Sailor Moon fans, have you seen any magical girl show besides Sailor Moon and Madoka?

[SilentStorm]

Just wondering, just recently i saw some people wondering if magical girls were still a thing and why no one was doing anything more with Sailor Moon and...magical girls never left?

Granted, mainstream wise around the globe, only Sailor Moon and Madoka really got attention, Cardcaptor Sakura a bit less, but magical girl anime and manga never stopped, i guess there was that...unfortunate underage BDSM series "Gushing About Magical Girls" which sadly got some attention, still there is also this:

Pretty Cure, which has had a show about magical girls transforming, fighting evil and saving the world every year since 2004 and there are now spin-offs about former teams having to fight new threats as adults after not needing to fight since they were kids which makes it more than one series per year.

Can't forget the Nanoha, Symphogear, Doremi and Jewelpet franchises, there is a new Tokyo Mew Mew or a classic like Utena.

There are also upcoming series not really getting as much attention like Hana No Kun Lunlun or Princess Session Orchestra from one of the creators of Symphogear...which is also getting a new movie in the future.

Whatever, i guess i mean to say that whether people realize it or not, magical girl shows have always been around with their own franchises getting made, but when it comes to them, people usually have only seen or heard of Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica, and are like "Well, i liked Sailor Moon, in fact, i liked it so much i decided to never ever watch another action magical girl show!" apparently.

Not all or else...well, there wouldn't be this genre going on to begin with, just curious as to how many people have seen something beyond Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica...ignoring Gushing Over Magical Girls because i hate that it got popular and well known at all and prefer to forget it exists.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

(only reads title) Yes, I'm pretty sure Sailor Moon fans have seen Sailor Moon.

 

[julia crawford]

I've seen.... let's me see... Nanoha, i think i saw some episodes of Cardcaptor, Utena i'm not sure is a magical girl show, i think some episodes of.. something else (i now remember it was one of those PreCure shows).. a few here and there i guess.

But i think it's fairly reasonable to have just watched Sailor Moon and nothing else, Sailor Moon is a lot bigger than most other animes and we watched it in our childhoods when it was effortless to watch something and we didn't have to dedicate time and attention to more anime. God knows anime doesn't deserve it.

 

[Nikus]

I think I watched a magical girl spin off show of Tenchi Muyo two decades ago when I was watching everything related to Tenchi Muyo
But I don't remember if it was good (I've been wanting to rewatch Tenchi Muyo for a long time though, I liked the cozy vibes but I don't know how it has aged...)

 

[SilentStorm]

(only reads title) Yes, I'm pretty sure Sailor Moon fans have seen Sailor Moon.

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Damn it, don't know how i didn't notice that, shame i can't edit the title.

 

[Marin-Lune]

Depending on your age and country of origin, I'd say it would have been almost hard to avoid lol.
There were so many of these on French TV when I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s: Creamy Mami, Lamu, Magical Emi etc etc.

 

[secretanchitman]

Sailor Moon extensively (just about to start season 5 of the original anime) and I saw very little of Cardcaptor Sakura, otherwise not much else.

 

[DrForester]

Many. Tops being...

Utena
Princess Tutu
Card Captor Sakura

 

[Yukari]

Only Precure.

 

[Strings]

yes

I've wanted to do a magical girl inspired thing forever so I justified watching Magical Stage Fancy Lala and w/e as work research. Lots and lots of work research you see because I'm really committed.

 

[Rynam]

Yeah, they showed a couple ones on German TV here in the early to mid 2000s
Like Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, DoReMi, Wedding Peach, Card Captor Sakura, Pretty Cure, Utena.

 

[03-AALIYAH]

Lots of 80s magical girl series when growing up.
Several 70s vintage ones as an older fan.
Several Precure seasons, if only because it's THE major magical girl franchise in JP for the last twenty years.

Utena
Princess Tutu

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Two of the best series ever.

 

[Flying Caterpillar]

Sakura Card Captors and Super Pig. Thinking about it made me realize that I never watched Madoka.

