So I was browsing MAL today and as happens often, a work with "Mahou Shoujo" in the title caught my attention.

"Mahou Shoujo wa Kiss Shite Kawaru" it was called. The title and the fact that it was an OVA tipped me off that it's a hentai. It was then that I noticed a reoccurring trend, that a distinctly large amount of non-kid targeted magical girl works have their titles start with the phrase "Mahou Shoujo", most likely followed by the name of the main character. Sometimes there will be a word that makes some attempt to describe the protagonist like "Pretty" Sammy or "Lyrical" Nanoha (still no idea what that show has to do with music).

This trend is almost non-existent in kid targeted shows, the only ones being Mahou Shoujo Lalabel and Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu, which is also known as "Tweeny Witches." I don't know what this says about these titles, but it gives me the impression that they're simply using the concept of the genre at face value (the hentai especially) instead of putting a unique spin on the concept. A good magical girl show doesn't need to sell you the concept right away, but for anyone with a sexual fetish toward magical girls, that title convention is probably a must. And we all know hentai are the best at creative and original concepts, with well written stories and characters!

Huh, I never noticed that. Interesting. The closest thing I can think of in kids shows are all of those 80's shows that had "Mahou no (adjective) (name)" as their title, but that's about it...