Sarutobi Ecchan

Anime series that appeared as manga in shoujo magazines before the year 1970

More info about classic shoujo manga:

https://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=84956

1960s - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/1630
1970s - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/23865

Anime series that aired on a Polish TV channel Polonia1 around 1994

A list of magical girl shows released between 1966 and 1998. Made using this awesome tumblr post: https://chiibinomonodamon.tumblr.com/post/99031991319/there-you-go-every-fcking-magical-girl-from

before sailor moon took the mahou shoujo genre by storm in the early 90's, many magical girl series were (in my opinion, anyway) often more like pre-cursors to the nichijou-kei/slice of life and kirara-kei/cute girls doing cute things genres that are popular today.

in a time of economic turmoil in japan, sailor moon was a perfect series to receive an anime adaptation because it could--theoretically--appeal to multiple markets across gender-genre lines, giving it a "two for one" value to its production committee members. for example, sailor moon was able to incorporate elements of popular battle series' (that, supposedly, appealed to young boys) into a story that was aesthetically and thematically more familiar to the (supposedly) young girl readership of shoujo manga. add to this stellar combination an appeal to the important consumer demographic of the "first otaku generation" of the 80's, especially in regard to sailor moon's denotation as a "BISHOUJO senshi" in a sailor suit, and the companies sponsoring that anime adaptation had a brilliant piece of intellectual property that had nearly endless potential for merchandising.

the older magical girl series', especially those released in the japan's economic bubble period of the 80's, were more directly focused on the latter two of the three demographics described above. yes, most of them were supposedly intended as entertainment for young girls, but as the bishoujo era of the 80's kicked off, production committees could no longer deny the popularity of shoujo manga and anime with otaku consumers.

this list will contain mahou shoujo anime series that premiered before the premiere of the sailor moon anime adaptation. i'll attempt to order them from most to least important to viewing the genre from this perspective, but certainly my personal biases will come into play, so yes, i'm putting minky momo before sally the witch. please forgive me.


FORMAT:
common english or alternative titles
seasons the listed anime ran through


for more info, i highly recommend patrick galbraith's book on Otaku and the struggle for imagination in japan:
https://www.dukeupress.edu/otaku-and-the-struggle-for-imagination-in-japan

sources and further reading:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160401013143/http://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a03904/
https://isaacmeyer.net/2014/07/episode-60-womens-activism-in-japan/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43553398
https://www.amazon.com/Animerica-Anime-Monthly-September-Spectacular/dp/B0072N4D60

Compiling older magical girl in case anybody wants to do a deep dive into the genre. Anything before 2000.

so what are your thoughts Sally the Witch called Magical Girls

1-3 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/14457
4-5 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/14459
6-7 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/14693
8-9 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/14694
10 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/14695 <= YOU ARE HERE

for shows with less than 4,000 members

Using this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLZYtFRoMGQ | Magical Girls Timeline 1966-2020] as reference for this stack, I made it in hopes it might help people who are into this genre find anime they haven't watched/didn't know existed yet.. or really just people who'd like to get into something new.

There are 4-5 anime I haven't included simply because they're ecchi and I really wanna try to keep this, well, non-ecchi.

Part 2 here: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15925

Includes all* anime on the Anime+/GRAPH mahou shoujo/magical girl achievement list

Notes:
If the anime is saved under a different name in the original list (and the ID matches), the listed title is added as a comment. The anime will keep its place according to the list - even if it will no longer be alphabetically correct according to its main title on MAL. This is to make the job of checking and updating these much easier for me.

*The main stacks do NOT include hentai. This is both for people who want to avoid it, and because including it will significantly limit the stack. Please proceed to the Hentai Edition™ in the list below if you're into that.

Links:
★ Club - https://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=67199
★ Original list - https://github.com/anime-plus/graph/blob/main/data/achievement/anime-mahou-shoujo.json
★ Watch order guides (you're gonna need them...) - https://chiaki.site/?/tools/watch_order

The whole series:
★ Part 01 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31473
★ Part 02 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31474
★ Part 03 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31475
★ Part 04 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31476
★ Part 05 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31477
★ Part 06 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31478
★ Part 07 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31479
★ Part 08 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31480
★ Part 09 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31481
★ Part 10 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31482
★ Part 11 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31483 <== you are here
★ Part 12 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31484
★ Part 13 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31485
★ Part 14 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31486
★ Hentai Edition for a) serious completionists and b) horny people - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31496
★ Manga version - coming soon

Last updated: July 03, 2023
Feel free to let me know if something has been added and I haven't updated in a while, or if I've made a mistake somewhere! <3

Shotaro ishinomori anime

Toei Majokko Series is an original magical girl franchise from Toei Animation in the Showa era (from 1966 to 1981).

The series was first inspired when the American fantasy comedy Bewitched became a huge hit in Japan. Yoshinori Watanabe (who was executive vice president of Toei Corporation at the time) asked manga artist, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, to create the manga for the first series, "Mahoutsukai Sally".

This list contains all the installments in their respective franchises.

Part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/37228
Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/51425
Part 3: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/60199
Part 4: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/61131
Part 5: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62244
Part 6: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/66097
Part 8: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/66505
Part 9: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/67446
Part 10: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/68433
Part 11: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/69668
Happy Romantic Lolis: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/42419
Unhappy Lolis: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/58065

Rules
1. No Magical Girlfriend shows (Except for Valkyrie and Dokuro-chan)
2. No International shows (MAL hosts Chinese and Korean productions but in order to save space, only Japanese shows will be included. I may make an international version in the future)
3. No regular fantasy with a female protagonist (ie. My Next Life as a Villainess and Frieren. Shows in a fantasy world with MG like tropes like Rayearth and Leviathan are fine)
4. ABSOLUTELY NO HENTAI! (While Magical Canan began as a Hentai OVA, the TV series version suitable for general audiences will appear. Ecchi like Cutie Honey and Moetan are fine though due to not showing explicit sex/pornographic material)
5. In order to save room, only the first installment of each show will appear. (In terms of Precure, only Futari wa will appear as a representation for the franchise as a whole.)

Fun Fact: Mahou Shoujo shows came to be because Sally was inspired by Bewitched. Without Bewitched, the Magical Girl genre might've never have existed in it's current form. (Yes, Akko did predate Sally in the manga world but the genre may have never happened without the creation of Sally the Witch). Of course, Sailor Moon paved the way for warrior shows to take center stage. Without Usagi and friends, Majokko shows and Idol shows would likely become more dominant than today. (I know there were some warrior shows like Cutie Honey and Devil Hunter Yohko that aired before 1992 but they only appeared once in a blue moon. Until Sailor Moon showed up of course)

Magical Girls literary genre that centers both around the concepts of girls coming of age and possessing power through their femininity. Being empowered by various means with fantastic powers that both assist and complicate their lives, but manage to persevere despite this. Starting from 1966 until 2025.

https://myanimelist.net/stacks/75423 Part 2
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/75680 Part 3
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/75683 Part 4
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/75685 Part 5
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/76225 Part 6
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/76227 Part 7