Hikaru Shidou

Hikaru Shidou (獅堂 光) is a fictional character from the anime/manga series Magic Knight Rayearth created by Clamp. She is one of the three protagonists of the series and represents the element of Fire. In the Rayearth anime, she's voiced by Hekiru Shiina in Japan and Julie Maddalena in English. In the OVA, she has the same Japanese voice actress, but her English voice actress is Tara Sands instead. Hikaru's name means "The Light of Lion Shrine." Hikaru's design was actually used in another of Clamp's works, Angelic Layer, where she became the base design of Misaki Suzuhara's Angel, who goes by the same name without the surname.

Rayearth I
Hikaru is first seen during her school field trip in Tokyo Tower. While her friends were rather annoyed when the school picked Tokyo Tower for the site of school trip, Hikaru ignored this fact and enjoyed watching through the telescope. When she ran out of time and was looking for another token, a girl from another school, Fuu Hououji, offered her some tokens as she found Hikaru's enthusiasm delightful. As Hikaru was about to thank her, she became lost in a crowd of girls from another school. Suddenly, the voice of Princes Emeraude calls out to her to rescue the world Cephiro, calling her a "Magic Knight." Soon after she was transported to Cephiro along with Fuu and another girl, Umi Ryuuzaki.

After introductions and admonishment that Hikaru is not in elementary school as Fuu had initially thought, the girls met Master Mage Clef who explains the plight of Cephiro: High Priest Zagato has "captured" Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro that upholds peace within the world by the power of her will. Unaware of the real situation, Hikaru immediately volunteers herself to become a Magic Knight and wants to save Cephiro. With that, Clef gives Hikaru the blessing of fire magic. The three Magic Knights then go through a series of events allowing them to learn spells, obtain weapons, and revive the Rune-Gods of Cephiro. Hikaru's tests involve facing an illusion of her dog Hikari (her best friend) for her part of Escudo, and fighting a brainwashed Lafarga who had capture Umi and Fuu for her Rune-God Rayearth to recognize her.

Along her journey the three girls gradually become best friends. Eventually they reach Zagato and kill him. Unfortunately, Emeraude becomes enraged as in actuality she is in love with Zagato, her love for him had interfered with her ability to think only of Cephiro. She attacks the Magic Knights as her sorrow has consumed her. After learning Emeraude's true purpose of summoning the Knights, to kill her as no one in Cephiro may harm her and she is unable to take her own life, and after coaxing from Emeraude's spirit still wishing to save Cephiro, Hikaru finally obliges. She, along with Umi and Fuu, deliver the last, fatal blow to Emeraude. Although Emeraude was thankful to be reunited with Zagato, the Magic Knights returned to Earth horrified by the reality of Emeraude's situation and their actions.

Rayearth II
In the second part of the manga series, Hikaru was traumatized from the final battle with Emeraude, becoming silent and reserved, worrying her brothers' by her out of character behavior. She often visits Tokyo Tower to reunite with Umi and Fuu as noted by Fuu's sister, Kuu. On the one occasion depicted in the manga, she confesses her wish to revisit Cephiro. Instantly, she and the girls are taken back to Cephiro, now barren and crumbling from the lack of a Pillar. Hikaru is told that Cephiro is also being invaded by three neighboring countries, Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren. Hikaru and her friends decide to help repel the invaders while a replacement for the Pillar is found.

During this time, Hikaru meets Lantis, the younger brother of Zagato. Feeling guilty for killing his brother, she apologizes, but Lantis tells her not to worry as the Pillar System is to blame. As the series progresses, Hikaru also believes that the Pillar System is wrong due to the events that transpired with Emeraude. Eventually it is revealed by Mokona, the creator of Cephiro, Earth, and the neighboring planets, that the person most suited for the position of Pillar is either Hikaru or Eagle Vision of Autozam, and the two are forced to face off against each other. Hikaru "won" the battle by showing the most strength of heart as she refuses to fight Eagle, stating that no one should needlessly die as it hurts others, and eventually brings him back to Cephiro with the help of Umi and Fuu. It is also insinuated by Umi that Mokona's love for Hikaru allowed her and Fuu to help rescue Hikaru and Eagle, and that it was he who had summoned the girls back to Cephiro.

As the new Pillar, Hikaru chooses to remove the Pillar System allowing all of Cephiro to cultivate its own happiness. At the end of the manga Hikaru and the girls are granted access to Cephiro whenever they like, and Hikaru asks the reader to pick a new name for Cephiro on the last page.

