Welcome to Maid Spin, the personal website of iklone. I write about about otaku culture as well as history, philosophy and mythology.
My interests range from anime & programming to mediaevalism & navigation. Hopefully something on this site will interest you.
I'm a devotee of the late '90s / early '00s era of anime, as well as a steadfast lover of maids. My favourite anime is Mahoromatic. I also love the works of Tomino and old Gainax.
To contact me see my contact page.
[Originally published in the Nottingham Anime Society Zine 2019]
In this, the second chapter of my breakdown of Mahou Shoujo stories analysis, I will try and outline the general structure of magical girl stories. If you haven't read part one you can do so here. I talked about the various character archetypes you will find.
Obviously the story will shift drastically for different shows, especially in earlier examples. However there are common tropes that appear and signify a mahou shoujo story. Since everyone liked my flowchart last year ("How to get into Gundam", published in the Nottingham Anime Society Zine 2018) I've made another one this year:
[If it is not clear, time progresses vertically down, with the boxed and numbered points making up the different acts of the story. The arrows show movement of either characters or the plot through the various worlds and through time.]
An important facet of mahou-shoujo is the contract. The method by which the protagonists will gain their powers is almost invariably through some divine messengers that bring channel the power of heaven into them, in return for the girls protecting Earth. Understanding the contract is key to understanding the genre, and so I will try to explain their significance. The most important point is that the girls usually do not sign the contract fully of their free will. This can range from pure naivety or misunderstanding, to full on blackmail and forcible coercion. You didn't think Madoka Magica made up the concept, did you? In Tokyo Mew Mew, for example, Ichigo is chosen by a global intelligence agency that her body was suitable for the Mew Mew powers and so they forcibly splice her genes with that of a cat in an untested experiment. They then later tell her that she must now save the world (and also work without pay in a cafe), and this show was a rather generic kids magical girl show.
The signing of the contract can be paralleled with signing a deal with the devil, as is explored in Madoka. This Faustian interpretation of the story makes sense, the innocent girls are tricked by greater powers into swapping their soul for magical power. Luckily, in most shows, the girls end up fully embracing their new role, if often trepidacious at first.
I parallel this method of storytelling with another, 'The Hero's Journey'. In this classical 'monomyth', the hero will slowly gain power over time, through trial and tribulation he will amass the power and prestige of a hero and eventually defeat evil. In magical girl shows, however, the girls are suddenly thrust into a position of great power without their consent and must deal with the consequences thereof. They must make mental progress to match their physical power, and once they do they can fully wield their true power. In my mind this is undoubtedly a feminine interpretation of the monomyth: reaching maturity through trust in others and mutual trade, rather than brute force and personal quest.
^ Unity and Divinity: the girls have merged into one being of 'infinite power, infinite love and eyes full of stars' to defeat the big bad in the Gurren Lagann-esque finale of Heartcatch Precure.
If you aren't already a magical girl fan, then I hope my article has painted a picture of what the genre is truly about. If you can find the bravery to look past the fact that they're 'made for kids' then there are truly amazing stories to be found. The storytelling is alike to other otaku media, and the aesthetic is one that many have come to love including myself. Here are just a few that I recommend for newcomers:
