[ SECRET POST #4879 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4879 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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03.
[final fantasy vii]


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08.
[Clueless]


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[magical girl shows/puella magi madoka magica]


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11. https://i.imgur.com/YcKVO7v.png
[OP warned for sex, nudity]


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12. [SPOILERS for Melody: Love Has to Win]



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13. [WARNING for discussion of abuse]



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14. [WARNING for discussion of abuse]



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15. [WARNING for pedophilia, incest, rape, patricide, infanticide]

























Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #698.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

10. https://i.imgur.com/53wACDD.png?1
[magical girl shows/puella magi madoka magica]

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sick of grimdark magical girl anime too, but even before PMMM, there wasn't a whole lot of new magical girl content coming out, so I don't think it's the grimdark shows' fault that that's all there is anymore. Magical girl stuff had already lost a lot of popularity, and PMMM revived it but only worked because it was a new spin on it. Maybe in a few more years people will start to want deconstructions of the deconstructions and we'll start to see more happy magical girl shows again.

[(Anonymous)]

I like magical girl/magical boy shows, but I can’t stand the grimdark stuff. I want my magical gals and guys to have hope and save the day and do silly stuff that makes me smile. That’s probably why the last one I watched was Binan Koukou.

[arashinoookami]

Binan Koukou <3

[(Anonymous)]

Did you ever also watch Mahou Shoujo Ore? I thought it was really funny, but it seems forgotten after it aired in Spring 2018.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, I forgot about that one! I haven’t watched it, but I will now.

[(Anonymous)]

What other magical girl shows have you watched or otherwise tried out, OP? (asking because I don't want to recommend something you've already seen, not because I'm trying to be patronizing)

I agree with the first anon somewhat, but I would also argue that it's not that magical girl shows were losing popularity before PMMM, it's that magical girls shows were losing popularity with older audiences before PMMM. They've never stopped making happy, upbeat magical girl shows, but these are just more and more likely to be kid's shows.

[(Anonymous)]

honestly, i enjoy them mainly because your standard magical girl shows are so goddamn formulaic and boring. i loved pretear because it actually shook up the standard formula a bit and did something interesting with it, but i haven't found anything else that caught my attention since then.

[(Anonymous)]

Sort of a sidenote:

I was kind of spoiled that PMMM was going grimdark and everybody was so ~so shocked~ when it happened. So I was watching the first episodes and thinking, "how could they be surprised? There's so much symbolism that makes things creepy and unnerving without even knowing it's going to go back..."

I actually ended up only watching maybe the first five or six episodes and just kinda didn't bother after that.

[arashinoookami]

Try Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. It's not exactly a magical girl show (it's about a girl playing an MMO), but it's definitely light, fluffy, and sweet.

[(Anonymous)]

Hell, Madoka just ripped off Higirashi to begin with, not to mention every other cutesy girls/world anime/manga where everything is fucked up and dark as shit.
I've been out of the loop with anime for a while now, but are there really no magical girl shows meant for children anymore? Like when I first glanced at this secret I wanted to say that most magical girl shows did deal with a lot of death and loss over the course of the series, like with Sailor Moon, and CardCaptor Sakura. It wasn't all fun and games all the time. But knowing Madoka's habit of killing off anyone and everyone in the most gruesome of ways just for the shock value alone, I image that's not the type of subtle darkness you're suggesting is prevalent now, unfortunately...

My rec would be Binan Kōkō Chikyū Bōei-bu LOVE! / Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! a parody on the Magical Girl syndrome but with guys doing the transformations which is both oddly uplifting and absolutely hilarious!

[(Anonymous)]

You know Higurashi didn't invent the concept of using time travel to create time loops, right?

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Of course not, just as the original Higurashi didn't invent cutesy girls being crazed axe murders.
I mentioned it as reference to an established media which implemented most all of Madoka's quirks long before Madoka existed. None of this is new, I'm simply just surprised to find out that there isn't any proper Magical Girl anime in recent years that actually represent that genre, and that people are still using that trope as a pathetic smokescreen to rehash the same old clichés I thought to be done to death by now.

[(Anonymous)]

Seconding the fact that it would be really useful if OP posted what they have already seen, so recs would be easier.

I'd say the best magical show of all time for me personally is Ojamajo Doremi. It is a show focused more on the girls utilizing their witch powers to help their friends, family, and classmates and have some really interesting character-driven episodes. It's a bit of a slow burn initially, but just gets better and better. It tackles a lot of more complex issues (divorce, child actors, sibling favoritism, miscarriage, social anxiety, etc.) but remains super light-hearted. It's a show where you watch the recurring characters grow and honestly learn all of their names and relationships. I bawled at some episodes like a baby! I need to stop gushing; it's a long commitment of about 200 episodes (same as Sailor Moon). Only available in fansubs.

Saint Tail was recently completed fansubbed if you want something light with a phantom thief flair. I see it as a bit more shallow but if you are nostalgic for 90s animation, it's a solid choice.

Precure is still ongoing; recent season Hugtto was solidly reviewed by fandom friends I have.

Other good ones: Princess Tutu, Shugo Chara, Full Moon (really liked this one when I was a preteen; magical singer if you are sick of repeated battles). I also love Symphogear but that is aimed at a male adult audience, with slight edge and lots of fanservice. Will rec it anyway since it rocks.

I'll stop for now, but magical anime really used to be my jam. Sadly burnt out a bit now, and not in the mood to watch kid-aimed series due to my lower attention span.

[(Anonymous)]

Tbh I think Madoka gets a bad rap as a 'grimdark' show. Yes, it's definitely dark but I think what makes it work versus a lot of the ripoffs is that it does ultimately end in hope (and then Rebellion came along and fucked that up for the sake of milking the cash cow but screw Rebellion). I feel like Madoka was just a really good magical girl show which was on the dark side but still ultimately supported the usual magical girl themes of hope and the power of love, but all the imitators saw was 'darkness good, happiness bad.'

Also if you haven't watched Princess Tutu I highly recommend it.

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, Rebellion. I pretend it doesn't exist. The original series was perfect in my opinion for Madoka.

Princess Tutu is a weird show. Half of it is fantastic but I found half of it boring as shit. The first half of each season bores me because it's such a slow build without before shit gets going. But once shit gets going? I LOVE IT.

[(Anonymous)]

Nurse Angel Ririka SOS from 1995. I still get the theme song stuck in my head. :) Wish Upon the Pleiades is another underrated gem.

There is less magical girl stuff aimed at children now, as girl's anime seems more focused on idols now (Aikatsu, Pripara).

[bondtolife]

I hear you, anon.

I am a massive fan of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. For all its darkness and its flaws, I am grateful to it for its day for its message of hope.

I think most of the grimdark magical girl anime that have come trying to imitate it missed the message of the original Madoka anime entirely: That it is not wrong to hope nor to be a good person, and in fact, it is necessary. What angers me the most is a particular anime which put magical girls with a military focus... which ended up as grimdark torture porn and rape garbage as well.

I wish more creators found a balance. Between the brightness and hope of classical magical girls, with the occasional maturity thrown here and there to deepen or even darken the plot at times. But done in a way that makes the light of a plot glow even brighter.

There's a reason Warhammer 40k is so dystopian nothing can be taken seriously, while Adventure time is a bright and colorful canon that becomes fucking terrifying the moment the Lich comes in. Fer feck's sake, Star Wars: A New Hope is bright and adventurous, and Rogue One doesn't break it all apart, but reinforces the ideals of the Jedi and the rebellion.