 

[Sterok]

All Precure, Winx Club, WITCH, Mai-Hime, Princess Tutu, Tokyo Mew Mew, Cardcaptor Sakura, Corrector Yui, Magical Girl Raising Project, Yuki Yuna, Daybreak Illusion, Granbelm, Demon Girl Next Door, Nanoha, Sugar Sugar Rune. Plenty of good stuff. Most of which are better than Sailor Moon honestly.

 

[Korigama]

Aside from Madoka?

Symphogear, Kill la Kill, and Re: Cutey Honey. I've preferred those over Madoka, which I was colder on until Rebellion (which ended up pissing off a lot of fans of the TV series, go figure).

 

[hat_hair]

I think even beyond that, more people are unaware of live action stuff, like Takashi Mike's Girls x Heroine series, which ran for like 5 years. (Yes, that Takashi Mike).


Let alone going back as far as the Fushigi Comedy shows like Poitrine, which predate the Sailor Moon manga by like a year.

 

[Breqesk]

Cardcaptor Sakura was one of the first anime I ever watched. One of those 'before I knew it was anime' animes, like Pokémon.

I always wanted a pair of pink rollerblades growing up...

 

[Raftina]

There are also upcoming series not really getting as much attention like Hana No Kun Lunlun or Princess Session Orchestra from one of the creators of Symphogear...which is also getting a new movie in the future.

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At first, I thought this was a remake, but it seems to be a sequel, given that you can see Lunlun in the stained glass in the background of the 2 new protagonists. This was my first magical girl anime--and one of the first anime I have seen period.

Anyway, other magical girls that I have seen.

Recommend
For girls
Card Captor Sakura
Futari wa Pretty Cure
Hana no Ko Lunlun
Heartcatch Precure
Magic Knight Rayearth
Princess Tutu
Ultra Maniac (manga only)

For boys
Esper Mami
Gonna Be the Twintail
My-Hime
Someday's Dreamers

Do not recommend
For girls
Cutey Honey Flash
Full Moon o Sagashite

For boys
Birdy the Mighty (original and decode)
Magical Girl Raising Project
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (original, A's, and StrikerS)
My-Otome (original, Zwei, Cipher)

 

[AvianAviator]

Shugo Chara was my first subbed anime, I was like 12

And of course Princess Tutu is an all time great

Watched/read a little bit of Cardcaptor Sakura and Pretty Cure

I've actually never seen Sailor Moon.

Full Moon o Sagashite

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Holy shit I forgot about this one! I also read this manga when I was 12 and loved it. I'm guessing it doesn't hold up?

 

[DarthKamen]

Never seen Sailor Moon, but Cutie Honey: The Live is one of my favorite shows ever, if it counts.

 

[Raftina]

Holy shit I forgot about this one! I also read this manga when I was 12 and loved it. I'm guessing it doesn't hold up?

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I don't exactly remember why I did not like it, but I ended up dropping it pretty early. It might have been bias against Arina Tanemura's works, because I did not like Gentlemen's Alliance Cross.

 

[BakedTanooki]

Not really a fan, but watched this back then, on German TV

Not very good from what I remember.

 

[Dary]

It always feels like 94.6% of anime threads in places like this treat "anime" as a synonym for "shounen", so that might explain why people are oblivious to magical girl shows...

 

[Mesoian]

Shit even kids these days can't escape it. My nieces grew up on Marvelous Ladybug.

 

[mute]

Shit even kids these days can't escape it. My nieces grew up on Marvelous Ladybug.

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That was one thing my kid starting watching a few years ago, and wasn't expecting a stealth literal magical girl show but I enjoy what I saw of it, but am probably 2 seasons behind by now or something.

 

[CielYoshi]

I'd actually like for the Lyrical Nanoha series to move forward, but besides going with the awful Force storyline all viable options involve going back to underage protagonists, which considering what the writers like I'd say no thanks.

