Anime/Manga Magical girl anime

Do you like magical girl shows? A lot of my favorite anime fall under that category, namely Ojamajo Doremi, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Mew Mew, and a few Precure series. There's an appeal to these sorts of shows I've struggled to put into words, but the best I can say is that some of these shows might not be "objectively good" they have an undeniable charm that make me feel really good and as though I'm experiencing these very basic emotions for the first time.

Honestly, not really. It's nothing against the genre itself though, I've just not seen a lot of what I'd consider good writing or characters from the ones that I have seen. Off the top of my head I've seen Madoka, Magical Girl Site and Raising Project of my own volition and Doremi, Cadcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon as a result of growing up with my sister. I guess arguably you could count Wonder Egg Priority, but idk about labelling that under this genre.

Of that list (excluding Wonder Egg) Madoka is the only one I can say I actually like and I did like it a lot (sorry Dawn). The others were all pretty bad - although I don't remember Cardcaptor very well so maybe it'd be worth going back to it?

So yeah, nothing against the genre itself and I'm always up for giving it a try if the premise is interesting. As a whole though, its a genre populated mostly by shows that I don't think are very good.

Yes, I do. I love magical girl anime. I just wish that modern Magical Girl anime weren't just "let's try and be as dark as possible to be successful/relevant!" I can think of so many examples to prove my point. Magical Girl Site, Magical Girl Raising Project and so many other "edgy" magical girl anime came out at the rise of Madoka trying to do the same thing as Madoka only to fail at it miserably, lmfao.

There were some magical girls that weren't trying to be "Madoka but different" like Houkago no Pleiades and some gag mahou shoujo (Magical Girl Ore(?) here and there, but tbh everything after Madoka is just trying too hard to be dark and edgy with the exception of Pretty Cure, the ccs sequel and some forgettable ones.

I did like Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, Yuuki Yuna wa Yusha De Aru in a post Madoka airing world, though, and Magia Record was much better than Madoka could ever hope to be.

I really hope, though, going forward we get less "Madoka but EDGIER" anime, I'm frankly tired of it, lol.

Palamon said:

Yes, I do. I love magical girl anime. I just wish that modern Magical Girl anime weren't just "let's try and be as dark as possible to be successful/relevant!" I can think of so many examples to prove my point. Magical Girl Site, Magical Girl Raising Project and so many other "edgy" magical girl anime came out at the rise of Madoka trying to do the same thing as Madoka only to fail at it miserably, lmfao.

There were some magical girls that weren't trying to be "Madoka but different" like Houkago no Pleiades and some gag mahou shoujo (Magical Girl Ore(?) here and there, but tbh everything after Madoka is just trying too hard to be dark and edgy with the exception of Pretty Cure, the ccs sequel and some forgettable ones.

I did like Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, Yuuki Yuna wa Yusha De Aru in a post Madoka airing world, though, and Magia Record was much better than Madoka could ever hope to be.

I really hope, though, going forward we get less "Madoka but EDGIER" anime, I'm frankly tired of it, lol.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. I've used the example of "Madoka is to magical girls as Shrek is to Disney", that is to say every magical girl anime that isn't Precure or a nostalgia IP has either tried (poorly) doing the dark and violent twist or tried being a parody, much like how after Shrek was a hit every Disney movie from that point onward had to make fun of themselves or stray as far from what Disney was known for entirely. Its a real shame because honestly I think magical girl parodies are the bottom of the comedy barrel.

Palamon said:

Magical Girl Site, Magical Girl Raising Project

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The creators of these definitely looked at Madoka and took away all the wrong things about what made it good. Yes, it was edgy, but it's not just edginess that makes it enjoyable.

I love them! There are many I haven't seen (and I feel bad to admit I haven't finished Precure Star Twinkle Yet) but I generally adore the genre. Some of my favorites were Madoka (of course haha), Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, and even Magical Girl Raising Project even if that one had very mixed reception. I understand why too, partly because of what gimmepie said above. But I really liked some of the characters and ending song.

gimmepie said:

The creators of these definitely looked at Madoka and took away all the wrong things about what made it good. Yes, it was edgy, but it's not just edginess that makes it enjoyable.

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Yes, exactly that, especially magical girl site in this regard, to be honest. I honestly think the only magical girls that looked at Madoka and didn't just take the "edginess" of it was Yuki Yuna is a Hero which was similar to Madoka, but wasn't being a tryhard with the "edge" factor.

I guess another one I think didn't try to be "madoka but edgier" was Kill la Kill, but I don't know if that should be considered a magical girl, tbh.

Palamon said:

Yes, exactly that, especially magical girl site in this regard, to be honest. I honestly think the only magical girls that looked at Madoka and didn't just take the "edginess" of it was Yuki Yuna is a Hero which was similar to Madoka, but wasn't being a tryhard with the "edge" factor.

I guess another one I think didn't try to be "madoka but edgier" was Kill la Kill, but I don't know if that should be considered a magical girl, tbh.

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Only in the loosest of definitions could I consider Kill la Kill a magical girl anime. Sure, you have the transformations and the mascot sidekick, but a lot of the aesthetics that make me appreciate the genre so much aren't really there. Don't get me wrong, I love Kill la Kill, but the only people I've seen call it a magical girl show are people trying to be "That guy".

I... Uh... I guess I do? Maybe just some of them. I was thinking that I didn't but then I realized that perhaps I actually do?

I had some faint memories of Sailor Moon from when I was a kid - I think it was my favourite show for some period of time. I just thought that the opening was kind of scary cuz it has that part from the first episode where the person who was posing as her friend's mother turns into the evil person, and that spooked me (I was 7).

Then as a teenage boy I ended up watching the first Pretty Cure on television cuz it aired at the exact time I got home. I think I had a crush on Cure Black or something, so I kept watching it lmao. Watched Fresh PreCure that summer and even wrote a "letter to my future self" that said contained something like "Don't forget about Fresh PreCure!" + all the character names.

THEN in university I was already 20 but Sailor Moon Crystal came out and for some reason I went and watched that. I didn't enjoy it too much cuz Usagi is super whiny but the theme song slapped really hard. I just ended up watching up to end of Season 2 then I didn't really care anymore cuz I think tbh Sailor Moon isn't my cup of tea. Though I think watching this made me realize that I had a crush on Sailor Venus ever since I was a child. Anime really does stuff to you, damn.

Last year, watched Madoka Magica and got really sad cuz that just messed me up (even though I spoiled myself already). Then watched Cardcaptor Sakura (which I caught glimpses of as a child) and got really happy but then sad again cuz it ended. CCS I liked a lot probably cuz it's so pure and there's not really an evil person, but also cuz I was really rooting for Mr. Syaoran lmao. Lol aren't these kids 10 XD? Also the music slaps.

Yeah ok I guess no one asked for my life story but here it is anyway. Looking back, some of my decisions to watch these shows could (and probably should) be labeled as "cringe", the teenage years especially. I do enjoy some of the shows though.

I quite frankly haven't watched enough of the archetypical ones in anime format to count as a fan of Magical Gril anime, but I have read quite a few in manga form and have enjoyed those.

Little Witch Academia technically counts as one but that's just an anime with a setting of a girls' school for witches rather than an "ordinary girl" getting magical powers in Japanese society.

I'm a massive fan of Magical Girl anime. I've rewatched Madoka Magica several times, and I've watched most of Cardcaptors. I've probably watched most of Sailor Moon seasons one through four, although I didn't watch the episodes in order (I didn't watch or read anything in order when I was a kid), so I can't say for sure.