Magical Girl

I love magical girls so much! I loved them as a little kid, watching Sailor Moon and Winx club on the TV. I loved them as a middle schooler, watching Shugo Chara and Princess Tutu on a less than reputable site, and I love them now, slowly working my way through all of the Pretty Cures, and catching up on some gems that I've missed like Cardcaptor Sakura and many more! I love bright, colorful, bubbly, frilly costumes! I love their dazzling character transformations! I love the themes of prioritizing kindness and hope and friendship, no exceptions! I watch magical girl shows wehenever I need to feel like the world isn't as dark as it can sometimes seem, or when I need a reminder to be kind to others and myself, or when I need a boost of motivation! Magical girls help me and save me and get me through tough times, and because of all of that, they mean the world to me. I aspire to be like them!

All of that said... I do enjoy darker magical girl series as well, even if their themes are sort of antithetical to everything I just said... But I'll put those on a different page.

Shugo Chara

2007-2010

3 seasons - 127 episodes

This is my favorite magical girl anime and the one I hold closest to my heart. The series revolves around middle schoolers who are granted eggs that hatch into "guardian characters," chibi fairy-like creatures that represent each persons dreams and idealized self. Amu, who has a persona of being haughty and too cool to care, gets three eggs that basically amount to sports, art, and cooking, and has to join the special student council made up exclusively of other kids with guardian characters, and stop the evil Easter Company from finding the "Embryo," an egg capable of granting any wish.

A lot of thought went into the character designs. There are tons of characters who transform and a good number of them are actually male, so this isn't just a magical "girl" show. Even the antagonists of the series get transformations, and some characters even get multiple different transformations. How the magic works in this series is really cool. It's interesting to see characters "half transform" or take on some physical and magical attributes of their guardian character without fully transforming. The characters are all so interesting and relatable, especially Amu herself. Who hasn't been through a period of acting tough out of a fear of being vulnerable, even though it inhhibits you from living your life to the fullest and happiest? Girl really had to endure the mortifying ordeal of being known.

Sailor Moon

1992-1997

5 seasons - 200 episodes - 3 films

This is inarguably the most popular magical girl anime in the West, in large part due to it's famously flawed English dub which aired on Cartoon Network in the late 90s and early 2000's, making it an object of nostalgia to many zilennials like myself. Of course it's gorgeous watercolor backgrounds, lovable characters, cute accessories, and overall quality helped too! Adapted from Naoko Takeuchi's original manga, Sailor Moon revolutionized Magical Girl anime with original concepts such as magical girls acting in teams like in tokusatsu (ie, Power Rangers) shows, instead of in duos or alone, and it's influence can still be seen in newer animes today.

Honestly, I haven't watched it since I was a kid, but it's still a classic. The original series, which includes the 5 seasons airing between '92 to '97, and does NOT include the awful 2014 reboot, caps in at exactly 200 episodes, 3 movies, and a handful of specials. It has action, romance, queer representation (in droves!... for the 90s). It's a romp! It's fun! It's on Hulu!