![]() ![]() ![]() He’s a trans boy.Īs a genre, the magical girl has been around for over 60 years. In Magical Boy, Max is a high schooler who has been chosen to become the next “Magical Girl.” But there’s one problem. We’re not laughing at the show, we’re laughing with it.”Īnd while magical girl series have traditionally confronted gender norms and expectations, none has done so quite like one of the most recent additions to the magical girl/magical boy genre, a comic called Magical Boyby The Kao. Yes, it has over-the-top situations, but it’s just slightly less believable than the typical magical girl show, so it works. ![]() It’s comedic, but it’s not a gag-a-minute affair. “As a parody of a genre that can still entertain in its own right, this series walks the line of critiquing and venerating the magical girl genre with finesse. The parody series tells the story of five ordinary boys who are given extraordinary nature-based powers from mysterious creature from outer space. In her review of the series for Anime News Network, Amy McNulty wrote, For instance, Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! is an anime and manga series that premiered in 2015. Many of these series were parodies, poking fun at the tropes of the magical girl that by the 2010s had become a little overdone. Notable additions to the genre in this period include Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Little Witch Academia. As such, in the 2000s and beyond, there was a rise of magical girl series for older audiences and magical girl parodies. But series like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura became crossover hits, popular with people of all ages and genders. Generally speaking, magical girl manga and anime series were originally targeted toward younger audiences, specifically young girls. As with Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura saw worldwide success and was developed into a 70-episode anime television series. And those powers can only be activated by someone with inherent magical abilities. The cards, called Clow Cards because they were created by Clow Reed, are imbued with magical powers. After Sakura accidentally releases a set of magical cards into the world, she is tasked with retrieving them and sealing before they wreak havoc on the world. Cardcaptor Sakura tells the story of a 10-year-old 4th grader named Sakura Kinomoto. One of the most popular manga series to come from the 1990s magical girl boom was Cardcaptor Sakura, written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Creator Go Nagai claims that Honey was the first-ever female protagonist of a shōnen manga series. Honey had many transformations over the years, and this was became signature characteristic of her storyline. Honey Kisaragi is an android girl who transforms into Cutie Honey to fight evil. This manga series introduced another super important aspect of the magical girl genre as we know it today: the transformation. The manga Cutie Honey, written by Go Nagai, first appeared in Weekly Shōnen Champion’s 41st issue of 1973. If that sounds super weird, that’s because it is. And if she combines the two candies, Melmo reverts back to a fetus and then can choose to grow into any animal form she wishes. The red turns Melmo back into a 9-year-old. The blue candy will turn Melmo into a 19-year-old version of herself. So God allows Melmo’s mother to return to Earth as a ghost in order to give Melmo a special gift: candy. Up in heaven, Melmo’s mother wishes that her daughter could grow up faster, since life will be harder for the young girl without her mother to care for her. Melmo is a 9-year-old girl who loses her mother in a car accident. But Tezuka’s real contribution to the genre came in the form of Fushigi na Merumo, or Marvelous Melmo. His manga Princess Knightis seen as a precursor to the magical girl, as it introduced the concept of female superheroes. ![]() Manga artist Osamu Tezuka, who is often referred to as the “Father of Manga,” also put his own stamp on the magical girl genre. ![]()
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