Talk:Magical girl
Page contents not supported in other languages.
 | This article is ratedB-class on Wikipedia'scontent assessment scale. It is of interest to the followingWikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Archives |
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between12 January 2021 and30 April 2021. Further details are availableon the course page. Student editor(s):Lmlambe3. Peer reviewers:Jpatlas24,Alanabrent.
Above undated message substituted fromTemplate:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment byPrimeBOT (talk)03:07, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Did Madoka Magica have any real impact on the vitality of the genre? Mahou shoujo series didn't exactly start cropping up like mad after it aired.— Precedingunsigned comment added by76.93.197.152 (talk)03:59, 16 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I added the following to the opening paragraph:
> Rarely, there have also beenmagical boy series, which are similar except with magic-using boys, such asCute High Earth Defense Club Love!.
I think it's a reasonable statement, givenmagical boy redirects here and it is objectively true. I suppose they could be given their own article, but it's such a rare thing it seems pointless/non-notable.User:86.185.99.94 reverted my edits twice.User:Lukeno94 told me to not revert the revert again and "reach consensus" here withWP:BRD. I'm not sure if that user actually does read the talk pages, though - they're anonymous, have only a few edits, and all were made today. If they don't respond and nobody objects, I'll revert their revert again at some point. —ajf (talk)22:30, 29 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
A rough start on a translation from the Japanese article, the "Overview" section and the "History" sections up through the 1990s:
The essential of the magical girl genre is a heroine, the epitomous magical girl, who can employ powers not everyone has. The most powerful magical girls are, as a general rule, both taught and[Translator: Or perhaps "not taught but"?] naturally gifted. A magical girl has, in some cases, command of her innate powers as soon as they manifest, but in other cases develops this control only as she matures.[1]
Note that the powers a magical girl uses are not always literal magic and sorcery. Works about characters like the ninjutsu-usingSarutobi Ecchan and the cyborgMiracle Girl Limit-chan are usually treated together with works in theTransforming Girl category,[2] and there is also literature that classifies the again non-magicalMysterious Thief Saint Tail, the characterCorrector Yui, who is acts in an online virtual reality, etc. all as magical girls.[3]
A magical girls' age, while varying from 10 to 14, usually falls within the range of puberty; a magical girl's "transformation" symbolizes maturation from a girl to a woman.[1] The earnest wish of children, "I want to be an adult",[1] manifests in the magical girl genre as the heroine repeatedly changing to adult form. A motif in such works is the difficulty of such a double life, the worrisome difference between the transformed self and true self, particularly as the character forms romantic ties and circumstances become more complicated—the heroine and her love interest fall in love while she is in her alter form[Translator: Or perhaps "only with her alter form"? Not sure how to translate "ほう" in this context.]. Such plots are criticisms of a tendency to be misled by people's appearance.[4]
With magical girls there is always a pure sincerity[Translator: Is there a better English word to use for "無垢" and/or "純真さ"?], a distinct genuineness in an otherwise ordinary girl. Almost all magical girls use acompact, a wand, a crystal, or some other such accessory to wield their powers, but those devices are virtually never the origin of their powers; a heroine's sincerity is key to tapping the power of love and life.[4]
Since 1982'sMagical Princess Minky Momo, magical girls have been paired with miraculous pet-like mascots. The magical girl driven by emotions and the mascot playing the role of reason chide and admonish each other. The two clash repeatedly, but the magical girl, thanks to the mascot's advice, learns the art of controlling her emotions, while the mascot comes to understand that behaviors motivated by emotion lead to the correct, albeit difficult path. It is important that most mascots are male.[Translator: Gah.] The magical girl and the mascot's interactions, like those of a married couple or close pair of friends, demonstrate that communication of intent and mutual understanding are the secrets to building a satisfactory relationship.[4]
Also, since 1990'sPretty Soldier Sailor Moon, "The Battle" has been a main component (or otherwise featured element) of the magical girl genre.
There are limits to the power of sorcery: it may only be useful for one year, or a secret must be known to use it, or some other such restriction may apply.[4]
The magical girl may discard her powers wishing to return to being an ordinary girl. Being "ordinary" and "average" is by no means bad; however, "being oneself" is shown to be most wonderful.[5]
\\
Among Japanese magical-girl works,Sally the Witch (1966), ananime byMitsuteru Yokoyama, animator atToei Animation, is regarded as first in the genre.[6] In it, Sally, daughter of the great magical king and visitor to the human world, is surrounded by humanity, and human drama that focuses on aid rendered by use of magic is brought to the forefront.
Toei Animation followed up Sally the Witch withAkko-chan's Got a Secret (manga in1962, anime in1969), the work ofFujio Akatsuka, in which a human girl Atsuko "Akko-chan" Kagami (鏡アツ子, from the name 加賀美あつ子 but with the family-name part 加賀美, "Kagami", replaced by 鏡, also "Kagami", a word meaning "mirror") is awarded a magic compact by the mirror spirit. Here, in contrast with Sally's being a "visitor from another world", Akko exemplified the "girl granted magical-girl powers"; subsequently, "magical girl with innate powers" and "magical girl with gained powers" were established as two majors archetypes of magical-girl anime. But, at the same time, that there would not be overlap with the then prevalent "morphing hero" pattern except in the transformations from human to superhuman, in Toei's witch anime the formula "magical girl = girl with magic powers" became instead a flourish of works about "everyday magic" done by girls in the pattern of magical girls that would inspire numerous derivatives (notably thebeautiful battle girl subgenre) far into the future.
