Magic Idol Singer

They say music changes you.

When a Magical Girl is also an Idol Singer.

This usually comes in two varieties:

• An idol singer gains the ability to fight crime (often by way of singing).
• A girl becomes an idol singer through the use of magic.

This type of magical girl is the one that uses the Wish-Fulfillment appeal of the genre the most. While the other two types use their powers to do good deeds or fight the good fight, the Magical Girls here use the powers they gain to achieve their dreams of stardom, although they can use Magic Music. As the protagonists here tend to be too young to be part of the musical industry, Older Alter Ego is often used.

Note; the character has to be a magical girl, not just someone with music-related powers.

Compare/Contrast Evil Diva.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Pretty much everyone in AKB0048, an idol group that also fights evil. Additionally, the show is based around the real life idol group AKB48.
• Kiss of the Rose Princess features a Gender Flipped version with Suzumura Idel and Hasuzaki Yakoh.
• Ming-Ming from Bakuten Shoot Beyblade is a beloved idol singer who combines that particular career with being a beyblader. This makes her double useful to BEGA, which gets a lot of promotion from having her and her Ming-Ming Band on the payroll. It also gives a hold over her, because it's only because of BEGA's investments that Ming-Ming got the chances she got. As a result, during her time with BEGA Ming-Ming doubled as an Evil Diva, but this isn't true to who she is. What makes her magic is that she has two forms: a Loli Form and a Queen Form, with a Sailor Moon-inspired Transformation Sequence in-between. If either form is the dominant one, in other words if the Loli Form is the Sleep-Mode Size or if the Queen Form the Older Alter Ego, such isn't shared. Contrary to the usual age changing of magic idol singers, it's the younger Loli Form that's the idol singer while the older Queen Form is the blader. There's also no magic involved in her singing; that's just her having talent.
• Brocken Blood: The main character becomes a Magical Boy and then he dresses as a girl and becomes an idol in order to find enemies. The person who suggested/forced him to be the idol sometimes forgets that the main goal is to find villains.
• The Trope Maker is Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel, pictured above. 10-year-old Yu Morisawa aids an alien and is granted the ability to age herself up to a 16-year-old. She very quickly realizes that she has no idea what to do with herself as a teenager, then stumbles across a talent contest/scouting mission. Her powers give her an invisible band and special effects, and she gets hired as an idol singer. Hilarity Ensues, though there are more serious bits.
• Fairy Idol Kanon: Kanon and her friends Marika and Kodama meet a fairy named Alto, who uses her magic to help them on their journey on becoming an idol group.
• Fancy Lala is another classical version of the Magical Girl Idol Singer, using the powers granted by her Weasel Mascots to get an adult disguise and a beautiful singing voice.
  • Harbour Light Story Fashion Lala, the original OVA, uses dancing instead of singing, but otherwise fights perfectly.
• Full Moon is about twelve-year-old Mitsuki Koyama gaining the ability to transform into a 16-year-old version of herself, who becomes an idol singer under the stage name "Full Moon". This also allows her to sing by (temporarily) removing the throat cancer that is otherwise stopping her. Unlike most examples, her singing or performances don't require any magic, with the exception of a few sparkly effects, such as the occasional wings. Her performances are done solely on her own abilities.
• Idol Dreams has a twist on the genre; rather than being a child with an Older Alter Ego, the heroine is a 31-year-old Office Lady who becomes a teenager thanks to an experimental drug (as opposed to magic), and uses her new youth to become an idol.
• Jewelpet: Magical Change: Larimar has a subplot where, thanks to her ability to become a teenaged human girl, she becomes an idol singer.
• Key from Key the Metal Idol could count when one notes her revered and dreaded magical abilities. This being said, she is also a deconstruction of this trope, just as her, Miho, and Beniko serve to deconstruct the Idol Singer proper.
• The entire main cast of Lapis Re:LiGHTs are high school aged girls leaning how to use magic to fight magical monsters. They also perform as idol singers to amass mana that powers the city their Wizarding School is located in.
