History Main / MagicRealism

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'' is about a teenage detective that solves crimes... even after a failed poisoning attempt [[FountainOfYouth changes him into a kid]] and he has to move in with his childhood friend who is enough of an ActionGirl to qualify for [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower being borderline super-powered]]. On a lesser note characters sometimes have successful premonitions of danger, like the ActionGirl did in the first episode before the titular character is poisoned. If that's not enough, Manga/MagicKaito takes place in the same universe and the bad guys are searching for a specific jewel that [[spoiler:may [[ImmortalityInducer make a person immortal]], and there is an ''actual'' witch as a recurring character who outright confirms there are other witches as well.]] Other than that, it's a pretty straight-forward mystery series.

* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' is a farming simulator with heavy life sim elements. Overall it takes place in a realistic setting however supernatural aspects are in almost every game. The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites are recurring characters, and more recent games give the Goddess a DistaffCounterpart in the Harvest King. Witch and wizard characters are often common in recent titles.

%%* You could make a point for ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' as Magic Realism, but however you cut it, it sure has a way of straddling reality and unreality.

** ''Series/HannahMontana'' had a ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' type plot with Hannah and her brother going back in time to when their parents met.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' is a SliceOfLife cartoon about kids in a cul-de-sac, and while the show operates primarily on ToonPhysics, is otherwise set in the real world. However, there are some episodes [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane with weirdness that may or may not actually be supernatural]]. In "One + One = Ed", reality starts to break down around the Eds before revealing that none of the weird things they saw had happened and it was just their overactive imaginations... ''all three of theirs''. In "Hand Me Down Ed", a boomerang flies into the cul-de-sac and magically inverts the personalities of everyone who touches them. In "Sorry, Wrong Ed", an allegedly cursed phone plagues Eddy with acts of misfortune whenever it's answered, Edd convinced that it's all one big coincidence. In "Run Ed Run", Sarah convinces Ed that the sky is falling, a fact that is proven [[AccidentalTruth accidentally true]] when they hit the sky, revealing nothing but static just past the cracked skybox.

From another perspective, it is possible to interpret many non-fantasy [[TheMusical musicals]] by definition as magical realism, since spontaneously breaking into song with invisible accompaniment gets taken as a perfectly normal thing, although there are a few exceptions where the incongruity is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], the most notable recent example being ''Film/{{Enchanted}}''. (See MusicalWorldHypotheses for other interpretations.) Or the singing could be taken as just a symbolic representation of the characters thoughts and speeches and not at face value over what they actually said. If the unnatural events happen in only a couple of episodes in an otherwise grounded series, like say a DomCom, they can lead viewers to exclaiming HowUnscientific.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[BlackComedyBurst Edith being mourned by her]] [[VisualPun boneheaded friends]].]]

* In David Almond's ''Literature/{{Skellig}}'', ''à la'' the page quote, the eponymous character is a man with wings who might be an angel and who lives in the young protagonist's garage. His ''Heaven Eyes'' has runaway children encountering an unusual family in an abandoned printing house, and at one point someone rises from the dead (nicely, though).

* Literature/LasMalas by Camila Sosa Villada could be a normal biography of a travesti prostitute. Instead, it features a werewolf, someone slowly turning into a bird, headless men (who still have looks, mind you) and other strange happenings.

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' might fit into this category better than ScienceFiction. Among other things, it seems that dead people go to (or through) the Wired after they die, computer equipment can grow like vines, and the physical reality is as much "data" as the computer-world and can likewise be programmed by gifted individuals. And it's perhaps the only cyberpunk, or science fiction-ish narrative to convincingly do so. The reason why ''Serial Experiment Lain'' might be an example of this trope [[spoiler:is because it basically deals with the digital world, merging with the real world. Thus creating a hybrid where the rules of this reality don't apply]]. The problem with this theory is that people do seem to take notice of the change; [[spoiler:one guy even shoots himself in the head because of it.]] Perspective is everything. Lain's point of view perhaps flips towards UrbanFantasy in the end, but Alice's remains in the field of Magic Realism.

