Over the past 40 years the rise of the infamous Sailor Moon has taken audiences by storm. Sailor Moon; the infamous Japanese anime depicting five girls in sailor outfits who protect the Earth by fighting the forces of evil. Sailor Moon is not the only series of its kind, it is part of the mahou shoujo (Japanese for ‘magical girl’) genre. The genre is defined as: a series in which young women are either granted magical powers by external forces or have had them since birth. The early themes present in mahou shoujo series are of self-escapism and wish-fulfillment, they later shift to focus on heroism, responsibility, and the importance of family.
The genre is now extremely popular throughout the anime community, but how did it gain its massive reputation?
The first two mahou shoujo series appeared in the 1960s, both influenced by the American sitcom Bewitched. The first was ‘The Secrets of Akko-chan’ (Himitsu no Akko-chan) by Fujio Akatsuka, followed years later by Sally the Witch(Mahoutsukai Sally) by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. These series were mostly aimed at girls between ten and twelve years old, the same age as the protagonists, and depicted coming of age stories.
However, the mahou shoujo series of the 1970s experienced radical changes in the genre. Works such as Marvelous Melmo (Fushigi na Merumo) by Osamu Tezuka, Cutie Honey by Go Nagai, and Meg the Witch Girl (Majokko Megu-chan) targeted an older audience due to their older protagonists, slightly darker themes, fanservice, and the inclusion of rivalry with other magical girls.
Until then, all mahou shoujo anime had been produced by the animation studio TOEI Animation. This changed, in the 1980s the production of the wildly popular Minky Momo by Ashi Productions skyrocketed the company into the mahou shoujo genre. Later on, the genre was dominated by Studio Pierrot with series such as Magical Angel Creamy Mami (Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami), Magical Fairy Persia (Mahou no Yosei Persia), and Magical Emi, the Magic Star (Mahou no Star Magical Emi).
The mahou shoujo genre’s incredible popularity peaked in the 1990s with series such as: Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magical DoReMi. The focus of the genre shifted heavily towards the superheroine warrior image that is still popular to this day, and the series became well-know to the western audience. The mahou shoujo genre not only became popular in the English-speaking world, but it also promoted shoujo manga (comics for young girls) in general.
With the start of the new millennium, mahou shoujo largely extrapolated from the 1990s by using warrior styled heroines, and production studios started producing more original works, preferring to control the storylines and other elements themselves rather than adapting from existing sources. The 2000s saw mahou shoujo series emerge with much darker themes than their previous counterparts, including Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Magical Girl Site, which also targeted male audiences.
The mahou shoujogenre is now a well-known trope in the anime community, resulting in the inclusion of parody series. The popularity of the genre was so rapid that it influenced western cartoons in applying similar concepts, seen in Winx Club, W.I.T.C.H., Star vs the Forces of Evil and Steven Universe. Now there are even series with magical boys! Examples being Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! and Magical Girl Ore.
The mahou shoujogenre has a long and rich history; it cannot be denied that it had a immense impact on the anime community and western world alike.
- Caterina Peracchi
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