This year for Animazement (Raleigh, NC) http://animazement.org/ I'm going to do a panel on magical girls. Listing off a few firsts and innovators then moving on to what I call "Tropes and Traditions" of the genre: transformations, introductions, why they stay hidden, magic words, cute vs sexy, and ending of course with the target demographics. May I have your opinions on how I should proceed?

Sort of talk about where the tropes originated from and why they keep getting re-used. I think alot of people know all the tropes (talking mascot animals, transformation sequence, etc.) but they don't know WHY they exist or why they still happen. Or heck, who even invented them. 

For example. Like Sailor Moon's "villain of the day" formula was inspired from Cutey Honey, a really successful show for Toei Animation along with the villains found in Tokusatsu/Sentai shows. Since SM became really REALLY successful financially - so afterwards, Sailor Moon's "formula" became a solid trope that would be re-used, re-invented time and time again.

Or how "idol magical girls" started with Creamy Mami, who came about because they wanted the character to help sell albums for Takako Ohta. There was a huge growing industry for idols in the 80's, so marketers were trying anything to make their idol stand out.

I dunno. I'm sure you have all this planned already. I just think, if it were me in the audience, I'd like to learn more about the history behind them. I'd also be interested in what you think about the tropes and what makes them successful or unsuccessful. If you can personalize it a bit that'd probably be a little more fun. 

I think showing hilariously bad examples would be interesting too. People like watching things they can laugh at XD

Good points... but last time I tried for a more historical bend it ended up rather like a lecture and my audience did not appreciate that at all. As for the origins of the tropes I have done some searching and found many of them to be incredibly Japanese. A lot of folklore and kabuki elements become blatantly obvious once you know what you're looking at.

For instance in folklore, heroes often have helpful talking animal companions (they also make great UFO catcher dolls), and the transformations are based of of hikinuki, the art of the kabuki costume quick change and then introductions are based off of the characters the kabuki players are representing, typically samurai, and how you introduced yourself on a battlefield. Which actually is derived from how wars were fought in China during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 200s AD and before I really start lecture mode again might I ask if you knew of any good bad examples to show?

Ah okay. 

Jungle de Ikou I think is a good example on using the magical girl genre to be repulsive. Puni Puni Poemy too. I think there's alot of examples of characters with bad motivations or problematic view points (like, I still think Wedding Peach is ridiculously sexist) 


The thing about introductions though, that's pretty much reserved for the fighting type isn't it? Shows like Ojamajo Doremi and Minky Momo, they don't really do that and have a different set of rules than say Tokyo Mew Mew. 
Since I haven't seen it, I can't say the same for your presentation - but I see alot of "magical girl" themed presentations, whether it be for school or a convention, and most of them just focus on the "warrior" type magical girl. (like "in the early days magical girls just did simple things like change clothes or help others find happiness - but in the 90s Sailor Moon came along and really got interesting because she beat up people") 
And I don't think that's fair, nor is it a good representation of the genre as a whole, just what we think of genre today. I just don't like seeing the gentler side (and sometimes its just as brutal if we're talking about some of the 70s stuff) of magical girls being brushed over. 

Are there any points of discussion that tie-into expectations of being a subset of the shoujo demographic too? Like romance, friendship drama, and fashion?

I have to disagree with those two; they were hilarious. Of course, I'm closer to the target audience for mahou shoujo fanservicey parodies than you, but I will take your opinion into account.

As for the introductions, not as much as you might think. some majokko like Magical Emi and Akkochan (if I remember correctly), had a little "Here I am" directed to no one in particular after they transformed. It was very understated as compared to the warrior type intro but did exist. 

As for the focus on the warrior type I have to direct attention to Bandai. They make the toys of all the transformational items, wands, etc and with mahou shoujo's target audience of 6-14 year old girls they don't care about dvds and are still young enough to ask for toys from their parents. And thus more toys mean more profit, means more shows that will have an emphasis on those items that get made into toys. Character goods also factor in in a big way; kids are far more likely than adults to completely deck themselves out with stuff their favorite character is on. Once again, made by Bandai.

