Comments on: “I’ve never made a single magical girl anime.” Sailor Moon R and Revolutionary Girl Utena director says many people mistake the genre of his work

By: Joey

Joey — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 13:55:07 +0000

He’s right about what magical girl is, but Sailor Moon and Utena are both examples of it. He says the theme is a magical power fantasy for girls, of girls more powerful than even adults, so that the audience can imagine themselves able to accomplish extraordinary goals even against the limits of sexism. In an interview, Naoko Takeuchi says this is her motivation for Sailor Moon: that girls imagine contending successfully w/ supernatural and extraterrestrial evil, so that actually facing patriarchy seems more doable. And w/ a roster of potential ways of being a girl, demonstrated through the Sentai team elements. Granted, the anime targets a broader demo than the manga. Utena, likewise, uses magic to foster girls’ ambitions in the face of patriarchy.

By: Atelier Tohka

Atelier Tohka — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:11:31 +0000

Nah, man, that’s cap.

By: Rai

Rai — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:00:41 +0000

Figured they would classify it as Sentai/Power Rangers after reading the headline. It essentially is. But they also fail to give themselves credit in redefining a genre. Mahou shoujo often defined by the aesthetic nowadays rather than themes.

By: Yui

Yui — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:04:54 +0000

Anyone who actually does studies on anime would agree with him. Magical Girl as it was originally doesn’t really seem to get made anymore.

But the counter to this is that it’s acceptable to just say Magical Girl is just a more femme Henshin Hero series.

By: YR

YR — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:55:36 +0000

As a westerner I was one of those people that regard Sailor Moon as a magical girl genre. But over the years I kind realized what drew me to it as a kid and that is how much in common it actually has with super sentai show I grew up with like power rangers or my personal fav masked rider (Kamen Rider Black RX).

By: Sage Darkakuahebi

Sage Darkakuahebi — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:33:44 +0000

This is Essentially correct. But also Incorrect.
Sailor moon… Bishoujo Senshi Sailor moon. It’s literally a Sentai Series, with Magical Girl Elements. Just ask it’s creator, Naoko Takeuchi.

Utena… Is Definitely NOT a Mahou Shoujo. Definitely not.

No, The Following, However, are indeed Mahou Shoujo, and were intended to be. Compare these to Sailor Moon or Utena, and you’ll see a huge difference, especially to the latter(Sailor Moon kinda Toes the line, slipping back and forth between two genres, which is exactly the creators intent)

Mahou Shoujo: Cardcaptor Sakura. Magic Knight Rayearth. Tokyo Mew Mew(Like Sailor Moon, Kinda Toes the line), Ojamojo Doremi, and of course, a certain Famous gag series About the Twintail hairstyle.(Not typing out it’s long name)

Now, what do they have in common: a girl/team of girls/Dumb Guy(it happens)/Team of guys/ Mixed gender group get magic, transformations/Costumes, and fight Evil. This is true of both genres, Mahou Shoujo and Super Sentai.

What they do not have in common: stakes. Generally, magical girls are dealing with personal problems and Worries with the World/Universe ending threat as a subplot.
Sentai Heroes are the exact opposite, with the interpersonal Issues and Personal Worries being the Subplot.

In all other aspects, they are Literally the same Genre.

In other words… Kamen Rider? Essentially Magical Girls/Boys for a primarily male audience. Rayearth? Sentai for a primarily female Audience.

As for Utena… It fits in NEITHER category, Belonging to the Fairy Tale Genre instead.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:14:36 +0000

He's seen Bewitched

By: Kari

Kari — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 08:10:40 +0000

His definition of magical girl anime is wild, I can’t imagine many share that view. Sailor Moon is practically a staple of magical girl anime…saying it’s not one at all is insane.