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The List - Top 5 Magical Girl Series


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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:27 pm Reply with quote
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Shaft and series writer Gen Urobuchi turned the genre on its head by reexamining the burdens placed on our young girl heroes.


I'd never considered this viewpoint before, and it's spot on. I've heard countless "well actuallys" about how Madoka isn't the first dark magical girl series, but part of what makes it unique isn't that it's "dark," it's how it portrays being a magical girl as a doomed burden. Nice insight.

Quote:
And Princess Tutu, which I almost adore, is kind of its own thing, in my humble opinion.


Quote:
Neither [Princess Tutu nor Yuki Yuna] were influential in the way most of the titles on this list are, but the former is, in my opinion, the best of the more classically-styled magical girl series and the latter is the cream of the crop of the Madoka follow-ups in both technical merits and storytelling/characterizations.


I think you have to include Princess Tutu as a magical girl series; what is the title character if not a magical girl? I watched this one just last year, and i am convinced that not only has Urobuchi watched it, but that it is one of his favorite shows. The themes of Tutu are readily apparent in most of his better known works, especially Madoka and Fate/Zero. The themes of characters recognizing and fighting against their set "roles" assigned by a manipulative outside force (be it Drosselmeijer, kyubeys & the metaphysical laws of the universe, or a corrupted Holy Grail War), characters becoming their own persons vs fate, and Shakespearean tragedy (by its literal definition), are ever-present in both Tutu and Urobuchi's works.

If anyone here likes Madoka but hasn't seen Princess Tutu, you're honestly missing out on a fantastic anime.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2377
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:28 pm Reply with quote
I'm not here to criticize the list (Madoka Magica would be my favorite and I personally find Symphogear far less interesting), but for additional honors, I'd say:

-Princess Tutu
-Revolutionary Girl Utena (if it counts)
-Nanoha
-Heartcatch PreCure (best of the PreCure bunch)
-Magic Knight Rayearth
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LauraOrganaSolo



Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 109
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:30 pm Reply with quote
I cannot take Fate/Prisma Ilya seriously ever, nothing about it seems like a "magical girl show" so much as openly sensual and thus repulsive lolicon pandering.

And I say this as a Fate fan.

Anyway Mermaid Melody Pichi Pich is underrated and Princess Tutu deserves to be on that list gg
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DavetheUsher



Joined: 19 May 2014
Posts: 505
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:41 pm Reply with quote
LauraOrganaSolo wrote:
I cannot take Fate/Prisma Ilya seriously ever, nothing about it seems like a "magical girl show" so much as openly sensual and thus repulsive lolicon pandering.


I mean.. those often go hand in hand. They're not mutually exclusive at all. Card Captor Sakura pretty much kickstarted it. Then Nanoha perfected it. Precure is the modern embodiment of it. Lolicon has a long interweaving connection with the magical girl genre and is very crucial component of the appeal and fandom.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 12:12 am Reply with quote
THANK GOD SAILOR MOON BEAT MADOKA.

Yeah, I liked the latter when it aired...but I've been salty towards Madoka for starting this whole "magical girl shows are now edgy dark stuff for adult men now" trend...yes, I hate this.

Male audiences already have enough things aimed at them!! Don't take away magical girls TOO...;____;

My votes:


Full Moon Wo Sagashite
Princess Tutu
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
Nurse Angel Ririka SOS -----------UNDERRATED. I am watching this now; it's great.
Kaitou Saint Tail
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:08 pm Reply with quote
Chiibi wrote:
THANK GOD SAILOR MOON BEAT MADOKA.

Yeah, I liked the latter when it aired...but I've been salty towards Madoka for starting this whole "magical girl shows are now edgy dark stuff for adult men now" trend...yes, I hate this.

Male audiences already have enough things aimed at them!! Don't take away magical girls TOO...;____;


You can never have too much anime, especially in this era of anime riches. Today it is more, there is something for everyone.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2632
PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 6:44 pm Reply with quote
I’m sorry but any magical girl list that doesn’t mention Princess Tutu is a failure of a list in my eyes.
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Sailor Sedna





PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:39 pm Reply with quote
Chiibi wrote:
THANK GOD SAILOR MOON BEAT MADOKA.

Yeah, I liked the latter when it aired...but I've been salty towards Madoka for starting this whole "magical girl shows are now edgy dark stuff for adult men now" trend...yes, I hate this.

Male audiences already have enough things aimed at them!! Don't take away magical girls TOO...;____;


Unfortunately one poll I saw listed the overrated Madoka as #1 and Sailor Moon dropped towards #3... Anime hyper

Plus Madoka wasn't even the first anime thing that had an all girl cast get killed off, the (now really old) anime Gall Force, with its character designs by Kenichi Sonoda, did something like that first though the cast weren't magical girls.

And you're not alone, I'm getting tired of this grimdark magical girl stuff (especially after Spec-Ops Asuka put torture porn and borderline obscenity in its last episode, and from what I've seen of it, aside from Magical Girl Raising Project's light novels, all of the grimdark ones I've seen/glimpsed at/read about have been really, really lame), I'm actually planning to do my own magical girl manga/comic and while it would have some dark stuff, I'd plan to not have it be like that all the time and try to make it as an answer to the mostly mindless grimdark magical girl stuff that's coming out nowadays.
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