* ''[[Animation/WhiteCatLegend White Cat Legend]]'' takes place in China during the Tang dynasty, and several historical figures such as Empress Wu Zetian and General Qiu Shenji make an appearance. Aside from the main character being an [[CatFolk anthropomorphic cat]] and one supporting character [[TheJinx summoning natural disasters at random]], supernatural or fantastical elements are few and far between.

* In Joann Sfar's ''ComicBook/TheRabbisCat'' the title character, who is also the narrator, gains the ability to speak by eating a parrot (even though the parrot is never shown talking itself). [[spoiler: He later loses the ability by inappropriately invoking the name of God and then regains it after nearly dying from a scorpion sting]]. Also there's a search for a lost city whose conclusion may or may not be real.
* ''ComicBook/SinCity'''s world is a CrapsackWorld full of film noir elements, like cynical heroes and femme fatales, revenge and prostitution, alcohol and drugs, corrupt cops and mobsters, drama and violence and romance and heartbreak, all narrated in first person dialogues. But is also filled with fantastical things like cannibals with sharp nails and silent skills, tough huge guys that can survive explosions and blood loss and multiple gunshots, grotesque people that look like made of clay and mud or outright monsters, prostitutes with warfare tactics, supernatural ninja women with ancient training, and deranged mad scientists and more, all drawn and set in a high contrast black and white world with ocasional splashes of color. And none of this is explained, and when its explained, it defies logic in many ways, and in fact a lot of the events depicted in the series are taken at face value, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday as if this is just how things work in that world every single day.]]
* The ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' comics are usually grounded in the real world, with tales of crime and political intrigue. A few stories, however, have elements of science fiction (the Phosilite meteorite from "The Shooting Star", a moon voyage in "Destination Moon"/"Explorers on the Moon", and an alien abduction in "Flight 714 to Sydney") and fantasy (a psychic vision in "The Seven Crystal Balls", sympathetic magic being used to lay an Incan curse in "Prisoners of the Sun", and more psychic powers and a yeti in "Tintin in Tibet").

* Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' is an epic historical novel set in the American West in the 1840s, focused on the exploits of a group of mercenaries hired by the Mexican government to pacify hostile Apaches. But its primary antagonist "Judge Holden" (or just "The Judge") is also a mysterious and enigmatic figure who's strongly implied to have supernatural abilities--although his true nature is something [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow mankind wasn't meant to know]]. He's a nearly seven-foot-tall hairless [[EvilAlbino albino]] who never sleeps, never ages, seemingly [[ImplacableMan can't be escaped or outrun]], and desires nothing less than complete mastery over all life on Earth. And upon meeting him in the desert for the first time, every single member of the Glanton gang claims that they've met him before...

* ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' despite the talking trains, freight cars, buses and boats; the rest of the world of Sodor is mundane. The Queen is UsefulNotes/ElizabethII, several real life historical figures are AllThereInTheManual, and real life events such as World War II or the Beeching Cuts are alluded to in the series. Sodor itself is treated as an island in the Irish Seas between England and the Isle of Man, and is part of the United Kingdom; otherwise mundane except in that ''trains can talk''. The decision of the [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends TV series]] to add more fantastical elements resulted in a BrokenBase, especially considering the only theatrical film from the franchise WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad, adds in loads of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin magical elements]] and alternate dimensions that were never present in the books.

* The ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' films have this general atmosphere. They're set in ordinary 21st century London, but there are certain Wes Anderson-inspired stylistic choices that tend to skew things, such as scenes of the Brown family living their lives as viewed through a dollhouse replica of their house, a calico-style band that seems to be following the characters around [[GreekChorus singing oddly-apt songs about what's happening]], and of course the fact that [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight no one seems particularly fazed or surprised by the presence of a]] [[AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal surprisingly well-dressed talking bear]] wandering around the place.

** Spirit channeling is a real thing, but in most cases it stays in the sidelines, being only used as a way for Phoenix to get help from his [[MentorOccupationalHazard late mentor]]. The existence of spirit channelers also leads to Phoenix owning a magical LieDetector artifact, [[spoiler:and to a few cases where spirit channeling was directly involved in the crime]]. While spirit channeling is generally discounted in the story, this is because of a highly publicized incident where the police tried InterrogatingTheMurderVictim and got testimony that incriminated an innocent man, which embarrassed the police out of trying it again. If Phoenix tries to argue that a channeled spirit couldn't have committed murder (which is true in this case because [[spoiler:said 'channeled spirit' was alive the whole time]] and there was a conspiracy to fake the channeling) because spirit channeling doesn't exist, all Franziska has to do is present a single photo to prove him wrong. After that, on the rare occasion that someone is channeled in court (and it's not Mia), they're generally treated like any other witness.

