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Character Profiles
First of all, I would like to make it clear that most information is not official, like the ages of characters besides the Magic Knights and Klef (and Mokona too), so I will just guess the age of the rest. Also, before you ask, the names of every single character here, except for the three Magic Knights and their relatives, have names of cars, so don't try to find the mythological references here, there are none, just reference to cars. And yes, there are spoilers here...but not in the profiles of the magic knights. Also, when I put job, I refer to the class or rank the character has, which are very RPG-ish for the most part, lots of them I have put them in relation to Final Fantasy, for instance. On a side note, it is strange, but usually the spells have official names which are not mentioned in the anime, for instance, Ascot's Maxima summoning spell is just called "Majyu Shokan", which means "Beast, I summon you!", which is just the effect of the spell, not its name. Or Fuu's first magic, the Iyashi no Kaze, which is called Healing Wind in the Anime. In the Manga, each spell is said in japanese, but it has a small katakana next to it which indicates the spell's name.
This is divided into three sections, the Magic Knights, and then Rayearth 1 and 2. The difference between these two is when these characters are introduced. Most characters from the first part are in the second, so two profiles would be stupid, wouldn't it?
FROM THIS POINT ON, PROFILES ARE LOADED WITH SPOILERS OF BOTH PARTS.
YOU WERE WARNED
Magic Knight Rayearth Profiles
Magic Knight Rayearth 2 Profiles
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Story Synopsis (no spoilers)
This Synopsis is intended to get you to know something about Magic Knight Rayearth, what is it about and all, so that you get an overall idea of what it is like if you are considering buying it or renting it.
Three normal Tokyo girls, Hikaru Shidô, Umi Ryûzaki and Fuu Hôji are in a school visit to the Tokyo Tower. They all belong to different schools and don't know each other, but all of a sudden, a voice calls for their help and they are transported to the magical world of Cephiro, where each person's willpower determines everything that happens. There, they meet Klef, who tells them they were summoned by Emeraude, Cephiro's princess, who is in danger. Zagato, her former Aide, has kidnapped her for unknown reasons, and now all of Cephiro is in danger, since Emeraude is the world's pillar, and without her, it begins to fall apart. As they embark on this RPG-like quest, they meet a number of characters, like good and not-so-bad guys. This is overall the first part, which has only slight differences in the Anime.
After the end of the first adventure, the three girls are returned to Tokyo, and an year later, they go to Cephiro again to try and help. But this time Cephiro is a dark world, because of the events of the first part, and three worlds want to take control of it: The China-like world of Farem, the Mechanic world of Auto-Zam and the Small Arabian planet of Chizeta. Here is a big difference in the Anime, where two evil characters, Debonair and Nova, are introduced. The plot gets more complicated in the TV series, but the manga has a certain thing all CLAMP manga's have, I don't know what it is really, but for instance, in the manga, there are no really bad guys, everyone is fighting for their own reasons.
If we were to give a color to each part, the Manga would be a slight transition between light and dark gray, but the Anime's contrast is much bigger, with a shining white in the first part and the darkest black in the second. This is in part due to the fact that CLAMP didn't supervise quite much the first series, while Nanase Ohkawa, upset by the outcome, decided to direct the Anime project herself, making it even more similar in spirit to their more serious work, like X or RG Veda, but it never reaches their depth, though.
Magic Knight Rayearth is a series worth watching, if not for the characters, at least for the mecha action of the second part, which is, believe me, quite awesome. You eventually grow to really like these characters the girls created, which are quite interesting and have deep personalities.