 

[Dusk Golem]

I'm not even what you would call a Magical Girl Fan (not a hater, just not a fan), but even I've seen a fair few at this point. I've seen random episodes of Sailor Moon, Magical DoReMi, Tokyo Mew Mew, Card Captor Sakura, and Winx Club as I was growing up. I've seen all of Princess Tutu twice (and do love that one), all of Madoka Magicka (series & films) at least three times. Being a horror fan, I did watch Magical Girl Raising Project, Day Break Illusion, and Magical Girl Site despite their issues. Due to a good friend who's a big fan of it, I've seen a good amount of Mermaid Melody and Pretty Cure. I did watch all of Shakugan no Shana on my own time, including as I recall some count it as a magical girl anime (even if a very untraditional one). I saw This Is A Zombie? some time ago (which is a Magical Girl parody show). Same with Flip Flappers. I watched Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers as it was airing as I was curious about it. If this counts, I did watch Little Witch Academia. I have seen Kill la Kill, if that counts. I'm in the middle of watching She-Ra and the Princesses of Power with a friend for the first time I've ever seen it, if that counts.

There's some adjacent things, things with a magical girl character, or things I've forgotten I'm sure, but a lot of this I experienced just growing up with certain networks, osmosis of friends wanting to watch it together, and some I checked out myself for one reason or another.

This thread did remind me I really need to sit down and watch Revolutionary Girl Utena, though.

 

[MsMuerta]

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of those rare "the anime is better than the manga" cases. Learning that Meiling was not canon felt wrong.

 

[PAFenix]

Not really a fan, but watched this back then, on German TV

Not very good from what I remember.

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I absolutely LOVED Wedding Peach!

Full Moon o Sagashite

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Why not recommend? Because it's incomplete or sad af?

 

[Isilia]

Sakura was the first other one I've watched. Seen bits and pieces of others over the years.

I know of Madoka, but the most I've seen of it were tiny blips and AMVs

 

[Transistor]

Damn it, don't know how i didn't notice that, shame i can't edit the title.

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I got u

 

[werezompire]

I feel like Madoka is one of those shows like Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that was extremely popular for a few years but didn't have lasting popularity.

 

[Red Liquorice]

I watched the first episode of Sailor Moon to see if I'd like it and it was ok, so it's in the back of my head to get around to it one day, but I like the Pierrot shows (Creamy Mami, Pastel Yumi etc) and Hime-Chan's Ribbon, which I actually really enjoyed so after that I went on a bit of a hunt for some more, Kaitou Saint Tail comes to mind.

I'm far from the intended audience, but I find them quite relaxing - at least the ones I've seen, I get the impression some of them come closer to superhero/team fighting stuff which doesn't really float my boat, I've enjoyed the 'schoolgirl who transforms and has a talking pet' ones more.

 

[Mandos]

I've mainly watched Magic Knight Rayearth and the hilarious Magical Girl Ore off the top of my head. Got too depressed by Madoka and started messing with Sailor moon right when funimation went down so didn't get too far

 

[Raftina]

I've mainly watched Magic Knight Rayearth and the hilarious Magical Girl Ore off the top of my head. Got too depressed by Madoka and started messing with Sailor moon right when funimation went down so didn't get too far

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Oh, is Magic Knight Rayearth considered a magical girl series? I enjoyed the first season of the TV series, though I never got around to to watching season 2 or the OVA. I've always thought of it as an isekai series like Mashin Hero Wataru, though I guess there's nothing that says you cannot have an overlap between 2 genres.

It's kind of funny how much similarities Rayearth shared with Tenku Senki Shurato and Mashin Hero Wataru.

 

[Mandos]

Oh, is Magic Knight Rayearth considered a magical girl series? I enjoyed the first season of the TV series, though I never got around to to watching season 2 or the OVA. I've always thought of it as an isekai series like Mashin Hero Wataru, though I guess there's nothing that says you cannot have an overlap between 2 genres.

It's kind of funny how much similarities Rayearth shared with Tenku Senki Shurato and Mashin Hero Wataru.

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Oh you need to watch the second half, one of my all time fave ptsd stories and really wraps things up. The OVA is just weird and not great from everything I heard. Oh and there's a new project coming, no details yet tho. But yeah it's Magical girl/Mecha/Isekai(Portal Story).

I need to watch Wataru but it was only ever available in English for a year and a half on Bandai's YouTube and hasn't been available since. No physical either. Hope they make it available again(license it to crunchy at least) in light of the new show coming up they have so much confidence in they're doing a qave of 10 HG kits for it

 

[AvianAviator]

I feel like Madoka is one of those shows like Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that was extremely popular for a few years but didn't have lasting popularity.

