New Magic Knight Rayearth Anime Slated for 2026, Gets Key Visual

Publisher Kodansha provides the following plot summary for the manga: “While on a field trip to Tokyo Tower, three teenage girls cross a magical portal and are transported to another world called Cefiro. There they are summoned through the last remaining strength of the Princess Emeraude, who believes the trio will become the magic knights who will save her, as prophesied by legend.”

As you can see from the description, the series predates the ongoing isekai fad, where characters are transported to another world. What that description doesn’t include, though, is that Rayearth is also sort of a mecha show; its heroines control the Rune Gods, giant knightly robots. It’s pretty neat.

Details on the remake are a bit scarce at the moment, as we don’t know the animation studio attached, its staff, or its voice actors. Beyond this, the new series admittedly has a bit of an uphill battle as the original anime is well-remembered for its iconic late ‘90s visual style—for instance, while the key visual above tries to replicate the characters’ facial proportions, its clean digital look is quite different from the cell-animated look of the old show.

Still, hopefully, the new series will find benefits from its more modern presentation, and if all goes well, it may even remind viewers of a time when isekai series didn’t stink (shout out to all the A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court fans out there).