| Part of a series on |
| Anime and manga |
|---|
 |
 Anime and manga portal |
A magical girlfriend, exotic girlfriend, monster girlfriend, nonhuman woman, or supernatural lover,[1] is a female stock character often associated with romantic comedy anime and manga series,[2] and is sometimes considered a genre of its own,[3] or as the leading lady of the "fantastic romance" genre, which combines the fantasy and romance genres.[2]
As Thomas Lamarre states, "Anime fans become familiar with a whole range of female figures that are either not really human (robots, aliens, deities, animals), or that possess extra-human powers of some kind or another (from cyborg enhancements to magical or psychic abilities), which take them beyond the merely human woman."[1]
Magical girlfriends can be one or many in a single series (always attached to the male lead). Because of the tendency for rivals to appear even when there is one female lead and because of the unnatural gender balance among the cast, magical girlfriend comedies are often conflated with harem comedies. A good example of this conflation is Oh My Goddess![4] which is "one of the prototypical 'harem' titles"[5] despite the short-lived nature of most of the romantic rivalries.
- ^ a b Lamarre, Thomas (July 2006). "Platonic Sex: Perversion and Shôjo Anime (Part One)". Animation. 1 (1): 45–59. doi:10.1177/1746847706065841. S2CID 193228688.
- ^ a b Napier, Susan (May 2001). "Carnival and Conservatism in Romantic Comedy". Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave. pp. 139–156. ISBN 0-312-23863-0. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ Wong, Wendy Siuyi (2006). "Globalizing Manga: From Japan to Hong Kong and Beyond". Mechademia. 1: 28. doi:10.1353/mec.0.0060. ISBN 978-0-8166-4945-7. S2CID 120264789.
- ^ Fujishima, Kosuke. Oh My Goddess! (manga, unflopped) Volume 3. p. 187
- ^ Martin, Theron (2005-10-06). "Anime News Network review of Ah! My Goddess DVD 1". Anime News Network.