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Nanoha-as-henshin

Young, magical, and about to deliver a world of hurt... and possibly friendship.

The intersection of Magical Girl with Superhero(ine).

In Japan, the extended growth-to-maturity metaphor Magical Girl archetype can mean a variety of things; some do more than use their powers to improve or complicate their lives. Some go out and battle Dramatic Evil, usually with a lot of mystic firepower and weird outfits (usually a glammed-up Mini-Dress of Power) and called attacks. This is not magic for magic's sake; the character rarely finds this enjoyable but gets morally cowed into it.

The action-oriented Magical Girl Warriors have the extra bonus of appeal to male demographics, so they can be very lucrative; in this case they often resemble Distaff Counterparts of Japanese superheroes, particularly Sentai and other Henshin Hero characters. Importers of Magical Girl series to the West tend to favor these characters, so Magical Girl Warriors tends to become the established trope over Cute Witches.

They can also be Kicking Ass in All Her Finery, if the girl is outright Badass and her dress is frilly enough.

The Dark Magical Girl mostly appears in Magical Girl Warrior series. Not to be confused with the unrelated Magic Knight.


Examples:

Anime and Manga[]


Comic Books[]


Fanfiction[]


Literature[]

Tabletop Games[]

  • In High School Girls RPG, you have the Magical Girl extension allowing you to play just that type of character.


Video Games[]

Webcomics[]

  • El Goonish Shive: In the later comics Elliot gains a super-heroine spell after already having the ability to shapeshift into virtually any conceivable female human form including transformation of clothes.


Web Original[]

  • Fey of the Whateley Universe. Down to the backstory, the ancient Faerie who rides along in her head, her ability to summon armor magically, and a magical battle in Boston in which she and The Necromancer spent most of the fight trying to intimidate each other by calling their attacks.


Western Animation[]