Season 1
In the anime, the same events happened as it did in the manga with few additions, but the biggest change was Hikaru's test to reviving her Rune-God. In the anime, Zagato had stripped Hikaru from her armor and sword, and fought her while holding Umi and Fuu hostages. Lafarga later returned to oppose Zagato, but Hikaru ended up protecting him as well. After enduring the attacks long enough, Rayearth acknowledged the power of her heart and granted her his power. With that, the armors and swords of the Magic Knights evolved to the final stage and they were ready to face Zagato.

Season 2
Season two greatly differs from the manga. After returning to Cephiro, Hikaru dreams about a mysterious being (Lady Debonair) claiming that it would take over and destroy everything, adding to Hikaru's stress of killing Emeraude. Hikaru is eventually captured by Autozam, though is let go after forming a strong bond with its leader Eagle Vision. She also loses her sword to Nova, though Seirra disguised as Presea retrieves it for her. She eventually learns that either she or Eagle Vision will become the next Pillar. Hikaru, however, decides to continue to defend the castle of Cephiro capturing Eagle, but later learns that Lantis was defeated and captured by Nova, and begins to realize her feelings for him. Hikaru confines in Eagle who decides to help her rescue Lantis.

Close to the final battle, Clef tells Hikaru the truth about Nova and Nova's foster mother Debonair, that Nova was created by the sadness of her heart upon killing Emeraude and Debonair from the sorrows of the people of Cephiro. While facing Nova and Debonair, Eagle interferes and is killed, and Debonair retreats, leaving Nova behind. It is then that Hikaru confronts Nova, accepting her back into her heart. After learning from Alcyone of Debonair's hiding place on the underside of Cephiro, she, Umi, and Fuu leave in their Rune-Gods to fight her again. With the help of Cephiro's citizens and the neighboring countries' well wishes, they prevail. Like the manga, Hikaru becomes the new Pillar and wishes to abolish the system.

Unlike the manga, the Eagle/Hikaru/Lantis triangle did not really develop. Hikaru did love Eagle (hinted that it was most likely platonic), but not as strongly as she did Lantis, and both professed their love for one another by the end of the season. It was also revealed that it was she who brought herself, Umi, and Fuu to Cephiro all along. At the end of the last episode, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are seen standing, looking out from the top of the Tokyo Tower, and Hikaru vows that they will return to Cephiro once again.

OVA
In the OVA, Hikaru is already friends with Umi and Fuu and they go to the same school. The story begins with Hikaru reminiscing on the past as she stands near the cherry tree. She remembers that she made a wish with Umi and Fuu to be friends forever since they believed that if a cherry blossom fairy heard them, it would grant them their wish. Just as she thought it was silly, Mokona, which she believes to be the fairy, jumps out and Hikaru proceeds to follow.

Later, Hikaru meets Clef receives her fire powers and Rayearth, whose name was changed to Lexus (the combined Rune-Gods being named Rayearth). She then learns of her enemy, Eagle, who is trying to destroy Earth for his sister, Princess Emerauld's, sake. She and the girls fight with Eagle's minions, with some help from Lantis, in order to prevent Earth's destruction. Towards the end she fights with Zagato's dead Rune-God as Zagato had died before the events of the OVA, which Eagle had summoned to fight the Magic Knights. After defeating it, Eagle is about to summon another monster when his sister awakes from the dream he had placed her in. She tells Eagle that this isn't what she wanted, causing him to disappear.

Character
Hikaru is the youngest daughter of her normal family. She has three big brothers, Masaru, Satoru, and Kakeru, which contributed to her rather tomboyish personality. All of them run a kendo dojo, which Hikaru excels in. She also has a pet dog named Hikari. Hikaru is a short 14-year-old girl with braided red hair with a headstrong, determined, and a somewhat childish personality. She is also very innocent, which is often characterized by cat ears (and in some cases a tail as well) in both versions of the series. Despite these personality traits, Hikaru seems to be the leader between the Magic Knights from her overall enthusiasm in the first arc and strength of heart in the second.

It was mentioned somewhere in the manga that Hikaru's favorite subject is biology and she wanted to be a dog trainer. This explains why Hikaru is able to communicate with Cephiro's fauna and strong friendship with Mokona, whom gets along with her the best between the Knights. Her worst subject in school is actually singing, contrary to her seiyuu Hekiru Shiina, who has a singing career. In the manga, Hikaru often loses her energy when she hasn't eaten. Umi had said that "she always tries to carry the weight of the world by herself." Fuu had also mentioned that "Hikaru is really strong... but never seems happy."

