Magical girls (魔法少女, mahō shōjo?, also known as mahou shoujo or majokko) traditionally belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga, but it has gained traction in non-Japanese formats, such as animated television series, graphic novels and webcomics. Magical girl stories feature young girl heroes with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth. They often possess a secret identity, although the name can just refer to young girls who follow a plotline involving magic and a transformation (such as Full Moon o Sagashite and Sailor Moon). Ojamajo Doremi features magical girls as protagonists, but its plot differs from the standard as the girls use magic for friendship, behavior and achieving goals, rather than for attacking antagonists. The Japanese language identifies magical girls as majokko (魔女っ子?, literally "witch girl"), though this term does not generally apply to modern magical-girl anime. Sally, the Witch (1966) counts as the first magical girl anime.
Magical boys occur much more rarely, but one can readily identify them: they operate along similar lines (as with D.N.Angel, Mei no Naisho, and Negima!). Magical girls generally differ from catgirls and from magical girlfriends. Sometimes the catgirl and magical girl character types cross over; the magical girl may have cat-ears and -tail as part of her costume, or a catgirl could have some form of magical powers. Examples of these include Tokyo Mew Mew and Hyper Police. A magical girl and a magical girlfriend typically differ in that the magical girlfriend is not the protagonist. Over the years, the genre has given significant influence to numerous non-Japanese media, American magical girl-inspired cartoons and other "anime-inspired" series (such as W.I.T.C.H. and Guardians of the Magic).
Read more about Magical Girls: General Examples, Genre History, Common Themes and Features, Magical Girl in Media
Famous quotes containing the words magical and/or girls:
“The absolute dependence of a newborn infant inspired many things in me, but it did not activate any magical knowledge about what to do for the next twenty years.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)