The Girls x Heroine! series is a Japanese tokusatsu series helmed by Takashi Miike and produced by OLM Incorporated and Takara Tomy in collaboration with Shogakukan and LDH. It is a live-action Magical Girl series aimed at girls from ages 2 to 6, with dances choreographed by EXPG Studio from LDH. The shows are very Strictly Formula and involves the characters recovering a set of MacGuffins stolen and corrupted by an evil force.
The series has been running since 2017, with its first installment, Idol x Warrior Miracle Tunes!, becoming an instant hit with its primary demographic all across Asia. The show also attained a Periphery Demographic among parents due to the elaborate choreography and Japanese Pop Music elements. The series ended in 2022 with its fifth installment Bittomo × Heroine Kirameki Powers!.
List of Girls x Heroine! Shows
- Idol x Warrior Miracle Tunes! (2017-2018)
- Magic x Warrior Magi Majo Pures! (2018-2019)
- Secret x Warrior Phantomirage (2019-2020)
- Police x Warrior Lovepatrina (2020-2021)
- Bittomo x Heroine Kirameki Powers! (2021-2022)
Common tropes found in Girls x Heroine! Shows
- Color-Coded Characters
- Pink Heroine: The main character will always have a pink motif.
- True Blue Femininity: There will always be a character with a blue motif.
- Purple Is Powerful: There will always be a character with a purple motif.
- Dance Battler: The characters incorporate elaborate dance routines in their finishing attacks.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: The dances in the show are fun to watch, and it's even more impressive that the main cast is no older than 14-15.
- Five-Man Band: The main roster will usually eventually consist of five girls. Phantomirage is currently the first to break this pattern, only having four girls by the very end.
- Genki Girl: The main character in the show is often a cheerful, optimistic Naïve Everygirl.
- Girlish Pigtails: The main character will have a twin tail hairstyle. Averted by Kirari of Kirameki Powers, who has a ponytail.
- Idol Singer: The actresses of the main cast perform the theme songs and debut as a Girl Group in real life during the show's run.
- MacGuffin: The characters' main goal is to recover a set of items found in every episode that the enemies have corrupted.
- Magic Dance: The characters purify the MacGuffin with an elaborate, choreographed dance, courtesy of EXPG Studios, the dance studio behind mega Japanese Pop Music stars like E-girls and Exile.
- Monster of the Week: The characters must fight a human who is Brainwashed and Crazy from touching a corrupted MacGuffin.
- Punny Name: The Monster of the Week will often have a punny name that deals with the issue they were facing before they were transformed.
- Series Mascot: The characters will have a magical companion, drawn completely in CGI. Lovepatrina is the first installment where the mascot is a puppet.
- Strictly Formula: Almost every episode amounts to this: the characters will run into something in their daily lives; the enemies will sneak a corrupted MacGuffin into a human's hands and turn them into the Monster of the Week; the girls fight and defeat them, purifying the MacGuffin.
