Majokko

Magical girls (魔法 少女, mahō shōjo, also known as mahou shoujo or majokko) is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga which feature girls who use magic. Although the genre has origins in Japan, it has been used as a motif outside Japan in Western works such as Miraculous Ladybug, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Steven Universe, Winx Club and W.I.T.C.H..

Manga and anime historians regard the Princess Knight manga, released in 1953, as the prototype for the magical girl genre.Himitsu no Akko-chan, serialized nine years later (1962) in Ribon, is generally accepted to be the earliest magical girl manga.Sally the Witch, adapted from the manga of the same name, is regarded by historians as the first magical girl anime.Sally the Witch was inspired by the Japanese dub of the television series Bewitched.

Mahōtsukai Chappy (1972) and Majokko Megu-chan (1974–1975) popularized the term "majokko" (little witch) as a name for the genre. Megu-chan has been noted for its portrayal of multiple magical girls and the friendship between girls. Due to the women's lib movement in Japan, magical girls began displaying a "certain coquettishness" in the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Magical Princess Minky Momo (1982) and Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (1983–1984) showed girls transforming into a "grown-up image of themselves". This has been linked to the increasing prominence of women at this time (such as politician Doi Takako, the girl band Princess Princess and pop idol Seiko Matsuda) and the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act in 1985.

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