Magical Girl - General Examples

General Examples

A general example of a magical girl is Sakura Kinomoto from the series Cardcaptor Sakura, a normal girl who gains magical powers, and becomes involved in a quest for various magical objects. Another magical girl includes Lucia Nanami from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch whose true identity as a mermaid princess prevents her from declaring love to a young surfer; she battles enemies using the power of her voice and songs with the help from the other mermaid princesses. Other magical-girl subjects may appear in the guise of witches, or (rarely) of psychics (such as Hailey from Queen Bee). Examples of conventional magical girls include the protagonists of: Princess Tutu, Sailor Moon, and Shugo Chara!. Magical girls have high crossover popularity in different demographics with some minor but appropriate design modifications, and make up a sizable portion of both shōjo and bishōjo fandom.

Magical girl archetypes

• Cute Witch/Wizard - The original magical girl archetype—where magic is mundane to the character. The original cute witch, Sally the Witch, was directly inspired by the American TV series Bewitched. Cute witches are sometimes thought to have influenced the rather benevolent image of witches in Japan; even the standard strange girl or goth girl will almost always wear a wizard robe and hat, and may or may not use a magic staff/wand. If she has a pet, it will likely be a cat. Sometimes the cute witch is from another dimension or otherwise a magical land, unless the whole show is in a magical setting. Magic study is often equated with higher education, and many characters are out getting their licenses—the origin of magic is implied to be genetic with training required to hone it. She may be an apprentice or a princess, who may or may not be visiting Earth as part of training to become to become a magister, or a queen; if so she may have to compete with rivals to the throne. She may or may not live with foster parents who may or may not know she is magical. She may or may not be actively fighting monsters. Usually it's a hard enough life just trying to get through the day, and she'll use her magic (often a non-flashy variety) to make things easier.

• Idol Performer - Where her identity is an performing artist diva-archetype. Either a girl who is already an artist/diva/idol gains the ability to fight crime/villians, usually with "magical music" via way of using their body or voice to convey artistic expression; or a girl who gradually becomes an artist/diva/idol through the use of magic. As with most junior idols in Japan, she is likely invested her career as a child actor, a model, a poet, a musician, a dancer, or a J-pop singer. Or she is a ballerina magical girl whose attends ballet school, although she is not very good outside of her transformation. Regardless of her style, her talents and magic almost guarantee villains are compelled to act against her; or even participate alongside her choreographed routines. Even zombies will dance with her. May or may not have the ability to turn into a noticeably older counterpart of themselves; if so, it's surprisingly common for them to encounter rather awkward situations with boyfriends or girlfriends while changed. This type of magical girl exploits the wish fulfillment appeal of the genre the most; the wholesomeness of these ideas is its main feature. While the other archetypes uses her powers to do good deeds, steal from the bad guys, or fight the good fight, these bard-like magical girls are far more likely to use the powers they gain for her own benefit and to achieve their dreams of stardom and celebrity status; at least initially.

• Warrior Woman - Mostly in a superheroine/martial artist role of fighting evil/saving the world; magical girl warriors archetype arguably have the widest demographic appeal, and have become synonymous in the West with modern magical girls. The Japanese word for it is senshi. In Japan, the extended growth-to-maturity metaphor magical girl warrior archetype can mean a variety of things; some do more than use their powers to improve or complicate their lives. Some go out and battle dramatic evil, usually with a lot of mystic firepower and weird outfits and called attacks. This is not magic for magic's sake; the character rarely finds this enjoyable but gets morally cowed into it. She is essentially a fantastic expression of "girl power"; she is independent and strong willed, but vulnerable. Most often funded and affiliated with the military, NGO's, or an entire team of magical girls. The action-oriented magical girl warriors have the extra bonus of appeal to male demographics; in this case they often resemble distaff counterparts of Japanese superheroes, particularly sentai and other tokusatsu characters. Notable examples include Cutie Honey and Sailor Moon.

• Phantom Thief - Particularly common in Japanese media, stemming from the popularity of Arsène Lupin in Japan. The Japanese word for it is kaitō. These "bad girl" magical girls are a special class of criminal; an elusive and fantastic (and stylish) thief who can be long gone before the victim even knows what hit him. Just as likely to be an antihero as a villain. Uses her supernatural-abilities in concert with skills in parkour, acrobatics, and stealth. May be idolized as a hero by the girls or boys at school, but the police have an obligation to catch her, even if all she is doing is returning things to their rightful owners. There is no single set model of the magical girl phantom thieves, but they usually have some of the following characteristics: she steals fine art and valuable gems as a form of vigilante justice; leaves a calling card to the intended victim; is a master of disguise and uses trickery and illusions to escape undetected; relentlessly pursued by a renowned gentleman detective; competes against rival magical girl/boy thieves; has a strict thief's code of honor (i.e. refusing to commit murder).