When it comes to Magical Girls, Japan features Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, and even Madoka Magica. Most of these girls live the fantasy of wearing cute clothes while battling manifestations of anxieties. South Korea however inputs a more mature perspective with its Magical Girl Webtoons. Unlike deconstructive series like Madoka Magica, South Korea puts the genre through more down-to-earth situations. Because dying in the line of duty is nothing in comparison to the fear of growing up to the average reader.
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Magical Girl Webtoons: The Usual Premise
This comparison goes over three webtoons that share a common idea. Japan in recent years becomes more lax in its collectivist culture. While there is such a thing as soul crushing office jobs, there are opportunities for a better living. In Korea meanwhile things like seniority and rank have a higher strictness. That translates into quite a lot in depictions via Korean comics. Subjects like bullying are much more vicious in comparison. In fact, the anxieties of growing up are much more apparent.
For many people in South Korea, time in high school and college are the only free time they’ve got. As such those times are more romantic for the characters in depiction. Living fast and free and no time of worries feels like a dream to them. Which is why when real domestic trouble comes knocking, things start to get bad.
Graduation and Growing Up
In all of the series the Magical Girls are much older than the usual middle schoolers. This gives off the implication that the girls in question never really grow up. To be frank though some of their lives outside of being Magical Girls are kind of low bar. From studying to get into or out of college, and the ever present threat of living up to expectations pervades. Who cares if monsters attack when they have to maintain their superhero reputation.
Celebrity Status
Magical 12th Graders and Miss Guillotine show a subversion of a usual superhero trope. Since their status of Magical Girls are temporary, the girls use their status for publicity. This is actually rather similar to idol cultures in East Asian entertainment. With it, the use of Magical Girls serves a dual purpose of defending monsters while paving ways for more opportunities. It’s almost a shame that this is not the case in Did the World End Yet. Because being secret magical girls nearly ruins the their social and work lives.
Emphasis on “almost” though. Remember that part about social status? As it turns out Miss Guillotine shows how such a celebrity status goes to people’s heads. Most of the magical girls feel a great sense of entitlement. Due to this, some of them are not above bullying their classmates. In fact a few of the girls turn on each other to be in the limelight. No one can even report on them due to their celebrity status and the power they have in fighting monsters.
Monsters are Background Threats
Like most magical girl series, there are monsters in several instances. However, there is no rhyme or reason to why they even appear. They’re just a force that come out as things for the girls to face more than half the time. Some of them only come out to the point of parody like in DTWEY. What’s more the fights with the Magical Girls are all they’ve got.
Artistically, the monsters are more like a test to see what the world can throw at these girls. Miss Guillotine doesn’t even have monster sightings for a while when the title character makes her move. If anything this means that monsters are more of an excuse to be magical girls; just another means of these girls fulfilling high expectations.
Dealing With Expectations
I’ve heard from some people that high expectations bring out high quality results. But this cannot be any further from the truth. They actually make people anxious thanks to the burdens on them. Magical 12th Graders’ main characters have to deal with this on a regular basis. From comparisons to predecessors and personal expectations. Then there is the status of being paragons. This is when things like the responsibility of being the peace symbol turns to entitlement. The late magical girl of this series actually used her magic to cheat on tests to keep up her perfect image.
Then there’s the mascot characters in DTWEY who want the girls to continue being magical. However the mascot only wants them to be heroes so that she can exist. Without the girls, she’s little more than an imaginary friend. Ultimately those tasks just become more work with no real rewards; which is why the girls choose their mundane lives over living a fantasy.
Magical Girl Webtoons Displays Korea
Despite what I say previously, Korea isn’t entirely a bad place. In fact, the characters show just how open they are with others. Most of them don’t demand respect and actually converse with others freely. It is actually through these times that the conflicts in all three of these series make resolutions. Most of the character faults actually come from not opening up to others. With only projections and expectations, most characters feel stuck. It’s only by listening to what everyone has to say that a better resolution can be found.
Growing Up in Magical Girl Webtoons
Like many Magical Girl series, growing up is an essential part of the genre. Being an adult is easily the hardest thing to do or be. Some of the background characters feel this way. Mundane jobs can seem like a killer but a life of adventures doesn’t do these people any good. See this video for reference:
With a life of doing something great, everything else just seems trivial. As such, these girls don’t have as much motivation to get ahead in life. This is especially relevant in DTWEY. All of the girls accomplish so much but half of them end up being slackers. In fact they find ways to exploit their magical abilities for more personal reasons. The other half meanwhile just grow out of the whole process. Saving the world and not taking credit for it means having to live a lie. One of the girls is transgender and decides to live in the real world as herself. There’s a lot to say there.
Embracing Adulthood
Being a magical girl has its benefits when it comes to inspiring people to help one another. But without a means to stay close to the ground, the concept can ruin people’s lives. That’s not to say they can’t be fond memories though. The best thing all of these characters do however is be someone other than just Magical Girls. Only sad sacks confuse being a child-at-heart with being a man-child. Life is hard and strange on its own, there is little need to go on adventures in a frilly dress.
Thanks for coming and as always, remember to look between the panels.