Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji are on a field trip to the Tokyo Tower with their respective schools. The girls are blinded by a flash of light and hear a voice calling for the Legendary Magic Knights to save Cephiro. They fall through the sky into another world, Cephiro. Once there, they meet Master Mage Clef. Clef explains, "[In Cephiro], one's will has the ability to change reality for better or worse. The dark fears in people's hearts become monsters, while a well-intended wish can do miracles. One person, the Pillar, whose will is stronger than anyone else's, is responsible for maintaining through her prayers the well-being of Cephiro."

In the first story arc, the current Pillar, Princess Emeraude, has been captured by her high priest, Zagato. The three girls are charged with the task of saving Cephiro by activating the three Rune-Gods (魔神, Mashin). They are given a bizarre creature named Mokona to guide them on their journey. After the girls find and destroy Zagato, they finally reach Emeraude, but they learn that she had fallen in love with Zagato, hindering her ability to pray solely for Cephiro's well-being. They at first believed that Zagato had attempted to solve the problem on his own terms by stealing and imprisoning Emeraude, but in truth, she imprisoned herself. Feeling responsible for her actions, she summoned the Magic Knights to kill her since no one from Cephiro could harm the Pillar. Her dark side then took over, seeking to destroy the Magic Knights for killing her love. After a short defensive fight against Emeraude, the Magic Knights had no choice but to kill her.

The second story arc deals with the complications caused by the first season's climax: three warring planets, Autozam, Fahren, and Chizeta, have begun their attempts to conquer Cephiro and a new Pillar must be chosen before the whole planet is destroyed. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are once again summoned to Cephiro. It is later discovered that Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu's will to go to Cephiro sent them back once again in the anime, whereas in the manga they were summoned by Mokona.

Eventually, Hikaru is chosen to become the new Pillar. However, she rebels against the Pillar system, deciding that the fate of the planet should not be the responsibility of only one person which, like Emeraude before her, effectively prevents that person from ever being able to live and love freely.

Hikaru, Fuu and Umi return to earth, but still can visit their loved ones in Cephiro.

Differences in the anime adaptation

The first season remains mostly faithful to the first arc of the manga aside from the inclusion of the original character Inouva and a multitude of subplots, but the second season shows a rapid departure. Most notable differences are the creation of two anime only antagonists, Nova and Lady Debonair, who were born from the intense despair of Hikaru and the people of Cephiro respectively after the death of Princess Emeraude. It is also revealed by the Rune Gods that the girls were summoned back to Cephiro by their own will, most notably Hikaru's as her strength of heart also allowed her to become the new Pillar, a position she rejects in a similar fashion to the manga.

• Hikaru Shidou (獅堂 光, Shidō Hikaru) is an eighth-grade girl, small for her age and often teased for her size and "boyishness". She is headstrong, determined and loyal. She is in love with Lantis (Zagato's younger brother), but it is also implied that she is in love with Eagle Vision, the son of the president of Autozam. She is the Magic Knight of Fire.

• Umi Ryuuzaki (龍咲 海, Ryūzaki Umi) is an eighth-grader and the only child of a rich family. She is quick-tempered and at first uncaring, though perhaps the best-suited for the task at hand, but is also the most reluctant. It is implied that she is in love with Clef in the anime. She is the Magic Knight of Water.

• Fuu Hououji (鳳凰寺 風, Hōōji Fū) is an eighth-grader and the voice of reason. She is also highly intelligent, though tends to state the obvious. She often has moments where she doubts herself, but ends up coming out strong in the end. She is also in love with Ferio. She is the Magic Knight of Wind.

Manga

Written and illustrated by Clamp, Magic Knight Rayearth appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi from November 1993 to February 1995. Kodansha collected the chapters in three tankōbon volumes. The first was published on July 22, 1994; the last was released on March 6, 1995. The sequel also appeared in Nakayoshi from March 1995 to April 1996.

Since then, the manga has also been released in the United States in English by Tokyopop in six volumes, with three volumes in each series. The English version of the manga was at first issued in a flipped left to right format, but was re-released in the original right to left format in later editions. The English version of the manga also at first continued the volume numbering through the two series, such that Magic Knight Rayearth II volumes #1-3 were numbered as volumes "#4-6" (i.e., the 2000/2001 release of Magic Knight Rayearth volume 4 has the same content as the 2003/2004 re-release's Magic Knight Rayearth II volume 1).

It would appear that Tokyopop has lost their license for the series, as Dark Horse Comics announced at their San Diego Comic-Con International 2009 panel that they would be publishing the series in a new omnibus edition in honor of Clamp's 20th anniversary. There will be either three or four of the original volumes in each of the new omnibus versions. The series is also licensed in French by Pika Édition.

Magic Knight Rayearth

No.	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN	North American release date	North American ISBN
1	July 22, 1994	ISBN 4-06-334642-0	January 1, 1999	ISBN 978-1-892213-00-6
2	November 22, 1994	ISBN 4-06-334643-9	March 1, 1999	ISBN 978-1-892213-08-2
3	March 6, 1995	ISBN 4-06-334644-7	September 1, 1999	ISBN 978-1-892213-16-7

Magic Knight Rayearth II

No.	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN	North American release date	North American ISBN
1	July 26, 1995	ISBN 4-06-334659-5	June 1, 2000	ISBN 978-1-892213-43-3
1	—	—	February 2003 (unflipped re-release)	ISBN 1-59182-266-1
2	December 18, 1995	ISBN 4-06-334660-9	March 1, 2003	ISBN 978-1-892213-52-5 ISBN 1-892213-52-4
2	—	—	April 2003 (unflipped re-release)	ISBN 1-59182-267-X
3	April 23, 1996	ISBN 4-06-334661-7	June 1, 2003	ISBN 978-1-892213-72-3 ISBN 1-892213-72-9
3	—	—	April 2003 (unflipped re-release)	ISBN 1-59182-268-8

