Magic Knight Rayearth 2 is the telling of the second arc of the manga. While it differs from the manga, it is still a good story. The tone of the series becomes much darker in this season, and it deals much with the past of the pillar. We see the sorrowful role the pillar really is. This is emphasized by the three nations invading the crumbing Cephiro, each who have their own reasons for invading, but eventually, two of the three decide the better, and actually help to save Cephiro during the final battle. Besides the invading nations, there is the mysterious Nova and her"mother" Debonaire. They are, in fact the only real bad guys in the story. The characters from other nations are all likable. It's neat how they play off of different civilizations too. Even the music matches, which is very good!

The series develops Hikaru more, from the naive hyper girl into a much more mature girl. She also has her first experience with love. What I dislike about this season, however, is that too much time is focused on Hikaru, leaving Umi and Fuu pretty much forgotten about.

It's also nice to see the bonds that have formed between the former villains of the series. Lantis is an interesting addition, but is far too emotionless. I find a lot of CLAMP's male characters, especially the tall skinny black haired ones, to be hard to tell apart, and somewhat emotionally dead. But it's great to see Ferio back, now fulfilling his position of royal blood. And the romance between he and Fuu is shown a little more.

The story is moving, i would say it is even more moving than the first season. While it is missing some of the beautiful scenery, it is made up for by the story.

Besides focusing too much on Hikaru, I also did not like the mecha theme that was there. The knights spend most of their fighting time in their mashins. But the battles where they do use magic and swordplay are good.

The music is amazing, especially the last opening theme. The first opening theme of the season is meant to link the two stories together, each showing scenes from the first season as well as the current. The song kind of sucks. But the last opening theme, Hikari to kage wo dakishimata, is beautiful.

The end of the series is also very emotionally involved, but on a happier note than the first season.

Overall, this season is very good, and if you liked the first season, you should definitely watch this one. (as long as you avoid the dub, then again, I have never seen a good english dub, I don't even bother anymore!)