Magic Knight Rayearth OVA, I caught Salamence (FINALLY), career thoughts, etc.

Last night, I was bored and so on a whim I decided to search out a place to watch some anime, and decided on the OVA (Original Video Animation) for Magic Knight Rayearth, one of my favorite anime series. It consists of 3 episodes and was released independently of the Magic Knight Rayearth manga and TV series. I found a site where you could stream it, and sat back to watch.

The OVA was certainly interesting. Its characters are all part of the existing MKR canon, but the setting and story are different. In the OVA, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu already know each other and even go to the same school. Hikaru is no longer a kendo practicer and is instead head of the gymnastics club. Umi is the captain of some team, as in the original anime, but not fencing -- tennis this time. Fuu plays the piano. They all look slightly different too artistically -- well and also they are older; in the OVA they are a week away from graduating junior high, and junior high ends with 9th grade in Japan. In the main series they were all in 8th grade (and Hikaru was considerably shorter; in the OVA she's as tall as Umi and Fuu).

The storyline is that Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu made a promise under a certain cherry tree at the school that they would be friends forever. The cherry tree is said to have a fairy in it that will grant wishes it hears made under its tree. However, now that they are graduating, they are going to be separated -- Umi is going to a school somewhere else in Japan, and Fuu's father is being transferred to some other country for work. Hikaru, saddened by this, goes to stand under the cherry tree, and a creature (Mokona from the main series) falls out of the tree. Hikaru is excited that the cherry blossom fairy is real, but when she tells Umi and Fuu, they don't believe her.

Meanwhile, as these girls have their problems, a greater problem is on the way. Emeraude (the same Emeraude of Cephiro from the series, except here she resembles the older-looking "evil Emeraude" form she took on after the girls killed Zagato) is lost in a dream-like state of a time when her love, Zagato, was still alive. For whatever reason, just like in the original series, they can't be together (I think the reason in the OVA is that humans and spirits couldn't be together romantically; meaning one of them was a spirit). Zagato was killed as part of a ritual to save Cephiro, which is in peril because the number of its protective spirits has declined over time, causing the land to become a rocky wasteland. Anyway, Emeraude has made some wish which involves moving her castle to modern-day Tokyo, an act which will ultimately destroy our world. Her brother, Eagle (probably based on Eagle Vision of Autozam from season 2), is the primary person ensuring that Emeraude's wish is fulfilled. Meanwhile, great sorcerers of Cephiro have gathered in Tokyo for some sort of "divine test": Alycone (remember her? Zagato's ice-using minion?), Ascot (that little kid beast-summoner), and even Ferio (who in the OVA is apparently not Emeraude's brother). They all use animal "familiars" - Alycone has a cat that resembles an evil-looking, black-colored Glameow; Ascot has some beast of sorts (I think); and Ferio has an army of mechanized-looking insects. All three of them can turn these familiars into huge mechas called "deities." Ascot's looks like a lobster for some reason. Ferio's is insect-like, and I can't remember what Alycone's looks like but it's pretty scary and powerful.

So anyway, the only people who can stop these invaders are, apparently, those who inherit the "orbs" that will awaken the three Mashin (or "gods") that sleep within the Earth, and -- true to the original -- Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are these people. Once again, they are helped by Clef, who is one of the few Cephiro residents actually opposing the invasion. Clef is significantly more older-looking in the OVA, though his general design (and even his magic staff) are pretty much the same. Also joining the resistance is Lantis, Zagato's brother. He actually has a spirit familiar too (some sort of dog or wolf, I believe) and he's also the best swordsman in Cephiro. He comes to Hikaru's rescue after she gets knocked unconscious after the fight with Alycone, and later, with the help of Ferio, assists the girls in the end.

The Mashin are similar to the TV series but are designed very differently, almost like EVAs but with animal attributes. They also are located on Earth instead of in Cephiro for some reason. Umi and Fuu's Mashin keep their original names, Selece and Windam. Hikaru's, on the other hand, is now named Lexus instead of Rayearth (maybe because the Earth in the OVA is now called RayEarth they didn't want to make things confusing by calling the Mashin Rayearth). The name "Lexus" may have to do the "car name" theme with character names in the series, since all the characters in MKR, except for Mokona and the three Magic Knights (Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu) are apparently named for cars.

Anyway, similar to the end of season 1 of the anime, the girls end up having to join together to fight the final boss (Zagato's "deity," which he can apparently control despite the fact that he's dead) but here this involves actually combining the three Mashin into one super-Mashin and doing a spell called Helix of Light. Oh and each girl has one spell only -- the rest of the fighting is hand-in-hand combat, much like the EVA-Angel fights in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hikaru's is Flame Arrow, Umi's is Water Dragon, and Fuu's is Emerald Gale.

However, in the end, they still go their separate ways, so whether Hikaru's wish that they stay together actually comes true is uncertain.

Oh and Clef apparently uses some spell to trap all the other people on Earth in a time warp to protect them, and this makes the girls somewhat mad at him. Also Clef's health suffers because of his act, suggesting that it is something he should not have done.

Curiously enough, only the neighborhoods where we see fighting take place (Roppongi and one other neighborhood) actually are damaged, as we see in a news report at the end, meaning that despite the arrival of the castle, the entire Earth was not destroyed.

~~~

So anyway today I took a break from cleaning my room to play Pokémon Ranger while listening to Mugglecast at the same time. I was sitting down in my desk chair, cleaning off my desk, because I had suddenly had this awful back spasm again that I had last week when we went to shop for glasses, where it makes it hard to walk or bend down. (Mum said tonight that it could because I'm overweight, and that kind of talk always depresses me). Anyway, I was still trying to beat the stupid trial in the Jungle Relic where you have to capture Salamence at the end. And today, I DID IT. Yay!!! Basically what I did was seize an opportunity where I could draw circles around it, and started drawing circles crazy fast (since you need 21 circles to capture Salamence). And before I knew it, I had caught it. Yesss!!

After you capture Salamence (or Flygon or Kingdra), the 4th challenge becomes available, where you have to chase around and then capture a Charizard. Charizard doesn't take as many circles as Salamence (I think it takes like 12 to capture it) but while you try to capture it, these little flames appear on the ground which can hurt your Capture Line. So I failed in my first attempt, and so I'll have to try again.

I am thinking about careers again. I found and pulled out all my career assessment results from my Intro to Career Planning class, and I was just looking them over right now. I'm kind of too tired to analyze them though.

I just got an e-mail today saying I could start enrolling for Spring. But I need to get my MMR booster first, I know, so I don't have an immunization hold on my record. It's been hard to work it into my schedule. I'll probably have to make an appointment, cause their clinic times don't work with when I'll be free at school tomorrow. I guess I could make an appointment either today or tomorrow, assuming my work schedule will stay the same as usual (it hasn't changed yet).

Well there's not really anything else to say. Good night!