Subject: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:11 pm
I seem to be noticing a reoccurring trend around the confession tumblr. Namely bickering between two or more fandoms.
I'm gonna list all of the fandom rivalries that come to mind, feel free to expand on or contest on any of this, or just discuss personal stories in which various magical girl fandoms have butted heads.
Winx Club vs. W.I.T.C.H. is probably the biggest one since they're both Itallian made shows about a team of five winged Magical Girls. Of course they're radically different in feel, but that doesn't stop fans.
Lyrical Nanoha vs Madoka Magica is a minor one. They're both non-standard Magical Girl (arguably in name only) shows with a darker atmosphere than the typical Precure filler episodes, and they're both directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. They're both known for having memetically hardcore protagonists with a penchant for explosions.
Sailor Moon vs Every Other Magical Girl show. I think we've seen enough confessions about elitist Sailor Moon fans to get a good idea of how this one plays out. Sailor Moon being pretty much the most well known, it's easy to see why people might ignorantly claim other shows to be inferior/ripoff to it.
Then there's the group I most likely belong to. Traditional Magical Girls vs. Madoka Magica. It's usually people who are Madoka fans but NOT fans of traditional Magical Girls who bash the latter for being mindless rainbows and kittens stuff, usually without knowing the first thing about them.
Then there's the traditionalists who argue that Madoka is not nearly as deep and dark as people say, and go on to tarnish the good names of shows like Princess Tutu and Sailor Moon, pointing how how much better they think those shows are.
And of course speaking of the above two shows, them and Uta Kata often have their fans challenging Madoka fans, pointing out how dark each of them are, as if dark tones automagically (that was a typo but I liked it) make the shows better.
Precure Season Fans Suite is the worst season! Heartcatch is the best! Smile is a Ripoff of Yes! Precure 5!
BunnyBelle Magical Girl
Posts : 565 Coffee Beans : 698 Join date : 2013-11-24 Age : 35 Location : The Moon (plz send air!)
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sun Dec 01, 2013 8:15 pm
I believe I mentioned this before on the MGConfession forum
but the only rivalry that matters is Creamy Mami vs. Minky Momo
because it's actually canon. Everyone else can go home.
Joking aside, I've become so sick of these arguments. While I think its okay to dislike a show and express their opinion and have a healthy debate. For the most part, People don't know how to do that and just take it so seriously. to the point where they take the show internally - like it's a part of them. That's such a dangerous way of thinking yo. It's a cartoon, not your mother.
If I ever see a big ol' argument regarding "My girl in frills is better than your girl in frills" then I just try to walk away. So I don't have many stories.
But one of my biggest pet peeves is when people think an old show ripped off a new show (i.e. - Cutey Honey ripped off Sailor Moon) because they just didn't take the time to research it. not just magical girls, but anything.
....Ah. I guess "Old vs. New" is a common rivalry too.
Chat de la Lune Cafe Cat
Posts : 1092 Coffee Beans : 11249 Join date : 2013-10-06 Age : 38 Location : Lost in the Labyrinth
well wow when those girls destroy a city man.. anyway i personally never understood stuff like this, and i guess that's why I'm something of an outcast even in my first fandom ever, (Sailor Moon) i don't care about what's better, yeah i have my thoughts on it but not till i see it. I haven't see precure or Madoka magica or whatever it is (don't kill me i really don't know) and i plan at some point to watch these and find out what all the fuss is about, that way I can form my own ideas about the show. I try really hard not to read anything about the show till I watch it to make sure that I'm not bias one way or the other.
Sailor Zelda Civilian
Posts : 97 Coffee Beans : 93 Join date : 2015-10-03 Age : 22 Location : Secretly in your home
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:24 pm
I guess that Wedding Peach and Sailor Moon get compared a lot ( they do look pretty similar visually) but I've neither seen nor read Wedding Peach so I don't have much of an opinion. From reading about the former on the internet it doesn't seem all that much like Sailor Moon. Apparently Yuki Yuna is a Hero and Madoka Magica get compared too, the former for ripping off the latter, and they look even more similar. But again, they don't really sound like each other that much. But geez, fellow mahou shoujo fandoms, we're all outcasts, even among the other anime fandoms, so can't we just get along!?
sailorpandabear Love Interest
Posts : 284 Coffee Beans : 259 Join date : 2015-08-21 Age : 38 Location : singapore
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:43 pm
fandoms are full of some scary people.
Sailor Zelda Civilian
Posts : 97 Coffee Beans : 93 Join date : 2015-10-03 Age : 22 Location : Secretly in your home
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:45 pm
You have no idea dude *cough* Sherlockhetaliasuoernaturalattackontitan *cough*
magical-pudding Magical Girl
Posts : 442 Coffee Beans : 473 Join date : 2015-06-27 Age : 30 Location : USA
Honestly, the big problem here is simple: Tumblr. I've been on Tumblr since early 2012, and I can tell you: Every single fandom I have been on on there has been catty, vicious, and toxic. ALL OF THEM. Even Animal Crossing has a horrible fandom! And you know what? All of these fandoms problems can be traced back to those stupid fricking confession blogs which pop up. People use the anonymous format of a confession blog to say the nastiest stuff that they would never say out loud. That's why I prefer actually discussing the stuff I like on forums like this, and I just use my Tumblr for reblogging cute pictures.
I honestly don't think the magical girl fandom is REALLY as bad as it seems. I think it's just a matter of confession blogs only ever showcasing the worst of fandoms, and not the best.
Sailor Zelda Civilian
Posts : 97 Coffee Beans : 93 Join date : 2015-10-03 Age : 22 Location : Secretly in your home
My opinion on Tumblr is that it is both the best and worst of humanity. Or so it seems that way from the perspective of someone who doesn't actually have one.
