Mahou Shonen: How would it work?

[VampirePaladin]

To be honest, I haven't seen them yet. They are low on my list of my grand plan to go through every mahou shoujo series. I know Brocken Blood he remains a male the entire time

[Kirito]

Originally Posted by VampirePaladin

To be honest, I haven't seen them yet. They are low on my list of my grand plan to go through every mahou shoujo series. I know Brocken Blood he remains a male the entire time

I've seen your list and it pretty much betrays the Mahou "Shoujo" aspect because of the Gender Bender genre coming into play. I mean why not just call them Mahou Shounen or add an extra genre category to not confuse the readers.

I mean I read Oto x Maho, Mei no Naisho, and Kampfer etc. I felt betrayed by the Magical Girl elements protrayed in much stories.

Just throwing my two cents how there. That's all.

[Ithekro]

Wouldn't this be, basically, American Superheros? The ones that have secret identities and use them frequently I mean. They just tend to have short to off camera changing sequences.

[Dhomochevsky]

What about the older animated ones, like He-Man, some of those 'Defenders' (?)...
Those had quite long transformation sequences. Maybe they don't count, because they did not use any more magic after that.. strictly speaking?

[Ithekro]

Those would probably count as well. Magic by another name is sometimes still magic.

How different would He-Man be verses Sailor Moon?

More characters die in Sailor Moon for one thing.

[VampirePaladin]

I always though that Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers felt like a "mahou shoujo" without actually being one and predating teams of magical girls being popularized and made common by Sailor Moon (which was actually the second one featuring a team).

I think the real question with male mahou shoujo would be how you define mahou shoujo. Do you consider it any series with a magic using girl regardless of anything? Do you define it as a genre where someone transforms into a frilly outfit and kicks ass? Or do you consider it a genre where there is some sort of transformation of the main character with the strength and honesty of emotions what is the most important? How you define mahou shoujo changes if a series starring a male character can be considered part of the genre.

[Patriot's Blade]

probably the best of the genre ever!!
http://youtu.be/

[Patriot's Blade]

tough Kamen Rider Kuuga was the first magical Kamen Rider, this one on the other hand (pun entended)............ [/facepalm]

http://youtu.be/

life is a SHOW TIME!!!

[ninryu]

Mahou shounen=Negima. In other words, pure awesomeness.

[bhl88]

Mahou Shounen: Kore wa zombie xD

Ayumu: wtf is this?!
Haruna: your battle costume
Ayumu: but I'm not a girl!
Haruna: then.... Masou Shounen.

[Kaijo]

Nanoha Force and Negima, as people have stated. Though both have a lot of girls, males have the lead role. Though Nanoha Force would be closer, since it actually follows the mahou shojou tropes a bit more closely, with the transformation into a battle outfit. Also, generally speaking, the Nanoha universe is fairly unique among anime series in general, for the world it creates and how it handles the cast of characters. Partly because both guys and girls can use magic.

Kore wa is more like a parody and comedy, with the masou shojo stuff played mainly for laughs.

But if you're asking how it would it work, if we were to look at it strictly... I'm presuming you'd mean we have a team of, say, 5 guys that transform into outfits and wield wands or something, and wind up special attacks. Perhaps with the power of heart.

As far as I know, there isn't really anything exactly like this. The live action Kamen Rider genre has guys transforming and using special attacks, but no power of heart. Instead, it's mainly the power of courage. Most sentai in general (of which we get power rangers from over here), are like this. But it's mostly all live action, and not animated.

Mainly because guys aren't interested in seeing a team of guys in frilly outfits fighting with the power of heart.

[creb]

I don't get it. There's tons of Mahou Shonen. It's just that it doesn't tend to be called "Mahou Shonen". But, think of every anime you've ever seen that has a boy go through a transformation sequence, to go battle evil in whatever incarnation it dares to show its face in, and you've got your Mahou Shonen. This latest iteration of Saint Seya would fit, as a recent example. The list of anime that could be considered "Mahou Shonen" is probably longer than the list of anime that would traditionally fit the Magical Girl genre when I really think about it.

[MakubeX2]

^
By that logic, Mahou Shonen had been around for ages and all of us had been exposed to the genre since young. They are known as "Super Heroes".

[gsilver]

My favorite mahou shonen:

Banchou Ban ("Boss Ban") AKA Cure Fire

[creb]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

^
By that logic, Mahou Shonen had been around for ages and all of us had been exposed to the genre since young. They are known as "Super Heroes".

Of course. I'm betting Superman would never have entered the collective consciousness of society if it had been marketed as a Magical Boy show. But, just because it wasn't called that, doesn't mean it and the hundreds? maybe thousands? of other shows that basically recast your typical Magical Girl show with male protagonists and slightly higher levels of testosterone weren't exactly that.

[sudolicious]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

^
By that logic, Mahou Shonen had been around for ages and all of us had been exposed to the genre since young. They are known as "Super Heroes".

And he is completely right with that. What the hell did the OP expect, cross dressing magical heroes? If so, he already has his answer with Kore wa Zombie. If not, then crebs post applies.

[MakubeX2]

Originally Posted by creb

Of course. I'm betting Superman would never have entered the collective consciousness of society if it had been marketed as a Magical Boy show.

One of other iconic DC Character, Captain Marvel did and incidentally the way he transform fits the bill of a "Magical Boy" :-

With a premise that taps adolescent fantasy, Captain Marvel is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a youth who works as a radio news reporter and was chosen to be a champion of good by the wizard Shazam. Whenever Billy speaks the wizard's name, he is struck by a magic lightning bolt that transforms him into an adult superhero empowered with the abilities of six archetypal figures.

And that was in 1940.

[Guardian Enzo]

I don't think the OP was asking for cross-dressing heroes, or for Western-style superheroes. I think he was asking for anime/manga magical boys as direct parallels of mahou shoujo. And they do exist - Erio from Nanoha, Mythical Detective Loki, etc - as posters in this thread have pointed out.

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Okay, so the key elements of a Magical Girl series are as follows:

• Main character living a normal (or at least mostly normal) life.
• Friends and family come first for the main character.
• One day, a certain someone opens up a completely different world to them.
• Main character has to fight monsters that want to eat people.
• Transforms into a different outfit to do so.
• THE POWER OF LOVE!

Optional elements:

• Normal people can't see this.
• Main character possesses an unusual pedigree.
• The main character has an abnormally high skill level.
• An obvious rival shows up whose motives either contradict or run parallel to the main character's profession.
• Main character eventually wins the rival over.

Darn. If it weren't for that love bit, I'd totally say early Bleach is a good example.

[bhl88]

Deconstruction:
- someone dies
- becoming the very thing you fight against
- is a rock
- "With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a Magical Girl."