Forum - View topicWhat Makes Magical Girls So Popular?
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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If we are referring to the "general anime viewer", probably not, that is to say that your general anime viewer isn't going out of there way strictly to watch a Magical Girl series simply because it has magical girls. "trapped in the VIDEO GAME" is probably more intriguing to the average anime viewer as video games are much more recognized piece of media work, most certainly "apocalypse survivor show" like Attack on Titan or Kabaneri are being eaten up by a sizable demographic of the anime viewing populous. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2324 |
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They're cute, they beat things up with magic, and occasionally I really empathize with them like in Madoka Magica. But mostly it's about laser beams and frills. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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How do you define "that popular"? It is true, unfortunately, that not all magical girl shows have been licensed here, but a lot of them have. Enough that I could spend hours every day watching magical girls if I wanted to. That is popular enough for me. The article is mostly about why magical girls are popular with young girls, but we all know that there is a much wider audience for them. I am pretty much the exact opposite of a young girl, but I have loved magical girls since I first saw Sailor Moon about 12 years ago. One of the big attractions for me has been the group dynamic, which was well covered in the article. I like both the friendships and the team spirit. Thank you for the article. I enjoyed it and hope to see more like it. But I would also like to see an exploration of the reasons why magical girl shows are popular with those of us who are neither young nor girls. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Girls developing friendships with one another, transforming into another persona, and using magical techniques to defeat villainous entities... That's what made the Magical Girl genre so appealing to me.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11520 |
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Are you talking about the trim on their outfits or did you mean decolletage? I've just never seen clothing decorations called decoupage before, since they're not lacquered and fabric is not really a suitable base to be decoupaged since it's flexible.
The article was a good read, but never having been much interested in clothes and frilly things, magical girl is pretty much not my genre. I think even if I had been exposed to the genre as a child, it wouldn't have clicked with me. Starved though I was for kick-ass heroines in media (my grade-school artwork consisted largely of redrawing panel-for-panel gender-swapped versions of DC comics, including the entire Legion line-up, since the adventures of Batgirl and Supergirl were pretty bland back then), all that sparkly would have left a bad taste in my mouth. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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The shows that actually are targeted at real younger girls play up the "It's all about friendship!" angle, and the more real and plausible the friendship is, the more we're attached to the character.
If anyone asks what the appeal of Sailor Moon is, I always try to show the R Movie first, as the "flashback" climax pretty well clinches the argument of why we get so attached to clumsy Usagi, her 90%-competent friends, and her moonlight-and-strings romance with the 110%-competent guy who's too old for her.. Card Captor Sakura was even more wildly candy-colored in its Clamp designs, and yet even the most manly of us still gets hooked on Sakura's buoyancy, her fighting spirit, her occasional "ho-ee!" cold feet, and even the big orchestral soundtrack, without feeling the least bit squicky about it--It's just that good, is all. |
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Jonny Mendes
 Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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This is true even more is shows like the mentioned Madoka and Yuki Yuna here the main target audience are more male otaku than the other audiences. I think is because they will spend allot on the expensive BD's the shows can have big budgets. In US Madoka was $49.98 for 4 episodes and Yuki Yuna $89.98 for 4 episodes. I don't even know what was in Japan, probably around $100 for 4 episodes. |
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Heishi
 Posts: 1343 |
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I would love to see a magical girl series that is actually yuri.
There is something interesting about magical girls... Last edited by Heishi on Fri May 27, 2016 4:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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otagirl
Posts: 111 |
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I like MG shows because they depict females as humans with actual ideas and ambitions in life, other than to be attractive to males, be in a relationship, get married and have kids. Because lets face it, even in the 21st century western world the apparent decent woman should be sexually attractive and hold snagging a man and family as the ultimate priority in life.