Then, not long afterSally the Witch, influenced by the American FilmMary Poppins, Mitsuteru Yokoyama'sPrincess Comet (1967) was produced as alive action television drama.
At that time, when shows aimed at young audiences were being developed both as animations and as live-action children-targeted dramas, NET in 1969 broadcast side-by-side on Saturdays bothAkko-chan's Got a Secret and the teledramaBewitched (which would become the origin of magical-girl anime as a "Witch Series") and then, in same slot, for two years broadcast only witchcraft dramas—shows like the foreignI Dream of Jeannie (season two),Shochiku'sHot Witch (1970), etc. This setup was replaced byKamen Rider, but its influence was still reflected inKamen Rider's authorShotaro Ishinomori'sBeloved! Beloved!! Witch-Sensei (1971), which was for anime a 20-year forerunner to the first beautiful-girl warrior,Andro-Kamen.
Back in the anime genre, post-Akko series from Toei accumulated; at that time, influence fromshōjo manga appeared as the coquettish, introduced-as-a-tomboy protagonist of the1974Little Meg the Witch Girl swept away Sally's honors-student-like magical-girl image, and since then, among magical girls, naughty protagonists have come to dominate. Also, characters like Meg's cool rival heroine, Non, the humorous agent Chou-san, and the Queen of Darkness, Saturn, hugely influenced later magical-girl works' minor characters.
\\
As the1980s opened, Toei's line of works was interrupted, and, at the same time,Production Reed'sMagical Princess Minky Momo (1982) and thePierrot Magical Girl Series beginning withStudio Pierrot'sCreamy Mami, the Magical Angel (1983) induced a second magical-girl boom. The human-world deeds of Momo, princess of Fenarinarsa, a land of dreams and magic, on one hand, and on the other the events surrounding Yū Morisawa, a girl who transforms into an idol by magic wand, were depicted with every comical touch. These two works won popularity, not only within their target demographic of young girl viewers, but also among males in their late teens and twenties; thus, the magical-girl genre exploded in fame. Theidol boom social phenomenon came about under such circumstances' influence.
The 1980s up through the beginning of the 1990s was a period of remakes of earlier successful works. In those years, through the anime winter and also the revival boom, a new production ofAkko-chan's Got a Secret (second run,1988) was by one metric, merchandising, more popular than its original incarnation—according toBandai, girl's toys sales were strong after it came out. Moreover, the continuation ofSally the Witch (second run,1989) debuted, and, in the same vein, as part of theToei Fushigi Comedy Series, came Shotaro Ishinomori'sMagical Girl Chinese Paipai! (1989), followed by other works in the same genre, which were added to that series until the beginning of the 1990s.[7]
\\
The success ofNaoko Takeuchi's workPretty Soldier Sailor Moon (anime,1992–1997) prompted anime adaptations likeAkazukin Chacha (1994),Magic Knight Rayearth (anime, 1994),The Legend of the Angel of Love: Wedding Peach (anime,1995),Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (anime, 1995), etc.; the collection of beautiful-battle-girl (or battle-heroine) magical-girl works constituted a new top magical-girl subgenre. Aspects of the subgenre like "battle squadrons" (multiplicities of main heroines) were influential on other works.
In 1995,Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, a spin-off of theoriginal video animation (OVA) seriesNo Need for Tenchi!, was produced. The work was clearly made under the assumption of a non-young-girl target demographic and was a forerunner for similar magical-girl anime targeting older audiences.Cardcaptor Sakura, which is unconventional versusCLAMP's more traditional works in, e.g., setting and visuals, was put out from the later half of the1990s up through the opening of the 2000s. Its development, "collect the scattered magic cards", magic-using boy's competitions, and the like had not been an element in magical-girl works up to that point. Works followed that balanced a traditional magical girl, who resolved neighborhood incidents with card magic, against the battle-heroine element.
References
(Content in this section is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article atjp:魔法少女; see its history for attribution.)
98.16.147.76 (talk) 04:35, 19 November 2015 (UTC),98.16.156.130 (talk) 02:06, 20 November 2015 (UTC),98.23.132.217 (talk)02:52, 25 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Hey if nobody minds I'm going to start cleaning up the rough translation and references for this article. kaixokkiten 05:10, 4 March 2016 (UTC)— Precedingunsigned comment added byKaixokkiten (talk •contribs)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links onMagical girl. Please take a moment to reviewmy edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visitthis simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored byInternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other thanregular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editorshave permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see theRfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template{{source check}}(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot(Report bug)22:46, 31 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link onMagical girl. Please take a moment to reviewmy edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visitthis simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored byInternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other thanregular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editorshave permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see theRfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template{{source check}}(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot(Report bug)04:58, 30 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Should anything about Pretty Cure be said? It's a big mahou shoujo series, but I'm not sure if it's important enough to mention.69.58.54.19 (talk)17:32, 28 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I know it's already mentioned. I meant that you should write about the impact it did to the magical girl genre or at least mention that it has become a social phenomenon in Japan. There are a bunch of Japanese sources that talk about its cultural impact but I'm not sure if they can be considered as "reliable source"...— Precedingunsigned comment added by94.128.217.21 (talk) 21:02, 7 December 2020 (UTC) Found thishttps://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2016-12-16/rise-of-the-dark-magical-girls/.110004— Precedingunsigned comment added by94.128.217.21 (talk)21:04, 7 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
