Magical Boys: Do They Exist?

This had been bothering me, but is there such thing as a Gender Flip version of the Magical Girl? Is there any of them out there? How are they different? How can it be used without resembling too much like a shonen?

I'm just curious.

Negi pretty much plays with it back and forth outside of the Transformation Sequence.

Then there is Erio in Nanoha.

But is there an anime or a manga where the whole premise is centered around a magical boy?

There's DNAngel...

There's Kamichama Karin and Shugo Chara, which have guys fighting alongside magical girls with pretty much the same power setup (henshin sequence and all). They both have girls for main characters, though.

edited 27th Apr '11 6:49:08 PM by YamiiDenryuu

Star Driver

So, what does a magical boy uniform looks like?

I'm asking this because I have an idea for a story centered around a Gender Flip of the Magical Girl, with some deconstructing, and I'm very intrigued by the idea.

x5 Like entirely traditional Magical Girl but with a male? I mean in Negima Negi is the main character and takes up almost all the tropes at one time or another for till the Magical world arc where Negi picks up the Dark Magical Girl flag.

edited 27th Apr '11 7:00:33 PM by Raso

Lets see... the definition on the trope page is "Magical Girls are empowered by various means with fantastic powers that both assist and complicate their lives, but manage to persevere despite this". And you are looking for a male who goes through that? I think you need to define what you are looking for a bit more, because there are a number of shonen protagonists who fit that description.

DNAngel, that is all.

I should read that then.

One thing that would be interesting about a Magical Boy story that if the protagonist in question feels emberressed by it, and how he is the wrong type of person to even be one.

And then as the team pile on, the relationship between the more stereotypical Magical Girls are explored.

edited 27th Apr '11 7:05:22 PM by chihuahua0

I dunno what to say about genderflipping the trope itself, but if you want to look at outfits, here are a couple examples (I can't find a character guide for Shugo Chara that has the transformed guys, sadly). Basically, they're bishounen. I dunno if you want to make your characters really bishie or not.

Here is the costume from Star Driver.

The main character of Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka ends up being a magical boy. He even comes with frills and ribbons!

edited 27th Apr '11 7:11:44 PM by JenKunoichi351

...Crossdressing wasn't what I was thinking of, but it sounds good for my purposes.

... Everyone is forgetting Saint Seiya and Ronin Warriors. I am ashamed.

edited 27th Apr '11 7:44:44 PM by Sparkysharps

Those are shonens. The characters don't match the definition of a Magical Girl, and the tone is very different.

I still have to watch Saint Seiya, but isn't Ronin Warriors sentai?

edited 27th Apr '11 7:47:27 PM by Thenamelesssamurai

• Transformation Sequence: Check
• In the Name of the Moon speeches: Check
• Thematically appropriate outfits: Check
• Copious homoerotic subtext: Check

OK, so it really doesn't fit, but the similarities are plenty.

Really? Because the Ronin Warriors are pretty much textbook definitions of the Magical Girl Warrior, save for gender.

...Okay, so they don't get naked Transformation Sequences.

Don't tell me we're going to be playing No True Scotsman on this.

edited 27th Apr '11 7:51:00 PM by Sparkysharps

Here's the thing, if you are writing a story, you can do whatever you want

What is the difference between the Magical Girl genre and Sentai?

Magical Girls don't necessarily form teams.

In fact, before Sailor Moon, Magical Girls forming teams was quite rare. Sailor Moon pretty much started the "Sentai" styled Magical Girl show.

This is precisely why I think you need to define what you think a "magical girl" is. If you are looking for an example that has a male lead, transformation sequences, and is primarily directed at females, then... I got nothing. But someone else might.

Just saying Magical Girl leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

That is the definition I'm looking for. Something along the lines of Sailor Moon.