The 2026 reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) gives us some weirdly malicious mining in Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”. Seriously, can you really call it mining anymore when you’re fighting imaginary enemies born from your mind in order to mine that ore? This is the conundrum Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu have on their hands here. While it’s certainly one of the most unrealistic mining ever depicted, it makes for some very nice drama and action for us to enjoy in this episode.
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”: Details in Brief
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons” is the fifth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, and Ep. 4 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. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”: The Good
Mining in real life typically involves a lot of digging, blasting, and other activities that involve extracting the ores you want out of the earth. Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons” shows that mining magical ores is another ballpark entirely. Indeed, Hikaru (voiced by Ayane Sakura (JP)), Umi (voiced by Rumi Okubo (JP)), and Fuu (voiced by Rie Takahashi (JP)) discover that to obtain that magical ore named “escudo”, they have to dive into a magical spring that had its opening be floating in the air as a 2D object when viewed from the side. This is fascinating to me from a conceptual perspective, because it means that this spring is functionally a Stargate lying on its side. It may be a niche thing to notice and it’s nothing that affects the story, but as a Stargate SG-1 fan, that little bit stuck out to me.
The true bit of story gold here is what happens after our heroines enter the pool. The closest I can compare the experience to without going into spoiler territory is that it’s basically a mirror fight. You know, one of those stories where the main character fights a mirrored version of themself? One of the most famous examples of this is when Luke Skywalker fought an illusionary Darth Vader that was revealed to be himself when he cracked open the mask in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons” basically has that happen, with each of the three heroines facing off against something that represents someone they care about. It results in a series of mirror fights that brings quite a bit of drama to the table.
Mirror Fights with Style
It’s not just drama though. E&H Production and TMS Entertainment’s animation teams gives some very high quality animation to the series of mirror fights in Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”. From a torrent of fire from Hikaru, to a watery dragon crashing into enemies from Umi, to barrages of arrows from Fuu, there’s a wide variety of different action scenes that look amazingly fluid thanks to the hard work of those animation teams.
There’s even a beautifully animated scene at the end of this episode where Presea (voiced by Emiri Katō (JP)) is finally able to smith the escudo ore our heroic trio finally acquires. She doesn’t even smith the ore with hammer and anvil the way real life people do. The resulting animation sequence is more akin to a dance than any real life smithing, but that adds to the mystique behind that magical ore. Complete with a fabulous presentation of the final results: swords fit for each of our heroines. We’ll just have to see in future episodes of this 2026 reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth just what these magical swords are capable of.
Magic Knight Rayearth (2026) Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”: The Bad
Alas, while there is much action to be had in Ep. 5 “One-of-a-Kind Weapons”, it makes up a little under half the length of episode. Most viewers will find that action quite satisfying due to the high animation quality of the action as well as how surprisingly violent and bloody they are. However, serious action junkies might find that length of action a bit wanting. If you want more action than even this episode provides, then you might want to look elsewhere.
Anime Recommendations
Fortunately, if you want even more action than the amount of action even in this episode, 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 like more story-focused anime like this, then you might also 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 think of this week’s episode of the 2026 reboot of Magic Knight Rayearth? Tell us your mirrored thoughts in the comments section below.
For more on Anime, make sure to check back to That Hollywood Show.
Reviews