• Macross Delta: Even if Walkure operate via Sufficiently Advanced Technology, they're close enough, with the transformation sequences and curing Var Syndrome via music.
• Magical Girl Ore has Saki working as an idol in both her unaltered secret identity and her Magical Girl Warrior form, though Saki herself is unpopular in her line of work.
• Magical Emi, the Magic Star: Although Emi is a Stage Magician rather than an Idol Singer, her story still follows the Magic Idol Singer template. She even dabbles in Idol Singer territory by combining her magic shows with musical accompaniment.
• Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is a cross of this and Magical Girl Warrior, with mermaids.
• Mink uses this trope, except her transformation isn't done by magic but instead with "secret technology from the future." Later, her two friends join her.
• Ojamajo Doremi gives us Onpu Segawa who, in addition to being a Cute Witch, is also The Rival Dark Magical Girl who used her powers for selfish reasons... at first.
• A male version appears in the first episode of Osomatsu-san when the brothers reinvent themselves as an idol group who regularly saves the planet.
• One Piece Film: Red: Uta is a world-famous Idol Singer and the former musician/adopted daughter of the Red-Haired Pirates, who ate the Sing-Sing Fruit that pulls other into a Dream Land when she sings until she falls asleep. Unlike most examples of this trope, she's the film Big Bad, albeit a Well-Intentioned Extremist Anti-Villain.
• Pretty Cure is mainly a Magical Girl Warrior franchise, but it does have its own examples:
  • Inverted in Doki Doki! PreCure, where Makoto's normal form is the Magical Girl Warrior Cure Sword, and her disguise is Idol Singer "MakoPi" on earth.
  • In HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!, the Cures' final group finisher is Innocent Purification, where the group sings a song to purify the enemy.
  • In HuGtto! Pretty Cure, both Cure Ma'Cherie and Cure Amour have an idol motif (as the Cures' outfits are based on various occupations). Many of their attacks are music-themed and they even perform a duet when attacking together.
  • In Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure, the characters have to sing a song to transform.
• In Queen's Blade Grimoire, Tiina the mermaid is able to use her music to control her Making a Splash powers and fight in the tournament.
• Sailor Moon gives us the Starlights, Sailor Star Maker, Sailor Star Healer, and Sailor Star Fighter, who diguised as a male pop group called the Three Lights on Earth. It's also worth noting that Sailor Venus's dream is to become this - and she is in the live action adaptation (see below).
• In Show by Rock!!, every main character is a member of some form of band, and gains the power to fight using their music while simultaneously attempting to achieve stardom. It's explained as musicians that have abnormally large potential having the ability to fight against Dark monsters, with Cyan having the most potential out of all of them.
• Spellbound! Magical Princess Lil'Pri is about three girls who transform into princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Moon Princess Kaguya) in order to restore an ailing Fairyland by spreading happiness in the human world. By becoming a girl group.
• Symphogear has the main characters being one part Magic Idol singer and one part Magical Girl Warrior. And it's awesome. Appropriately enough, their enemies are called Noise.
• Kazuho Haneyama (otherwise known as "Pop☆Step") of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes fashions herself as one, although it's unknown if she's truly trying to be a hero or just wants to get noticed.
• In the The World God Only Knows spin-off Magical Star Kanon 100%, Kanon becomes a magical warrior who fights with the power of song.

Comic Books

• Alison "Dazzler" Blaire of the X-Men, a singer with the ability to turn light into sound and vice versa. She can use most powers seen with manipulators of sound or light. This also results in her shows looking freaking awesome. Naturally, she changes with what sort of music is popular at the time; when introduced, she was billed as the first disco-themed superhero! She's also a Disc-One Nuke in the arcade game; her sonic explosions will clear a lot of Mooks from your path. In the comics at the time, she was actually far more likely to use Jem-esque effects.

