Magical girl anime first appeared on television screens in the 1960s, when the industry was looking for ways to create a regular and successful product with limited resources. The magical girl genre has continued to evolve, reaching a peak of popularity at the turn of the millennium.
Witnesses to the popularity of Sailor Moon can guess the successful formula: a school-age girl suddenly gains magical powers that she can use by transforming into a powerful alter ego.
1. Tokyo Mew Mew, 2002-2003
The cute and slightly clumsy Ichigo receives magical powers from a cat. Now the girl has "cat habits": she now likes fish and can land on both feet when falling from a great height. Also, when Ichigo is worried, cat ears pop out of her head, causing a lot of inconvenience.
As it turns out, the girl has received the gift of transformation to fight monsters – the aliens who have descended on Earth and turn people into animals. In the fight, Ichigo is assisted by four girls who possess the powers of different animals, as well as two scientists, whose base exists undercover in the form of a cafe.
Madoka is a 14-year-old girl who dreams of a girl her age fighting all kinds of monsters. Then a cat appears and invites her to become a magical girl and join the stranger.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a classic magical girl series by Gen Urobuchi, where schoolgirls use magic to save the world from collapsing. However, the price is much higher than Madoka can imagine, and all of her fun adventures are based on a lie.
3. Phantom Thief Jeanne, 1999
High school student Maron has an alter ego – the thief Jeanne. In this guise, the girl exorcizes evil spirits and demons from luxury items to prevent them from taking over the minds of their owners. By day, Maron is an excellent student and athlete; by night, she is a thief hunted by the entire city police force.
Phantom Thief Jeanne is a dashing fusion of everything that was most popular in shoujo anime and manga of the 90s: the incredibly popular topic of reincarnation, romantic relationships whose development is exciting to watch, and of course the magical girl genre itself, also combined with the plot of the "noble thief."
Ten-year-old Sakura accidentally finds a book of unusual cards in the basement, which immediately start flying around town. The girl gains magical abilities, and the Guardian Cerberus appears from the book in his "simplified" form, resembling a teddy bear.
He agrees with Sakura that she will use a magic key to collect and seal all the cards that can cause both minor mischief and serious problems when released. After finding another "fugitive," the girl receives its magic: to catch some, she has to combine the powers of several cards from her arsenal at once.
5. Wonder Egg Priority, 2021
14-year-old Ai Ohto is saddened by the death of her only friend, and is constantly ridiculed by her classmates for her heterochromia – multi-colored eyes. One day, she learns of the existence of wonder eggs: if you break one, you can enter a surreal parallel world where the souls of schoolgirls who could not cope with the pressures of society live.
First alone, armed with a witch's artifact, and then with magical assistants and friends, Ai begins to free her unfortunate peers from the clutches of the fears that have ruined their lives in the mortal world.
There are never too many girls saving the world.
Magical girl anime first appeared on television screens in the 1960s, when the industry was looking for ways to create a regular and successful product with limited resources. The magical girl genre has continued to evolve, reaching a peak of popularity at the turn of the millennium.
Witnesses to the popularity of Sailor Moon can guess the successful formula: a school-age girl suddenly gains magical powers that she can use by transforming into a powerful alter ego.
1. Tokyo Mew Mew, 2002-2003
The cute and slightly clumsy Ichigo receives magical powers from a cat. Now the girl has "cat habits": she now likes fish and can land on both feet when falling from a great height. Also, when Ichigo is worried, cat ears pop out of her head, causing a lot of inconvenience.
As it turns out, the girl has received the gift of transformation to fight monsters – the aliens who have descended on Earth and turn people into animals. In the fight, Ichigo is assisted by four girls who possess the powers of different animals, as well as two scientists, whose base exists undercover in the form of a cafe.
Madoka is a 14-year-old girl who dreams of a girl her age fighting all kinds of monsters. Then a cat appears and invites her to become a magical girl and join the stranger.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a classic magical girl series by Gen Urobuchi, where schoolgirls use magic to save the world from collapsing. However, the price is much higher than Madoka can imagine, and all of her fun adventures are based on a lie.
3. Phantom Thief Jeanne, 1999
High school student Maron has an alter ego – the thief Jeanne. In this guise, the girl exorcizes evil spirits and demons from luxury items to prevent them from taking over the minds of their owners. By day, Maron is an excellent student and athlete; by night, she is a thief hunted by the entire city police force.
Phantom Thief Jeanne is a dashing fusion of everything that was most popular in shoujo anime and manga of the 90s: the incredibly popular topic of reincarnation, romantic relationships whose development is exciting to watch, and of course the magical girl genre itself, also combined with the plot of the "noble thief."
Ten-year-old Sakura accidentally finds a book of unusual cards in the basement, which immediately start flying around town. The girl gains magical abilities, and the Guardian Cerberus appears from the book in his "simplified" form, resembling a teddy bear.
He agrees with Sakura that she will use a magic key to collect and seal all the cards that can cause both minor mischief and serious problems when released. After finding another "fugitive," the girl receives its magic: to catch some, she has to combine the powers of several cards from her arsenal at once.
5. Wonder Egg Priority, 2021
14-year-old Ai Ohto is saddened by the death of her only friend, and is constantly ridiculed by her classmates for her heterochromia – multi-colored eyes. One day, she learns of the existence of wonder eggs: if you break one, you can enter a surreal parallel world where the souls of schoolgirls who could not cope with the pressures of society live.
First alone, armed with a witch's artifact, and then with magical assistants and friends, Ai begins to free her unfortunate peers from the clutches of the fears that have ruined their lives in the mortal world.
