Dark Magical Girl

We created this particular trope to represent antagonistic Magical Girls who oppose regular Magical Girls. Fate Testarosa in Nanoha and Pixy Misa in Pretty Sammy are well known examples, and there re dozens on the page. It seems like a good trope.

However since the trope was created 'Dark Magical Girl' has also become a genre, a twist on the wish-fulfillment part of most Magical Girl shows, where not only is the show more angsty and/or edgy, but the magical powers and complications resulting from them end up actually preventing the wish fulfillment or make it into a Monkey's Paw Wish. Madoka Magica is the codifier of this new definition, other well known versions would be Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Magical Girl Site, and Magical Girl Special Ops Asuka. Crunchyroll had an article suggesting that Magical Girl Ore was a parody of this new genre.

Question is: What should we do about it? Is there a good way to split 'Dark Magical Girl' to reflect both our trope and the new genre?

Those examples have their own page on Magical Girl and Magical Girl Warrior. I don't think they're specifically their own genre, however.

The thing is, within the anime fandom and anime criticism, these types of shows are now being referred to as "Dark Magical Girl", which our older trope doesn't reflect. Its a rather different shade of dark between a dark Magical Girl character, who is a dark reflection of a Heroine, and the theme of Dark Magical Girl shows where the entire underlying symbolism of magical girls is subverted.

But is it individual enough to be its own sub-genre? They're Dark Magical Girl works by definition but that doesn't necessarily make them a genre. There are dark Superhero works but we don't separate them from lighter works because of tone. The closest I can think of is Mature Animal Story, which isn't a genre but is instead describing a type of work.

Its definitely a sub-genre of Magical Girl and Magical Girl Warrior, but there are two possible issues:

1) as a deliberate subversion of the wish-fulfillment premise of traditional Magical Girls, is that enough to make a new Trope Page? which is what you seem to be arguing as 'no', but is a debate to have.

2) is semantic. What TV Tropes means by Dark Magical Girl is not what anyone else who would bother to use the term means by Dark Magical Girl, and should we change or make a note of some kind to reflect that?

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Mar 8th 2019 at 12:36:31 PM

"What TV Tropes means by Dark Magical Girl is not what anyone else who would bother to use the term means by Dark Magical Girl..."

Cite your sources. Give proof.

| Cite your sources. Give Proof.

How many do you need?

Here are just four

Dark Magical Girl manga and light novels

"Once upon a time, there were pretty young girls infused with magical powers who were tasked with the duty of saving the world. Then something went horribly wrong, and their bright sunny lives spiraled into an abyss of misery and despair. Thus the dark magical girl genre was born."

The Problem With The Dark Magical Girl Genre

"Dark magical girl is almost becoming a genre in its own right, and I am not comfortable with it. ... Creating a magical girl world where despair always triumphs over hope undermines the entire point of magical girls—they are a power fantasy specifically for small girls, made explicitly to spread the message that hope will triumph over despair and that you should keep fighting for what you believe in. These dark shows effectively mock that important and optimistic message for the purpose of grown-up anime fans’ entertainment."

Rise of the Dark Magical Girls

"How did we reach a point where the idea of a dark and bloody magical girl series seems like a perfectly normal thing to see? Isn't this genre supposed to be all about upbeat adventures and the power of friendship? To fully understand where the recent wave of dark magical girl shows came from, we'll need to take a look back into the history of the genre."

Magical Girl Ore is the Ultimate Evolution of the Dark Magical Girl Genre

"While magical girl series have never been afraid to get into some dark territory, innocent and humorous magical girls paved the way for a new subgenre: The Dark Magical Girl. In Dark Magical Girls, everything pure and innocent is twisted to evil and deception, exemplified in the massively popular 2011 anime, Madoka Magica."

If this isn't enough, there are hundreds of other articles. All of the listed articles were written in the last 3 years. Our trope of Dark Magical Girls was one of the first tropes when the site opened, and doesn't reflect this new, emerging subgenre

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Mar 8th 2019 at 7:29:09 AM

I don’t see that supplanting this one at all though at most maybe a rewrite, but that’s it.

The characters themselves are exactly the same, the big difference is where and if the slippery slope ends or not.

The likes of Fate in Nanoha or Cure Moonlight in Heartcatch Precure are no different than Madoka till the heroine(s) gets their way.

Edited by Memers on Mar 9th 2019 at 6:33:04 AM

probly what will end up happening is a new trope for the genre and a "not to be confused with" remark on each trope page. And I'm thinking it will get a trope page, as it has a sizable number of examples now (at least 30 as of 2017), even though it really starts takingoff as a genre with the massive success of Madoka in 2011.

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Mar 9th 2019 at 9:38:10 AM

I think that is unlikely a Dark Magical Girl and Dark ‘Magical Girl’ Genre are quite different.

Edited by Memers on Mar 10th 2019 at 8:31:45 AM

the Dark Magical Girl Genre trope has launched

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Mar 11th 2019 at 9:39:35 AM

...By you?