The anime ended differently, this ending I liked more, mostly because there wasn’t Nova. I hate Nova. Also, it wasn’t that bitter.
Story
Three girls got stuck in a magic world, they got powers and had to fight some guy to save the princess. Hmm, okay. This will be heavily influenced by the fact, that I watched the anime when I was young. It wasn’t that original, that they got their power that matched their names: fuu - wind, Umi (Japanese for sea) - water, hikaru (Japanese for to shine) - fire. Also, she had red hair and Umi had blue hair. But okay. Normally this would bother me and I think it still does. The story is made like a game. When I was reading it, I thought: "man, this would be good as a game". It isn’t a good thing. So you had this stages, enemies, one enemy at a time, one dragon at a time, and then they defeated the main guy, Zagato.
They had to kill the princess, for she is ruining the country cause she fell with love. (this was really sweet and sad). That was the end of the main story and then they returned to help the country. At the end, Mokona, the animal sidekick is relieved to be god.
The second part of the story was worse than the first one I think. But at least it wasn’t as bad as the anime. Shoujo magic type of story.
Art
I actually like Clamp art, kill me. But too much chibis. They weren’t made so good, so it killed the mood. Also, the story was more dramatic and when they gave the chibis in there, it didn’t really fit. But the art was good.
Characters
I can't believe I actually liked Fuu when I was a kid (okay, I was like 13, but that time, such age still meant you are a kid). Fuu was so annoying, I hate her. She was supposed to be the smart of the three, but she always stated just the obvious. Umi was the one who was smart, and she was mine favourite too. Tastes change so much in just 10 years, jeez. I really liked Umi, Hikaru was this happy go lucky character and the other characters were quite original, but their characters were too forced I guess.
Enjoyment
Yes, for personal reasons, but if I didn’t know the story before, I would give a lower rating. I also liked the emotional stuff with Emeraulde(?) and Zagato. It was really sad. Maybe it deserved more time. Also, the second part wasn't necessary.