The Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Magic Knight Rayearth

Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, girls from separate schools, find themselves linked together as they fall through the floor during a field trip to the Tokyo Tower. They land in a place called Cephiro, where their will controls what happens. They meet with Guru Clef and find out that they were summoned to save Princess Emeraude, whom High Priest Zagato has imprisoned. They learn magic and acquire weapons on their quest to save Cephiro from the evils of Zagato.

Magic Knight Rayearth is based on the manga series by CLAMP. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

I was just saying with my preview of From Far Away that it really does feel 90s isekai anime just hit different than the generic mush we're forced to put up with these days, and the return of Magic Knight Rayearth just seals the deal. We've got that inimitable CLAMP art-style. We've got a vibrant and colorful fantasy setting that actually inspires mystery and wonder. We've got a trio of likeable heroines whose personalities go beyond the one-word gimmick that is allotted to every poor waifu who has ever been stuck in the harem of some anonymous salaryman tax auditor who got reborn into an RPG so he can do even more taxes. If watching From Far Away felt like discovering a small but beautiful oasis in the middle of a vast desert of slop, then Magic Knight Rayearth is like a blessing of mana that has fallen straight from the heavens to nourish our bodies and souls.

I don't know if it can be understated how important the presence of a clear, relatable, and sympathetic goal is to a story like this. Aside from the endless routine of blatantly and shamelessly recycling of ideas that were never very interesting to begin with, I think the single most obnoxious element of modern fantasy isekai is the omnipresence of the stupid “reincarnation” trope. It's a cheap and lazy way to get out of coming up with an interesting backstory or complex personality for the blank-slate self-insert character, to the point where a lot of modern shows could completely excise the element with zero consequence, and none of them ever do because they are written by cowards. Like many of the isekai heroines of old, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are snatched away from their everyday lives and whisked away to a strange and dangerous magical world to fulfill their magical destinities. They have friends and loved ones who will miss them; they have hopes and dreams left to fulfill. They have distinguishable personalities that clash sometimes but also make for a good team when the going gets tough. They are understandably freaked out about the whole situation and respond with recognizably human emotions. They want to go home. We, the audience, would also probably want to go home if we were in their shoes, and that makes us empathize with and root for the protagonists. These are the fundamentals that any Writing 101 class would teach in its very first unit, but alas, so many modern authors seem to have skipped those particular lessons.

CLAMP is a coalition of incredibly talented and seasoned professionals, though, so they knew the score all the way back in 1993. Here in 2026, Magic Knight Rayearth is back to school all of these newfangled light novel adaptations by running circles around almost all of them in terms of charm, depth, and artistic presentation. If the audience is guaranteed to take anything away from this first episode, it's that Rayearth is just so darned vibrant and appealing to the eyes. Some may bristle at the more exaggerated details, like how everyone has Slenderman proportions and eyes that are so huge that they cannot even be confined within the bounds of the characters' skulls, but that is simply an incorrect opinion to have about CLAMP's signature style. E&H production might be known for founder Sunghoo Park's more kinetic and gritty sensibilities, but I'm very impressed with how they've adapted to bring the Rayearth into the 21st-century with its identity completely intact. Seriously, just take a look at the premiere of the original series and marvel at how clean and crisp this new adaptation is in comparison. This is easily one of the season's standout premieres, and a must watch for fans old and new alike.

Is it the nostalgia talking? Maybe. Magic Knight Rayearth, while not my favorite CLAMP series (that would be Clover), hails from my favorite period for their art, and it was a formative piece of my manga-reading experience. I also loved the old anime, and my poor parents were, um, serenaded with my sisters and me belting out the dub theme songs for probably literal years. In fact, when the old opener played over the end credits, I gleefully sang along with the English dub lyrics, which I still know in their entirety. (I can still sing the El Hazard dub ending theme, too. My brain amazes me.) So yes, I very much have a horse in this race, and her name is Nostalgia.

But even without that history, this looks good. As much as I loved the original anime series, it didn't capture the look of the manga's color art, and this absolutely does. From glossy, jewel-bright eyes to the exquisite layering of Emeraude's eyelashes and the insane point of everyone else's, this is gorgeous in the way only 90s CLAMP art is. Of course, fidelity to the manga is a bit of a double-edged sword – there are plenty of “silly” scenes where the characters are drawn in chibi form to show that things are less serious or that we're meant to laugh, and that can be distracting. It makes for a tonal shift that isn't entirely comfortable – one minute we've got Clef expounding on the lore and magic system of Cefiro, and the next Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are bouncing around as cherubic little SD characters cracking jokes. If you've read the entire manga, you'll know this is likely deliberate misdirection, but it's also a storytelling style that's largely fallen out of fashion.

The pacing is also closely tied to the source manga, which means it moves relatively quickly. The original series is only three volumes long, with a three-volume follow-up, and its pace is brisk. While it works, it may also feel like it's skimming over information or plot points in its rush to get somewhere. Again, not untrue, but striking given how pacing more commonly works today. It's hard to worry about Guru Clef meeting up with Alcyone, one of Zagato's henchmen, when we barely know him. Hikaru may be all in on saving Princess Emeraude, but should she be? The woman summoned her away from home with the full knowledge that she might not be able to get back. Maybe it's desperation, but it could be something else the girls, living in 1993 before the isekai boom, might not be thinking of.

If you're a fan of the manga, definitely watch this. If you're not, watch it anyway. It runs like something from a bygone anime age, but it's beautiful and if it continues to stick faithfully to the manga, it will be worth it.

Welp, you had a good run dude-bro anime fans, but I think isekai is for the girlies again! CLAMP's acclaimed Magic Knight Rayearth is back, and this remake simultaneously feels like a return to form and a breath of fresh air. While I could poke a few small holes in this premiere—like the gags showing the story's age in spots or the set up feeling a little old hat in 2026—It's important to consider that CLAMP invented and/or perfected many of the story beats we now consider staples of the isekai sub-genre. I'm more than happy to suppress my nitpicks in favor of celebrating a show that more than lives up to the anticipation surrounding it!

Beginning with the color-coded trio of Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu being transported into a fantasy world on the brink of ruin, this is Magic Knight Rayearth's set up episode. It focuses on establishing the characters and lore of the world rather than immediately making the audience insert characters all-powerful like so many “modern” isekai. Hikaru is rough and tumble tomboy with a heart of gold, Umi is clearly brilliant but high strung, and Fuu is a delightful and well-meaning ditz who I would die for. The trio's immediate chemistry is a testament to CLAMP's well-known character writing—and the introduction of the informative straight man Clef both gives them someone to bounce off of and push the plot forward.

The visuals of this new Rayearth anime are also better than I could have hoped for! A lot of shojo media aren't well suited to common styles in digital animation, but the relatively new E&H production has seemingly found a middle ground between the exaggerated features of the original, iconic, character designs and the more streamlined style common in anime today. For as eager as I am to experience Rayearth unfolding as a complete narrative rather than the chunks of random episodes I was able to catch as a kid, I'm just as excited to see how this world is brought to life all over again with modern affordances and learnings!

Also, considering this is Rayearth, one of the most celebrated pieces of shojo media in the world. I don't really know if there's anything I can say about this work that hasn't already been said or adjust the mindset of the many people who are already planning on watching it. At the very least, this is a rock solid premiere and seems to be setting up what's sure to be a take on the series that will delight both longtime fans and newcomers. If you're reading this, you should go watch this show!