CherryChan Civilian
Posts : 49 Coffee Beans : 62 Join date : 2015-07-10 Age : 23 Location : Oktavia's Labyrinth
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Sun Jun 26, 2016 11:01 pm
Madoka Magica vs Princess Tutu or Pretear is a common one i see pop up on MGC (which mostly consists of hipster MG fans getting upset that their shows weren't as successful as PMMM)
There's also Daybreak Illusion vs Madoka, Tokyo Mew Mew vs Sailor Moon and Yuki Yuna vs Madoka.
magical-pudding Magical Girl
Posts : 442 Coffee Beans : 473 Join date : 2015-06-27 Age : 30 Location : USA
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Mon Jun 27, 2016 9:07 am
Yup, yup, Tokyo Mew Mew vs Sailor Moon is a big one. I admit, when I was younger, I used to partake in that stupidity.
Though, when comparing shows to PMMM, I think the most common rivalry I see is Revolutionary Girl Utena vs. PMMM. A lot of people seem to prefer Utena over PMMM due to the LGBT and feminist themes the show has, as well as having a POC character. I can't really say, since I've never watched Utena, but that seems to be the most common show that gets pitted against PMMM.
CherryChan Civilian
Posts : 49 Coffee Beans : 62 Join date : 2015-07-10 Age : 23 Location : Oktavia's Labyrinth
Subject: Re: Magical Girl Fandom Rivalries Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:04 am
I'll never get the people who claim that PMMM is anti feminist or "punishes girls for having feelings". Like, come on, you have girls in dresses who use magic to fight evil. It's just a different take on it that's all.
And as i said in another thread, Japan is in no way obliged to have POC characters, since they make anime for the Japanese, and a majority of people living in Japan are Japanese.
I think these fandom rivalries are stupid, and just make me facepalm. I don't know why i join fandoms really, since i never have any fun in them and tend to wind up fighting projectionists and elitists.
magical-pudding Magical Girl
Posts : 442 Coffee Beans : 473 Join date : 2015-06-27 Age : 30 Location : USA
To be honest, I'm the same way with fandoms. Most of the stuff I'm into, I like on a very casual basis. Like most magical girl shows... I like the genre as a whole, but since I have a bad attention span and rarely watch an anime past episode one, I don't really know enough to really participate in the fandoms for most of them.
Though, to be honest, the stuff that I get super passionate about, I tend to avoid the fandoms anyway, because by that point, the thing has become so personal to me, I don't want to share it with anyone else.
In my personal opinion, I don't like the rivalries between fans of different Magical Girl series since they always like to compare one series with another while fighting over which series is better. The rivalry that is my least favorite out of all of the rivalries that everyone mentioned is the Sailor Moon vs. Wedding Peach rivalry since some people who like Sailor Moon always like to call Wedding Peach a Sailor Moon ripoff and saying bad things about Wedding Peach without giving the series a chance. As a fan of both Sailor Moon and Wedding Peach, I would like to say that Wedding Peach is NOT a Sailor Moon ripoff and that it is it's own series.
Dr.Yuri_Taeko Civilian
Posts : 10 Coffee Beans : 4 Join date : 2021-06-03 Age : 27
I hate this idea of fandom rivalries, especially in something as light-hearted and adorable as magical girls. Like, we are already very few fans, we shouldn't be bashing on each other because each one enjoys different things...
Like, sure, Sailor Moon influenced A LOT, if not most of modern magical girl stories. Yep, it was (and still is) that influenctial, but is every single mahou shoujo manga/anime a rip-off of Sailor Moon? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Is Sailor Moon the best magical girl story ever told? Prooooobably not, but it's the most iconic, and the one that set the stage for more modern, heroic, dramatic and epic takes on these bewitched heroines. We owe a lot to Naoko Takeuchi's work, and that's a fact I'm proud to admit. I adored Sailor Moon when I was a kid, and so I do now too.
On the Traditional MG vs. Dark Edgy Modern MG discussion. I always found this one kinda logical, but in my case, contradictory. Truth is many recent reinterpretations of this tropes have turned into cynical takes on the genre. Since Madoka (and Nanoha to some exent), a bunch of magical girl "deconstrucions" took over the light novel and anime industry. And honestly, I'm a kinda tired of those, but I'm not going to attack anyone enjoying this take on these stories, nor say that "all are Madoka clones", nor that "they are destroying the genre".
Fun fact: Madoka Magica is, at the moment I'm writing these lines, my favourite anime ever, and the one that made me fell in love again with Magical Girls. Not the darker, sad newer take on them, no; the classic light-hearted group of magical warriors that also have a normal life as students and try to find love. That one.
And even I know Madoka is definately not the best anime ever produced. Not even the best MAGICAL GIRL anime ever made. But it's my favourite. And yet, here I am, watching every episode of Futari Wa Pretty Cure and enjoying it like a small hyperactive kid, feeling all hyped up every single time Nagisa and Honoka transform. And I'm waiting until they publish the Creamy Mami manga in Spain, so I can buy it and dive into one of the oldest, yet classic MG manga, and also it's recent reinterpetation with The Spoiled Princess, that looks absolutely beautifully drawn and very cleverly re-written. And every time I open a Sailor Moon manga, I smile because I know I'm reading one of the most well-known, epic, relevant and classic comics ever drawn, and I love how the Sailor Scout team grows every few chapters, and how their bonds of friendship grows as the threats over the cosmos also grow larger.
In the end this stories are not made for us to aggressively fight each other and argue over which one is "the best". And I'm glad to see in this forum that won't be the case. In my opinion, these tales are written, and drawn, and edited to entertain us, to give us possitive (or sometimes bitter, but kinda relatable) messages, and to share our experencies with others. And that is exactly what I want to do here.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and hope I didn't bore you to death.