Magic Knight Rayearth Vol 2

[meganbmoore]

Hey, why is it Magic Knight instead of Magic Knights, since there are three?

I really like the cover of this volume, despite how absurd Umi's "armor" is.  I think it's the colors.

Someone explain to me, please, how Hikaru can be this cute and chipper and dim and bubbly without ever being annoying?  She's like a less potent Sakura.  A contagious one!

Ferio is fun and his seemingly mutual crush with Fuu is darling.  But Clamp!  What happened to the borderline "Hikaru's two mommies" bonding from the first volume?   His dialect makes me twitch a bit, but that's because of the stereotyped "southern hick" approach the translation seems to take with it.  Though I can't help but think his only salvation from being tricked by Fuu every time will be his ability to make her blush.  I look forward to seeing how he fits into the grand scheme.  And I'm positive he's shown up in Tsubasa, but can't remember where/when.  His scars look familiar even beyond that, too.

I got confused with his intro/exit though.  Wasn't he there for the Escudo too?  Why did he just up and leave?  Was it because he realized they were the real Magic Knights?

I love the constant referrences to RPG games and fantasy.  It may eventually become a little too self-aware, but for now, it's great.

Umi's comment about how this could make even her lose her cool is one of the best lines ever.

It's a pity about the sorceress who used to be Clef's disciple.  She had potential to be fun.

I liked the girls "inner demons" in the pool, especially Fuu's.  I like that they managed to make the one special to her be herself while still having it be herself because she knows she's important than others, instead of simple narcissism.
 
So, was this series the beginning of Clamp's cosplay/costume fetish, or did it begin somewhere else?

Spoiler code in case someone answers the Tsubasa question.  (Or when referring to future events, but mostly for that.)

<span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333">Spoilers here.</span> 

Comments

[logically.livejournal.com]

Broken spoilers! :(

I like MKR a lot, but haven't read it in years. Now I want to pick it up again. 8D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Broken spoilers? My computer shows the LJ cut intact...

[logically.livejournal.com]

Just a bit of html showing: Spoilers here.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah. No, supposed to be like that so that, when you put it in comments, it'll be blacked out to hide it from the casual reader.

[logically.livejournal.com]

So it's for us to use? o.o I just find it strange hanging at the end of an entry. 8D;

I've been thinking about it and I can't remember the ending to MKR at all. :S

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

So, was this series the beginning of Clamp's cosplay/costume fetish, or did it begin somewhere else?
Isn't Tokyo Babylon older than MKR?

I read these manga a VERY long time ago, before I'd read anything by CLAMP and all I remember from them was that I got extremely bored at it and that it left it me with a big prejudice against CLAMP :) I wonder if I should try rereading it now that I've become something of a clamp fangirl ^^

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...yeah. The copyright date on my (as yet unread) Tokyo Babylon manga is 1991, and this says 1994.

This sounds like me and Chobits/Wish. I read both ages ago, and I liked Wish until the end, which made me mad, and Chobits I read in a state of mild irritation, but couldn't stop, and then I hated the end and was actually kind of mildly offended by it. And I swore off Clamp until the pretty of xxxHolic won me over. But I have no idea how much I'd be liking MKR if I hadn't pretty much become completely brainwashed within the last year.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Hmm...yeah. The copyright date on my (as yet unread) Tokyo Babylon manga is 1991, and this says 1994.
Heh. Probably there's a doujinshi out there even older with cosplay fun as well.

Heh. I found Wish boring, and Chobbits very annoying as well. Hmmm I guess that's my answer that I should at least try rereading it.

[avianthropy.livejournal.com]

why is it Magic Knight instead of Magic Knights, since there are three?

The name Rayearth appears in the manga at a later point as belonging in a sort of indirect way to one of them in particular. Some fans do call it "Magic Knights Rayearth," though, I assume because all three share the spotlight as main character most of the time. Or because they dislike the one it refers to and don't want to admit that CLAMP meant for her to be the main main character. /bitter grudge against old-school MKR fandom.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Wh-what? They don't like Hikaru? *sulks* But she is so cute! And surprisingly unannoying! (Fuu is my favorite so far, but I have no issues with her not being the main character!)

So far, it seems fairly well divided between the three, with a slight emphasis on Hikaru.

I actually spent years thinking it was Magic Knights Rayearth, and didn't realize it wasn't until I actually sat down to read the first volume and noticed.

[amewarashi.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I didn't like Hikaru but, to be fair, I have a pretty low tolerance to the cutesy genki archetype of CLAMP female (and androgynous) leads. It's not because of what they do but because that type of character just tends to rub me the wrong way. I can count the amount of genki girls I like with my two hands, and most of them aren't even CLAMP characters. But that's me and my preferences...

Disclaimer because I know I'll be asked: I do like CCS!Sakura and she's cute, but she's far from my list of top favorite characters in that series.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I don't really dislike any specific character types. There are several character traits and tropes that I normally dislike, but those are generally found more in certain kinds of male characters. Even then, it isn't universal, but more the fact that narratives tend to rely on those tropes and traits to make the characters "complex" and "interesting," resulting in what feels like an extremely shallow character to me. Naturally, those are also often the insanely popular characters.

Then again, if I dislike the female characters, I tend to just not bother with something anymore, and then realize later that that's why. (Despite how this LJ sometimes seems, I don't like every female character ever. I just don't stick with things where I don't.)

[avianthropy.livejournal.com]

The MKR fandom seemed to subscribe to the "you must love one and hate the other" mindset. (Except that since there are three, it was "love one, hate another, be neutral on the third.") And Hikaru was the one most likely to get the "hate" slot for some reason I could never understand.

That was years ago, though. It might be better now. Hopefully.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Seems to be fandom's usual approach to characters. Female ones, at least. (Males are to be universally loved and praised.) I look at it about the same as I do the mindset where most females are hated/tolerated/disliked/dismissed/don't-have-time-for, but praise is expected for liking one or two.

I suspect it's Hikaru's character type. I think Miaka (the extreme of the character type) kind of makes people automatically be harder on the character type.

[amewarashi.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, I don't really remember Ferio in Tsubasa :/ There's a whole load of MKR cameos, but I don't recall seeing him at all.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just his scars? I'm thinking the nose scar and "x" are both pretty common.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

why is it Magic Knight instead of Magic Knights, since there are three?

Over-literal translation/localization, perhaps? My understanding is that there's no plural noun form in Japanese, so that could be taking the title directly from the original...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's explained somewhere in the comments. Apparently only one is "The" knight. The knights in general vs the Speshul knight. (Which I actually was pretty much assuming, but didn't want to assume too much.)

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Hey, why is it Magic Knight instead of Magic Knights, since there are three?

Only one is real. The other two are split personalities.