Ask John: Has the Magical Girl Genre Run Its Course?

Question:
Has the magical girl genre in anime finally run its course and died out? Over the years viewers have seen all sorts of variations on the theme, from reluctant superheroes (Sailor Moon), prepubescent spellcasters (Cardcaptor Sakura), fantasy world warriors (Magic Knight Rayearth), municipal workers (Someday’s Dreamers), secret agents (Witch Hunter Robin) to high school students by the boatload (Maburaho). Is there anything left in this long-in-the-tooth genre that we haven’t already seen before? Has the genre, pardon the pun, exhausted its magic?

Answer:
If I could say with certainty that the magical girl genre of anime has or hasn’t exhausted all of its possible permutations I’d probably be an actual anime creator rather than an anime critic. It’s really impossible for me to presume that I do or don’t know all of the potential ideas that Japanese authors and animators may invent. However, I’d prefer to be optimistic and believe that there’s always room for innovation. Depending upon one’s perspective, there are recent entries in the magical girl genre which either signify the genre’s last efforts at expanding its potential, or signify that the genre still has a potential for evolution in new directions.

The Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo anime is a sort of reimagination of Ah! My Goddess. Unlike divine beings coming to live with a normal human boy, in Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo, it’s a normal human boy who moves in with a witch. (Although it may be a minor distinction, I’m going to exclude supernatural beings like goddesses and demons from classification as “magical girls.” For the purpose of this response, a “magical girl” is a normal human girl who’s able to use magic.) It may be a small distinction, but it is still significant that the primary magical girl in Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo is a married adult woman, not a teen or preadolescent girl.

Futari wa Precure and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s have both put a bit of a unique spin on the conventional magical girl. Pretty Cure has changed the magical girls from fighters who rely on magical attacks and spells to fighters who magically gain superhuman strength and rely primarily on using martial arts and street fighting to literally beat villains into submission. Lyrical Nanoha A’s has made an even bigger advance in the conventional character of magical girl anime by pitting magical girls against each other in mortal combat with intense prejudice and powerful offensive spells and attacks. In fact, Lyrical Nanoha A’s may be best described as a sci-fi action show that stars magical girls.

Another unique example of development in the magical girl genre is the award winning Kamichu! series from earlier this year. In Kamichu!, a high school girl inexplicably becomes a “kami” overnight. I need to use the Japanese term “kami” because main character Yurie doesn’t turn into a conventional Western style omnipotent god. She becomes a Shinto god, one of literally thousands of Japanese “kami” gods- patrons of everything from trees and mountains to concepts like wealth and happiness, and mundane objects like streets and shops and even battleships. (It’s said that in Asian religions, there’s a god for everything.) Yurie doesn’t magically transform (except possibly into a cat in one of the DVD exclusive episodes) into a defender of virtue. She’s is a normal human girl who becomes a divine being posessing seemingly limitless magical power. (Therefore, I don’t think I’m contradicting my aforementioned stipulations by nominating Kamichu!)

It may seem as though the unique characteristics of my chosen examples are insignificant or superficial, but I would argue that the magical girl genre has never been tremendously diverse. The principal conceit of magical girl anime is imbuing a normal human girl with magical power. Minky Momo can transform into any guise. Ririka Moriya transforms into a magical nurse. Usagi Tsukino transforms into a celestial princess. Momoko Hanasaki transforms into a magical bride. Miho Shinohara transforms into an idol singer. Sakura Kinomoto transforms into a card collector. And so forth. Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu, Sugar Sugar Rune, and Mahou Tsukai Tai are all about teenage witches. Someday’s Dreamers, Witch Hunter Robin, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Yugen Kaisha, and Silent Mobius are all stories about women who use magic in their profession. Ultimately it is small distinctions that make magical girl shows unique, and it only takes a small creative difference to send the magical girl genre into a direction it’s never gone in before. Considering that modern anime has existed for fifty years, and manages to surprise viewers with its creativity on a regular basis, I have to presume that the anime industry still has the potential to develop new, unique interpretations and permutations of magical girl anime.