| Sailor Moon, Madoka Magica, Mahoujo Shoujo Site |
| It’s a pretty broad genre. My personal favorite is still Sailor Moon. I’ve never seen slow burn character development as successful as Usagi’s was; she went from being a somewhat grating and annoying person at the start to one of my favorite characters of all time by the end, with her embodying the most realistic depiction of agape love I’ve seen in fiction. The show managed to remove the inherent cheesiness of claiming “the power of love” and made it feel legit. Even so, Sailor Moon has trappings that might make it unappealing to a lot of people, so I’m not sure if I’d recommend it in an open-ended fashion. Cardcaptor Sakura is also a favorite, but for completely different reasons. It’s basically a magical SOL show. It’s super comfy and virtually every episode is easy to watch. Its plot is pretty weak, but that’s not why you should watch the show imo. The characters are just so friggin’ adorable. Gorgeous art too. I think its worth giving a shot by pretty much anyone too. And lastly, as an action nut and a sakuga enthusiast the Precure franchise really hits home. Nearly every entry is standalone, and their tone varies quite a bit from one to another, but for most people I would recommend starting with Heartcatch Precure! (darkest tone, my favorite action sequences), Go! Princess Precure (bland theme, but incredible action sakuga and very creative action cinematography), or Hugtto! Precure (possibly the most rounded entry in the franchise, has Fresh’s wholesomeness, good action, etc.). I would explicitly recommend people avoid the original two seasons unless they know what they’re doing, though, since they’re basically everything I thought mahou shoujo would be back when I had prejudices against the mahou shoujo genre. And to list off a few others that aren’t quite favorites, but I’d like to mention anyway: Madoka Magica is basically a cleaner, more modern take on Magic Knight Rayearth with its cynical outlook, crappy world, and willingness to kill off characters permanently; Flip Flappers is basically what would have happened if Studio Ghibli had ever decided to make an action TV series; and Princess Tutu has some fun meta-narrative stuff going on. senerikfred said: Since when is Utena magical girl? Princess Tutu, duh. For more standard magical girl, Heartcatch Precure is doing pretty well right now. Functionally I would argue it isn’t, but it took a lot of cues from the genre and influenced it in return, so I wouldn’t judge anyone too harshly for thinking it is one. Keep in mind that Utena came into being because Ikuhara wanted to make the original run of the Sailor Moon TV series a lot more cynical than it already was. (E.g. He wanted to kill off Tuxedo Mask.) I broke down a contrast of the thematic narratives in Sailor Moon and Utena here, if you’re interested. |
TripleSRankAug 15, 2019 11:12 AM
| Dai Mahou Touge is the best magical girl anime ever created, and no one can convince me otherwise. Those who disagree will receive a warm visit of Punie and suffer the expected consequences. Shout-out to Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou and Kämpfer (yeah, that one is a magical girl anime... kind off). |
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| For me it's: Madoka Magica  Sailor Moon  |
Mahou Shoujo Ore.....its the manliest one of them all. |
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| If Flip Flappers count as a magical girl anime then this is by my favorite. Also it is on my top 5 favorite anime ever |
| "Never Give Up Without A Fight" By Zuko |
| Other than my obvious pick, second comes Kill la Kill with its pure insanity and third comes Princess Tutu, with its beautiful fairy tale-inspired story. |
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| Princess Tutu. It still my top mahou shoujo anime to this day. Another one is Madoka Magica. I used to love Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and Nanoha. They're great but I grow out of magical girl anime other than those two. |
| I have a soft spot for Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew. Princess Tutu comes close too. |
