From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Magical girlfriend
Magical girlfriend
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girlfriend,
A magical girlfriend (also referred to as exotic girlfriend
supernatural lover or nonhuman woman
lover, [1]) is a female
character often associated with romantic comedy anime
Anime series,[2] and is sometimes considered a genre of its
own,[3] or as the leading lady of the "fantastic romance"
History • Companies
genre, which combines the fantasy and romance gen-
Fansub • Fandub
res.[2]
Longest series • Anime industry
As Thomas LaMarre states, "Anime fans become fa-
Manga miliar with a whole range of female figures that are ei-
ther not really human (robots, aliens, deities, animals),
History • Publishers
or that possess extra-human powers of some kind or an-
Scanlation • Dōjinshi
other (from cyborg enhancements to magical or psychic
International market
abilities), which take them beyond the merely human
Longest series
woman."[1]
Mangaka (List)
Magical girlfriends can be one or many in a single
Demographic groups anime (always attached to the male lead). Because of the
Children tendency for rivals to appear even when there is one fe-
Shōnen • Shōjo male lead and because of the unnatural gender balance
Seinen • Josei among the cast, magical girlfriend comedies are often
conflated with harem comedies. A good example of this
Genres conflation is Oh My Goddess![4] which is "one of the pro-
Harem • Magical girl totypical “harem” anime titles"[5] despite the short-lived
Mecha • Yaoi • Yuri nature of most of the romantic rivalries.
Selected biographies
Shotaro Ishinomori
Rakuten Kitazawa
Characteristics of the genre
Kōichi Mashimo Often series in the genre start with the male lead en-
Katsuji Matsumoto countering the female lead either by pure chance or by
Leiji Matsumoto an unusual event, after which the female lead somehow
Hayao Miyazaki becomes bound or otherwise dependent upon him, often
Go Nagai forcing a situation of cohabitation. In many cases, this
Yoshiyuki Tomino situation is repeated with other characters (Tenchi
Shoji Kawamori Muyo!), overlapping with the harem genre of anime. How-
Toshio Suzuki ever the male lead is often inexperienced with women
Osamu Tezuka despite typically being a "nice guy". This situation often
Year 24 Group prevents the relationship from advancing beyond a pla-
tonic level throughout most of the series, as an ideal girl-
Fandom friend doesn’t come on strong herself and is generally
passive in the relationship.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Magical girlfriend
In parodies, the character may be too young (i.e. others, such as Belldandy of Oh My Goddess!, may possess
Nakahito Kagura in Steel Angel Kurumi; Negi Springfield in a godly power stemming from their feminine traits.
Mahou Sensei Negima!) or otherwise have a more ratio- Ideal women have absolute dedication to whatever
nal, ambivalent attitude towards women. A famous early work they do and for whomever they have great affec-
reversal of the cliche occurs with the overtly lecherous tion, although depending on the character’s actual tal-
Ataru Moroboshi of Urusei Yatsura), who is simply unin- ents this can make for anything from ’quite capable’ to
terested in monogamous relationships despite the fact few ’well-meaning klutz’. They usually have calm, gentle and
women besides his romantically-aggressive alien girl- demure personalities. They generally suppress selfish de-
friend find him attractive. sires in favor of desiring good for others.
Another feature is that soon after the male and fe- Ideal women are always naive or innocent, some-
male leads begin to live together, other (usually female) times explained by the girlfriends origins which do not
characters from the female (or male) lead’s origin appear allow for much experience with mainstream life. Para-
(friends, siblings, relatives, rivals or even enemies), ei- doxically, other characters of the girlfriend’s origin tend
ther becoming frequent visitors, cohabitors, or generally not to be as naive (e.g. Belldandy of Oh My Goddess! is more
causing a disruption. or even moving in with the lead naive than even her kid sister). Ideal women are emo-
couple. Sometimes a character from the male lead’s ori- tionally insightful, seeing the good in others when most
gin will appear. Examples include Ai Yori Aoshi, where wouldn’t and forgiving their shortcomings.