Fanfiction

• Full Life Wo Sagashite makes Lisa Simpson into one. Well, technically a "magical saxophone player", but it still counts.
• Starlight Is For Always is a Spin-Offspring story starring Jerrica's daughter Pilar, who discovers the "ghost" of Jem, really Synergy, and uses the earrings she is given to become the idol singer Jax.
• Hawkeye and the Holograms makes Clint Barton into one of these, as he uses a pair of hologram-projecting rings to disguise himself as the singer Hawkeye and become a famous singer.
• Honoka's Bizarre Adventure is a crossover where the girls of µ have to balance between their school idol goal to save their school from closing down and their roles as Stand Users protecting their town from villainous Stand User.

Literature

• In The Asterisk War, Sylvia Lyyneheym is both the world's most famous idol, and a Strega with the power to use her singing to do about anything as long as she has a song for it.
• Leona from Star Darlings is a downplayed version - she's not an actual idol singer (although she dreams of being one), but she possesses magical powers and has an amazing singing voice.

Live Action TV

• Minako Aino from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is a famous Idol Singer by day and a Sailor Guardian, Sailor V/Venus, by night. She turned Sailor Mars/Rei Hino into one under the stage name of Mars Reiko. Mio Kuroki is an evil example.
• The main characters of the 2017 tokusatsu series, Idol x Warrior Miracle Tunes! are members of an idol group given the power to transform into magic warriors in order to recover the magical Sound Jewels.

Roleplay

• Dragon Quest Angels Of A Sleeping World: Asaka Nachi is a Siren who utilizes her voice to aid her allies and cripple her enemies.

Tabletop Games

• Princess: The Hopeful: As those Princesses Called to inspire and uplift others, it is very common for Troubadors to be singers and performers in their civilian identity. Similarly, many Inspire Charms (the signature Charm family of the Troubadors) require that the Princess sing, dance, or otherwise put on a performance as part of activating them.

Toys

• Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls: Sun, to the point where her singing illuminates the entire Solar System (well, she is The Sun).

Video Games

• Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica: Cloche and Luca invoke this trope in some of their outfits. Mind you, they are already "magical", "idol", and "singer" in their normal life (which is in a magical world); this is simply going with the most common implementation of archetype.
• In the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII, the Nitid Tutu makes Jessica Albert look like one, complete with a headset.
• Galaxy Fraulein Yuna: Yuna's close friend Lia is also Polylina, a magical idol pop star who stands toe-to-toe with Yuna against galactic threats. By the time of the anime (set after the third game), Yuna, already a mecha-style Magical Girl Warrior herself, is also a celebrity, doing idol concerts and wacky game shows.
• Final Fantasy X-2 features the Songstress as one of the Dresspheres that the three heroines can don - gaining magical dancing and singing abilities. This is tied to the plot - as Yuna uses these powers to help influence peace in Spira. Additionally the original wearer of the Songstress dressphere Lenne was one too - she was a famous singer that was also a summoner fighting on the front lines in the Machina War.
• Athena Asamiya from The King of Fighters is an Idol Singer with Psychic Powers, and she uses the KOF tournaments as a way to both fight for justice and boost her popularity. By the time KOF 96 starts, she's already a massive hit around the world.
• League of Legends has a couple of variants of this:
  • Seraphine, the Starry-Eyed Songstress, heavily evokes idol imagery thanks to the modern-skewing fantasy aesthetics of her home in Piltover. Cute as a button, has a lovely singing voice, and has a hovering hextech platform that she uses as a "stage" and convert her singing into various damage and support powers.
  • Sona, Maven of the Strings, is a variation, being a magic idol performer who plays with an ancient magical string instrument, partially because she herself has no voice to sing with. While her design is much closer to a traditional fantasy White Mage (the same hair color and style as Hatsune Miku notwithstanding), she's played as this trope in spirit; even Swain freely admitted that her music is lovely when he saw her solo tour.
• MapleStory: Angelic Buster performs on stage much to the delight of the other Nova. She's even called the "Idol of the Battlefield" outright.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable has Mami becoming one in a special route.
• Miranda from the Warcraft III custom campaign Wanderers of Sorceria: beloved idol singer by day, Magical Girl fighting crime in the name of justice and love by night.
• The heroine of Wonder Momo is a young idol singer who possesses the ability to transform into an armoured action hero in order to save the world from alien invaders.
• The plot of the game Idol Mahou Shoujo Chiruchiru Michiru - unpopular idol Michiru makes a wish for popularity on a falling star which turns out to be a magical cat named Nyanmel, and is turned into a magical girl in order to save the world.
• Cornelia aka Rachel in Radiata Stories, to the point where she wouldn't be out of place in her own anime.
• Magical Girl Cano of Crusaders Quest is a famous pop-star who uses the love of her fans to fire magic beams at enemies.
• Cesela from Aura Kingdom claims to be in a rock band, and uses magic as her primary form of fighting.
• Shinbi of Paragon (2016) is a famous pop star with the ability to summon wolves.
• Aqua of Trouble Witches is a mermaid singer who is also capable of using water magic.
• The titular Lily of Lily's Day Off is revealed to be one in the second ending.
• This is the most popular career for graduates in How To Date A Magical Girl!.
• Galaxy Fraulein Yuna is a teen celebrity/Idol Singer who is tasked with saving the entire universe from the forces of Darkness as the Savior of Light.
• Somi Choi from Epic Seven uses a Magitek device to transform herself from Shrinking Violet healer to confident pop singer, complete with a Transformation Sequence that changes her clothes and her hair color.
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon has the Idol job class which references this trope. Their best weapon is the Celestial Microphone EX EX, which basically looks like a Magical Girl's wand.

