![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Now that I've laid out the history of male-aimed Magical Girl shows and their gradual rise to success and popularity over the past 20 years, the question arises: how has the increased presence of these shows affected the genre as a whole?
The main thing I've noticed when comparing MG shows of the 2000s with those of the 90s is that the visual age of the average heroine has sunk like a stone, especially in Magic Warrior shows. The heroines of 90s girl-aimed shows (Sailor Moon, Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Cutey Honey Flash, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Corrector Yui) were usually leggy willowy girls who looked to be in their mid-to-late teens, and the heroines of male-aimed shows looked even older, ranging in visual age from late teens to early twenties, since male-aimed shows of that era usually relied on large racks to sell themselves (Moldiver, New Cutey Honey, Hyper Doll, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, Shamanic Princess). Mixed in with these were a few younger girls (Super Pig, Nurse Angel Ririka, Saint Tail, Pretty Sammy, Cardcaptor Sakura) as well as some younger girls who would transform into older bustier alter egos (Akazukin Chacha, Jungle de Ikou, Cyberteam in Akihabara, Fancy Lala).
Fast forward to the 2000s and suddenly everyone is looking a lot younger. Some of these are because the heroines genuinely are really young (Mao-chan, Petite Princess Yucie, Nanoha, Fu No Fu, Moetan, Kiruminzoo) or because they look significantly younger than they are (Nurse Witch Komugi, Uta Kata, Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin, PPG Z, Saint October, Kamichama Karin, Milky Holmes, Aurora Dream, PMMM, Twin Angel). Only a handful of heroines fit the mid-to-late teenage Sailor-Moon-esque style (Pretear, Arjuna, Mermaid Melody, Fresh Precure, some of the girls from Getsumen, Suite Precure), and there's a new in-between category of heroines who look like they're in their young teens, best showcased in Mai-Hime and Futari wa Precure. And as for 20-something-looking heroines like those in Shamanic Princess and Jewel BEM Hunter Lime? Nowhere to be found.
Basically it boils down to this:
Those characters are all 14 years old. Except for Mami who's supposed to be like 16 years old. In fact, here's an array of alleged 16-year-olds:
See what I mean?
Now when it comes to the past decade, a lot of the young or young-looking examples I mentioned can be chalked up to a bad case of moe-ification, but if you take a look at the shows I listed, you'll notice that nearly half of those shows are girl-aimed and therefore don't have the excuse of catering to a moe demographic. I'm not sure if this can be explained by the rise of moe just having an overall effect on the art style of the average anime, or the extreme popularity of Cardcaptor Sakura leading to more elementary-school-aged MG heroines, or something else.
However, I have grown just a tad bit suspicious that a few recent girl-aimed shows are trying to cater to the moe demographic on the side. For example, I invite you to take a gander at the character designs for the new Precure season, particularly the yellow Cure. Look at how she's posed in her civilian form. Would it surprise you to learn that if you go to the "Smile Precure" tag on Pixiv, the character who by far has the most fanart drawn of her and the most porn drawn of her is Ms. Yellow? Yeah, me neither. That character design and that pose... that can't have been unintentional. There's no way you could design a character so perfectly guaranteed to grab moe fandom's attention by accident, not in this day and age.
The main thing I've noticed when comparing MG shows of the 2000s with those of the 90s is that the visual age of the average heroine has sunk like a stone, especially in Magic Warrior shows. The heroines of 90s girl-aimed shows (Sailor Moon, Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Cutey Honey Flash, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Corrector Yui) were usually leggy willowy girls who looked to be in their mid-to-late teens, and the heroines of male-aimed shows looked even older, ranging in visual age from late teens to early twenties, since male-aimed shows of that era usually relied on large racks to sell themselves (Moldiver, New Cutey Honey, Hyper Doll, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, Shamanic Princess). Mixed in with these were a few younger girls (Super Pig, Nurse Angel Ririka, Saint Tail, Pretty Sammy, Cardcaptor Sakura) as well as some younger girls who would transform into older bustier alter egos (Akazukin Chacha, Jungle de Ikou, Cyberteam in Akihabara, Fancy Lala).
Fast forward to the 2000s and suddenly everyone is looking a lot younger. Some of these are because the heroines genuinely are really young (Mao-chan, Petite Princess Yucie, Nanoha, Fu No Fu, Moetan, Kiruminzoo) or because they look significantly younger than they are (Nurse Witch Komugi, Uta Kata, Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin, PPG Z, Saint October, Kamichama Karin, Milky Holmes, Aurora Dream, PMMM, Twin Angel). Only a handful of heroines fit the mid-to-late teenage Sailor-Moon-esque style (Pretear, Arjuna, Mermaid Melody, Fresh Precure, some of the girls from Getsumen, Suite Precure), and there's a new in-between category of heroines who look like they're in their young teens, best showcased in Mai-Hime and Futari wa Precure. And as for 20-something-looking heroines like those in Shamanic Princess and Jewel BEM Hunter Lime? Nowhere to be found.
Basically it boils down to this:
Those characters are all 14 years old. Except for Mami who's supposed to be like 16 years old. In fact, here's an array of alleged 16-year-olds:
See what I mean?
Now when it comes to the past decade, a lot of the young or young-looking examples I mentioned can be chalked up to a bad case of moe-ification, but if you take a look at the shows I listed, you'll notice that nearly half of those shows are girl-aimed and therefore don't have the excuse of catering to a moe demographic. I'm not sure if this can be explained by the rise of moe just having an overall effect on the art style of the average anime, or the extreme popularity of Cardcaptor Sakura leading to more elementary-school-aged MG heroines, or something else.
However, I have grown just a tad bit suspicious that a few recent girl-aimed shows are trying to cater to the moe demographic on the side. For example, I invite you to take a gander at the character designs for the new Precure season, particularly the yellow Cure. Look at how she's posed in her civilian form. Would it surprise you to learn that if you go to the "Smile Precure" tag on Pixiv, the character who by far has the most fanart drawn of her and the most porn drawn of her is Ms. Yellow? Yeah, me neither. That character design and that pose... that can't have been unintentional. There's no way you could design a character so perfectly guaranteed to grab moe fandom's attention by accident, not in this day and age.
