In Otaku Academy in Escapist Dream, it looks like a U-shaped Japanese highschool, full of students in improbable hairstyle and improbable hair colour, in uniform (whether more modern blazers or 90s sailor fuku, and Prussian-style gakurans for the young men), and catgirls, delinquents in pompadours (think Josuke), etc. And of course there is at least one magical girl warrior:
Aika’s body began glowing in a colorful shining aura. He could not believe his eyes when Aika began having a magical girl transformation. She was naked save for all the blinding lights and colours. As a teenage boy, Charlie had a weird feeling from what he was seeing.
However, Aika did not wore any ribbons or wands. Instead, her hair became long and pink and horns sprouted from her head. She wore nothing but white bandages all around. Somehow, she hovered from the ground and Charlie could see transparent arms coming from her back that attacked the literary geeks. The appendages grabbed, sliced, aand mutilated the geeks without mercy.
TV TROPES: Aika can transform into a Magical Girl, but when she do so, she transforms into frigging Lucy from Elfen Lied instead.
Juliet Capulet, cat lover and party girl and Guardian of Earth. Taurus. Phlegmatic. Raven hair and hazel eyes. In black and gold when she transforms. With ADHD. Left at boarding school by her scheming stepmother.
Ophelia Brahe, music and plant lover and Guardian of Water. Scorpio. Melancholic. Ginger hair and green eyes. In mint green and turquoise when she transforms. Bipolar. Left at boarding school by parents who only have time for her brother.
Desdemona de' Brabanzi, literature and fine art lover and Guardian of Air. Sanguine. Golden hair and honey eyes. Aquarius. In lilac and white when she transforms. Autistic. Left at boarding school by a father who seems to only care for politics.
And Viola de' Montecuccoli, lover of the performing arts and martial arts and Guardian of Fire. Choleric. Nutbrown hair and violet eyes. In orange and red when she transforms. Leo. Antisocial. Left at boarding school by guardians who are raising her twin Sebastian to be the next heir (the twins are obviously orphans).
The four schoolgirls, all of them intelligent yet regarded as outsiders, spend days full of routine in a Catholic finishing school in Culla Castle in Castellón Province, away from royal courts' intrigues and from the carnage of war.
But at night, when no Muggles are watching and only the hoot of owls can be heard, the quartet of friends are elemental magical girl warriors, mentored by Mephisto, a talking black cat who is actually a Matagot and the Guardian of Quintessence. Armed with wands topped with precious gemstones (that also serve as their transformation trinkets), they confront threats each time more complicated. However, if a Muggle should find out that they are magical girl warriors, they will turn into frogs!!!
Visits from parents and from fiancés, the banishment of Ophelia's parents to the Finmark, trips to Castellón and to Valencia, a prisoner King Francis I, a visit from Caterina de' Medici to leave Viola's cupbearer twin Sebastian in Culla (after fleeing from his execution, a decoy shikigami was quartered in his stead), San Juan with Elf King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania, the heroics of Literature professor Alonso Quijano and the flirts of Andalusian heartthrob Don Juan Tenorio, ever accompanied by his trusty servant Leporello who is sweet on him; mysterious messages on the walls, written in blood, every now and then; Deep Ones on the streets of Benicassim and Oropesa... And the awakening of ancient Lovecraftian Gods, something far more dangerous than the rise of Gustavus Vasa, the Protestant Reformation, or the Habsburg-Valois Wars of that era (the doomsday prophets were more right than it seemed). Not to mention all four of our Guardians discovering that they are bisexual.
How can we get bored if we live in interesting times?
Ahora que llega agosto y aprieta el caloret, es temporada de helados. ¿Qué mejor que tomar mientras se ven las Perseidas de noche o mientras te secas junto a la piscina? Hoy en día el Magnum Euphoria está en el ajo, con su maridaje de frambuesa, limón y chocolate blanco... pero en los noventa hubo sabores y formas de helado, en particular de Frigo, que muchos millennials recordamos.
Nunca llegué a probar el Frigurón pero me decían que sabía a piña tropical, como el Sugus azul. ¿Quién de vosotros ha probado o visto al menos una piña azul? Este helado llegó de Italia en los ochenta a nuestro país de Sagitario y se fue tan rápido como llegó, a mediados de los noventa, cuando yo hacía preescolar.
Los Solero Shots sí que los recuerdo de todo corazón. Un tarro de plástico que contiene diminutos balines de calippo (por lo general, de lima-limón), y que se toman a chorro como si se bebieran, eso quita la sed y el sofoco que alucinas. Era, en mi opinión, el helado más refrescante de todos.
El Taco Winner se merece un Nobel de los Helados, si es que tal premio existiera. Era un taco de barquillo que estaba lleno de helado de crema con dulce de leche y recubierto de chocolate con cacahuetes. Muy original la publicidad también: un chico en el parque, comiendo un Taco Winner, se transforma en oso polar. Por suerte, esto no sucedía a los consumidores en la vida real.
