History Main / MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction

* ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' is a highly sexual action/comedy work about Hiiragi Utena, a girl who dreams about being a magical girl but actually ends up being a DarkMagicalGirl. While at first horrified, Utena discovers a hidden side to herself as she fights her admired heroines, and she likes it... a ''lot''. The series also shows, at length, that most of the power and mental development of Tres Magia (the "traditional" magical girl group of the setting) could only happen because [[StealthMentor Utena kept pushing for them to grow]], is [[VillainsActHeroesReact the one instigating most of their conflicts]], and very much wants them to defeat her organization the "proper" way (i.e. just like in magical girl anime); when a villain ''wants'' them dead, or when Utena starts showing her hand, it's nearly a steamroll. That being said, the series and Utena are still very much in favor of the Powers of [[ThePowerOfLove Love]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]] winning the day, as both Enormeeta and Tres Magia become better fighters as they accept themselves, their allies, and even their sexuality.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is the TropeCodifier. It's a MagicalGirl franchise featuring an [[ArtStyleDissonance adorable art style]] but a dark and depressing plot. As it turns out, all Magical Girls are [[spoiler:destined to become the Witches they fight]] and the TransformationTrinket is in fact [[spoiler:their soul itself]]. Another {{Deconstruction}} is of [[spoiler:the cute MentorMascot, who is here the [[ManBehindTheMan true]] BigBad and more of a classic Devil - a contract for the soul that is never quite what it seems, and in the lives of the magical girls, who experience combat fatigue and wear down mentally. However, the series ''ends'' on a DeconReconSwitch for ThePowerOfHeart: naive young Madoka invokes the vast power from her wish to effect a vast CosmicRetcon, preventing witches from having ever existed and becoming the [[AbstractApotheosis embodiment of Hope]] in the process. The ultimate message is profoundly AntiNihilist: this world may be grim and messed-up, but it's ''never'' wrong to keep on hoping and fighting to make it a better place]].

** Once one gets over the gory and raunchy sections of the series, th e manga shifts into a {{Reconstruction}} after Aya [[GrewASpine grows a spine]] and [[WiseBeyondTheirYears matures far beyond her age]] thanks the assistance of her new friends like Yatsumura, along with numerous girls who had similar misfortunes in their lives. She becomes TheHeart for even the most unscrupulous and highly-flawed individuals that includes former enemies and ordinary humans wrapped up in their fights, forming a LaResistance with the common goal of saving the world. [[spoiler:And it ends with Aya completely turning the world system into her favor, resulting in a SurprisinglyHappyEnding for everyone who was hurt, whether the Site was (in)directly involved or not.]]

Compare to RealRobotGenre (in contrast to SuperRobotGenre), {{Capepunk}} (which takes a similarly deconstructive approach to superheroes), UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and NinetiesAntiHero (this could be considered to be to Magical Girls in the 2010s what these were to superheroes in the 1990s). Contrast NotWearingTights.

The MagicalGirl and MagicalGirlWarrior genres are very popular genres for {{anime}} and {{manga}} in Japan; they're also popular internationally, with several non-Japanese works being produced for the genres. They're normally fluffy {{Coming Of Age Stor|y}}ies usually featuring a cast of [[KidHero young 8-15 year old girls]] who gain magical powers thanks to a TransformationTrinket. However, in the 2010s, a new sub-genre began to form: the Magical Girl GenreDeconstruction, usually called "Dark Magical Girl" in anime fandom, though that is a [[DarkMagicalGirl different trope here]].

2011's ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is the TropeCodifier and GenrePopularizer for this genre (but it's not the UrExample, that's ''Anime/NurseAngelRirikaSOS''). It's an anime which starts off looking like a normal Magical Girl story but [[WhamEpisode takes an unexpected turn three episodes in]], and portrays the stereotypical MentorMascot as a figure more akin to {{Mephistopheles}}. The series' twist proved popular enough that [[FollowTheLeader other works]] soon began exploring more serious interpretations of Magical Girls as well.

* ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' is a highly sexual action/comedy work about Hiiragi Utena, a girl who dreams about being a magical girl but actually ends up being a DarkMagicalGirl. While at first horrified, Utena discovers a hidden side to herself as she fights her admired heroines, and she likes it...a ''lot''. The series also shows, at length, that most of the power and mental development of Tres Magia (the "traditional" magical girl group of the setting) could only happen because [[StealthMentor Utena kept pushing for them to grow]], is [[VillainsActHeroesReact the one instigating most of their conflicts]], and very much wants them to defeat her organization the "proper" way (i.e. just like in magical girl anime); when a villain ''wants'' them dead, or when Utena starts showing her hand, it's nearly a steamroll. That being said, the series and Utena are still very much in favor of the Powers of [[ThePowerOfLove Love]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]] winning the day, as both Enormeeta and Tres Magia become better fighters as they accept themselves, their allies, and even their sexuality.

