Sailor Moon is a long-running magical girl franchise with various anime, manga, and more. This post is intended as an overview. For information on how to watch it, including a breakdown of the different series, see HERE. ABOUT:Usagi meets a talking cat named Luna, who gives Usagi a pendant that transforms her into Sailor Moon, one of the Scouts who dedicate their lives to saving the Earth from evil forces. Soon, Usagi finds the other inner scouts - Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus - and the five spend their time developing their friendships, surviving school, falling in love, and defeating various villains. The story evolves in different ways in each variation, with the 'outer' senshi being introduced later on, and with different villains and slice-of-life plots. VARIANTS & STATS:
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Winx Club is an Italian-American franchise by Rainbow SpA with a number of spinoff series. ABOUT:Winx Club is set in a magical universe filled with numerous planets and kingdoms. In the original first season, Bloom is living on earth when she discovers the fairy Stella being attacked by monsters. Bloom helps fight them off, discovering in the process that she herself is a fairy. Stella convinces Bloom to join her at Alfea, the best school for fairies. The two soon for friendship with other fairies, witches, and pixies, and fight a variety of enemies throughout the seasons. The seventh eighth season is intended as a reboot. There are also spinoff series including PopPixie, World of Winx, and an upcoming live action series Fate: the Winx Saga. SPINOFFS: PopPixie focused on the Pixie characters, who mysteriously stopped being featured on the main show for no explained reason. World of Winx follows the original girls, along with Roxy, as they spend time in Bloom's hometown on Earth and spend time finding earth people with magical talents. Most of the fandom don't consider the spinoffs as canon, given they often directly go against concepts introduced in the original. CHANGING AUDIENCE, ANIMATION, DUBS, & STUDIOS:Previously, Toei had been the one dominating the magical girl scene, yet Studiot Pierrot took it by storm. Their Magical Girl franchise, built in the 1980s, includes some of the most iconic and influential series, whose impact on the genre can still be seen today. ABOUT:INFLUENCE:Studio Pierrot did not create the idea of magical girls - but it did put together, exaggerate, and repeatedly reinforce a number of underused concepts that already existed, in a way that no other series or franchise had before. Most magical girls prior to Mami were of the Little Witch genre, wherein magic was normal to the character. That is not true of any of the Pierrot franchise, where the girls gain the skill from a supernatural force. While female heroes did exist, their femininity was often played down. Femininity wasn't just accepted by Pierrot - it was embraced. In transforming, the girls' hair grew longer, they added makeup, and their clothes were excessively pastel and girly, often emphasizing their curves. Previously, transformation sequences weren't very feminine, or very common, and they didn't use items - they just inherently had the skill. All members of the Pierrot franchise have a power item they need to transform. The idea of using a show to sell toys definitely wasn't new, however, the extent to which these series feature the toys, and the number of them, far exceeds that of most previous shows. The wands, transformation items, differently dressed versions of the girls, along with the various animal guides created quite a few options for toymakers and children to choose from. When the franchise grew large enough to support it, they introduced film where the girls from different series met and collaborated. This was entirely new, as previously, magical girls had only ever worked independently, or - very rarely - only met once the previous generation lost their power. And, after years of being seen as a joke, or as being gross, Pierrot wrote their shows with the understanding thhat boys - and also adults - would watch and enjoy a show about a cute girl. Idols were changed in similar ways, but in terms of magical idol girls, Pierrot introduced the idea of young girls seeking out fame. With that came many trials, tribulations, and of course, secret identities. All of these things are still visible in today's magical girl anime. Using wands is almost an intrinsic part, as is having items to transform with. Including idols and fame, while not common, are still seen in characters like Cure Lemonade, Cure Sword, and the idea of mashing Idols with Magical Girls is present in shows like Lolirock and AKB0048. Magical girl toys have become a huge part of the genre, as well as a massively successful, credited with funding the existence of Sailor Moon in the 90s. WHO SHOULD WATCH IT: |
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