Do you want only dubs, or are subs fine? Sailor Moon subbed isn't that bad if you can find it. Assuming you want dubbed stuff, well that's tricky. Madoka Magica is great and apparently has a decent dub, but that is a partial deconstruction itself. It's not anime, but the Italian W.I.T.C.H. is a pretty good magical girl show. A personal favorite of mine is Winx Club, another Italian show, though it's slightly atypical from a standard magical girl show. Witch has a perfectly good dub, while the dub situation for Winx is, complicated.
Your preferences are not everyone else's preferences.
so i made a new avatar
I haven't seen much Magical Girl anything besides Madoka and Lyrical Nanoha. If you're looking for a good dub, go with the former. Nanoha's dub is... ehhh...
To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."
State of Mind
Madoka's dub is stellar. Unless you've been watching the K-On! dub recently, in which case its really jarring.
If you're counting WITCH, then YES! Nothing beats listening to Irma.
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
the Quantum Mechanic
As much as I'd like to, I can't read subs as my sight is pretty bad. I can still watch anime with a magnifying glass, so I have to stick with dubs. I know dubs don't seem to like doing supposed children's anime, but I could use something idealistic for a change after seeing the likes of Evangelion without spoilers and reading the Narutaru manga. Needless to say I could really use some Sweet Dreams Fuel.
"No will to break."
Something idealistic with a dub. Not too many options out there. Witch and Winx have been mentioned. Witch is slightly darker and has better writing. I believe Futari Wa Precure has a dub, though I have no idea on its quality.
Your preferences are not everyone else's preferences.
Conceptually Frameworked
In my opinion the Madoka Dub is just slightly below average. Certainly pretty good though, and even better if you've never seen the sub. A moot point though, because something like 90% of the show is not what I'd call uplifting.
And here I was going to rec Princess Tutu, but that depends how you view the ending. Good dub though. And actually pretty idealistic.
edited 31st Oct '12 9:04:40 PM by UltimatelySubjective
"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."
Wedding Peach? The manga's good too.
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Ehhhh...magical girl shows tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to dubs. The best thing I could recommend would be Princess Tutu, but like Madoka Magica it's a dark take on the genre.
State of Mind
What, really?
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Princess Tutu is a little depressing and dreary, but I wouldn't call it dark. I do highly recommend it, as it was just an amazing show.
Your preferences are not everyone else's preferences.
the Quantum Mechanic
Honestly, I could really just go with a show that's optimistic in general. Western or not, just as long as it's in English. I've been dealing with some depression for some time so I could use something cheerful or at least inspire similar feelings. Sorry for getting personal.
"No will to break."
Oh dear. I'm stuffed then.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
State of Mind
Madoka is Azusa
Homura is Mio
Mugi is Hitomi
Kyubey is Ritsu ;_;
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Spoony Bard
I used the main Magical Girl page as a reference, and didn't include any non-anime series.
Borderline magical girl stuff which has been dubbed and released in region 1:
Magic Knight Rayearth is not a pure magical girl series (quite a bit of otherworld fantasy, some mecha). It has an accurate and (IMHO) reasonably good dub from Media Blasters / Anime Works. If you're interested, look into the recent "15th Anniversary" region 1 DVD, and the large trade paperbacks from Dark Horse.
With Bandai's catalog going out of print, it might take some effort to find Mai Hime or Mai Otome. Both shows were dubbed, contain some magical girl aspects, and still have loyal followings.
Magic Users Club is about half magical girl, half not-quite-worksafe comedy (maybe the equivalent of a PG-13 movie rating). I kinda like its dub.
Puni Puni Poemi, Dai Mahou Touge, Dokuro-chan, Panty and Stocking, and Devil Hunter Yohko are borderline magical girl shows that could easily get an "R" movie rating.
Difficult to find or recommend:
One of the last Geneon region 1 licenses was Nanoha seasons 1 and 2, and the show was eventually released by Funimation... though it's now out of print. While the dub is accurate, I'm not sure if I'd recommend it.
Kaitou Saint Tail is a series that Tokyopop released (both anime and manga) once and never again.
There were 4Kids dubs of Futari Wa Pretty Cure and Tokyo Mew Mew. They was televised in a few nations, but with the company's assets now being liquidated, don't expect either to show up on home video.
If you want to track down an out-of-print video, look for the second Cardcaptor Sakura movie. It includes an accurate dub, and doesn't have anything to do with Nelvana's version (known as Cardcaptors).
At-least-borderline magical girl shows that I know have been dubbed, but I don't know much about them:
- Gakuen Alice
- Hyper Speed Gran Doll
- Jubei-chan
- Jungle De Ikou
- Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken
- Mahou Tsukai Ni Taisetsu Na Koto
- Mao-chan
- Moldiver
- Sasami Magical Girls Club
- Shamanic Princess
- Tweeny Witches
- Ultra Maniac
- Zero No Tsukaima
edited 3rd Nov '12 4:10:26 PM by dorkatlarge
so i made a new avatar
I suggest skipping out on that last one.
To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."
First season's decent, then Louise quickly turns into one of the most unlikable tsunderes ever.
Don't mind me. I'm just a creepy little lurker.
so i made a new avatar
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
She did that 2 or 3 episodes into the first season. I actually dropped it cause of her.
Tweeny Witches is much better (and a fair bit darker)than its title suggests.
@Dorkatlarge
NO! NO NO NO NO!
The Futari Wa Pretty Cure was made by Toei Animation in cooperation with Ocean And Blue Water.
It was a QUITE faithful and in my opionion decent dub.
If you want to know more about the dub go to
the Quantum Mechanic
Regarding Zero no Tsukaima, I think the novels are better. Yeah she's still a prick at first, but it's treated far more seriously and she's called out on it far more often than the anime. Plus the anime cut about two thirds of the more interesting material and exagerated the character traits to make it more comedic. Plus she's given a decent Froidian Excuse though of course YMMV.
"No will to break."
so i made a new avatar
Well, it just figures that all the good stuff is left in novels I'm not going to read.
I'm interested in the genre for a number of reasons, but after watching and in particular hearing the Mind Rape that's the dub's cast, Sailor Moon as a kid I'm hesitant to try again. And yes I've heard of P 3 M but I'd prefer to watch that after seeing a few shows. After all, a deconstruction is a lot more effective if you have experience with what's been torn apart. By the way, I don't particularly care if it's girly or action or any other type, just as long as it's watchable/readable.
"No will to break."