Search - Magic Knight Rayearth 2: TV Series Season Two on DVD

Concluding the story...

Mylene McBride | Indiana, USA | 10/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This box set contains the entire second season of Magic Knight Rayearth in a nice, inexpensive package. I will review the packaging, the quality of the DVDs, and most importantly, the show itself.

First off, the show. The second season has a completely different feel from the first. The dark turn that was taken at the end of the first season continues and increases as one goes through the second season. Cephiro is still in great danger, and it's up to the Magic Knights and their Mashin (Rune Gods) to try once more to finish saving the world they've grown to love.
Many new characters, worlds, and challenges are introduced in this season, and all of your old favorites return...with a few surprises, of course.

I personally had difficulty with the change of gears from season one to season two. The first time I saw it, I hated it. However, after a second viewing, I've come to realize that while I liked the atmosphere of the first season better with the lighthearted interaction between the girls, the second season a bit deeper and complete. The questions that arise from the first season, particularly about the position of the pillar are for the most part in explained in the second season. Plus, the Magic Knights continue to learn and grow. Although, I did dislike the extreme focus on Hikaru, no matter how necessary it actually was.

The quality of the DVDs is a little bit questionable. I have only viewed the Japanese language version with English subtitles, so I can only comment upon it. The subtitles during the opening and ending sequences are a little bit blurry, and the title screen for each episode looks very choppy as well. Plus, there seems to often be some mis-timing when moving from the summary at the beginning of each episode to the episode title screen, as well as there being an odd jump during eyecatches in the middle of the episodes. This isn't always the case, but it did happen several times. There are also many typoes in the subtitles throughout the season. If there was one or two, it would be easy to look past. But I know I saw at least a dozen. And I didn't have that problem when watching the first season Economy Box. A little more time and effort should have been put into the subtitling and timing of the second season DVDs.

The boxset itself is built a bit better than the first Economy Box. The packaging features a nice little piece of art, not a difficult challenge when one is working with art from such a beautiful series. And this time, the disks do not overlap. That means the box is much bigger (about twice the size of the first), but you don't have to worry about the disks getting messed up when you're taking them out and putting them in as you did with the first Economy box.

Overall, if you're a fan of Magic Knight Rayearth, this really is a great buy. The second season is different, but if you realize that from the outset, you will likely enjoy it, if only because you will see your favorite characters once again. There may be a few problems with subtitle quality, but not enough that it should detract from your viewing pleasure. This is truly a great budget alternative to buying the DVDs individually or purchasing the more expensive original boxsets. You don't get all the fancy extras (there is no episode guide, etc), but you still get what is important: all 29 episodes of the second season for a reasonable price."