** Spirit channeling is a real thing, but in most cases it stays in the sidelines, being only used as a way for Phoenix to get help from his [[MentorOccupationalHazard late mentor]]. The existence of spirit channelers also leads to Phoenix owning a magical LieDetector artifact, [[spoiler:and to a few cases where spirit channeling was directly involved in the crime]].

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'' introduces the Kingdom of Khura'in, an entire country based around spirit channeling to the point where court trials were mainly determined by divination seances and the royal family is expected to have these powers. [[spoiler: Taking down the game's BigBad revolves around proving that she's a fraudulent medium, thus making her unfit for the throne.]]

* ''Film/{{Yesterday}}'': The protagonist is one of only three people on the planet who remember the Beatles because of a blackout. But even then the blackout doesn't explain anything, because hard copies of the Beatles records don't exist and John Lennon has no memory of recording those songs.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified when you see that it all takes place]] in the same canon as ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', (also MagicRealism, given the life of six kids though with the mad science plot of the movie), but also ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', (which uses CanonWelding to unite the previous two shows mentioned), but along with ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', shows with explicit and extensive mad scientists, aliens, and magic.
*** Though according to [[WordOfGod Bruce W. Smith]], the production crew for the Proud family had nothing to do with those crossovers, so they're likely non-canon.

* 1992's ''Film/FathersAndSons'' is primarily a down-to-Earth story of a strained relationship between a grieving widower and his rebellious teenage son on the Jersey Shore, but gradually unusual elements are stirred in -- a serial killer is stalking the area offscreen, and a bizarre stranger observing both men from a distance is noted and joked about by one character as perhaps said killer. A crate containing copies of a self-published novel about telepathy mysteriously turns up at the father's bookstore; one copy ends up in the son's hands, and he becomes fascinated with its ideas around the time he experiments with a hallucinogenic drug. The father meanwhile has several conversations with a boardwalk fortune teller who warns him to beware false prophets. In the climax, [[spoiler: the author of the book -- the stalker ''and'' the killer -- attacks the son on the beach. He is saved by his father telepathically sensing both that he's in danger ''and'' where he is at the time; it is clear that there is no mundane way he can know the latter]].

* Another 60s comedy, ''Blackbeard's Ghost'' is about a college track coach who gets involved with the eponymous spirit.

* 1992's ''Fathers & Sons'' is primarily a down-to-Earth story of a strained relationship between a grieving widower and his rebellious teenage son on the Jersey Shore, but gradually unusual elements are stirred in -- a serial killer is stalking the area offscreen, and a bizarre stranger observing both men from a distance is noted and joked about by one character as perhaps said killer. A crate containing copies of a self-published novel about telepathy mysteriously turns up at the father's bookstore; one copy ends up in the son's hands, and he becomes fascinated with its ideas around the time he experiments with a hallucinogenic drug. The father meanwhile has several conversations with a boardwalk fortune teller who warns him to beware false prophets. In the climax, [[spoiler: the author of the book -- the stalker ''and'' the killer -- attacks the son on the beach. He is saved by his father telepathically sensing both that he's in danger ''and'' where he is at the time; it is clear that there is no mundane way he can know the latter]].

* The 1960s children's movie ''The Gnome-mobile'' is about the adventures of an eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren who get entangled in the affairs of a pair of gnomes.

** Her novel ''The Night Watchman'' also contains some of this trope. For example, a ghost named Roderick is regarded casually by the characters who can see him, almost as if he were still alive.

* The over arching plot and background of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' has elements of Magic Realism even though the individual pieces are UrbanFantasy and ScienceFiction. This is due mainly to Haruhi's powers being very subtle and especially the lack of certainty about what is really a coincidence and what is outright alteration of reality.

* ''Anime/{{Tekkonkinkreet}}'' has the main characters that can fly/glide, alien assassins, and psychic bonds between brothers. None of this is explained or even really acknowledged.