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I feel like the opposite is true. There was a time when Madoka Magica spawned a whole genre of alternative, deconstructed, angsty/edgy/sad magical girl series (of varying quality), and at least on Twitter I can't go two feet without tripping over Madoka fan art on my timeline (from both Western and Japanese accounts). Maybe I'm just in a niche but I still have people speaking favorably about Madoka, drawing art and cosplaying Homura and others. Can't remember the last time I've seen a Haruhi cosplay though.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Yes, and SM isn't even close to my favorite, either.

PreCure hurts a little because I was there day one and when it was announced 4Kids was bringing the first series over, my first thought was that we'd be getting merch for it. Then it didn't happen. Then we got 2 of the shows turned into Glitter Force on Netflix. I brought home a PreCure Ramune bottle from HMart over the weekend and my daughter immediately "did you get a Glitter Force drink?!"

I keep hoping that some day they'll try, once again, to bring one of the shows over and dubbing it without having to mangle it in some way as though it were still the 80s/90s. Kids these days are way more informed about anime (mostly thanks to parents like me) and where it comes from and why they do things differently, they can take it.

Oh, is Magic Knight Rayearth considered a magical girl series? I enjoyed the first season of the TV series, though I never got around to to watching season 2 or the OVA. I've always thought of it as an isekai series like Mashin Hero Wataru, though I guess there's nothing that says you cannot have an overlap between 2 genres.

It's kind of funny how much similarities Rayearth shared with Tenku Senki Shurato and Mashin Hero Wataru.

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It's magical girls and mecha, so you get a twofer in the 90s goodness!

And it happens to be my favorite one.

 

[Kenai]

Utena was a lot of fun, lives up to the memes

Magical Girl Raising Project was discount Madoka but watchable

Does Land of the Lustrous count? It seemed more adjacent to Steven Universe but I liked that a lot

Cardcaptor Sakura was a lot of fun

I have watched the first few episodes of Minki Momo and that is a fun watch but it will probably take me a while to finish

I need to finish Magic Knight Rayearth for sure

I've probably seen a few others but that's all I remember atm

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

They ain't anime, but Star Vs The Forces of Evil and Equestria Girls were totally magical girl shows.

Though Equestria girls never quite realized it's full potential as a hybrid magical girl/sentai type show. It flirted with the idea, but never went all the way. It would have worked so well.

 

[Sonnymuldoon]

All of the Nonaha stuff, obviously some incredibly problematic elements but god damn did i enjoy the ride of how much more nonsense each spin off kept getting. that final magical boxing show that Nonoha wasn't even in was fantastic.

 

[Pau]

I am obsessed with Cardcaptor Sakura. I like the idea of the genre but haven't really been able to find any other shows I think I'd enjoy. Will take a look at recs in the thread.

I wish I liked the aesthetics of Precure but there's something about its look that I don't like. I did watch an episode of one of the adult sequels and enjoyed it. Would go back.

Also need to actually commit to Princess Tutu. Watched a few episodes then fell off.

 

[Stavo]

Mainly Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura, with Tokyo Mew Mew being something I'd tune in to watch every now and then. Oh, Corrector Yui as well!

Does that one magical boy anime count? I watched like a few episodes of it. lol

I feel like the opposite is true. There was a time when Madoka Magica spawned a whole genre of alternative, deconstructed, angsty/edgy/sad magical girl series (of varying quality), and at least on Twitter I can't go two feet without tripping over Madoka fan art on my timeline (from both Western and Japanese accounts). Maybe I'm just in a niche but I still have people speaking favorably about Madoka, drawing art and cosplaying Homura and others. Can't remember the last time I've seen a Haruhi cosplay though.

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Recently I tried watching Mahou Shoujo Site and it's so unbelievably depressing and edgy for no apparent reason. I got as far as like episode 8 or something.

 

[Ayumu]

Beside Cardcaptor Sakura (which is like one of my favorite anime and I have the eager to rewatch it) and Princess Tutub(one of my first subbed anime, maybe circa 2005-2007) I also watched Doremi and Tokyo Mew Mew as kid. The only PreCure series I watched was HugTo!! mostly because it was directed by the Princess Turu director, but never finished. I need fix that.

