(no subject)

[skygiants]

littledust asked me for . . . okay, for a bunch of things, which I will get to in due course, but the first thing she asked me for was my top five Magical Girls!

Which is an awesome request, but sadly the problem is that I haven't actually seen that many magical girl shows yet, and all the ones I have seen are subversions or meta-examinations to some extent. So . . . uh, you can have my top one-and-a-half! Which are also my only one-and-a-half, but that makes them no less awesome.

1. Duck, Princess Tutu



This choice shocks everyone, yes? Oh, Princess Tutu, I may make space in my heart for other things but you are my forever girl show. An Ordinary Good-Hearted Clumsy Ballet Student who's secretly a magical princess with powers of emotional catharsis through hugs who's secretly a duck who got called into the story because the narrator thought it would be funny, she's an irrepressible force of comic optimism stuck in a tragedy, but she's going to try her best to change it! I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

1.5. Utena, Revolutionary Girl Utena



This is only 1.5 of a choice because Utena is really only a magical girl if you squint; Tutu plays with the genre and the meta-requirements of it, but Utena subverts it much more savagely. So even though she has the transformation sequence and the magical ring talisman and all the surface trappings of the genre, it's hard to actually characterize her this way due to the fact that the rules of Akio's universe don't really allow for magical girls at all. (Princes, passive princesses or wicked witches, that's what you get.) But I love her also, so she gets to be on the list anyway.

Anyway, this feels a bit of an empty list, so I'm going to fill it out with three magical girl shows that I would totally watch. If they existed. Although they don't yet.

3. Magical Sword Anri Sonohara

This unexpected spinoff of 2010's Durarara!! focuses on Anri Sonohara - a shy ordinary schoolgirl by day, who by night uses the power of the magical sword Saika to transform into a vigilante defender of justice and fight evil! There would be a school festival arc, and a summer vacation arc, and at the end Anri would get to take down Izaya in a one-on-one battle (which is obviously the best reason for the show to exist.) Anri's transformation sequence would involve a lot of red.

4. Plain Magazine Princess Betty

Of course if Japan remade Ugly Betty they would do it as a magical girl show; I really just don't see another option here. No one realizes that plain magazine assistant Betty is also the magical superheroine that Mode has been trying to get the scoop on, and Betty's not about to tell them. Most of the heartwarming story arcs show that Betty's good sense, ingenuity and heart end up saving the day more than her magical powers anyway. She uses her 'B' necklace to transform; her outfit involves a lot of polka dots. Marc, of course, is not just her rival but also a Dark Magical Girl that Betty eventually wins over with the power of friendship.

5. Magical Ringbearer Frodo Baggins

In this fascinating subversion of the magical girl genre, Frodo is able to use a magical ring to gain the power of invisibility! (Mysteriously, the transformation sequence involves Frodo gaining a lot of frills and sparkles before disappearing.) At first the power is all fun and games for Frodo and friends, but Unlucky Childhood Best Friend Sam starts becoming worried - is it possible that the power of the ring could be dangerous? And why can't Frodo seem to give it up?

Okay, so - as my ignorance has been all too clearly displayed, if I were to further my education into the magical girl genre, what should I be watching? (Pretear is already on my list just by virtue of having been made by some of the same people as did Princess Tutu.)

Comments

[skygiants]

These are excellent recommendations and I am taking notes! . . . though, wait, do you mean all three seasons are 52 episodes each, or they're 52 episodes together?

[hafl.livejournal.com]

First season and A's are thirteen episodes each, StrikerS is twenty six episodes. There's also a movie, which is a remake of the first season and some tie-in manga series, but those are not really necessary to understand the anime.

[skygiants]

Okay, awesome. Thank you! That is a number that's significantly less terrifying to contemplate. :D

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

Also two sequel manga series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid and Magical War Chronicles Lyrical Nanoha Force (they had to change the name because Nanoha's a Christmas Cake by now).

Both amp up the fanservice a bit, which can be creepy in ViVid when the focus is on Vivio.