Summary
Three teenage girls are transported to a fantasy world, summoned to become its saviors: the Legendary Magic Knights. In true “dungeons and dragons” formula, the girls are faced with deadly obstacles from outside and within in their quest to fulfill the expectation and hope.
Review of First Season (20 eps) on 3/26/01
Like “Fushigi Yugi”, I got this series on a hunch. It was also my first exposure to CLAMP. Also like “FY”, I literally had to force myself to watch it at times. (There’s nothing like being stuck in a hotel room on a business trip that will increase your enthusiasm level for such things.)
Apart from the fact that I felt like the series was just a tad too young for my tolerance level, I had very mixed feelings about the main characters. Hikaru was too obviously the heroine that my contradictory nature kicked in “dislike” mode, Fuu was bleah, and Umi…well, I have a comment about her in my Lesbian Analysis section below. That pretty much left Mokona, which I actually liked in its scenes with Umi. But not an overall good state in that I felt every episode as being somewhat predictable and formula, especially having once been a D&D player myself.
However, I will say that the final episode changed my entire opinion for the better. It proved that my jadedness made me underestimate the complexity and depth of the story, which wasn’t made clear until the very end. And I applaud that kind of effort and achievement. Still, it’s not on my personal all time favorites list but I do firmly believe this series earns its right as a place on the list of Shoujo Classics.
Review of Second Season (29 eps) on 7/10/01
Hmm, well after such a good ending with the first season, I felt somewhat let down that the series seem to downgrade into being “too young” for my personal tastes, and some things you could see coming a mile away. I admit it didn’t feel quite as challenging in the sense of feeling like I was forcing myself to watch it (like I had for some parts of first season.)
Although reasonably entertaining, there were some definite slow parts in that I wasn’t interested in the Hikaru/Lantis storyline, which dominated most of the tale. A passive Hikaru is almost as annoying as an overly energetic one. I guess I’ve just accepted the fact that I am NOT a Hikaru fan. The supporting characters (especially Tarta, Tatra and Eagle) and story arcs were far more interesting to me and provided the most entertainment value. Overall, I consider it to be more sophisticated and entertaining than First Season, and as for the entire series as a whole, still a definite Shoujo Classic all the way around.
Too bad I don’t do real guy/guy analysis on this site or I’d have more to say about the series…
Lesbian Analysis
Series 1 Analysis Written 3/26/01
Okay, I admit it’s been a few months since I watched this, and given how much I’ve watched since then, my memories of this series is even more blurred. For the most part, I felt the series was pretty standard (heterosexual) in its portrayal of relationships and activities except for a couple of things I felt I had to comment on.
Hikaru: The all-too obvious heroine of the series, overly cute and glorified much to my personal annoyance.
# I’ve read many sites where Hikari is viewed to be the most “lesbian” of the trio of lead girls. Okay, I do agree she’s quite a tomboy, but she exudes a very young, child-like devotion to anyone she likes, in the same way a dog does (a creature she most identifies with — it’s not just me being insulting.) Do I think she’s a lesbian? I honestly didn’t see anything that rung any romantic bells in her actions. At the very least, I do agree she’s got potential, but then so does everyone in theory.
Umi: One of the other lead girls, originally snobbish and seemingly spoiled.
# Fencing is apparently Umi’s big incentive to get back to modern Tokyo, that’s been stated from the start. However, when she does have the opportunity to momentarily go back and see her friends (who are all frozen in time), she is most affected by the sight of her former (female) fencing captain. So much so that she puts her head on the girl’s chest in an expression of longing. And there’s even a cute flashback where she refuses to use the girl’s name, preferring to call her “Captain.” Needless to say, my immediate response to the whole sequence was “This girl’s got a crush on her captain!”
Series 2 analysis written on 6/17/01
Lesbian Analysis
The first thing I have to say is that I felt like I was watching one big fat soap opera with EVERYONE (except Mokona) having to establish whom they’re in love with — whether it’s a requited situation, unrequited, or exes who still feel for each other. Now, if I were to open up this site to yaoi analysis, then there’s a heck of a lot of material, on top of the heterosexual combinations. As for the lesbians, I personally felt a little frustrated that with as many females there are in the cast, you really have to squint to find anything, and what you find is questionable — Nova is a special case as elaborated below.
