Editing Magic Knight Rayearth (section)

==Development==
During the celebration of the publication of the ''Soryuden'' novels, which Clamp had illustrated, the group was asked by Hideki Yamaguchi, editor for the Japanese ''[[Shōjo manga|shōjo]]'' (targeted towards girls) [[List of manga magazines|manga magazine]] ''[[Nakayoshi]]'', to do a series for the magazine.<ref name="Kiseki"/> The editor-in-chief wanted a story that could appeal to [[Elementary school|elementary]] readers and older, while Clamp wished to bring in younger fans.<ref name="Animerica"/> Without direction from the editors, the group decided on a series combining robots, as they were fond of [[Mecha|robot anime]]; [[role-playing game]]s (RPGs), which saw popularity in Japan at the time; and fantasy, to counterbalance the robots, which they thought alone would be off-putting to their target audience.<ref name="Kiseki">{{cite book|title=Clamp no Kiseki|volume=4|year=2005|publisher=Tokyopop|location=Los Angeles, California|pages=5–6}}</ref> According to Ohkawa, the magazine's success with the [[magical girl]] manga ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' (1991–97) made it possible for the group to pitch a [[Serial (literature)|serial]] with robots to its editors.<ref name="Animerica">{{cite book|chapter=Nanase Ohkawa|author=Oshiguchi, Takashi|editor=Trish Ledoux|title=Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica, Anime Manga Monthly (1992–97)|year=1997|location=San Francisco, California|publisher=Cadence Books|pages=172–81|isbn=1-56931-220-6}}</ref>

{{quote box
 |quote  = ''Rayearth'' intentionally traces out an RPG world, but I don't consider it an RPG world, myself. You can tell it's not a simple world, the kind where there's a princess, a villain who kidnaps her, and the main character who saves the day and lives happily ever after. Even if the main characters ''thought'' that's the world they got into ...<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Nanase Ohkawa|author=Oshiguchi, Takashi|editor=Trish Ledoux|title=Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica, Anime & Manga Monthly (1992–97)|year=1997|location=San Francisco, California|publisher=Cadence Books|page=179|isbn=1-56931-220-6}}</ref> 
 |source = —writer [[Nanase Ohkawa]]
 |width  = 25%
 |align  = left
}}

A friend of Clamp, illustrator Takeshi Okazaki, created the "Rayearth" part of the title, while Ohkawa thought of the rest.<ref name="Kiseki"/> At that point, Clamp had completed a "basic" idea of the plot.<ref name="Kiseki"/> For the names of the characters, they drew on car names, feeling that they would be interesting and memorable for children, who might otherwise have difficulty learning the names of characters in [[katakana]].<ref name="Kiseki"/><ref name="Animerica"/> The inclusion of giant robots gave the artists some difficulty, as the massive scale of the robots made it impossible to depict the characters and robots in the same frame.<ref name="Kiseki"/> The artists also omitted the cockpit of the robots, to show their faces instead.<ref name="Kiseki"/> Greatly anticipating the ending to the first part of the series, Clamp found the protagonists' initial adventures in Cephiro "really easy" to create.<ref name="Kiseki"/> Ohkawa noted that, had their target audience been older or male, they would have considered stopping the series with the conclusion of part one.<ref name="Kiseki"/> The second part, however, proved difficult for the group to create, as they felt as if they had "written [them]selves into a corner".<ref name="Kiseki"/>

''Magic Knight Rayearth'' explores "fate, grim destiny, and sacrifice," as do many of Clamp's works.<ref name="Animerica"/> According to Ohkawa, who believes in choosing one's fate, humanity's fate is caused by one's actions; Cephiro is merely an exaggeration of Earth.<ref name="Animerica"/>