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Erin Desmond
Steve Stanchfield
Animation History
19 April 2016
Power Makeup!
Who knew that girls who transform into heroes with magic powers would become an
entire genre of animated cartoons? It seems pretty oddly specific when you think about it. But it
is true, magical girl is a legitimate genre. As the vast majority of magical girl shows are made in
Japan, it is fair to say that Japan is the country who made this concept into the genre it is today.
And with a specific focus on girls, magical girls have easily caught the interest of feminists.
However, there is a disconnection between the feminists of Japan and the feminists of America.
While the westerners are enthralled with these sparkly femme heroes of justice, Japan is actually
fairly fed up with the whole thing. Most American anime fans do not understand why that is, but
if we take a look at the history of magical girls and the ongoing role that they play in Japans
society, the reason for dislike becomes very clear.
Ironically, Japans first official magical girl show is inspired from an American show
called Bewitched (TV Tropes). Bewitched is a show about a young woman, a witch, who
marries a human man. The witch must hide her powers so she can thrive in the human world and
stay married to the man she loves. Back in the 60s, Japan sees this show and sees an
opportunity. They like the idea of a woman losing her powers once she gets married (Saito 148).
Even though, in Bewitched, the woman choses to refrain from using her powers, Japan decides

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to make shows where a womans power is only temporary and will eventually be taken from her
(Saito 151).
I took two years of Japanese, so I know that politeness and respect are their top priorities.
This means, however, that they have much more strict societal roles for everyone, and
unfortunately, that includes women having to fit a certain housewife stereotype. Of course not all
women in Japan are housewives, but Japan makes it pretty difficult for them not to be. It is very
common for women to be considered retired right when they get pregnant or get married (Saito
144). Although, this is also a problem for America. After all, America is the only country that
does not offer paid maternity leave. Not to mention, women in the US are less likely to be hired
if they are married (Entman-Vanderbilt). So this is not just a problem for Japanese women, it is a
universal problem. Still, Japans society does tend to encourage a more concrete role for their
women than Americas does. And what better way to reinforce this gender role than to show it to
children through their media? That is the main reason that Japanese feminists are not so thrilled
with magical girl shows and the intents behind them.
Sally the Witch is the first official magical girl show to exist. It tells the story of a
magic princess from another world, Sally, who is given the freedom to explore the human world.
But, when she grows older, she must return to her kingdom and become a wife and mother (Saito
149). This reinforces typical gender roles to very young girls, so they will be taught to believe
that they cannot be free forever. Eventually they must get married, have a child, and be a
housewife.
The second magical girl show has a similar fate at the end for its hero, Akko-chan. At the
end, she must give up her powers to save her father (Saito 150). But Himitsu no Akko-chan is

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also the beginning of a marketing trend for these types of shows. Akko-chan carries a magic
compact mirror, which is later sold as a toy in stores for little girls (Saito 149). After this,
magical girls tend to have accessories, feminine toys for young girls to encourage traditional
gender roles, and sometimes the plot of the show will take a backseat to the product being sold.
This is a common criticism that people have against magical girl shows, especially because it
further promotes gendered toy marketing, along with the use of animated shows as extended
commercials rather than inspirational stories. However, because of these first two shows, we now
have the two major archetypes of magical girl: the princess from another world who brings
magic to the human world, and the ordinary girl who is granted magic powers by an outside
force (Sugawa).
Then, in the 70s, magical girls begin to enter a more sexual territory. Originally, this
happens because Toei, the leading studio in magical girl shows, wants to market to preteen girls
now (Saito 151). It fails to appeal to this demographic, but later, in the 80s, other studios, Ashi
Production (now Production Reed) and Studio Pierrot, begin producing magical girl shows,
and this creates a whole new audience for them, otaku men (Saito 152). This is another reason
that Japanese feminists do not like what is happening with magical girls. With otaku men added
to the demographic, crime-fighting action is added into many new magical girl shows, however,
so is more sexualization. And sexiness is fine if it is only applied to a few shows that are
specifically marketed to an older audience, but no, there are a staggering amount of sexualized
protagonists in these shows now, and most of the time, the girls who are being sexualized are
around the age of 14. It is important to note, that age of consent in Japan gets as low as 13, so
this is not exactly against their laws, but regardless, over-sexualization of women is a huge,
universal problem for feminism, and this is certainly not helping it.

