Forum - View topicWhy was Magic Knight Rayearth overshadowed by Cardcaptor Sakura in terms of popularity?
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mgree0032
Posts: 242 |
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Magic Knight Rayearth is still one of Clamp’s biggest hits in Japan and the anime and ova was super popular there, yet it never gain popularity in the states. While its predecessor Cardcaptor Sakura, it overshadowed Magic Knight Rayearth in popularity. How did Magic Knight Rayearth faded into obscurity while Cardcaptor Sakura popularity still remains and why?
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2015 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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Isn't this just a case of availability? Cardcaptors aired on TV through KidsWB in the US so many kids spent their Saturday mornings watching it (myself included). Whereas Magic Knight Rayearth didn't get a TV release in the US IIRC. TV releases usually popularizes shows more whereas VHS distribution, which was the case for Magic Knight Rayearth, became more niche as we got out of the 90s and moved onward.
Also, I don't know much about the CLAMPverse but I'd suspect Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles probably played some bit in making some characters last longer. Someone more knowledgeable can add onto this. |
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mgree0032
Posts: 242 |
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Funny is that Toonami was about to air Rayearth but Fox Kids snatched it first. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9854 Location: Virginia |
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I'm not sure how you determined the relative popularity of the shows in Japan and the US but I'll take it as a given. I think I can provide some insight.
To begin with, Magic Knight Rayearth was the predecessor, that is the earlier, show. The manga started in 1993 with the TV version the following year. Card Captor Sakura manga first appeared in 1996 with the TV version in 1998. It was released in the US in 2000. When MKR first appeared anime fandom it the US was still working with fan subs and limited releases. By the time CCS showed up anime was beginning to show on TV and the fandom was not limited to die hard fans. In spite of the hack job done to make Cardcaptors, it did show on TV getting a lot of attention. The controversy about the butchering of the show also attracted a lot of people outside its normal audience. MKR was short with its real climax at the end of the first season (20 episodes). Its ending was a bit "interesting" The second season was sorta meh coming across as filler. CCS ran a full 70 episodes arriving at a happy ending. It took time to fill out its characters. MKR takes place in a fantasy world and requires some familiarity with RPGs. The characters outside the trio of heroes are mostly cartoony and flat. CCS takes place in modern times and involves relatable characters. It takes time to fill out a lot of the side stories. The cute sidekick character and the multiple costume changes appealed directly to it core audience of pre and early teen girls. Having read both manga series and watched both anime, I would say that Card Captor Sakura is simply the better show. But that is just an opinion, your milage may vary. Last edited by Alan45 on Mon May 13, 2024 5:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6532 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I'll suggest 2 other reasons.
1. As a director, Toshiki Hirano (Magic Knight Rayearth, the Iczer franchise, the Vampire Princess Miyu franchise, the Dangaioh franchise) isn't in the same class as Morio Asaka (Cardcaptor Sakura franchise, the first, and by far the best, season of Gunslinger Girl, the Chihayafuru franchise, Chobits) There's something shlocky about Hirano's direction - he's good at creating an atmosphere and a style that's fashionable for the time but the stuff I've seen, including Rayearth, seems shallow and disposable. It hasn't aged well. Miyu has aged the best of them, mainly because style over substance works well with that franchise. Morio Asaka is one of anime's great directors. He's sensitive to his material, so the direction is always appropriate and each franchise feels very different. He really gets into the substance of what his source material has to offer so that his characters and the story telling are are far more compelling. Even though the designs do betray the decades in which they were made, the stories still remain interesting. So, while the opening episode of Rayearth was intriguing, by the time Sakura roller-skates down the cherry tree-lined street in the first episode of Cardcaptor, I was spellbound. It really is, well, magical. Reason 2 follows from reason 1. Hikaru Shidou is a far less appealing character than Sakura Kinomoto; likewise Mokona is an eyesore while Kero is fun. In fact, none of the characters in Rayearth have stuck in my memory the way even secondary characters from Sakura like Tomoya, Shaoran and Meilin have. TLDR Magic Knight Rayearth faded into obscurity while Cardcaptor Sakura's popularity still remains because the latter is better. (Edit: I drafted and posted this without seeing Alan45's post.) |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1866 |
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I think it's kind of funny that because one got uber popular with kids from airing on Kids WB and the other stayed obscure and basically only got released on home video here, Cardcaptor Sakura to this day hasn't gotten an uncut English Dub, while Rayearth has one with a lot of fun 90s dubisms.
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NJ_
 Posts: 3015 Location: Wallington, NJ |
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Meanwhile it's popularity was the opposite on video back then after Nelvana sabotaged the Pioneer subbed releases over the episode with spoiler[Sakura's great-grandfather]. Magic Knight Rayearth got a lot of DVD releases here including two that used the R2 DVDs as sources (a real "remaster", not what they did with Berserk and edited Kite at that time) plus there was also the Saturn video game that got localized. |
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