Magical girl retrospective - simulwatch starts 1st Feb 2025

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Precure Full Bloom - Episode 1

Had been quite interested in Precure full bloom, hoping it would be something of a grown up take on confronting the realities of the world and adulthood after kids have grown up and shed their fantasies.

Can't say I'm feeling this though, the pedestrian presentation of very real world problems possibly being set up in a way to potentially all be addressed with the magic the adults used to believe in as children. That is summed up in the protagonist, being told by everyone to grow up, whilst she cheerily talks about the dire effects of global warming with elementary grade students, then goes on to try to be the Hollywood heroine to save one kid's socioeconomic woes, though in the process at least getting hit with a dose of reality, but seemingly coming off with no damage. Oddly enough, I was worried about the fantasy villains being incorporated here, but actually the villainess seemed the most interesting character to me, with admittedly having a single repeated line, though delivered perfectly I felt heh.

Can't say I have high hopes for the next episode, but I think I came in with expectations of a different kind of show perhaps. All this would be blasphemy to fans of the original I'm sure, and were I a fan of the original I'm sure I would've loved this, but hey ho, it is what it is.

 

[Dai]

Had been quite interested in Precure full bloom, hoping it would be something of a grown up take on confronting the realities of the world and adulthood after kids have grown up and shed their fantasies.

Looking for Magical Doremi is more like this. It's about women who were fans of a magical girl show as children. So while they have a similar spread of adulthood problems as the cast of Full Bloom, there are no monsters and they can't transform back into teenagers. It's a great movie; well worth getting.

Power of Hope ~Precure Full Bloom~ - episode 2

Here we find our former magical girls partaking in that most traditional of Japanese activities: drowning their sorrows in booze. Superficially it seems that most of their childhood dreams came true, but adult life is rarely that idyllic. Cue the parade of jackass bosses. Nozomi regains her determination, and with it her ability to transform into her adolescent Precure form, but this episode gives no indication that beating down janky CG monsters will improve her work situation.

If this episode and the one we watched from the original series are any indication, it seems that brawler-type magical girls are very much this franchise's wheelhouse. I loved the contrast of the cutesy outfit against the demonic red glow in Nozomi's eyes every time her face was in shadow during the fight scene.

And so here we holster our transformation gizmos and bring an end to our magical girl retrospective. If there's a theme to the 2020s era of magical girls yet, it's probably nostalgia. Full Bloom has that theme front and centre by bringing a group of old friends back together and letting them indulge in returning to innocence. It was marketed as a 20th anniversary celebration for Precure, and as such had to balance the dual roles of plucking the nostalgia chords for fans who grew up with the franchise while not alienating the current generation of viewers. That's probably why it both delves into the disappointments of adult life and adheres to the classical monster-of-the-week formula.

Whether it's Tokyo Mew Mew New, Looking for Magical Doremi, or Sailor Moon Cosmos, the genre currently seems to be soaked in the same nostalgia sauce as modern Hollywood. Even this year's new Madoka Magica movie is part of a franchise that's now old enough to be considered a throwback. While I've enjoyed some tragical girl shows, I'm glad that the genre has managed to drag itself back out of the dark. The question now is where will it go next?

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Looking for Magical Doremi is more like this. It's about women who were fans of a magical girl show as children. So while they have a similar spread of adulthood problems as the cast of Full Bloom, there are no monsters and they can't transform back into teenagers. It's a great movie; well worth getting.

Thanks for the tip, will add to my next AL shop. Always like having a movie in line for a self contained story.

Not much to add for episode 2 that @Dai hasn't already summarised succinctly. Good points on the nostalgia factor - there is certainly a nostalgia pandemic currently gripping the world with an endless slew of remakes and remasters (especially for video games when some aren't even a decade old, or maybe they are and I just didn't notice time fly by). Being older does make me love a good nostalgia trip and it does seem like precure full bloom is trying in earnest to capture and retain new and old fans interest alike.

