Magic Knight Rayearth gives our heroine trio a stroll through some noticeably magical woods in Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”. Fantasy fans will be fully aware of the fact that magical woods are a staple in such stories. What this episode does though is use a trip through the magical woods to help our heroines bond together. All they need is apparently just getting a bit lost together, and then some combat to become closer to one another.
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”: Details in Brief
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat” is the third episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1 and Ep. 2 here) of this isekai sword and sorcery, magical girl, and mecha fantasy adventure anime series. Said anime is the third anime adaptation of the 1993 manga series of the same name by CLAMP (Cardcaptor Sakura, xxxHolic, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle) after the 49-episode Magic Knight Rayearth (1994) and the three-part OVA series (1997).
E&H Production (Ninja Kamui, Red Cat Ramen) is the animation studio responsible for the animation, while TMS Entertainment (Lupin the Third, Detective Conan, Anpanman) is responsible for production. Yui Miura is the director behind the anime, with Shigeru Murakoshi as the writer, Satomi Watanabe as the character designer, and Yuki Kajiura, Takumi Ozawa, and Shiho Terada all collectively composing the music you hear in that anime.
Speaking of that music: the opening theme song for this 2026 reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth is “Otome no Tsurugi” (乙女の剣; ‘A Young Lady’s Sword’) by Toaka. Meanwhile, “Hoshiakari” (星灯; ‘Starlight’) by Yurina Kawaguchi is the ending theme song.
You can watch this modern reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth exclusively on Crunchyroll.
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”: The Good
The trope of the Enchanted Forest is a very old one. At some point in virtually every fantasy story, it will feature a magical forest. That forest may be hostile, benign, or just wildly neutral; but such a forest will appear as surely as the sun will rise. It’s really a matter of how said fantasy story uses that magical forest.
In the case of Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”, this particular story uses their Forest of Silence as a way for our heroine trio of Hikaru (voiced by Ayane Sakura (JP)), Umi (voiced by Rumi Okubo (JP)), and Fuu (voiced by Rie Takahashi (JP)) to bond with each other as they go on a quest to get some magical ore for our local blacksmith Presea (voiced by Emiri Katō (JP)) to smith with.
See, up until this point, our trio haven’t had much time alone to themselves just to interact with each other. They were either interacting with other characters, or they were too busy running or fighting to properly interact. Now though, even though they’re strolling through a magical forest that literally silences all magic, they get a chance to actually converse with one another and figure each other out. It’s a nice and short bit of slice of life as they basically hang out with each other and actually start the process of becoming friends, and along the way, they find out that their personalities are perfectly suited to each other: flaws and all.
Completing this slice of life comedy section of this episode is a single Mokona. It doesn’t really do much but be cute in this episode. However, longtime CLAMP fans will recall that Mokona has some very interesting abilities up its metaphorical sleeve. It makes quite a bit of Umi’s dialogue about Mokona not having camping gear or food quite ironically hilarious for those in the know.
Friendship Through Combat
Ultimately though, even though the slice of life comedy section of Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat” does flesh out our main heroines’ characters, the combat scene in the latter third of this episode is the delicious treat we’ve been waiting for. The premise for the combat is very simple: our heroines encounter a fierce monster that’s a strange combination of dragon and cyclops, and it wants to kill / eat them, so they have to kill it.
However, the fight against the monster itself is the beauty of it. E&H Production and TMS Entertainment’s animation teams clearly put a lot of their budget into the fight scene. The animation for each action is very smooth, indicating a lot of frames put into the scenes. They even gave a lot of attention to our heroines simply retrieving their weapons from whatever pocket dimension space they were in. That particular sequence is highly reminiscent of a magical girl transformation sequence, complete with stylized movements as their weapons come to life out of the girls’ respective elements.
When those weapons see usage is the part where the action takes a surprisingly bloody turn. You would think that this anime would be relatively bloodless with the violence due to it feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon show at times. But no, when the girls inflict wounds on the monster, they gush and spray with the creature’s blood, and there’s a shocking amount of gore when Hikaru literally bisects it down the middle. It’s a delightful surprise for fans of bloody action, and it makes me eager to see more of it in future episodes of Magic Knight Rayearth.
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”: The Bad
Honestly, the only bad part about the combat is how little of it there is in Ep. 3 “All in the Same Boat”. All of the action takes place in the final third of the episode, and a good portion of it is taken up by transformation sequences. It’s sweet, but unfortunately short. It’s a good taste of combat, but it leaves action fans wanting for more. Alas, they will need to wait for future episodes to give them more of that.
Anime Recommendations
Fortunately, if you desire more bloody action and combat, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, May I Ask for One Final Thing?, TRIGUN STARGAZE, Daemons of the Shadow Realm, and / or Kagurabachi. However, if you want some more story-focused anime to chill out with, then you might like Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Hana-Kimi, Journal with Witch, Witch Hat Atelier, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, The Apothecary Diaries, and / or Sasaki and Peeps.
What did you all think of this week’s episode of the 2026 reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth? Tell us your thoughts about magical forests in the comments section below.
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