So there's this new Summer show out, PuriPara/PriPara, and its the spiritual successor to the Pretty Rhythm franchise.

Pretty Rhythm, while borrowing alot of magical girl tropes, was really just about idols and there wasn't anything supernatural or strange going on that would fully push it over into Magical Girl territory

I thought PriPara would be the same thing, but then I noticed:

there's an age difference post-transformation. that's some Creamy Mami shi* right there

So it was time to investigate XD

The concept of PriPara is  that in this world, all girls receive a ticket (transported via sparkles) when they come a certain age, and that means they are welcome to participate it "Pripara" and try out to be idols. 

10 year old Lala goes to school where PriPara is against the rules, but she finds another aspiring idols' ticket on the ground and tries to give it back. 

Turns out "PriPara" is actually like some virtual world and after Lala goes into this world, her form changes to an older version of herself and she's able to compete. After a little pep talk she's able to sing and the judges think she's got the legendary "prism voice"
 
After watching episode 1, I wanted to get some discussion going about it
Check it out too if you can

Points for:
-the older form thing 
-the PriPara stage being a separate "world"
-Pripara tickets coming to children in their sleep like its a tooth fairy Harry Potter letter
-talking mascot creature

Points against:
-Aside from the inner workings of PriPara, our leads aren't really doing anything "magical" just performing. 

what do you think?

It's probably borderline. The characters aren't using their magic to fight off evil or help friends and family.

Wow you can really tell this was based off an arcade game. But more to the point PriPara is an example of what I call a pseudo-magical girl show. They are exactly like magical girls except they are just off by a degree. Here in PriPara magic is basically fancy way of changing clothes; not actually doing anything that say a cute witch or magical girl warrior would do.