While you can infer from Ascot’s words in the manga that the beasts are separate entities from himself, in the anime, that’s depicted by those two acting contrary to what Ascot wants and him having to convince them otherwise. Capella especially. After all, there’s no point in taking over a creature’s mind if they don’t have a will of their own.

As such, I like to think that for a good Summoner, their relationship with the ones they summon is a partnership freely entered into by all parties. It’s possible to force the beast into service, but only by overpowering their will, and the strongest beasts tend to have strong wills of their own. In addition, I headcanon that particularly strong creatures can break out of whatever extra-dimensional space the Summoner keeps them in on their own.

Anyway, back to the ‘Too many Summoners gave themselves a bad name’ hypothesis, I’d think if that were the case, it would be something brought up in canon. I mostly dropped the idea of Summoners being the problem because when Ascot’s describing the issue, it comes across like peoples’ problems are with the beasts themselves. Also, in that scenario, Umi’s advice shouldn’t have been “Stand up for them!” but rather “Stand up for yourself!” Doesn’t mean it’s not possible, just doesn’t quite fit neatly into canon as we know it.

Don’t think I’ve seen you around before, so nice to meet you!

imo its not that the summoners  in general were evil or something like that, but like you said, it must be hard  to train and deal with other creatures, and if the summoner and the animal were not bonded enough, or if they didn't have enough power, the monsters can get out of control and the villagers who can't defend themselves were fearful of the powerful monsters and the summoners by association. 

After  Emeraude got depressed, and stopped to take care of Cephiro, the creatures were out of control and i believe the summoners  didn't even care to stop them, so probably the villagers didn't want the summoners nearby because they were also related with the monsters. That's why i think they didn't have a good rep at all.

Thank you so much for the wecoming!

It's clear that the cephirians have higher life expectation than people of earth. I don't think that any of them are immortal, even the pilar, but to those who live on earth it can look like.

Now this is more of a headcanon, but powerful mages, summoners and those who in general know magic live longer than random civilians, so for example the magic knights even being earthlings would live longer if they moved to cephiro, if they wished, of course.

The anime has too contradictions and the manga story is superior imo The only better part of the anime is somewhat superior is more worldbuilding

I was introduced to the series through the anime as I was a kid though

Imo it's fair simple: the summoners in Cephiro have a bad rep, and like Ascot's they may have given too much freedom to untamed creatures and abused their power, especially before Cephiro got out of control without the pilar protection. Ascot is just one of them (or the last of them, maybe)

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.