Kaoru’s half-brother tries to take Aoi for himself, and Ideal women are examples of moe girls in anime. As
Omamori Himari, where demonslayer Kuesu Jinguuji ap- such, ideal girlfriends are not overly independent. They
pears in volume 3 to claim Yuuto Amakawa as her be- are proper Japanese women who typically will not ini-
trothed. tiate romantic action themselves, except in a delicate
Even when there is one female lead, various rivals al- or indirect manner (Aoi’s romantic behavior might be
ways threaten the relationship between the lead charac- considered clingy, even desperate at times, but is still
ters, often creating complicated "love polygons". These done in a delicate manner, except in ecchi dream se-
can vary from being from mundane characters such as quences). However, numerous characters are so innocent
men who fight for the affection of the female (and rarely as to not understand the nature of their actions. Indepen-
male) lead, or rivals from the female lead’s origins. dence and aggression (especially in sexual matters) is a
The romantic relationship(s) in magical girlfriend trait of parodies of the ideal girlfriend such as Lum Invad-
comedies tend to remain static and platonic throughout er in Urusei Yatsura, Kurumi in Steel Angel Kurumi or Hazu-
the series. Commonly episodes involve some sort of su- ki in Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-.
perficial threat to the static nature of the relationship Parodies of the ideal woman are often selfish and be-
(which could, and often is, the male lead or the girl- come involved with the male lead because of their own
friends’ desire to get closer), which is almost always re- selfish desires which are not (initially) shared by their
solved in some way that doesn’t fundamentally alter that mate. While the male lead usually has some sort of hold
relationship. Action plotlines are often introduced over his girlfriend (as "husband," "fiancé," provider, con-
through some sort of threat from the magical girlfriends tract holder, client, creator, master, or even owner) the
origins or through other means. If the romantic relation- parody of the ideal girlfriend either succeeds in inverting
ship(s) do move, it is very slow. For example, Oh My God- the power balance of relationship or simply reverses
dess starts with Belldandy contractually bound to Keiichi roles.
and the other goddesses trying to separate them. After Shōjo artists have written another sort of parody of
more than 100 chapters, Belldandy is no longer bound, magical girlfriends. Shōjo writers put more emphasis on
but chooses to stay with Keiichi, and the other goddesses the girl. Examples include Absolute Boyfriend, in which an
admit that Keiichi is worthy of a goddess’ love. ordinary girl gets a magical boyfriend,[6] and Ultra Mani-
ac, in which a Middle School girl meets and becomes best
The "ideal woman" personali- friends with a magical girlfriend;[citation needed] followed
by their misadventures at finding boyfriends.
ty, or yamato nadeshiko Susan J. Napier has described the popularity of the
ideal magical girlfriend, for example, Belldandy and Ai to
Many magical girlfriends are considered by both fans
be a backlash against the "yellow cab" social phenome-
and critics of the genre to be idealizations of woman-
non, where some Japanese women were seeking out sex-
kind. This model of the ideal Japanese woman, the yamato
ual relationships with non-Japanese men.[2]
nadeshiko, is similar to that found in The Tale of Genji. Ideal
girlfriends are not necessarily magical in nature. Aoi of
Ai Yori Aoshi is an example of an ideal woman and girl-
friend but is of mundane origin. Some "ideal" magical
girlfriends may seem weak and emotionally needy, while
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Magical girlfriend
Examples of "magical girl- [3] Wong, Wendy Siuyi (2006). "Globalizing Manga:
From Japan to Hong Kong and Beyond".
friend" characters Mechademia 1: 28. ISBN 9780816649457.
http://books.google.com/?id=CMYwUzMCj-
• Belldandy of Oh My Goddess!
gC&pg=PA28&dq=%22magical+girlfriend%22.
• Lum Invader of Urusei Yatsura[7] (a parody of the
[4] Fujishima, Kosuke. Oh My Goddess! (manga,
ideal girlfriend)
unflopped) Volume 3. p. 187
• Chi of Chobits[1][8][9]
[5] Martin, Theron (2005-10-06). "Anime News
• Saati Nanba of A.I. Love You[9]
Network review of Ah! My Goddess DVD 1". Anime
• Haruko of FLCL[9]
News Network.