Honestly I want rewatch Doremi, I remember more fondly about it than Tokyo Mew Mew.

 

[L Thammy]

Cardcaptor Sakura, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Lyrical Nanoha, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Dangaizer 3. I've also read Sally the Witch and I think played the Super Famicom Magic Knight Rayearth game.

Typically I feel like if it's very male oriented it's going to be garbage.

 

[AvianAviator]

People keep mentioning Utena, idk why I didn't consider that a magical girl anime, I guess it does count when I think about it. Have only seen the series, not the movie.

Does Land of the Lustrous count? It seemed more adjacent to Steven Universe but I liked that a lot

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Steven Universe is more of a magical girl show than Land of the Lustrous imo

 

[Annubis]

hybrid magical girl/sentai type show.

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I'd say Nanoha A's and My Otome did it.

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

I'd say Nanoha A's and My Otome did it.

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Haven't heard of that, I'll have to check it out!

 

[PsionBolt]

Classic magical girl shows, Sentai-style magical girl shows, mecha magical girl shows, idol magical girl shows, magical girl adjacent shows, overly edgy magical girl shows that no true Scotsman would count... I've seen some of everything. A lot that's great, a lot that's trash.

It's a bit of a bummer that the surface-level trappings have so often been taken recently by shows that completely miss the genre's heart, but at least we'll always have Precure.

 

[Sylvee]

I feel like the opposite is true. There was a time when Madoka Magica spawned a whole genre of alternative, deconstructed, angsty/edgy/sad magical girl series (of varying quality), and at least on Twitter I can't go two feet without tripping over Madoka fan art on my timeline (from both Western and Japanese accounts). Maybe I'm just in a niche but I still have people speaking favorably about Madoka, drawing art and cosplaying Homura and others. Can't remember the last time I've seen a Haruhi cosplay though.

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I recently started exploring the genre (basically trying to get through all of Precure at this point, probably going to check out more after I'm done) but from what I can tell Madoka Magica seems like it did to the Magical Girl genre what Watchmen and Dark Knight Rises did to comic books. Which is to say that it was so successful that it basically caused a bunch of people (many of whom basically didn't give a shit about the genre before) to all think that edgy deconstructions were the only Magical Girl stories worth telling for years. Madoka Magica almost isn't even really a Magical Girl show in terms of the demographics of people who watch it. It's pretty massively popular even today among the general western Otaku audience, many of whom basically haven't seen any other shows in the genre outside of maybe a handful of seasonal Seinen shows.

Yes, and SM isn't even close to my favorite, either.

PreCure hurts a little because I was there day one and when it was announced 4Kids was bringing the first series over, my first thought was that we'd be getting merch for it. Then it didn't happen. Then we got 2 of the shows turned into Glitter Force on Netflix. I brought home a PreCure Ramune bottle from HMart over the weekend and my daughter immediately "did you get a Glitter Force drink?!"

I keep hoping that some day they'll try, once again, to bring one of the shows over and dubbing it without having to mangle it in some way as though it were still the 80s/90s. Kids these days are way more informed about anime (mostly thanks to parents like me) and where it comes from and why they do things differently, they can take it.

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IIRC Toei has talked about trying to push Precure overseas more a couple months ago, although I'm guessing in the immediate future that probably means other places in Asia where Precure already has a foothold. They have been adding more of the back catalogue to Crunchyroll lately though, they added Go Princess and Mahou Tsukai a couple months ago presumably in preparation for the adult Mahou Tsukai sequel coming out next year and just yesterday they added Splash Star presumably because of the Yes 5/Splash Star adult series they released last year. At the very least I'm hoping they'll eventually have the full catalogue in a place where you can actually watch it legally, although obviously Crunchyroll is not a remotely good platform to grow the brand. Hopefully they're just getting official subs now for everything for when they eventually actually move over to a more mainstream streaming service that's actually used by Precure's target demo like Netflix or Disney+ and start releasing actual dubs of some of the series. Cuz yeah I feel like if they actually got a dubbed series on a mainstream streaming network and it actually got promoted, it would probably do well especially if they prioritize series that already feel primed for Western audiences like Go Princess.