OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Rayearth

Magic Knight Rayearth was CLAMP's beginning blockbuster as a manga and a 2-season anime TV series. It was also one of the original isekai titles taking people from the real world to something out of an RPG. In 1997, a 3-episode OVA series remake came out titled just Rayearth which altered the original story where instead of people going to another world, the other world comes to Earth and tries to take it over. CLAMP had little to do with this version of their creation that was made public in English by Manga Entertainment and featured a completely different dubbing crew than what Media Blasters did for the TV show. The quality of the animation is evidently better as TMS Entertainment took over total manufacturing of this project.

This rendition of Rayearth has older versions of Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi all about to graduate from the same high school and go their separate ways. A strange bunny-like marshmallow creature shows up to indicate that things have gotten weird as people from the magical world of Cephiro begin to slowly creep into downtown Tokyo merging their world with ours. The three girls each get their own deity to counter the invading sorcerers and they have to learn how to use their newfound bonds and all the fabulous secret powers they unlock. In this remake, Eagle Vision is Princess Emerude's brother and leading the charge on this interdimensional incursion, also Lantis is introduced earlier into the story. The OVA fold out in a way reflective of CLAMP's other hit title X/1999, except this time it's the Magic Knights versus the Cephiro warriors instead of different factions of psychics fighting for the fate of the world, although they still work in a giant robot battle in the end.

Rayearth was one of the first of a chain of productions like Utena and Escaflowne that instead of continuing the previous TV series it was completely reworked for a new audience. In this case, the new interpretation just uproots the original characters and puts them in a downright contrasting scenario. It's like looking at the Kingdom Hearts take on Final Fantasy characters and seeing how they might fit into a Disney movie, for all the good that doesn't do as it jettisons the charm and humor of the TV show and makes it just an extra superhero wannabe clone.