• Shaorin of Mamotte Shugogetten[10]
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/ah-
• Night of Absolute Boyfriend[6] (male equivalent of
my-goddess/dvd-1.
magical girlfriend)
[6] ^ Green, Jason (2006-06-03). "Shojo Beat Review –
• Sun Seto of My Bride is a Mermaid[11]
Absolute Boyfriend". playback:stl.
• Valkyrie of UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie[12]
http://www.playbackstl.com/
• Phryne of Fractale[13]
index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2628&Itemid=31.
[7] Napier, Susan (May 2001). "Carnival and
Magical girlfriends in Western Conservatism in Romantic Comedy". Anime from
Akira to Princess Mononoke (1st ed.). New York:
media Palgrave. pp. 142–151. ISBN 0-312-23863-0.
Tiffany White of Pop Matters, in her review of the Man- http://books.google.com/?id=T7WhxNhF6vAC.
nequin movies, classifies magical girlfriend movies with Retrieved 2008-01-03.
this template:[14] [8] CLAMP. Chobits (manga) Volume 1, Chapter 2,
• Main protagonist is a loser who has no luck with girls or Hideki ponders: “You hear about it all the time. A
has a real girlfriend who doesn’t understand him. guy finds a nice girl, takes her home. She’s always
• Main guy finds magical girlfriend (usually an angel, cute. Then it turns out she’s got some sort of
mermaid, or science experiment) and they fall in love. special powers, and she’ll fall madly in love with
• An antagonist lurks about, and its sole purpose is expos- the guy. Happens all the time. I’ve seen it on TV,
ing the magical girlfriend. like I Dream of Jeannie!”
• In the end, the protagonist and the magical girlfriend [9] ^ Harvell, Jess (2006-10-11). "Boys Life: Sometimes
escape persecution, gain public acceptance, and spend a Giant Robot Isn’t Just a Giant Robot in the World
the rest of their lives happy ever after. of Japanese Comics". Baltimore City Paper.
A.E. Sparrow of IGN, in reviewing Mamotte Shugoget- http://www2.citypaper.com/news/
ten, also relates magical girlfriends shows to their west- story.asp?id=12770.
ern counterparts:[10] "She’s completely devoted to pro- [10] ^ Sparrow, A.E. (2008-05-13). "Mamotte
tecting her new "master" from any misfortune, utterly Shugogetten: Volume 1 Review". IGN.
oblivious to the ways of the modern world, and (in cute http://comics.ign.com/articles/873/
girl manga terms) a total knockout. If you’re not com- 873178p1.html.
pletely immersed in the world of manga yet, think "I [11] Kimlinger, Carl (2010-08-02). "Review - My Bride is
Dream of Jeannie". If you are, then think "Oh! My God- a Mermaid - Season 1 DVD Part 1". Anime News
dess!". Either one works if you’re looking for a compari- Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
son." review/my-bride-is-a-mermaid/season-1. - "The
plot and situations are cribbed from any number of
magical-cohabitating-girl anime"
References [12] "New Anime coming to Japan". Anime News
[1] ^ Lamarre, Thomas (July 2006). "Platonic Sex: Network. 2003-04-14.
Perversion and Shôjo Anime (Part One)". Animation: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/
An Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (1): 45–59. doi:10.1177/ 2003-04-14/new-anime-coming-to-japan. -
1746847706065841. "Another Magical Girlfriend anime coming out this
[2] ^ Napier, Susan (May 2001). "Carnival and fall."
Conservatism in Romantic Comedy". Anime from [13] Bertschy, Zac (2011-01-04). "The Winter 2011
Akira to Princess Mononoke (1st ed.). New York: Anime Preview Guide". Anime News Network.
Palgrave. pp. 139–156. ISBN 0-312-23863-0. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/
http://books.google.com/?id=T7WhxNhF6vAC. 2011-01-04/zac. - Zac summarizes "let’s just call it
Retrieved 2008-01-03. ’mildly interesting, competently made magical
girlfriend show’"
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Magical girlfriend
[14] White, Tiffany (2008-05-14). "Mannequin & http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/
Mannequin 2: On the Move". Pop Matters. mannequin-mannequin-2-on-the-move.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magical_girlfriend&oldid=464267974"
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