English

Noun

magical girl ‎(plural magical girls)

1. A stock character in Japanese anime and manga, a young girl with superhuman abilities who must fight evil.
   • 2013, Christopher Hart, Magical Characters, Watson-Guptill Publications (2013), ISBN 9780385345484, page 17:

     The magical girl starts out as a typical schoolgirl. Her transformation—via a glamorous costume, and amplified by special powers—gives her a new identity.

   • 2014, Lien Fan Shen, "The Dark, Twisted Magical Girls: Shōjo Heroines in Puella Magi Madoka Magica", in Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture (eds. Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, & Bob Batchelor), Rowman & Littlefield (2014), ISBN 9781442231504, page 183:

     Contrary to conventional magical girl anime, in which protagonists happily accept their superpower, shōjo heroines are reluctant to become Magical Girls in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

   • 2015, Deborah Shamoon, "The Superflat Space of Japanese Anime", Asian Cinema and the Use of Space: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (eds. Lilian Chee & Edna Lim), Routledge (2015), ISBN 9781134629534, page 98:

     The magical girl genre was originally aimed at girls: series like Sailor Moon were first serialized in shōjo manga (girls' comics) magazines and contained many traits common to that genre.