Spells
Hikaru specializes in Fire magic. Her magics include:


 * "Flame Arrow" (Hono no Yaa): This is Hikaru's most used magic spell. Although the name suggests that it takes the form of an arrow, it's mostly depicted as an overall flame which attacks the enemy.
 * "Ruby (red) Lightning" (Akai Inazuma): This is Hikaru's second spell, and arguably her most powerful. However, it is her least used spell. With this spell, Hikaru gathers lightning energy that takes the form of ruby coloured balls. Each ball of magic is able to do considerable amounts of damage. Hikaru is seen using this spell only once in the second season.

Nova
An anime-only character, Nova is often considered as Hikaru's "dark half." Her personality fluctuates very quickly between being playful and innocent, looking for affection, into sadistic and throwing death threats. She only appears in the second season and is voiced by Miki Itou in the Japanese version and Dorothy Elias-Fahn in the English version.

The moment Hikaru killed Emeraude, she left behind a portion of her heart's guilt in Cephiro. This materialized into Nova who was left to wander alone in Cephiro looking for Hikaru. She was found by Debonair, who took Nova as her own daughter, raising her to aid her cause in destroying Cephiro. Nova was always told that Hikaru would be very happy if she died with the ones she loved the most (this apparent absurdity was justified by the fact that Emeraude was only allowed to reunite with Zagato after their deaths). Therefore, Nova develops the feelings that she hated everything Hikaru loved, even though she loved Hikaru and, on certain occasions, manifested the desire to be the only one Hikaru would play with and love.

During the first encounter against Hikaru, Nova breaks her sword, disabling Hikaru's capabilities as a Magic Knight. When Hikaru underwent a trial to repair the sword, she was warned by Sierra that the process could cost their lives and that she would have to fight against herself. Nova apparently represents the "Hikaru" that Hikaru would have to fight, as she interrupted and took a part in the trial, tempting Hikaru to throw away everything she had fought for so far. However, Hikaru rejects the temptation.

When fighting Nova, Lantis withholds his full power after being told by Master Mage Clef that destroying Nova would destroy a part of Hikaru's soul. This results in Nova dealing a crippling blow and capturing him.

Eventually, when battling Hikaru again, this time helped by Eagle, Lantis, kept inside of Nova's machine, broke free. Debonair arrived soon after, but when Nova pleaded for help, she disowned her and tried to kill her together with the Magic Knights with a powerful blow. Nova, however, left her machine, Regalia (which was created with Debonair's power), before the blow destroyed it. Soon after, Hikaru approaches Nova, now aware of her origins. She befriends Nova and explains to her that she doesn't want to die, that she wants to be happy and live with the ones she loves. Hikaru tells Nova she wanted to learn to love herself again, even if she still felt regret and sadness, and that, if Nova returned to her, Hikaru would therefore love her, too. Nova decides to return to Hikaru and the two became a single person again.

In battles, aside from being capable of casting any magic Hikaru could cast, Nova could use her power to create two lightning-powered swords. She could also transfer herself and the persons around her to other dimensions, where the enemy's power could be reduced to half. She has her own Rune-God called Regalia.

Relationships
In the manga, Hikaru loves everyone equally as a part of her innocent personality, this revealed by Lantis fumbled attempt to confess his feelings to her and see if she felt the same. However, has a strong connection with Eagle and Lantis, and sees them as her friends, often defending them from those who doubt their intentions. Lantis tries to tell her how he feels at the end of the manga, thought Hikaru never catches on. In the anime, Hikaru had interacted with the people of Autozam many times and cultivated a friendly bond with Eagle Vision. She was also in love with Lantis, who returned her feelings.

Hikaru has a strong bond with Umi and Fuu and cares for them. She hates to see them hurt or sad, and does whatever she can to make them happy. They feel the same about her, often treating her as a younger sister, and they support each other during times of trouble and distress. Hikaru has a deep love for animals, particularly for her pet dog, Hikari. This affection for animals causes her to have the best relationship with Mokona, since she sees him as a sort of creature, often saving him from Umi.

Appearances
Manga Anime
 * Magic Knight Rayearth'''
 * Volume 1: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334642-0; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-082-0
 * Volume 2: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334643-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-083-9
 * Volume 3: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334644-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-084-7
 * Magic Knight Rayearth II
 * Volume 1: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334659-5; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-266-1
 * Volume 2: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334660-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-267-X
 * Volume 3: Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-06-334661-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-268-8
 * Rayearth
 * Rayearth 2 (known as the second part of Rayearth in Japan)
 * Rayearth Anime Art Book (available only in Japan)
 * Rayearth anime script book (available only in Japan)

Other
 * OVA
 * Rayearth Art Book I
 * Rayearth Art Book II
 * Rayearth games
 * Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle