魔法騎士レイアース | Magic Knights Rayearth | Week 2 (Sept 22-28)

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Week 2

Start date: Sept 22nd

Reading:

Week Start date Page numbers Page count
2 Sept 22 68-136 68

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Hey y’all, sorry for the delay in getting this thread up! I was sick the past few days and completely forgot!

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Hope you’re feeling better!

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Less boring than last week. Still not 100% sold, but at least it’s going somewhere. Also I like the モコナ in ツバサ/xxxHolic more, even if this is where they originate from.

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Done this week as well. I had to laugh when (week 2 spoilers)クレフ commented on their lack of armor, then bestowed them a single pauldron and a couple of accessories. :stuck_out_tongue:

アルシーネ got knocked out super early; I’m wondering if she’s going to show up again, extra crispy, just as the girls get their weapons/魔法騎士 and they’ll have a real fight?

モコナ is super cute. :3 I like the creature designs in general so far.

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That was so ridiculous also, why is girls’ fantasy armor always like this. I get it’s magical fantasy armor or w/e, but like that’s not gonna protect them…

Yeah these have been great!

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I was so caught off guard when that happened that I had to go back and forth between the pages to spot the difference. Like he really just gave them boots, gauntlets, and an asymmetrical pauldron. Now you’re ready to fight! lol.

As for week 2, I am still enjoying it. It feels like the part of a game where you get introduced to a new threat and are forced to leave the starting area. It does have me questioning the overall pacing though because this series is only a few volumes.

The language has been easy enough for me to understand. I do get a little bit confused about how to approach the fantasy words that mismatch kanji and furigana. But I usually understand the context and I’m just reading for fun so not worried about it.

The highlight for me is still the artwork and the character designs.

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What’s your confusion with the fantasy words exactly? Pronunciation? If so, the furigana is what the characters say, but the kanji is what they mean

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Confusion probably wasn’t good word choice since I usually understand the context. It’s more of a personal decision on how lazy I am with lookups.

I might know what the kanji means and I can read the furigana, but I might not know/remember the actual reading of the compund kanji. They provided the alternate reading and I comprehend what’s going on, so I feel like I have all the pieces I need to just continue with the story? If this story was being told in an audio format I wouldn’t necessarily need to know the difference…

It’s fairly situational for me and I think it just takes some getting used to this style.

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Ahh I see. I almost never care what the compound reading would be, if it has furigana… though that gets kinda weird with audio books, when they only give you one (usually the compound reading)

Also if they’re like fantasy attacks, I straight up don’t care what they’re, unless they’re being repeated, or it seems like there’s some special info being conveyed.

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I guess the only commentary I have for this week is アルシオーネ lived, served cunt, then got blown up. They hate to see a bad bitch winning!

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Finally caught up with last week.
After week 1 I had wanted to read more, so I skipped last week to have two weeks to read together. Not the move, lol. I probably just have too much I’m reading right now, but like, I’m not going to drop anything, are you nuts?!

It’s funny what I do and don’t remember from when I read this before. I also think I saw about half of the anime at some point so maybe not everything is the same across both. I especially did not remember プレセア dancing around in a war bonnet. That was not my favorite part of this week…

I absolutely adore Mokona and I will not have him? her? them? (プレセア mostly just says この子 iirc) maligned @暁のルナ :joy:

One of the things that I always liked about this series is it’s kinda deconstruction and irreverence of the fantasy/RPG genre in the side comments. It takes itself very serious, and then 海 makes some snide comment outside of a text bubble. It’s interesting that this is one of the first Isekai series and it’s already over it :sweat_smile:

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:handshake:

Time for Moko fan club meetings where we just pet him.

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Acc to the fandom page (spoilers, click at your own risk), Mokona in Rayearth is male. However in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, they’re both genderless.

Anyway, nothing against this Mokona - I just prefer the Tsubasa ones.

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Not much to say for this week except I found it ironic how they complained about アルシオーネ being too tough for their first battle and then of course she gets one shotted :joy: Couldn’t tell if she and the horse just disintegrated or if she somehow got away but I feel like it would be a waste of her character design if they didn’t eventually bring her back XD

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I think it may be a similiar reasoning to sailor moon, where the girls wear sailor uniforms which is a common school uniform, so it’s relatable to the average young girl who are watching the show. In this case the characters are basically still wearing their regular uniforms too.
I didn’t hear a similiar reasoning coming from CLAMP or anything though, just guessing.

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At least they keep their clothes on. I’m willing to forgive fantasy armor if it doesn’t make female characters randomly naked. :expressionless:

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I’m sure that’s totally it, but like it’s the same in adult fantasy too - English or Japanese for the most part, I can’t think of many stories where that isn’t the case.

崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせたい! 1 1 | L25 is one tho

@shitsurei yes! This is better than many other cases, for sure

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Oh I’m not denying there is sexualization in play in female armor designs at all at large, but I didn’t really feel that in this specific case. I think the villain ladys “armor” design might warrant that criticism more within this manga than the leads :smiling_face_with_tear:

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Sure. I wasn’t necessarily saying that it was sexualization in the first place - just unrealistic. Guys aren’t immune to unrealistic armor either tho, to be fair.

I’ve totally forgotten what anyone else was wearing, so no comment on villain lady

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