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So, with magical girl shows mainly fitting into two purposes: one, to sell feminine toys
and gender role norms to little girls, and two, to sell sexed-up girls to older men, it is no wonder
why Japans feminists are mad. In the 90s, in terms of breaking gender role molds, things start
to look up a little bit with shows like Magic Knight Rayearth, which features girls who fight in
large robot suits to rescue a princess, and Card Captor Sakura which features a canonically gay
character, and a magical boy character to go along with the magical girl. There is also a lesbian
romance in Sailor Moon, probably the most iconic magical girls show in existence. The
director of Dragonball Z boarded the battle sequences for a magical girl show, Pretty Cure
(Saito 157). These are all interesting developments in the right direction, but it is still not
enough, there needs to be a whole lot more to really have an impact on how Japan views women.
Now, with all of this in mind, lets take a look at how American feminists view the concept of
magical girls.
Western feminists are drawn to magical girls, and claim that magical girls actually inspire
them and make them feel empowered. I know this because many of my own friends feel this
way. I often hear that Americans value magical girls because of how these characters embrace
femininity. Heroines like Sailor Moon are strong and vanquish evil, and they do not have to
reject their femininity in order to be considered powerful. Unlike in Japan, women tend to have a
little more freedom in America, but often if these women want to be recognized as truly equal,
they are pressured to act more masculine. Overall, femininity is viewed as being weak. So when
Americans see a powerful girl, kicking butt while also wearing a frilly outfit, they see femininity
being acknowledged as something that can be considered strong too (Donovan). This is a fairly
valid point, but Japans point is also extremely valid, especially since magical girls tend to affect
them more directly.

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One thing that I personally enjoy about magical girls is their transformation sequences.
The idea of always transforming before a battle is very appealing to me. Its like powering up in
your own, individual way. Every magical girl transformation is different, even the ones that are
similar have little differences between them that make them unique to that specific character. I
think this is a very powerful tool that has an incredible amount of potential. It shows each
characters personality and strength, and there are endless possibilities for how it can be done!
The transformations in Sailor Moon each showcase the girls magical abilities, and these
abilities match up with their personality traits. Sailor Mercury is a calm, collected, intelligent
character, so she has water powers, and Sailor Mars is a very impulsive, no-nonsense character,
so her power is fire. In Tokyo Mew Mew, Mew Mints transformation incorporates ballet
because thats her special talent. And experimental animation is used to tell the story of each girl
in Puella Magi Madoka Magica during their transformations in the Rebellion movie. Not to
mention, when these girls transform, its intense. It does a great job of getting the viewer all fired
up for the battle thats about to ensue.
The main criticism of the transformation sequence is that it often sexualizes the girls who are
transforming, usually by framing them with sexual angles or including too much detail when
showing their naked bodies. There are definitely ways that this can be avoided though, as I have
seen them. In Sailor Moon, of course, the girls are naked, but no details are shown as they are
shining with rainbow colors and sparkles covering their entire body. The problem then just lies
within some of the camera angles, purposely showing off their body in a sexual way. If those
angles were to be changed, then everything would be fine. Also, a good way to avoid
sexualization is to just transform the clothes themselves. This has been done many times before
with the popular series, Pretty Cure. And in Ojamajo Doremi, the girls simply pull their

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outfits on over their clothes before their clothes disappear. I agree whole-heartedly, that these
sequences should not be sexual in any way unless the character is an adult who is intentionally
sexual of their own volition. Transformation sequences have a massive amount of potential to
show identity of the characters and to showcase their strengths. Since I am so inspired by this
concept, perhaps other American anime fans are too, and that is probably another reason why
they like magical girls so much.
In fact, some westerners are so inspired, that they go on to create their own American
magical girl tv shows. And, even though America is not always good with diverse representation
in cartoons, they tend to do alright when it comes to magical girls. Shows like Winx and
W.I.T.C.H. have a fairly diverse cast, so now American girls have heroes, who look like them,
to look up to. The most current magical girl shows to come out of the west also have diversity.
Steven Universe is the most popular one right now, and it is a fantastic example of a good
direction for the magical girl genre to head into. Steven Universe also features a lot of
diversity, including positive representation of body diversity, which has never really been shown
before in a magical girl show. This is a big deal, we need more body diversity in general in
animation, but especially in a genre whose main audience is young girls. Girls are constantly
being told to be ashamed of their bodies unless their bodies fit into one specific type. This is not
to say that childhood obesity is a good thing, not at all, but only showing one type of body in
animation is just not correct. People have different body types and those types do not just fit into
the two categories of skinny and obese.
Another fantastic thing that Steven Universe does is fight against typical gender roles,
which is of course what most Japanese feminists, and feminists in general, would like to see