* The ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'' fan-expansion "World of Freedom 2.5" (later "World of Freedom 3.2") includes the Legendary Angel Heralds, Sailor Scouts who grew up and became a bit (or a lot) screwed up in the process, and [[https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?p=33868&sid=8e8ea51978b936de626738097c5bc104#p33868 Pretty Princess Loli-chan]], whose concept is "What if the OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent grows up...and the SuperPoweredAlterEgo ''doesn't''?"

This genre twists the normal WishFulfillment part of most Magical Girl shows by showing that the magical powers aren't all fun and games but [[ComesGreatResponsibility serious responsibilities]]. These works are deconstructions where being a Magical Girl [[BlessedWithSuck comes with various]] real-life complications [[SourGrapes that end up actually preventing the wish-fulfillment]]. This often comes in the form of trying to be DarkerAndEdgier. Common themes of these series are that you should BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and that GrowingUpSucks (in sharp contrast with how traditional Magical Girl works treat [[OlderAlterEgo pseudo-adulthood]] as [[ComingOfAgeStory a form of empowerment]]). While "magical" is traditionally meant in the sense of "wondrous", here [[TheThemeParkVersion it's more of an aesthetic]] - you can expect the protagonist's identity to be common knowledge, and[=/=]or for there to be [[EveryoneIsASuper an entire class of similarly empowered people in which she's only a small cog]]. Sometimes they are treated as ChildSoldiers, with all the horrors that entails. If the protagonist is a StockShoujoHeroine, then she will often end up a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. You can expect them to emphasize that being a magical girl is NotAGame.

''Madoka Magica'' was in turn heavily influenced by the HenshinHero series, ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'', one of the [[GenreDeconstruction more deconstructive entries]] in the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise, which would eventually lead to [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Madoka's creator]] writing ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', a series with a ''Ryuki''-esque format and a CentralTheme of GrowingUpSucks. While Kamen Riders are [[WasOnceAMan no stranger to darkness]], ''Ryuki'' threw the whole idea of Riders being ''heroes'' [[BlackAndGrayMorality out the window]], with a whopping 13 people gaining {{Transformation Trinket}}s (which ''weren't'' a magically summoned part of the Rider's body like past entries, but physical items that could be damaged or stolen) and [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne forced to fight each other to the death]].

* ''Literature/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'': a [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent middle schooler]] named Koyuki has always wanted to be a magical girl and still adores magical girls even after her peers have outgrown them. She plays a free-to-play mobile game called ''Magical Girl Rising Project'' that, rumor has it, allows one in every few thousand people to become a real Magical Girl (regardless of their age or gender). Koyuki ends up one of the people and gets [[AscendedFanboy turned into]] a Magical Girl whose alias is "Snow White". She and a group of other magical girls act as superheroes around their district. One day Fav, the fairy mascot who made them all magical girls, mentions that he accidentally allowed too many in one region and has to downsize by half. It's soon revealed that those who stop being magical girls die. Even if you voluntarily quit being a magical girl, you'll still die. This quickly leads into a battle royale between the magical girls as each one fights to make sure they're not the one who is forced to quit, with most of them dead by the end.

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* ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' is a highly sexual action/comedy work about Hiiragi Utena, a girl who dreams about being a magical girl but actually ends up being a DarkMagicalGirl. While at first horrified Utena discovers a hidden side to herself as she fights her admired heroines, she likes it...a ''lot''. The series also shows, at length, that most of the power and mental development of Tres Magia (the "traditional" magical girl group of the setting) could only happen because [[StealthMentor Utena kept pushing for them to grow]], is [[VillainsActHeroesReact the one instigating most of their conflicts]], and very much wants them to defeat her organization the "proper" way (i.e. just like in magical girl anime); when a villain ''wants'' them dead, or when Utena starts showing her hand, it's nearly a steamroll. That being said, the series and Utena are still very much in favor of the Powers of Love and Friendship winning the day, as both Enormeeta and Tres Magia become better fighters as they accept themselves, their allies, and even their sexuality.

* ''VideoGame/LobotomyCorporation'' has three magical girls who are {{FallenHero}}es: The Magical Girl of Love eradicated all of the threats and [[AndThenWhat went off the deep end after realizing this meant that there were no enemies left for her to fight, meaning her purpose was worthless,]] becoming the Queen of Hatred. The Magical Girl of Happiness became consumed by a never-ending and ambitious desire for happiness and sealed herself in a giant egg to prevent her greed from hurting others, becoming the King of Greed. The Magical Girl of Justice, feeling that no good was left in the world, sunk into a depression and became the Knight of Despair. The Magical Girl of Courage, introduced in ''Webcomic/{{Wonderlab}}'' and made into a CanonImmigrant in ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'', made friends with an enemy of her home world and was betrayed by said friend, which caused her to become the Servant of Wrath, a monster who will not allow anyone to get close to her lest she be reminded of the person who betrayed her trust.