Anime

The anime series aired first on Japan's Yomiuri TV on October 17, 1994, and ended on November 27, 1995. It was directed by Toshihiro Hirano and co-produced by Yomiuri TV and Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment). The anime had 2 seasons, lasting 49 episodes altogether. The TV series is licensed in the U.S. by Media Blasters and is dubbed by Bang Zoom! Entertainment. It was released on both VHS and DVD. The DVDs contain both the Japanese and English language tracks as well as bonus features, including interviews with the English voice actors (Julie Maddalena (Hikaru), Wendee Lee (Umi/Emerald), Ellen Wilkinson (Fuu), Kaeko Sakamoto (Mokona) and Lex Lang (Zagato/Lantis), respectively) on each disc in the first season.

OVA

A three-part OVA was released in Japan a few years after the end of the manga and the TV series (July 25, September 26, and November 24, 1997). The OVA was named simply Rayearth, and its story was quite different from the original. The characters are all the same, but the relationships, places and events changed radically. Here, we find that Hikaru, Umi and Fuu are already friends who go to the same school and will soon be leaving for high school. Suddenly, a strange fairy (which turns out to be Mokona, the creature from the original series) appears in front of them. At the same time, strange monsters and wizards start to appear in the city of Tokyo. One of them is Clef, who tries to guide the three girls in order to let them become the Magic Knights, awaken their Mashin and fight against the evil wizards from Cephiro, who are trying to invade the human world. In this version, Ferio, who is a sourcerer under Princess Emerude's command is not her brother, instead Eagle Vision is, who's also the main antagonist after he tricked Zagato to commit suicide in order to bring upon a false balance to Cephiro. His ties to Autozam are non-exsistent in this version, as he is a citizen of Cephiro from the start. He would put a spell on Emeraude to convince her that Zagato is still alive, so that the sourcerers of Cephiro can continue to exist on Earth as the two worlds would soon merge and each sourcerer would battle against the Magic Knights. Lantis is also introduced right away as being an ally to the Magic Knights and against Eagle's plans. The only other characters that are in the OVA are Ascot and Alcyone. None of the other characters are featured. The OVA is licensed in the U.S. by Manga Entertainment, who opted to use a different New York-based voice cast for its English release, with production by Skypilot Entertainment.

Theme songs

Opening Themes

Three opening themes were used in the series and one in the OVA Rayearth:

Magic Knight Rayearth:

• Episodes 01-20: "Unyielding Wish" (｢ゆずれない願い｣, "Yuzurenai Negai") by Naomi Tamura (田村 直美, Tamura Naomi)

Magic Knight Rayearth 2:

• Episodes 01-22: "I Can't Hate You" (｢キライになれない｣, "Kirai ni narenai") by Ayumi Nakamura (中村あゆみ, Nakamura Ayumi)
• Episodes 23-29: "Still Embracing Light and Darkness" (｢光と影を抱きしめたまま｣, "Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta mama") by Naomi Tamura

Media Blasters' early English DVD release used "Hikari to Kage o Dakishimeta Mama" as the opening for Magic Knight Rayearth 2 Episodes 01-22. The original openings from episodes 01-22 were included as an extra on the early DVDs, and was only in Japanese, however this isn't the case with the remastered sets, in which the dubbed openings were removed meaning, all three openings are left intact.

Ending Themes

Three ending themes were used:

Magic Knight Rayearth:

• Episodes 01-20: "The Courage Leading to Tomorrow" (｢明日への勇気｣, "Asu e no Yūki") by Keiko Yoshinari (吉成 圭子, Yoshinari Keiko)

Magic Knight Rayearth 2:

• Episodes 01-22: "Lullaby - Let me embrace you tenderly -" (｢ら·ら·ば·い〜優しく抱かせて〜｣, "Rarabai ~ Yasashiku Dakasete") by Minako Honda (本田 美奈子, Honda Minako)
• Episodes 23-29: "It Will Shine Someday" (｢いつか輝く｣, "Itsuka Kagayaku") by Keiko Yoshinari

Media Blasters' early English DVD release used "Rarabai ~ Yasashiku Dakasete ~" as the ending for Magic Knight Rayearth 2 Episodes 23-29. The original ending from episodes 23-29 was included as an extra on the early DVDs, and was only in Japanese, this again was eventually rectified in the remastered sets, in which, like the openings the dubbed endings were removed meaning all three endings were left intact.

In the early English releases of the TV series, Sandy Fox sang both the opening and the ending themes in the English dubbed version.

Rayearth:

• OVA: "All You Need is Love" by Naomi Tamura

Video games

A number of video games have been released that are based on Magic Knight Rayearth. Magic Knight Rayearth, an adventure RPG set in the first TV season, was released for the Sega Saturn. It was the last officially released game for the console in the US. All other games based on the manga were released exclusively in Japan, including a Super Famicom role-playing game (RPG), a Sega Pico title called Magic Knight Tanjou, two short RPGs for Game Boy, a raising sim, and another RPG for Sega Game Gear.

• Divers, Allen (25 August 2003). "Procrastination is a State of Mind - TT". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/tankobon-tower/2003-08-25. Query Wayback Bibalex Wayback WebCite Wikiwix.