But this simulwatch overall definitely had me hankering to revisit the "old" classics, be they as rewatches such as Madoka (I'd forgotten or didn't know about a new movie, how exciting!) and also magical girl raising project heh, or ones I never saw such as Princess Tutu . Ah, there's also the Fate one, and I still have to get kiddo on to Sailor Moon (though she's already watched the some of the movies they put on Netflix recently)... dammit I too many spinning plates

 

[Dai]

Now we come to the ceremony for the graduating class of 2025. Please step forward when your name is called.

@D1tchd1gger

Spoiler: Congratulations

@Geriatric hedgehog

Spoiler: Congratulations

@Professor Irony

Spoiler: Congratulations

Now it's time for you to head out into the world as Mahoshojologists. And for everyone who followed along with the simulwatch, here's a special, limited edition participation badge,

 

[Professor Irony]

I had intended to watch Full Bloom, but reading you guys’ comments, eh, I dunno. The idea intrigued me, but it doesn’t sound like the execution made much of it, which is a shame - much as it is clearly a nostalgia grab, I think there is potential in revisiting these kind of narratives with a cast of adults. GunXSword had a memorable episode about an elderly sentai hero team or, moving to live-action, I remember Tokusatsu GaGaGa being quite a charming look at the life of an office lady who tries to live up to her screen heroes’ ideals in real life. Actually, now that a lot of classic toku series have episodes available legally on YouTube, I feel like maybe there’s a similar thread to be done on that, but I’m not nearly well versed enough to know what to pick for it. Other than Zubat. Please watch Zubat.

But yeah, I digress - I’ve enjoyed going through these shows. The magical girl genre is something that’s long been a closed book to me, but now I feel like I’ve got a much better understanding of its appeal. I’ll definitely go back and watch more of Princess Tutu and Fancy Lala at some point, even if I don’t think I’ll be mentioning them to strangers in casual conversation any time soon.

Now it's time for you to head out into the world as Mahoshojologists. And for everyone who followed along with the simulwatch, here's a special, limited edition participation badge,

View attachment 38655

Genuinely love this, Usagi’s expression is perfect.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Now we come to the ceremony for the graduating class of 2025. Please step forward when your name is called.

@D1tchd1gger

Spoiler: Congratulations

View attachment 38653

@Geriatric hedgehog

Spoiler: Congratulations

View attachment 38652

@Professor Irony

Spoiler: Congratulations

View attachment 38654

Now it's time for you to head out into the world as Mahoshojologists. And for everyone who followed along with the simulwatch, here's a special, limited edition participation badge,

View attachment 38655

Heheh loving these dude, they're brilliant! I would put them up in my office, if I had one, were it not for having zero motivation to explain anime to everyone heh.

Commendations to you for organising such an interesting simulwatch. Like @Professor Irony mentioned, I didn't know much about the genre past Madoka, so it's certainly been entertaining and educational! I'll also second that Usagi's expression certainly is perfect, in fact, than be my profile pic for a bit now

 

[Dai]

But this simulwatch overall definitely had me hankering to revisit the "old" classics, be they as rewatches such as Madoka (I'd forgotten or didn't know about a new movie, how exciting!) and also magical girl raising project heh, or ones I never saw such as Princess Tutu . Ah, there's also the Fate one, and I still have to get kiddo on to Sailor Moon (though she's already watched the some of the movies they put on Netflix recently)... dammit I too many spinning plates

The magical girl genre is something that’s long been a closed book to me, but now I feel like I’ve got a much better understanding of its appeal. I’ll definitely go back and watch more of Princess Tutu and Fancy Lala at some point

I'm glad you both enjoyed it. I'd like to do retrospectives of other genres at some point, but organising this one took a lot more time than I expected, so I'll leave it a while before thinking about another one, unless someone else wants to take the reins on that. I went with magical girls due to the streaming availability of key examples across the decades. A giant robot retrospective would be cool, but much more difficult to make accessible for group participation, since most early shows are either only on expensive Discotek sets (some now out of print) or have never been licenced. Then you have the issue that the most memorable parts of some major shows happen towards the end (Ideon, Gunbuster, Evangelion, etc), making it difficult to appreciate the scope of a show from just the first few episodes.