Women who prioritize careers or other activities are depicted as frigid, antisocial and cold. In the idealized world of anime where the focus is on female characters, they appear to have goals, overcome personal challenges, help each other, the community and the world. Most of the shows pass the Bechdel test. In the more popular mainstream Shonen anime, females are used as plot devices - the weakling princess to be saved, the girl in the group that can fight but still needs to be saved, the tsundere or cool girl pining over a main character like nothing else in the world matters *coughmikasa, harem shows. It's pretty depressing how little significance their existences have since they serve only to affirm the power and masculinity of the male characters. The real world is already full of that kind of depreciating behavior towards women. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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[quote="Jonny Mendes"]
Yuki Yuna is currently on sale at CDJapan for 7500 yen per 2-episode Blu-Ray (about $68 US, or $136 for 4 episodes). It was one of the top-selling shows of 2014, selling around 10,000 copies per volume. I'm an older guy, but I've always enjoyed magical girl - Yuki Yuna, Nanoha, Madoka, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magic Knight Rayearth are all among my favorite anime/manga franchises. I think it's something about appreciating girls who are active and athletic and independent-minded and have leadership qualities; in magical girl that usually translates to characters who are (or learn to become) smart and decisive and more confident in themselves, along with being able to hold their own in a fight. Aside from the fighting, those are exactly the kind of traits I'd want my daughters (if I had any) to take from their role models. |
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Splitter
 Posts: 1276 Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door |
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Empowering, customizable, friendship... yup, My Little Pony is a magical girl series. Knew it all along.
Interesting article, and good for beginners wondering why so many adults love cartoons made for children full of sparkles and glitter. I always find myself coming back to magical girl anime, whether battle or non-battle-oriented simply because of the friendship element. The character bonds in these shows are really something else. I love them to pieces. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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A fair warning to give is this tamaki's book almost constantly talks about sex. Its an interesting perspective, But I feel he really tries to oversell his arguments. As to Mahou Shoujo in general, what's the genre's themes? It isn't friendship, that's a common trait. It isn't the outfits. When you boil the genre down to the basic elements, they're all stories where gaining power is a catalyst for character development. In the end you should be able to strip them of their powers and reveal that they have changed as a character. What confuses people is that not wanting to be alone, or ostracized, is a common theme among characters. Many, in the course of gaining powers, correct things about themselves to get along better. Nothing says 'let's be friends' than cooperating towards a goal. But its the magical powers that serve as a catalyst to this. If not its just fantasy. |
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Jonny Mendes
Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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[quote="WingKing"]
Thanks for the info. Yeah, im also a male and also a fan of magical girl anime. My first was Nanoha and Madoka is one of my favorite of all anime i watched. I don't know if it can be considered Magical girl, but i also enjoyed Black Rock Shooter. I also appreciate the same thinks about magical girls. Been independent, intelligent and strong minded, and with spirit of cooperation between them, and also great fighters. And the more recent anime like Madoka and Yuki Yuna are also more dark than the normal magical girl shows been a plus for me. Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Fri May 27, 2016 3:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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lebrel
Posts: 374 |
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Although I looove shoujo in general I never really got into magical girls, perhaps because they tend to be a little more action-oriented than I prefer (I find fight scenes boring). On the other hand, I have come across many parodies of magical girls that I greatly enjoy (Bouei-Bu FOREVAH!).
I kind of think PreCure's intended target audience is aimed a little younger than Sailor Moon's is; they might not be interested in boys yet. Plus it makes it easier to crossmarket to the dudes....
I agree with some of the above posters that the article could have paid more attention to the male fanbase and the differences in the shows that are targeted to them vs the ones that are actually for girls. Madoka and Yuki Yuna are aimed at adult men and have yuri tease for the guys; if any actual lesbians like those shows that's strictly incidental. I can't offhand think of any female-targeted magical girl series that focus on girl-girl couples as the primary romantic relationships; anyone else know of any? |
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Darkabomination
Posts: 89 |
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The biggest western imports of the genre as of recent years are Steven Universe and Star VS. the Forces of Evil. The former ditching most of the traditional aspects of "girls" and changing forms, but having the empowering females and personal relationships in spades and the main male character being the more traditional type. Star's got more of the trad with a princess from another realm coming to Earth and helping to solve problems, albeit with a lot of post-Sailor Moon parody elements.
There's also Miraculous Ladybug and it's small if loyal following, but in that case Nick unlike CN and Disney doesn't seem very confident in it. Point is the fact that three distinct shows that have influences from the genre are gaining a lot of popularity indicates there's an English-speaking audience that's hungry for the genre. More still deserve dubs though. The success of Sailor Moon's redub is sadly a fluke it seems as many companies are convinced it's not worth the costs despite evidence to the contrary. |
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