magical girl anime
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Magical Girl Anime. Jennifer Berman JAPN 313 Final Project Spring 2012. What are magical girl anime?. M agical girl ( 魔法少女 mahou shoujo ) series are a subgenre of fantasy anime and manga Centered around young girls with magical powers - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Magical Girl Anime
Jennifer BermanJAPN 313 Final Project
Spring 2012
What are magical girl anime?
• Magical girl ( 魔法少女 mahou shoujo) series are a subgenre of fantasy anime and manga
• Centered around young girls with magical powers
• Some magical girls use their powers to fight evil, others for everyday tasks or to achieve some goal
• Most magical girl series are shoujo but some shounen ones also exist
Origins• First magical girl
anime was Mahoutsukai Sally (“Sally the Witch”) in 1966
• Created by Yokoyama Mitsuteru (Tetsujin 28-go/Gigantor)
• Inspired by the American show “Bewitched”
Origins• Himitsu no Akko-
chan (1969) was another successful early magical girl series
• Title character uses a magic compact mirror to transform into anyone/anything she wants
The 70s• After success of Mahoutsukai Sally and
Himitsu no Akko-chan Toei Animation released lots of magical girl shows in the 1970s
• Known as majokko ( 魔女っ子 ) series
• Most influential one was Majokko Meg-chan (1974)
The 90s• Sailor Moon (1992-1997)
popularized the idea of magical girls as superheroines who fight evil (sentou bishoujo/戦闘美少女 ) as a team.
• Team format was inspired by sentai shows
• Success started a wave of other fighting magical girl shows throughout the 90s and early 2000s• Magic Knight Rayearth (1994)• Cardcaptor Sakura (1998)• Wedding Peach (1995)• Etc.
Other things I’ll talk about
• Shounen and seinen magical girl shows like Nanoha – how they compare to shoujo ones
• More recent series (like the Pretty Cure franchise)
• Coming-of-age metaphors in magical girl shows
• Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (how it’s a deconstruction of the typical magical girl anime)