Forum - View topicfantasy VS magic VS supernatural
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
 Posts: 3785 Location: Montreal |
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Use this thread to ask for clarifications about the difference between the fantasy, magic and supernatural genres.
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nargun
Posts: 925 |
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Magical Girl stuff. Most genres it's fairly clear, but the darker magical girl stuff [say, sailor moon to VPM TV] tends to specifically try and link their MotD critters to traditional beasties, and I'm not sure how strong the link has to be to count as "supernatural", or rather before it doesn't count as plain "magical"
And to really get me confused... what about Shamanic Princess? |
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cardcaptormanda
 Posts: 237 Location: United States |
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Sorry if this is possibly in the wrong thread, but I'm a little confused about magical girl and magic. Should the two ever be used together?
I have been asked whether or not to use "magic" for several clearly magical girl anime/manga. On one hand, magic seems to fit, because they are "our world, with a touch of magic," but on the other, since that would hold true for nearly 100% of magical girl anime/manga, it seems redundant to label them both magic and magical girl. I assumed that magic was meant for things like Someday's Dreamers, not Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure. Any clarification would be appreciated. Last edited by cardcaptormanda on Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kenji_Ikari
 Posts: 144 |
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Hmm... I didn't see the link for this thread until now. This is the same question I had.
1. I think all Magical Girl anime aren't necessarily magic anime. 2. But there are exceptions, such as Cardcaptor Sakura (where there is a lot of magic used besides the fact that she can transform, and her powers are actually due to magic) and Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo (which has "magical girl" in the title, but is more of a magic anime). So basically, I wouldn't consider a series to be in the magic genre unless regular magic is constantly featured, rather than just assuming that the source of a character's power is magic. Is this right? |
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I've always considered all magical girl anime under the magic genre, because plain 'n' simple, they are mostly about girls in an "our world" setting who can use magical powers. There's no supernatural or fantasy to be heard. Can you can name a magical girl series that you think should not be under the magic genre? I can see how some like Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Moetan might cause some people to believe they have a fantasy tie-ins, but I would still label them magic over the other choices. I have my own question: for the series Naruto, would anyone consider it fantasy over supernatural? Or vice-versa? I'm leaning towards fantasy because it's in an other-worldly setting, plus I don't really consider it as a supernatural anime. But I would prefer to hear some other opinions. Or should I just label both as wrong? 
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
Posts: 3785 Location: Montreal |
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One thing to remember is that magical girl is no longer a genre but a theme. So it definitely makes sense to add the genre "magic" for magical girl shows. Probably 90% of the time a title could be labeled as both fantasy and magic, but if we did that most anime would be classified as fantasy. A search for "fantasy" that returns 50+% of titles in the database would be meaningless; Lodoss War is very very different from Cardcaptor Sakura. So the idea is to decide if a particular title is more like fantasy or more like magic (or supernatural). More like Lodoss War or more like Cardcaptor Sakura?
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Vortextk
 Posts: 892 Location: Orlando, Fl |
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I would also think supernatural being more phenomen than powers(magic) or setting(fantasy). I think of the mushi from Mushishi and think of supernatural, or the trio from Hundred stories somewhat. With the latter example, I've always felt horror being on the edge with supernatural. I mean actually, Mushishi had some slight horror aspects to it, depending on the episode.(Example/spoiler:spoiler[The mushishi sleeping in the man's pillow giving him his false prophetic dreams until he ended up killing the entire village]) I wouldn't say it's a needed element, but they often show up together.
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nargun
Posts: 925 |
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Akihabara Dennou Gumi [sf]. Corrector Yui [likewise sf, although I haven't seen it]. Vampire Princess Miyu TV [supernatural, horror; the OVA's less obviously magical girl]. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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I would argue that "magic" is very different from "magical girl" and most of the time, magical girl shows do not have magic as a theme. Most magical girl shows have as much 'magic' as Naruto, DBZ, Bleach, et al. It's a way to transform and shoot giant hearts at enemies. It's not really a theme at all. Magic as a theme would be more like Someday's Dreamers or Rental Magica, where it plays a major role in the world and/or is a major theme in the story. If we say that anything with something vaguely magic-like has a magic theme, it becomes nearly worthless. It's the same reason that One Piece shouldn't have "military" as a theme or that Gundam SEED shouldn't have romance as a theme. Just because its there, doesn't make it a theme. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I don't consider any of those as magical girl anime (except I could see one argue Corrector Yui) or of the magic genre.
But these aren't themes; they're genres. Magical girls (should) use magic. A show can have magic (genre) without magical girls (theme), however. Your argument is correct when themes are concerned, but all genres should be included if they're a part of the show. |
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Kenji_Ikari
Posts: 144 |
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Take Sailor Moon, for example. It's probably one of the shows that define the "Magical Girl" genre. (Or in our case, "Magical Girl" theme.) Is it a magic show? There really isn't much magic to speak of. Calling it a fantasy would probably even fit better, since she's the reincarnation of a princess who becomes a queen in the future, and has knights, guards, battles other kingdoms, uses the Holy Grail, etc. If I was searching for a magic anime, I would not be looking for Sailor Moon. And then what about "Magical Girl" anime where they get their powers from, say, technology and not magic? I can't name any specific ones, but I'm sure there are some out there.
And Sailor Moon is very very different from Rental Magica. :p Don't get me wrong though, I was originally asking if they should be defined that way, and since you think so, I guess that's how I'll do them. I think the main problem is that some anime only very loosely fit in some of the given genres, fit into multiple genres, or would be better in genres of their own. If you asked my what genre Sailor Moon was off the top of my head, I would probably say "Shoujo Action." |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Ah, good point. It's definitely a hard decision.  
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nargun
Posts: 925 |
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Disagree; this definition excludes Tokyo Mew Mew, for example, arguably also Wedding Peach [angels/demons? Supernatural!]. I hazard to suggest that this definition may not be terribly useful. Which is the point, here. Being useful. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I already got the point, as I said above. But in my own personal opinion, magical girls should do just that -- use magical powers. Or maybe I'm taking the definition too literally? As for my quote, I meant "magic" was the genre and "magical girl" was the theme. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Mai-Otome. Their abilities come from nanotechnology (and apparently, the technology is destroyed if they have sex...). Also, MOMO's transformations in Xenosaga are from technology as well (although, it's technically her imagination in the anime). Last edited by Dessa on Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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