Nick-Knight said: Lol sorry, I just love magical girls and it made me sad to see that there wasn't that many forum threads on there talking about the genre haha ;;;;And yeah boi it's necro'ing time. These forums are way too boring lately. Aidoru-Ojisan said: Now that you think about it, Yuki Yuna honestly is the only "post-Madoka edgy magical girl" show I actually liked lol...the actual good madoka copy-paste Yuuki Yuuna series Symphogear is GOD tho but it's a cluster fuck of genres I have yet to re-watch it, it's been a while, but yeah— I wouldn't say Magical Girl Raising Project was a Madoka clone exactly, but it really disappointed in terms of story for me (the OP, ED, and character designs for each magical girl were really nice though), and I'm not interested in Magical Girl Site cuz it looks way over the top even for me. And this season's Granbelm was so exposition-heavy that it got boring for me. I have yet to see Symphogear though. TripleSRank said: I love Sailor Moon too, but I agree with you— I find it hard to recommend to most people, though it's mainly cuz of the series length and compared to how much "filler" is in it. Doesn't stop me from constantly re-watching it though.Even so, Sailor Moon has trappings that might make it unappealing to a lot of people, so I’m not sure if I’d recommend it in an open-ended fashion. And to list off a few others that aren’t quite favorites, but I’d like to mention anyway: Madoka Magica is basically a cleaner, more modern take on Magic Knight Rayearth with its cynical outlook, crappy world, and willingness to kill off characters permanently; I haven't completely finished watching/reading Magic Knight Rayearth yet, so idk how much of it is true... but me personally, I'd compare Madoka Magica more to Uta Kata cuz of similar melancholic mood and themes. Illyricus said: I was considering maybe watching that one cuz I heard about it from some Magical Girl History video series and it had some... interestingly gory clips lmaoDai Mahou Touge is the best magical girl anime ever created, and no one can convince me otherwise. Those who disagree will receive a warm visit of Punie and suffer the expected consequences. TanyaTheEvill said: Most videos I see on magical girl openings list it as a magical girl anime, so yeah it counts. I was considering seeing that one too, the OP is really something :OIf Flip Flappers count as a magical girl anime then this is by my favorite. Also it is on my top 5 favorite anime ever Dauphine said: Wow, someone else has seen Ojamajo Doremi and Prétear? Awesome!Not counting Sailor Moon which i also love, some lesser known magical girl anime that i really loved and deserve sooo much more recognition than they get, are: Ojamajo Doremi, Shin Shirayuki-hime Densetsu Prétear and Sugar Sugar Rune, and you should definitely check them out because they are really good and worth watching!!! Actually, recently my interest in the genre has been sparked again and i'm looking to start a new one soon, maybe a precure series but i'm not sure if you have to watch them all or if they can be watched individually without knowing anything about the previous series for example. I have yet to watch/read Sugar Sugar Rune though ;;; Oh, I'm kinda new to PreCure too, I only saw the first episodes of Heartcatch and Star Twinkle. I've asked a PreCure fan on this, you don't have to watch them all. Each PreCure season is a different iteration of the franchise; you can watch one season without having to watch the others. ...sorry for quoting everyone!!!! just really wanted to respond |
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| @Fario-P Symphogear is a big hurdle cause it has about 5 seasons right now and takes a lot of inspiration from many Anime genres as such, it is still a magical girl Anime in a sense... kind of a mecha idol hybrid tho? Lol not sure how to explain it but after S1 it is its own beast and from its many inspirations and influences it creates its own unique set of plots of characters and I'm not ashamed to say that Hibiki (the main character) is one of the most dynamic female leads not only in mahou shoujo Anime but in general. Hopefully it will be to your liking once you give it your time cause sadly big time Anituber Gigguk only watched one ep of S5 for a meme and it disappoints me cause the franchise really needs exposure to the West. |
  Ascended Taste I only came back to this site for the forum sets and to promote my RYM list... Anilist ftw still :dab: |
Aidoru-Ojisan said: damn that actually sounds pretty interesting... idk when i first saw a bit of the op i thought it was kinda interesting and it definitely looked like a magical girl series to me@Fario-P Symphogear is a big hurdle cause it has about 5 seasons right now and takes a lot of inspiration from many Anime genres as such, it is still a magical girl Anime in a sense... kind of a mecha idol hybrid tho? Lol not sure how to explain it but after S1 it is its own beast and from its many inspirations and influences it creates its own unique set of plots of characters and I'm not ashamed to say that Hibiki (the main character) is one of the most dynamic female leads not only in mahou shoujo Anime but in general. Hopefully it will be to your liking once you give it your time cause sadly big time Anituber Gigguk only watched one ep of S5 for a meme and it disappoints me cause the franchise really needs exposure to the West. but your description kinda sold it for me, gonna add it to my PTW, thanks |