I think I have a fairly even mix in terms of representation; I spend only a minute or two describing the main points a certain title gave to the genre before getting to the tropes. And of those tropes only "why they hide" and "cute vs sexy" could be tied to being a shoujo title. I haven't noticed romance as overarching enough as a trope and fashion even less so. Friendship drama abounds but I wasn't planning to make it part of the presentation.

I probably should have done this earlier but the full list of traditions I want to go over are: keeping the magic a secret, transformations, introductions, magic words, cute vs sexy, upgrades, furry companions, target demographics

The list of firsts:
Mahoutsukai Sari = had tomboy and girly girl archetypes established, was princess from a magical world, hid her magic, had magic words and a cat
Himistu no Akkochan = 1rst manga, 2nd animated
Miracle shoujo Limit-chan = powered by science
Cutey Honey = 1rst transformations, fought evil
Majokko Megu-chan = dark magical girl, using magic to trick people into thinking she's part of their family
Mahou no princess Minky Momo = 1rst not made by Toei animation
Mahou no tenshi Creamy Mami = 1rst by Studio Pierrot and magical idol
Majokko Club Alien X from Dimension A = 1rst team of magical girls
Sailor Moon = 1rst to have multiple seasons

I actually dont mind fanservice parodies that much (I like Dai Mahou Touge and Nurse Witch Komugi for example. and while not a parody, Magic Users Club is one of my favorite magical girl shows ever and that's laden with fan-service humor) 
I just didn't find those two shows that funny. (Jungle de Ikou also insults me from a racial standpoint, but that's a whole other can of worms)

Yes I'm quite aware of the marketing that goes into it from Bandai and TakaraTomy. But non-fighting magical girls have just as much toy-tie ins also (Like have you seen Ojamajo Doremi?) so I don't think that's much of an excuse. But I'm glad you have a good mixture of representation.
When I say fashion, I just mean the "transforming into different outfits" trope. Ya know, like how LunLun can change her outfit depending on what flower she gets magic from or the different outfits Cardcaptor Sakura gets. 

speaking of firsts though~

Akko-chan: First to have toy marketing (ie-her mirror)
Mahou no Mako-chan: First to have romance
Fushigi na Melmo: First non-Toei magical girl (done by Mushi Productions, Tezuka's animation house)
Mahou Tsukai Chappy: First magical girl to use a wand

Interesting. I could have sworn Sari used a wand. A rather indistinct wand but a wand nonetheless. I had forgotten about Melmo; thanks for the reminder.

She uses a wand in the opening sequence, but for the rest of the actual show just uses her finger

Also, I know I haven't seen as much of Sally as I should (just the few fansubs that exist and some raws of later episodes) but, when did she ever had a cat? 

I know there's a cat (and a wand) in the 1989 reboot/sorta-sequel but i don't think that's what you're referring to. 

OOooh a magical girl panel! I wish I could go to it. The last con I want to didn't have any good panels. If I were at your panel I would love to hear the history of the genre as well. I like history. XD

Maybe you could bring up how not every magical girl series is a rip off of Sailor Moon? I really don't think it would fit, but it's one thing that bugs me about the fandom. By the way I had no idea Cutie Honey started the monster of the day thing. That's really neat!

Good points BunnyBelle. I may have been mixed up about the original/reboot Sari stuff. I will have to amend my facts.

Mew Ami I will definitely mention that. I get quite annoyed with it as well. But most fans (serious and casual) only know Sailor Moon as the first magical girl they have seen, so by proxy everything is filtered though that one example. Even though it wasn't the first one on US TV. As far as I can tell, She-ra: Princess of Power was. 

But if you want to hear the history as far as I am aware,would it be better to start new topic?

Yes feel free to start a topic! ^-^

I wish people would looked beyond Sailor Moon.

I have been accepted! My panel is in and ready to go. In my excitement I almost for got to post it here. I even have a facebook event about it https://www.facebook.com/events/269591316545098/ 

 I has teh happi =:3

Congrats dear! I hope you tell us about how your panel went!

The panel was a success! I entertained my attendees and didn't run out of time unlike my previous panels. Unfortunately I had less then 20 people show up as my panel was given a bad time slot and set against some of the more heavily attended things; AMV Hell, the dance, and the improv group was next door. But I still had fun. Hopefully I get a better time for next year's Majokko 2, which is all about the parodies, subversions, magical boys ect.

Awesome! Glad it turned out great!