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Magical Girl AU

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The Magical Girl genre is one of the staple genres of anime and manga. It has existed in one form or another since almost the beginning of modern day animenote  and has continued to be popular throughout the decades. It's gotten to the point where many non-Japanese works, such as W.I.T.C.H. and Winx Club, are based on Magical Girls.

As a result of the success of the genre, spinoff works or skits aren't rare where characters are turned into magical girls. Even if they're boys, they turn into magical girls.note  Maybe it's All Just a Dream, maybe it's an outright Alternate Universe, but for whatever reason the characters in a work are suddenly transformed into magical girls.

Most of these AUs are very tongue-in-cheek or are outright magical girl parodies. Magical Girl tropes are usually exaggerated as a result. The protagonist will become a Pink Heroine in Frills of Justice who screams out her attacks and fights against a Monster of the Week. Though most magical girl AUs are light and comedic, some works do take it seriously. Many take inspiration from either Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure, though more obscure references and nondescript pastiches of magical works are also commonplace.

If this AU appears in non-Japanese works, expect it to be a parody (often a Shallow Parody) of Sailor Moon; hence the Sailor Senshi Send-Up trope. Though numerous magical girl anime have been dubbed outside of Japan, the only one to strike out of the Girl-Show Ghetto and become mainstream was the 1990s Sailor Moon anime. As a result, any magical girl anime tends to be called a "Sailor Moon ripoff" by non-magical girl fans and especially non-anime fans.

Subtrope to Alternate Universe and super-trope to Fuku Fic. Compare to Super Fic, for fics about characters becoming Western superheroes instead of magical girls, and High School AU.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 

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    Video Games 
  • The Star Guardian skins of League of Legends. It first started with Lux and was treated as just a parody of Sailor Moon. It wasn't until skins of Jinx, Poppy, Janna, and Lulu came out that a backstory was established for the group.
  • Heroes of the Storm gives Li-Ming a skin inspired by Sailor Moon, "Star Princess Li-Ming". There's also a spray that depicts Chromie as a Cute Witch-style magical girl.
  • Honkai Impact 3rd: Theresa (as one of her "Valkyrie Suits", Sakuno Rondo) has a magical girl-inspired alternate costume, as well as a special rare weapon that goes with it, designed like a Magic Staff (but is still used like the mechanical crosses she usually uses). The Flavor Text for said weapon is a Shout-Out to Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, too.
  • THE iDOLM@STER: SideM has the magical boy show Miracle Magic: Nozomira Melody, though it's less of a Warrior show and more of a Cute Wizard type. While it is an in-universe anime, the boys are shown to be Ink-Suit Actors for the main cast and are treated as such. Kanon, Shiro, and Nao are the magical boys, while Jirou, Rui, and Michio serve as their Mentor Mascots. A sequel "series" launched two years later, with all of Cafe Parade taking the main roles instead.

    Visual Novels 

    Webcomics 

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