10 Things that Make a Magical Girl Show

The 'mahou shoujou' or magical girl genre is one of the most common types of anime there is. Although these shows might not be as popular as they were a decade ago, who can forget the escapades of Sailor Moon, Ojamajo Doremi, Cardcaptor Sakura, or the Pretty Cure team? All of these shows are unique in their own respects, but most of these shows have at least ten things in common. These are ten things a magical girl show must have:

10. Young Girls. Whether or not you think anime fans are sickos or not, most, if not all, magical girl shows feature young females ranging in age from ten to eighteen. It's up to the viewer to decide if this is uncomfortable for them, even though most of the girls look and act like their in their twenties, they're still fairly young in actuality. Just remember, they're only fictional!

9. Mundane Items That Happen to be Magical. Pens, perfume, toys, taps, or pearls, every magical girl needs something to make them magical. A girl cannot become magical on her own volition. These items can become weapons, wands, or helpful accessories.

8. Regular School-Age Drama. Every girl goes through the same things in school. Wanting to fit in, confessing to a boy, forming and maintaining a club, or trying to get good grades are all things these girls go through. There's almost always a school rival or someonw who tries to make their lives a living Heck. Isn't saving the universe enough stress already?!

7. Mirror Image Baddies. Every protagonist must have an enemy. Most of the time, the group of baddies a group of magical girls must fight are mirror images of themselves with similar or comparable powers. This serves many purposes, such as personality conflict, power source conflict, or a means to force the girls to think on their feet.

6. Magic Source that the Baddies Must Steal. It's true. Every person in the world has a magical flower, seed, mirror, card, or crystal inside of them that is a great source of power that the baddies must have. Losing these things cause a normal person to turn into a monster the girls must fight.

5. Disgustingly Cute Companions or Mentors. Who better to teach the girls how to be magical but giant eyed, cuddly, squeezeable mentors? Most of the time these creatures are very helpful but even they fall into the comic relief category. Every girl wants to learn to be magical from a witch frog, a fariy, a cat, or a doofy penguin, right?

4. Bad Guy turned Good Guy Heartthrob. It's inevitable that some dude that is part of the bad crowd will see the light and have one of the girls fall in love with them. It doesn't matter if they're pillaging a city one minute and saving you the next, they're still good inside, right?

3. Uncanny Meeting in Japan. It doesn't matter whether they're mystical ancient warrior incarnates from the nine planets, the seven seas, or from different planes of the universe; all magical girls in a series just happen to live in Japan, mainly Tokyo, go to the same school, and even sometimes live in the same neighborhood. What a coincidence!

2. Ridiculous Flashy Costumes. What's a magical girl without a ridiculously flashy, sometimes revealing costume to accompany them? These impossible costumes are a mandatory part of any magical girl show. They are usually skin tight, with fluffy, short skirts, bows, flowers, you name it, it's probably attached somewhere. Cosplayers and perverts alike revel these costumes.

1. Flashy (perhaps revealing) Transformation Sequences. These are the biggest red flag of knowing if a show is a magical girl show or not. Every magical girl show needs a flashy, elaborate, and maybe even revealing transformation sequence when the girls turn into their magical personalities. These sequences most often start with a shouted phrase, and you can be sure that these will run in every episode, maybe more than once.

Whether or not magical girl series suit your fancy, you can be sure that you'll find all of these building blocks within them in some form.