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| My favorite is either Madoka Magica or Nanoha. I also like Mahou Shoujo Site, Princess Tutu, and Heartcatch Precure. I plan to watch Card Captor Sakura soon. |
 ☆☆☆ "There's a huge difference between one and infinity. However, compared to the difference between existence and non-existence, one and infinite are nearly the same. I am the child destined to become the best witch... no... The greatest Creator in the world...!" -Maria Ushiromiya ☆☆☆ |
Fario-P said: TripleSRank said: I love Sailor Moon too, but I agree with you— I find it hard to recommend to most people, though it's mainly cuz of the series length and compared to how much "filler" is in it. Doesn't stop me from constantly re-watching it though.Even so, Sailor Moon has trappings that might make it unappealing to a lot of people, so I’m not sure if I’d recommend it in an open-ended fashion. And to list off a few others that aren’t quite favorites, but I’d like to mention anyway: Madoka Magica is basically a cleaner, more modern take on Magic Knight Rayearth with its cynical outlook, crappy world, and willingness to kill off characters permanently; I haven't completely finished watching/reading Magic Knight Rayearth yet, so idk how much of it is true... but me personally, I'd compare Madoka Magica more to Uta Kata cuz of similar melancholic mood and themes. If you finish both seasons of Rayearth you’ll probably be going “What?! Madoka Magica completely ripped off Magic Knight Rayearth!” for a while. Gave me like a month of incredulity and heightened annoyance at people referring to Madoka as being highly “original” for the genre. I never subscribed to that notion anyway, and seeing Rayearth only intensified my disagreement. ‘Course, I’d still say that Madoka Magica is actually a better show than Magic Knight Rayearth, so whatever. Rayearth had some nice charm as a fantasy mahou shoujo, though. It’s just campy compared to current norms. |
TripleSRankAug 15, 2019 10:10 PM
| Sailor Moon by faaar. A large, highly likeable cast with interesting dynamics, a stunning artwork, backgrounds and vibrant colors, fabulous transformation sequences, lots of moving and epic moments, awesome OST, captivating and incredibly charming. It features everything I'd want for a mahou shoujo title. |
| I'm not a big fan of the genre but I do like: Ah! My Goddess Franchise Figure 17 Izetta: The Last Witch Kiddy Grade Lyrical Nanoha Franchise My-HIME Princess Tutu Puella Magi Madoka Magica Franchise Rozen Maiden Franchise Shakugan no Shana Franchise |
| "Laws exist only for those who cannot live without clinging onto them." -Souske Aizen "Bleach"  |
| Chise Hatori I really love her character. |
| Torn between Mahou Shoujo lyrical nanoha (entire franchise) And Mai otome/Mai hime |
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| Thank you, If you get a chance to watch I highly recommend it. It is very original and different and you won't be dissapointed |
| "Never Give Up Without A Fight" By Zuko |
| Not a huge fan of this genre, apart from watching a few sailor moon episodes as a kid. There are 2 magical girl anime I've seen that take a different approach to what you would normally expect. 1. Magical girl site: Yes, it's edgy. However, I like it because it's a horror and I'm usually into horror. It takes out nearly everything that makes a magical girl anime what is is (Cute transformation scenes and cute anime girls) leaving us with a dark, horror anime. 2. Magical girl ore: An anime with cute girls transforming into buff, muscular men wearing magical girl dresses whilst fighting macho-like squirrel demons. This anime mocks the cliches of a shoujo anime (Pretty boys, BL fanservice and ditsy female main characters) and making it as bizzare as possible with a lot of comedy. In other words, these 2 are my favorites simply because of how different they are |
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| For me, it's CardCaptor Sakura without a doubt |
- “You’ll always have me.” - |
| Mahou shoujo lyrical Nanoha A close second is "Mai Otome/Mai Hime" Then there's the first ever anime I watched "Hana no ko lunlun" |
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| Sailor Moon will always reign supreme. Madoka Magica is a really good twist on the trope though. |
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