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more of, especially in this particular genre. All of the main characters do not fit gender roleoriented tropes, instead, they are all very well-rounded, sporting both feminine and masculine
traits. Pearl loves ballet, but is also an excellent mechanic. Garnet is intimidating, stoic, and the
leader, but she is also very motherly. Amethyst is brash, loud, and a total goofball, while sporting
mostly feminine fashions. And Steven, our magical boy protagonist, takes on all the typical traits
of a magical girl protagonist (Donovan). He is kind, loves romance, loves the color pink, enjoys
feminine fashion, and has mainly healing and defensive powers (Donovan). Also, he is
surrounded by female role-models and is not in the least bit ashamed of that; he proudly looks up
to them and wants to be like them. This is so important for young boys. They need to be aware
that they are allowed to be feminine and allowed to be emotional. In general, this subversion of
gender roles is majorly important to start including because then, trans-youth and kids who dont
really fit into those strict roles can feel more at peace with themselves.
This is also true for gay youth because Steven Universe showcases gay relationships,
and by doing that normalizes them. Not only that, but relationships are a major theme in Steven
Universe, and not just romantic ones either. The show takes a look at what makes a healthy
relationship and how relationships can work in many different ways. It even uses the trope of the
transformation sequence to explore this concept by having characters fuse together into one,
usually more powerful, being. This is what I mean by the transformation sequence, and the
magical girl genre in general, having so much potential.
Another modern American magical girl show is Star vs. the Forces of Evil. This one is
about a magical princess from another dimension who comes to earth. Sounds a lot like Sally
the Witch, right? Except that Star is actively rebelling against what her parents are hoping she

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will be, a well-mannered princess. They send her to earth simply because she is too
rambunctious. They could have sent her to a horrible school that corrects princesses by brainwashing them, St. Olgas school for Wayward Princesses, but her parents are not that cruel. And
it is a good thing that the adults who want the children to conform into this proper princess role
are treated as villains, whereas in Sally the Witch, her eventual compliance is just expected.
Not to mention, Stars sidekick, Marco, acts as the sensible one while Star is the goofy character.
In American cartoons, it is so popular for the female characters to always be the responsible ones
while the male characters are allowed to have fun and be whacky. This puts a lot of pressure on
women to always be proper, and obedient to societys rules, so it is cool to finally see the trope
in reverse (Donovan). So already, these new American shows are challenging gender conformity.
Japan has been inspired by western shows in the past, so perhaps Japan will see these ones and
be inspired to create more magical girl shows that will challenge societal roles.
All in all, the magical girl genre is a very interesting and unique one. Currently, it has
quite a bit of flaws, namely reinforcing gender roles, over-sexualization, being used as a
commercial rather than a story, and just a lack of variety. But, it also has a lot of things going for
it: powerful female leads, transformations that encourage individuality, and themes that place a
high value on friendship. Even though most Japanese feminists dislike the magical girl genre,
there are a few Japanese women who appreciate its focus on females as crime-fighting heroes
(Shoji). When it comes to magical girls, Japan and America tend to work off of each other, and
with the direction that modern cartoons are taking, in regards to gender, sexual orientation, and
diversity, this is a good relationship to have. Hopefully, in the future, we will keep seeing
magical girl shows breaking out of gender molds by showing characters who do not always fit
stereotypes. Hopefully we will start to see more transgender magical girl protagonists, more fat

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magical girls, more black magical girls, and overall, more individuality. Each character could
have a completely different transformation sequence. They could get new power-ups and new
outfits as they grow older to show how theyve changed over the years. There are so many
possibilities for this genre and I am so excited to see what is to come.

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Works Cited
Donovan, Caitlin. "The Influence of Magical Girls on Western Animation." Epicstream. Epicstream
LLC, 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Apr. 2016. <http://epicstream.com/features/The-Influence-ofMagical-Girls-on-Western-Animation>.
Entman-Vanderbilt, Liz. "Are Jobs in U.S. Harder to Find for Married Women?" Futurity. Futurity, 13
Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://www.futurity.org/marriage-employment-women781632/>.
Saito, Kumiko. "Magic, Shojo, and Metamorphosis: Magical Girl Anime and the Challenges of
Changing Gender Identities in Japanese Society." The Journal of Asian Studies 73.1 (2014): 14364. Figal-sensei.org. The Association for Asian Studies, Feb. 2014. Web. Apr. 2016.
<http://figal-sensei.org/asia212/readings/10saito.pdf>.
Shoji, Kaori. "The Transformative Power of Japan's 'magical Girls'" Japan Times RSS. The Japan
Times LTD., 16 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/03/16/films/transformative-power-japans-magicalgirls/#.Vxn9wfkrLIX>.
Sugawa, Akiko. "Children of Sailor Moon: The Evolution of Magical Girls in Japanese
Anime." Nipponcom RSS. Nippon Communications Foundation, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Apr.
2016. <http://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a03904/>.