Of Men and Magical Girls

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Who watches these shows anyway?

Apparently, we do. Magical girl shows have a surprising reputation and an even more surprising fanbase - at least gauging the English anime blog opinion, there seems to be a lot of positive reviews of the genre, or at least microcosms of it - Cardcaptor Sakura is the classic, some of us (me) stand by more recent ones such as Nanatsuiro Drops, and now the latest hit, Shugo Chara.

Admittedly the middle one was originally an eroge but what all three of these have in common, which is why I find this trend surprising, is that they are all 'pure' magical girl shows, unlike what I would like to dub "magical lolicon" shows which pander to more directly of a male base.

Somehow, 'pure' magical girl shows have managed to gather quite the male audience themselves, despite being aimed at an audience half (a third, one-fourth, etc) the age and with twice the X chromosomes. I mean, look at it. (Link through Canned Dogs)

Why is this?


I know they say that fiction warps your views, but I swear I never saw this many girls with purple hair and yellow eyes before I become a Nagatoist.

Despite the stereotypical viewpoint of most magical girl shows as overly feminine and simplistic, this genre is one that could theoretically appeal to a lot of people.

Many viewers watch anime as a way to relax, and shows this sweet and happy-go-lucky fit the bill perfectly. Those looking for a show to relax about will enjoy the genre's easy-to-follow, contained (in a single episode) feel.

Yet it's not beating you over the head with obvious in any case. More likely the carrot is dangling just out of sight. Perhaps there is more plot foreshadowing than the average out-of-left-field visual novel adaptation, but never is everything fully revealed.

At least, that is the case with shows like Shugo Chara, where a large part of the picture is revealed, but all the important bits are still covered up. It's a sort of plot striptease, except with less negative connotations. You know that the clumsy teacher is actually a villain, you know Ikuto's a disgruntled gothic guy who just wants be loved, you know that an embryo does something magic and awesome, but there always are more questions. Why? Who's Utau and why is she so clingy to Ikuto? How will it all play out?

Likewise, those looking for a touch of escapism won't find a world more pleasant, more happy-go-lucky than those of magical girl shows.

It's almost impossible not to crack a smile sometimes with these shows. The fluffy, sugary, and teeth-cracking atmosphere in the magical girl genre may seem a bit excessive at times, but there always seems to be something to enjoy about the show.

Maybe it's the comedy that many of the character provide, another staple of a genre that's close to slice-of-life at times. Maybe it's the feel-good atmosphere that the typical confident and/or optomistic ('zettai daijoubu!') projects. Maybe it's just the sheer ridiculousness of the 30-second transformation sequences and the incredibly hax "time to win" attacks and battles. Maybe it's all of that.

But it's like the tackiest cliches; smile, and the world smiles with you. Maybe people are more critical of shows that want you to cry with them, but the bright attitude of magical girl shows is quite permeating, permitting that it gets past any defenses one might erect against "cheesy" feeling-shows.

In that regard it's almost ironic that Shugo Chara's life lesson is to 'just be yourself' and to ignore what others think of who you are, how you act, and what mahou shoujo anime you watch.

A third, more subjective aspect to the appeal of this sort of genre is the 'inner child' draw of these kind of things. If American movie remakes are anything to go by, going into the way-back machine and seeing what was entertaining as a youth done again, many years later, is something that appeals to many people.

It's not always that these stand up to the tests of time; sometimes the newest version just doesn't capture the same magic, or sometimes one's passion has faded. But quite often these retro trips at least tilt the odds in favor of one enjoying something. I'm already, in my late teens, having cravings for Cardcaptor Sakura days of yore, and the spiritual successors in the magical girl genre as such are a good fix for me, offering some of the old with a bit of a new flavor as well.

I wouldn't say in any case that I could survive solely off the cotton-candy-like substance that is magical girl, but it's something that I won't deny enjoying quite a bit - not for the stereotypical aspects that one expects from these shows, but for the spice; a different romantic premise here, an anti-villain there, a resonant message somewhere along the line, I find the genre as a whole to be a great mix of carrot (foreshadowing) and stick (plot).

Not every anime has to be completely intellectually or dramatically engaging - as I commented elsewhere, as much as I like Key and as I like Clannad, 52 episodes would simply be too much of it for me to stand. Either the show would lose steam or I would die of tear duct exhaustion* before the end of the series. It's just too much to handle.

And that's why I watch magical girl shows and can consider myself proud of it. Balance.


Balance, I tell you!

One thing, however, that makes me wonder. This could very well be a misguided thought; perhaps the large male, non-ten-year-old audience I percieve is due to the fact that There Are No Girls on The Internet (well, almost). Or that those that blog tend to be a pretty forgiving bunch; or that people don't talk about shows they don't watch.

Maybe an ulterior motive, in that those who swear by Rule 34 can still find something loli to obsess about, even in 'pure' shows? Never doubt the fans...

So an informal poll. What do you think of magical girl shows? Would you openly recommend them to other people? Are they as widely appealing as I believe they can be - or is this madness induced by one too many peppy, sugary J-pop songs?**

-CCY
* I didn't cry at the end of the Fuuko arc, actually. Or Ayu's. Not even Makoto's. I'm a godless communist, I know, I know.
** Damn you, Shugo Chara OP. I swore I would not get addicted to you.