Web Animation

• The Mahoshi of Tokyo Magic Star are idol singers who become magical girls in order to defend the world from a rival agency's plans to fill the world with despair using their own idols.
• Weiss of RWBY is an aversion - while she's an idol singer and a warrior, both skills appear to be unrelated.

Webcomics

• An (extremely large) version shows up for one scene in Megatokyo.
• Emi from Metacarpolis started as a Magical Girl Warrior and only became a Magic Idol Singer after she was recruited by an entertainment conglomerate.

Western Animation

• Exchange Student Zero has Happy Peach Flower and her friends according to the cards.
• Jem would probably be the closest western counterpart of the classic Magic Idol singer, only she's already an adult and uses highly-advanced technology instead of magic to achieve the disguise.
• LoliRock has elements of both this and Magical Girl Warrior. The main characters use their innate magical singing talents in order to maintain thriving popstar careers for their civilian identities.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks has elements of this building on the Magical Girl Warrior tropes present in the previous My Little Pony: Equestria Girls film by making said magic only work when the girls perform in their band since Twilight Sparkle went back to Equestria. Additionally the villains are Equestria's versions of the Sirens — banished to the human world. Still able to cause discord with their voices, they pass themselves off as a Girl Group in the school's battle of the bands.

Other

• In the 80's, the popular stationary goods company Seika asked Studio Pierrot to create a new character/brand for their products. Pierrot answered with "Fashion Lala", which proved so popular that Seikan came up with the idea of making similar franchises, leading to the creation of colouring book magical idols "Omajinai Idol Lyrical Lena" (Lena comes from the year 2088 and gets scouted to be an idol, using her pendant to change outfits), "Hoshi no Duet Funny Twin" (psychic Human Alien twin sisters Yu and Ai arrive on Earth to look for a magical stone and become idols), "Otenba Majo Twilight Mary" (Lil, a magical princess, comes to the human world to study then uses her magic to transform into an older form named Mari and become an idol), and "Mahou no Stage Idol Coco" (Coco Kitajima meets two mushroom fairies and they each give her the power to become two adults - blonde-haired Nana, a singer and blue-haired Sara, a model).

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