CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Right, so, as I said in my other thread, I've started work on a little pet project for sorts, basically Worldbuilding a Magical Girl setting.

Now, not particularly being a fan of the genre, I've only seen two series, namely Nanoha and the first couple seasons of Sailor Moon. Right now, I'm doing some research (by that I mean series binging) on Magical Girl series, which will obviously be important to the project in question.

At present, I have my eyes set on Utena and Madoka, because they were recommended to me (and because the latter has achieved memetic status as some sort of "Evangelion of Magical Girls").

But I'm looking for maybe two or three more titles that should round out my study, and I was hoping if you folks could help me out with some suggestions. These will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Cardcaptor Sakura is a pretty good Magical Girl show.

Though of course, if you want true traditional Magical Girls, watch Sailor Moon, which is what really popularized the genre.

I'm not a great expert, but as I understand it Utena and Madoka (and for that matter Nanoha) are kind of exceptions: run-of-the-mill magical girl series are long, more focused on selling toys, and actually aimed at little girls. So it depends whether you want to be bingeing on normal magical girl shows or on magical girl shows which parasitically depend on the genre for some elements of a more grown-up package.

Midori has already mentioned Cardcaptor Sakura, which is I think a bit of a touchstone example.

There's Toei's monstrously profitable, action-packed Pretty Cure franchise. The most recent complete title, Heartcatch Precure, is pretty accessible and enjoyable. I happen to rather like it. If you want something more traditional, Pretty Cure's predecessor from Toei, Ojamajo Doremi, is more in the 'solving problems, sometimes with magic' vein than the 'Rider Kicking evil in the face' vein that Precure follows.

As for shows that do something with magical girl ideas for an older audience, I can think of Uta Kata, which winds up to a fairly grim climax about judgement and redemption. (And also retunes some other elements of the genre: each transformation scene, for instance, is entirely different from the last.) Uta Kata has a certain amount of fanservice in it. And Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo, which is a fairly fanservice-y story about a magical girl who's grown up and married, and has to deal with a usurper.

(Utena didn't strike me as that heavily leaning on the magical girl genre -- the only really strong element I can remember is the transformations. But it's been a while since I saw it. Can anyone else remember some other magical girl elements in it?)

Yes, Madoka and Princess Tutu are deconstructions or twists on the genre. I actually recommend watching those after seeing a few more. They're wonderful Magical Girl. But definitely not ones you should watch to get a good grasp on it until after some more experience with them.

CCS is HIGHLY recommended.

You should also see:
Tokyo Mew Mew - more generic Magical Girl
Shugo Chara- definitely praised within the fandom (mixes things up in a fresh way)
Pita Ten-Again, praised
Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami- one of the first magical girl shows. In fact I think this is the first one to really be considered Magical Girl.

Depending on how high your tolerance is for crude humor you could watch Dai Mahou Touge also known as Magical Princess Punie-chan. It's a parody of everything about the magical girl genre.

Wow. That sounds like a lot to deal with... Well, I guess I can't really say that I'll be working on a straight, normal magical girl thing, given what the definition of 'straight' seems to be, in this case.

I mean, it's a war story, after all. But perhaps I can go through these in increments, if only to study the various common conventions and tropes associated with them.

Wow, sounds like I have a lot to catch up on, then. Alright, I'll give those suggestions a spin over a few months.

An old one to look up would be Cutey Honey, which aired back in the early 70's.

Steel Angel Kurumi.

From the creators of Excel Saga come a spin-off title known as Puni Puni Poemy. I'm sure it gets the Mature Audiences only mark, though.

Card Captor Sakura is king of the genre, Imho. Just wanted to enforce the necessity of watching it if you're trying to get a comprehensive look at the genre.

Corrector Yui, though with somewhat atrocious character design and a first season full of trite clichés, improves exponentially the moment new Correctors enter the picture. It ended being quite enjoyable and providing a few surprises.

Along with the above recommendations, you may also want to try Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. It's an older series and it's basically what you get when you cross Sailor Moon and DN Angel.