The history of Magic Knight Rayearth
Born in a girls’ magazine in 1993; still being remade in 2026.
Few manga of Rayearth’s size have lived this many lives. CLAMP’s six-volume story became a 49-episode television anime within a year of its debut, a darker OVA three years later, the last Sega Saturn game ever released in North America, and four separate English editions across twenty-five years. In October 2026 it returned again, as a full remake anime for its thirtieth anniversary on television.
The thread through all of it is the ending. Rayearth’s first arc closes by breaking the fairy tale it appeared to be telling, and every adaptation since has had to decide what to do with that break. The television version rewrote it; the OVA replaced the story entirely; the remake exists because the original has never stopped being argued about.
THE FIRST LIFE
1993 to 19971993 · The manga begins
Rayearth starts in the November issue of Nakayoshi, Kodansha’s flagship shōjo magazine, pitched by editor Hideki Yamaguchi as a series that could hold elementary readers and older ones at once.
1994 · Television
The anime, directed by Toshihiro Hirano at Tokyo Movie Shinsha, premieres on October 17, 1994, while the manga is still running. The first collected volume had appeared that July.
1995 · The ending lands
Part I of the manga closes in February; Part II begins in March. In August, Sega releases the Saturn action RPG in Japan, directed by Rieko Kodama.
1996 · The manga ends
Rayearth II concludes in April 1996; the sixth and final volume is published April 23. The television series had ended the previous November, at 49 episodes.
1997 · Two arrivals
Tokyopop licenses the manga in English and serializes it in MixxZine, while in Japan the three-part OVA Rayearth retells the story as a dark fantasy set largely in Tokyo.
THE LONG AFTERLIFE
1998 to today1998 · The last Saturn game
Working Designs ships the Saturn game in North America on December 11, 1998, more than two years late: the final official release for the console in that market.
2011 · The omnibus
Dark Horse, which announced the license at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 for CLAMP’s twentieth anniversary, publishes the series in omnibus editions through 2012.
2017 · The anime on Blu-ray
Discotek Media re-releases the television series on DVD and Blu-ray on January 31, 2017, the first complete high-definition English edition.
2019 · The anniversary hardcovers
Kodansha Comics marks the manga’s twenty-fifth anniversary with two hardcover box sets, three volumes each, completed in December 2020; a paperback edition follows from December 2023.
2024 · A remake is announced
On July 2, 2024, a new anime project is announced for the television series’ thirtieth anniversary.
2026 · The remake airs
The new Magic Knight Rayearth premieres October 7, 2026 on TV Asahi, produced by TMS Entertainment with animation by E&H Production.