Procedentes de Australia, los 7 Pecados de Magnum llenaron kioscos y heladerías de Europa el verano de 2003. Antes de ello, Streets (la empresa hermana australiana de Frigo) había soltado una línea de Magnum con temática psicodélica (años sesenta/setenta) con sabores como Cherry Guevara, John Lemmon y, obviamente, un sabor dedicado al alunizaje. La promoción de los 7 Pecados, lanzada en Australia en 2002 (su invierno es nuestro verano) y en Europa el año siguiente, encontró mucha polémica por parte de la Iglesia Católica pero también marcó la juventud de los millennials europeos. El Magnum Soberbia, número uno en Australia, era una versallesca mezcla de champán y perlitas de plata en la cobertura. El Envidia, de pistacho, verde tenía que ser. El Venganza (la ira era algo demasiado suave como para hacer de pecado), de cobertura de chocolate negro luto, relleno de coulis de frutos rojos como la sangre. El Gula, de tres chocolates, era la pesadilla de cualquier persona ortoréxica. Pero el más delicioso en mi opinión era el Lujuria, con cobertura de chocolate rosa con sabor a fresa. Ya eso me parecía innovador y exquisito (ignoraba entonces que las fresas son afrodisiacas), y yo de niña sabía lo que eran seis de los siete pecados y cada vez que les preguntaba a los mayores "¿qué es la lujuria?" me decían "Sandra, eres demasiado joven..." La primera vez que fuimos al kiosco de la esquina (lavandería en la actualidad) para comprarlo, cuando la kiosquera dijo "Vale, un Lujuria..." la abuela materna muy beata que me acompañaba puso el grito en el cielo. Pude tomarme el Magnum Lujuria pero seguía con la mosca detrás de la oreja. Y esta era la misma abuela que había también puesto el grito en el cielo cuando fuimos al Museo y vi el gran cuadro del Prendimiento donde Judas Iscariote parecía besar a Cristo en la boca y pregunté "¿pero, Judas Iscariote era gay?" (Series de anime de chicas mágicas como Sailor Moon o Cardcaptor Sakura me habían acostumbrado a las sexualidades alternativas de pequeña).
THE Most famous FACE OF THE MAGICAL GIRL: A BREAKDOWN OF the battle heroine (aka magical girl warrior ON TV TROPES) SUBGENRE
If you ask the average nerd what a magical girl is, the default response might be to point to the ‘90s animated adaptation of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Naoko Takeuchi’s series is a global sensation, but it’s just one example of a wide genre with a whole variety of stories and a variety of roles, styles, and inspirations for its heroines.
The Magical Girl umbrella is fascinating once you open it up: exploring the different types that have been popular in different eras makes for an intriguing look into the genre’s history and its impact.
THE BATTLE HEROINE
Most fans of Japanese media are familiar with tokusatsu, but just in case you aren’t, this is a particular style of formulaic live-action film and television made with lots of special effects, primarily in the action genre. Classic tokusatsu includes monster/kaiju films such as Godzilla, superhero titles such as Ultraman or Kamen Rider, and what is often most familiar to Western audiences, Super Sentai, which is repackaged and partially reshot under the name Power Rangers.
While women sometimes appear on these fully suited teams (most frequently as Pink Rangers), there have also been many iterations of female-led tokusatsu series, especially in the 80s and 90s. Each tends to feature one lone heroine fighting against evil, and are magical girls in their own right. Some examples of popular series are Magical Chinese Girl Pai Pai! (1989) and La Belle Masquée Poitrine (1990). (This is where I must point out that both of these series have superhero titles referencing their chests, and yet are for children.) The popularity of these shows seems to be pretty connected to the battle heroine boom in Japanese animation.
The tokusatsu–inspired heroines who fight evil on a weekly basis are the most recognizable form of the magical girl, and have been for the past 30 years. While Cutie Honey (1973) was similarly inspired by tokusatsuin the 70s, and was the first to have a fully nude transformation sequence, she was a lone heroine among the other majokko or witchlings of her time (and also a gynoid, getting her powers from tech instead of magic!). Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (1992), a name recognized worldwide even by people who might not watch Japanese animation, hit the scene with a full team of magical heroines and set a new precedent for the battle heroine genre, directly influenced by Super Sentai in particular.
"It is often said that Sailor Moon, a series in which many girls transform into coloured uniforms and use attacks to defeat monsters, is a kind of Super Sentai type story about and for girls. This clip confirms that such series were a partial inspiration for the Sailor Moon manga and ultimately the anime and live action series as well."
"Though not the first to be referred to as a magical girl series, Sailor Moon was instrumental in popularizing the genre, pioneering the concept of a team magical girls. Most magical girl series to follow it derive some inspiration from it."
This is not to say that any further battle heroine series were copying this one series, but the fighting magical girl was simply what the public seemed to clamor for at the time. Another factor is certainly that almost all these magical girl shows are also aimed at tweenage children (middle-grade) and are therefore designed to sell toys. The more characters and weapons you have, the more merchandise you can sell.
If you watch a battle heroine series, you can usually expect to find a team of girls with distinct themes and personalities who transform into heroes, fight monsters on an episodic basis, and defeat higher and higher levels of general minions before taking down the true source of evil in the season finale. Meanwhile, there are interpersonal conflicts in their daily lives, often somehow coinciding with their fight of the week. When non-magical girl series have spin-offs or parodies of magical girls are made, it is usually within the battle heroine genre specifically, such as Magical Project S (1996) or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (2004). Most Western magical girl series, whether in comic form or animated, also fall within this category—you can see this everywhere from webcomics such as Sleepless Domain (2015 – present) to Dreamworks ventures like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018).
A sub-sub genre within the battle heroine is the magical phantom thief, who uses their magic for good but is perceived by others as being a criminal, causing a special variety of trouble involving police officers or detectives. There are only a few examples of this—Saint Tail (1995), Phantom Thief Jeanne (1999), and the comic Stellar Witch LIP☆S (2019). These magical girl anti-heroes put a mischievous spin on the formula while otherwise keeping it mostly intact.
The tokusatsu series Girls x Heroine (2017 – present) features battle heroines that also crossover into other subgenres, including magical idols, witchlings, and phantom thieves.
There are so many ways to be a magical girl, whether it’s ... , a teenager fighting the forces of evil, ... Only time will tell the new ways the boundaries of this archetype will be pushed forward.
