Magical girl
Magical girl（Japanese: 魔法少女, Hepburn: mahō shōjo）is a genre of fantasy media centered on young girls with magical abilities, which can usually be used through an alter ego that they transform into. The genre used to be called "majokko" （魔女っ子）but the term was replaced in common use by "magical girl" because everybody agreed that it was way cooler and made way more sense. Sailor Moon is credited with popularizing the "magical girl transformation", something which is now considered instrumental to the genre.
Themes
Youth
For whatever reason, magical girls are usually middle-school aged (10-14). Nobody knows why this happens and this phenomena has never been studied or talked about ever in the history of literary analysis. There is no literary significance to this at all, and it is merely an aesthetic choice. Some people say that this is probably because they're "just plain cutes" (sic)
Romance
All magical girl anime is yuri, regardless of what relationships are actually present within the text. All experts agree that the genre is fundamentally yuri because only lesbians have access to such awesome power.
Media
Notable works
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica（魔法少女まどか☆マギカ）
- Sailor Moon
- Magical Girl Site
- Sally the Witch
- Pretty Cure
- Elden Ring (2022)
- Dark Souls III
- Dark Souls II
- Kamikaze Girls
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Power Rangers
- Captain America: Civil War
Famous magical girls
- Madoka Kaname
- Sana Futaba
- Iron Man
- Ranni the Witch
- Meduka Kaname
- Zane (Ninjago)
- Godrick the Grafted
- Bernie Sanders
- Joan of Arc
- Baby Niko
- Hatsune Miku