 

[D1tchd1gger]

organising this one took a lot more time than I expected

Thanks for doing it. I've done a few. Series ones are easier, do an intro and go. But themed ones are harder, like the WW2 one I did a few years ago. I felt I had to do that extra bit of research, etc for each entry.

other genres

magical girls due to the streaming availability of key examples

This one did seem to have the perfect amount of examples and they were a fair representation of the genre across a large time period. I'm not sure too many other genres would work as well, there would be too many examples to go through like Shonen even if you drilled down to sub-genres like battle Shonen or sports. Or too little either through availability like you say or just in general or are old genres that died off so no recent examples or newer ones with no old examples.

 

[Dai]

Some things I either didn't realise, didn't remember in time, or couldn't work into the discussion:

There have been some really weird magical girl shows over the years.

https://www.cbr.com/weirdest-unbelievable-magical-girl-anime/

I'd never twigged that Kill la Kill is a magical girl show. It has such a unique style, and such a heavy emphasis on being a school delinquent show, that my brain never made the connection, but once you see it you can't unsee it.

Another odd one that's not on the list above is Wedding Peach. As the title suggests it's based around the gimmick of transformations into wedding dresses. But...those don't give them any powers, so they then go through a second transformation into traditional magical girl outfits.

Toei made some live-action magical girl shows in the 80s.

One season of Super Sentai (the self-parody season, Carranger) had a magical girl who showed up a few times.

Despite the near-identical names, for some reason I'd never thought about the close relationship between the genres of magical girls and magical girlfriends. It made me start wondering about where the line is between the two. The titular goddesses of Ah! My Goddess are very much 80s local-helper-type magical girls. The Demon Girl Next Door has a 90s combat magical girl as the main character's antagonist/friend/comic-foil. I guess the distinction is whether the magical girl is the main character or not. But then... Revolutionary Girl Utena has a magical girl protagonist who also has a magical girlfriend.

I'm not sure too many other genres would work as well, there would be too many examples to go through like Shonen even if you drilled down to sub-genres like battle Shonen or sports. Or too little either through availability like you say or just in general or are old genres that died off so no recent examples or newer ones with no old examples.

You may be right. There are some niches that might work, though it would take some investigating to work out the specifics. Quite a few sub-genres of yuri are well represented on Crunchyroll and HiDive. Magical girlfriends/harem might work since the place that genre started, Urusei Yatsura, is finally streaming (though it's annoying that Ah! My Goddess and the original Tenchi Muyo OAVs aren't). Anime about otaku might also work as a theme.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

I'd like to do retrospectives of other genres at some point, but organising this one took a lot more time than I expected, so I'll leave it a while before thinking about another one, unless someone else wants to take the reins on that. I went with magical girls due to the streaming availability of key examples across the decades. A giant robot retrospective would be cool, but much more difficult to make accessible for group participation

I immediately thought of a giant robot retrospective as well, and the first that came to mind was Space Runaway Ideon, that I've really wanted to watch, but which is available legally, nowhere??

As you pointed out, with the huge variety just within the magical girl genre, I'd assume this is probably likewise with a crazy plethora of shows within each other anime genre as well, let's not even go anywhere near shonen for that matter. Something like this, I think, is probably best done once a year or so to avoid fatigue - whilst I felt odd not having something scripted to watch watch tonight, I just remembered all the shows I need to finish up that I started in this simulwatch, so those will definitely keep me busy for a bit! I also don't think we need be too academic about it so as to not take away the fun side, but rather like this one, touch on a few from different eras that are more easily accessible, to have a taste, engage folk and then inspire to discuss and go watch now, as you've done here.