What is considered to be a Magical Girl series?

Mikan

MGF Member
The topic of this thread came from the Magical Girl Anime and Manga talk thread. @Loco del Lápiz and I we were having a discussion about this while thinking what series count as a Magical Girl series? So to everyone, what do you think a Magical Girl series should have in order to be considered Magical Girl?
 
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MaritLage

MGF Member
When looking at a definitive template for what makes Mahou Shoujo what it is , i would look to series runners like Sailor Moon, Futari Wa Pretty Cure, Puella Magi Madoka Magica .

From there , we can look at some of the features of this series through lenses of the Mahou Shoujo genre in light of Tropes like MonsterOfTheWeek, ObligatoryBossFight, PlotArmor .

Television Tropes are archetypal themes that appear across an array of series . Sailor Moon having to fight a new baddie every episode isn·t a Sailor Moon thing , it·s a serialized television show thing . Punishing you in the name of the Moon , that·s a Sailor Moon thing .

Then , what are some of the tropes that are common to Magical Girls , regardless of format , whether it be Television, VideoGame, Manga, or other .

The most obvious answer is that they have to be magical and they have to be girls . Magical means practicing the use of non-material means of combat and/or conducting affairs , girls means feminine , trim of ankle and wrist , and not prone to outbursts that would crease our pleated skirts and ruffle our seifukus .

That·s not to say that Magical Girls can or can·t be tomboys , Makoto Kino(Sailor Jupiter) was as rough and tumble as they come . Even still , tomboys have a kind of grace to them that guys are typically larger than .

Moreover , i think that overcoming boundaries is a solid theme thruout these series . Sailor Moon introduced the idea that a Sailor Soldier could be pretty and dainty and still act as a valid force multiplier . Futari Wa Pretty Cure introduced the notion that girls can fight too , that we could also kick and punch in addition to Marble Screwing their ascii art . And then Puella Magi Madoka Magica dispelled the notion that guns and magic were mutually exclusive , that girls could weild these things and magical powers .

So yeah! . That·s a brief summary of how i feel about Magical Girl anime! . ^-^;;
 

Loco del Lápiz

MGF Member
It's a very interesting question. What counts as a magical girl? Because yeah, we expect the main characters to be girls and have magical habilities, but that means that a manga like Tite Kubo's Burn The Witch would be a magical girl story... and yet I haven't seen anyone talk about that manga as a mahou shoujo.

So I'm guessing aesthetics and presentation are important. There are certain design "rules" that make for an easily identifiable MG story. The shoujo dream-esque visuals could be one of those elements. Maybe the quintessential magical transformation. Or the colorful and happier reinterpretation of common places in a young girls' life.

Also, the contrast between slice-of-life vs. fantasy. We could consider many of these stories as a variation of low/urban fantasy: Most MG tales happen in a normal town, but suddenly strange things start happening: monsters appear out of nowhere, some kid finds a special gem, animals can now talk... and then, the protagonist(s) finds something or someone that awakens her powers.

I'm probably missing A LOT of other things, but that's what came to my head right now. Any other elements you'd consider necessary in a mahou shoujo tale?
 
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Mikan

Mikan

MGF Member
It's a very interesting question. What counts as a magical girl? Because yeah, we expect the main characters to be girls and have magical habilities, but that means that a manga like Tite Kubo's Burn The Witch would be a magical girl story... and yet I haven't seen anyone talk about that manga as a mahou shoujo.

So I'm guessing aesthetics and presentation are important. There are certain design "rules" that make for an easily identifiable MG story. The shoujo dream-esque visuals could be one of those elements. Maybe the quintessential magical transformation. Or the colorful and happier reinterpretation of common places in a young girls' life.

Also, the contrast between slice-of-life vs. fantasy. We could consider many of these stories as a variation of low/urban fantasy: Most MG tales happen in a normal town, but suddenly strange things start happening: monsters appear out of nowhere, some kid finds a special gem, animals can now talk... and then, the protagonist(s) finds something or someone that awakens her powers.

I'm probably missing A LOT of other things, but that's what came to my head right now. Any other elements you'd consider necessary in a mahou shoujo tale?

Yeah that is very true and I know Saintia Sho has Magical Girl elements too, but no one talks about Saintia Sho being a Magical Girl series either. Another element I would consider necessary in a Magical Girl series would be having relatable characters who act realistic and not acting like they're perfect since there's no such things as perfection.
 

Maka-nee

Newbie Member
I think that magical girl shows generally feature a girl who receives magical powers and then has to fight obviously bad guys. What I mean is that I haven't seen a lot of antagonists in magical girl shows where I'd say "Yeah, he kinda got a point" like in other shows (see Pain in Naruto or the Kira vs L ideals in Death Note), the villains in Shugo Chara (except for Ikuto and Utau) don't get revealed as some misunderstood heroes or victims, they're just evil. The group that constantly hurts humans in the first parts of Sailor Moon are the same, they're just evil and hurt people. While the darker shows like Madoka have some deeper themes behind their big monsters, the witches are still obviously bad (I've seen some people defend Kyubey before so I won't talk about him). There certainly are exceptions but I think that this is a pretty big thing in Magical Girl shows so I'd say: a Magical Girl anime is an Anime that feature Girls who receive magical powers and costumes to fight the forces of evil. It's a bit broad but I think it fits enough to call it a definition.
 
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Mikan

Mikan

MGF Member
I think that magical girl shows generally feature a girl who receives magical powers and then has to fight obviously bad guys. What I mean is that I haven't seen a lot of antagonists in magical girl shows where I'd say "Yeah, he kinda got a point" like in other shows (see Pain in Naruto or the Kira vs L ideals in Death Note), the villains in Shugo Chara (except for Ikuto and Utau) don't get revealed as some misunderstood heroes or victims, they're just evil. The group that constantly hurts humans in the first parts of Sailor Moon are the same, they're just evil and hurt people. While the darker shows like Madoka have some deeper themes behind their big monsters, the witches are still obviously bad (I've seen some people defend Kyubey before so I won't talk about him). There certainly are exceptions but I think that this is a pretty big thing in Magical Girl shows so I'd say: a Magical Girl anime is an Anime that feature Girls who receive magical powers and costumes to fight the forces of evil. It's a bit broad but I think it fits enough to call it a definition.

That's true and I agree that one of the amazing things about some Magical Girl series is that some of the villains have an actual reason for being evil instead of just being evil for no reason.
 

MaritLage

MGF Member
there are actual people in the world that are just crappy, awful people . perhaps it is the case that Magical Girls strictly fight those who genuinely deserve to die .