Can Magical mean Super?
Created | Updated Jun 19, 2002
Super-heroines
In todays Western comics the Superhero is almost always one thing. A man.
However you do get your Leading Ladies e.g Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl e.t.c, e.t.c the majority of Super-heroines are sidekicks like Supergirl and Batgirl.
Mahou Shoujo The Magical Girl
But there is a place in the world this is different. Where is this place you ask?
Japan.
In Japan the comics are not all about Race cars and Giant robots; Oh no! They have comics about Romantic Comedy, Drama, and many other topics, they also have Superheros or rather Magical Girls.
The staple Magical girl story includes:
One young girl of around 10 to 15, Magical powers with a fantastic phrase to bring on the henshin or transformation, a cute animal (or two) with magical powers.
Of coruse not all of these are included in every Magical Girl story, Card Captor Sakura for example has not henshin, her best friend makes her an array of Outfits for her.
There are dozens of these stories, but some of the most popular include:
Kamikaze Katio Jeanné or Kamikaze Theif Joan about a girl who is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc who captures soul stealing demons from within works of art, however afterwards the work of art often disappears making people believe she is a thief
Card Captor Sakura About a young girl who finds a magical book in her fathers basement/library and accidentally releases the magical Tarot like cards within, she is enlisted by Cerberus a.k.a Kero-chan to get them back through the use of her (unkown to her until this point) natural Magical Powers (note Cerberus looks more like a lion than a hell-hound in his ture form and most of the tine he looks like a stuffed lioncub/teddy bear with wings)
Shoujo Kakumei Utena or Revolutionary Girl Utena who is rescued by a prince at a young age and grows up wanting to be one … this story is hard to explain.
Magic Knight Rayearth about three Strangers Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi who are summond from below Tokyo tower to the kingdom of Cerphiro where they must save the princess and the kingdom from evil by awakening the magical weapons or ‘Mashin’ of the Magic Knights, they have magical armour made by Presea the weapon smith and cam learn magic spells (Made by the same people as Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight pre dates Card Captor)
And then there is the most famous Bishoujo Senshi Sera Munn or Pretty Solider Sailor Moon which follow the story of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Matako, and Minako the Sailor Soldiers who transform into the Sailor Solider Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus respectively, Usagi is an underachiever and cry-baby but extremely loyal and believes in the goodness in all humans. She also has the love of a man by the name of Mamoru a.k.a Tuxedo Kamen (Mask)
Later the Sailor Soldiers Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Chibimoon (little moon the future daughter of Mamoru & Usagi a.k.a Chibi-usa)
As well as the Sailor Starlights (Star Maker, Healer & Fighter) and Chibi-Chibi a.k.a Sailor Chibichibi Moon.
The Sailor Soldiers powers steam from the fact that they are reincarnations of princesses of the Solar System’s nine planets (Save earth who had a prince) and our moon (Chibimoon is the future princess of the Moon & Earth that’s where her power come from) and they relie on the users desire to the defeat of evil.
Sailor Moon being the most powerful can only use her full powers if she wants to defeat or heal the evil that is attacking the world when she is willing to give up her life for it (and she dose several times coming back to live via her own powers afterwards)
The point of this article
The Point of this article is not to put down American Superheroes, infact I love the guys (especially Spider-man & The Flash) but to point out the existence of magical girls and other Japanese creations in Manga (Japanese comics)
Drawing to a close would like to say my favourite Superhero is Spider-man, my favourite Magical Girl is Sailor Pluto.
(on a side note the Japanese have done Manga versions of Spider-Man and Star Wars)
In todays Western comics the Superhero is almost always one thing. A man.
However you do get your Leading Ladies e.g Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl e.t.c, e.t.c the majority of Super-heroines are sidekicks like Supergirl and Batgirl.
Mahou Shoujo The Magical Girl
But there is a place in the world this is different. Where is this place you ask?
Japan.
In Japan the comics are not all about Race cars and Giant robots; Oh no! They have comics about Romantic Comedy, Drama, and many other topics, they also have Superheros or rather Magical Girls.
The staple Magical girl story includes:
One young girl of around 10 to 15, Magical powers with a fantastic phrase to bring on the henshin or transformation, a cute animal (or two) with magical powers.
Of coruse not all of these are included in every Magical Girl story, Card Captor Sakura for example has not henshin, her best friend makes her an array of Outfits for her.
There are dozens of these stories, but some of the most popular include:
Kamikaze Katio Jeanné or Kamikaze Theif Joan about a girl who is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc who captures soul stealing demons from within works of art, however afterwards the work of art often disappears making people believe she is a thief
Card Captor Sakura About a young girl who finds a magical book in her fathers basement/library and accidentally releases the magical Tarot like cards within, she is enlisted by Cerberus a.k.a Kero-chan to get them back through the use of her (unkown to her until this point) natural Magical Powers (note Cerberus looks more like a lion than a hell-hound in his ture form and most of the tine he looks like a stuffed lioncub/teddy bear with wings)
Shoujo Kakumei Utena or Revolutionary Girl Utena who is rescued by a prince at a young age and grows up wanting to be one … this story is hard to explain.
Magic Knight Rayearth about three Strangers Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi who are summond from below Tokyo tower to the kingdom of Cerphiro where they must save the princess and the kingdom from evil by awakening the magical weapons or ‘Mashin’ of the Magic Knights, they have magical armour made by Presea the weapon smith and cam learn magic spells (Made by the same people as Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight pre dates Card Captor)
And then there is the most famous Bishoujo Senshi Sera Munn or Pretty Solider Sailor Moon which follow the story of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Matako, and Minako the Sailor Soldiers who transform into the Sailor Solider Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus respectively, Usagi is an underachiever and cry-baby but extremely loyal and believes in the goodness in all humans. She also has the love of a man by the name of Mamoru a.k.a Tuxedo Kamen (Mask)
Later the Sailor Soldiers Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Chibimoon (little moon the future daughter of Mamoru & Usagi a.k.a Chibi-usa)
As well as the Sailor Starlights (Star Maker, Healer & Fighter) and Chibi-Chibi a.k.a Sailor Chibichibi Moon.
The Sailor Soldiers powers steam from the fact that they are reincarnations of princesses of the Solar System’s nine planets (Save earth who had a prince) and our moon (Chibimoon is the future princess of the Moon & Earth that’s where her power come from) and they relie on the users desire to the defeat of evil.
Sailor Moon being the most powerful can only use her full powers if she wants to defeat or heal the evil that is attacking the world when she is willing to give up her life for it (and she dose several times coming back to live via her own powers afterwards)
The point of this article
The Point of this article is not to put down American Superheroes, infact I love the guys (especially Spider-man & The Flash) but to point out the existence of magical girls and other Japanese creations in Manga (Japanese comics)
Drawing to a close would like to say my favourite Superhero is Spider-man, my favourite Magical Girl is Sailor Pluto.
(on a side note the Japanese have done Manga versions of Spider-Man and Star Wars)
