Genres
Magical girl
A subgenre of Japanese fantasy media centered on young girls with magical abilities, used through an ideal alter ego they transform into.
The magical girl (Japanese mahou shoujo, "magical girl") is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media, including anime, manga, light novels and live-action works, centered on young girls with magical abilities used through an ideal alter ego into which they can transform. The genre emerged in 1962 with the manga Himitsu no Akko-chan; Sally the Witch in 1966 inspired the "majokko" (little witch) label of the 1970s, largely replaced by "magical girl" in the 1980s. Sailor Moon redefined the genre in the 1990s by blending in tokusatsu transforming-hero elements, and late-night anime brought mature-themed series aimed at older male viewers from the 2000s on.
The genre's machinery is a contract: an ordinary girl, a secret identity, a transformation, and the cost of running both lives at once. That double-life engine travels into prose, including the light novel shelf.