My bigger complaint on top of the minimal lesbian content is that some of the pairings REALLY stretch your willingness to suspend disbelief; it’s as if the creators determined no one in the main cast must be spared the romantic entanglements so pair them up with whoever is available. — It’d be as if you took ALL of the people of “Survivor” and determined they MUST date each other, and no other options exist. And that’s just not a sexy or romantic thought no matter how many times you mix and match the pairs.
Nova: Hikaru’s Dark Side — Literally
# At first pass when I think about Nova, I think “Okay, this chick’s the embodiment of the stereotype of Psycho Girlfriend from Hell.” Mind games, obsession and just being downright scary in a dangerous way — and it’s all for Hikaru.
# And whenever she has the opportunity to get within touching distance with our little Hikaru, her hands are doing things that aren’t exactly platonic, which a dazed Hikaru doesn’t respond to or stop.
# Now, the second big thing I think of is that she’s clearly stated that she feels the opposite of everything Hikaru does. She hates Lantis, Umi and Fuu because Hikaru loves them, and she loves Hikaru because Hikaru hates herself. True, she was coached into this opposing mentality by Lady Debonair, but she was originally primed for the plucking by feeling abandoned when Hikaru went back to Earth.
# All ends happily when she merges with Hikaru, and they become one again.
# Even though Hikaru being seriously wigged out by her throughout most of the series, I do think it’s interesting that the opening credits for the US release have them share a mutual kiss.
# So, the big question is: Do I consider Nova to be a bona fide lesbian? Well, the first thing I have to address is whether or not I even consider her to be an individual in her own right, and I don’t. She is a subset of Hikaru’s personality, not an individual with her own independent history and thought process. She is not free to make her own romantic choices or to get into a relationship with ANYONE, and she’s not meant to. And I’m not willing to lower my standards for what I consider to be true romance and love between women to think of Nova as an independent character or that her actions really qualify.
Hikaru: She’s already been introduced above.
# I think we can pretty much scratch her off the lesbian list since the entire second storyline focuses on her falling in love with brooding good guy Lantis.
# The final note I would add about Hikaru though is that Nova IS a subset of her personality and soul, and if Nova has potentially lesbian thoughts and actions, then that means it’s there for Hikaru. So Lantis better be on his best behavior and not let his guard down.
Umi: Ditto above.
# Okay, can I vent here: Umi and CLEF???!!! Where the hell did THAT come from?! She has more chemistry with Mokona, and at least Mokona went up her skirt! So that fact, if taken seriously (which I guess we HAVE to) does at least put her in the bisexual range.
# As an independent note, the former boy magician Ascot being in love with her does not qualify as making her heterosexual because it’s not mutual.
# And speaking of chemistry, the biggest sparks came between her and Tarta. Now, I realize that the Chizeta sisters were supposed to be parallel characters with Umi and Fuu, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be chemistry. Although I don’t think I’m willing to take the full leap and declare it’s romantic chemistry, but it’s definitely a mutually feeding interaction — and a strong one at that — which neither character has with anyone else.
# Umi does resolve the issue with Tarta by being excited about the possibility of becoming “friends” but I do think if they were open to lesbian possibilities and were allowed to spend more time together, it wouldn’t be much of a leap.
# I do think it’s quite telling that Umi spends her entire time being freaked out the Chizeta Princess’s Djinn by claiming how she can’t stand macho types. (This is actually a little odd given that the Djinn were mostly dancing during this time, which is decidedly as unmacho as you can get — especially with their moves.) In fact, if you think about it, her reaction was quite homophobic — which anyone with any amount of exposure and experience with such matters know that homophobia is usually caused by ignorance on homosexuality and/or issues with self-acceptance. Hmmm….
Tarta: Younger, hotheaded Princess of Chizeta
# Has a mirror personality to Umi, thus the sparks fly. (And yes, I’ve chosen that word for completely open interpretation.)
# Actually does view her male djinn guardian spirits as handsome, at which her sister teases her that it’s probably because they would look like her future (meaning not currently existing) husband. So this leaves bisexual or heterosexual options left.
# It’s clear that her feelings start to soften for Umi through out the course of the storyline, from immediate disdain to actually saving Umi’s life when she didn’t need to.
# Umi excitedly clasped her hands and says right into her face how great it is that they could become friends. Tarta blushes in response, which I think is an odd reaction if Tarta’s feelings were only “innocently” friendly.
# Can’t manage little children. That’s not an indication of her orientation so much as how butch she is.