Girls × Heroine Series
The Girls × Heroine Series (ガールズ×戦士シリーズ, Gāruzu × Senshi Shirīzu, previously written as 「ガールズ×ヒロイン!」シリーズ)[1] is a Japanese Tokusatsu series produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, OLM, Inc. and created by Takashi Miike. Each season revolves around magical girls who fight against enemies. The series began on April 2, 2017, with Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes!.[2] Each series sells toys produced by Takara Tomy. The most recent season, Police × Heroine Lovepatrina!, began airing on July 26, 2020.
Girls × Heroine Series | |
---|---|
Created by | Takashi Miike |
Original work | Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! |
Films and television | |
Television series | See below |
Miscellaneous | |
Toy(s) | Takara Tomy |
Official website | |
http://girls-heroine.jp/ |
Overview
Each season focuses on elementary school and middle school girls who are given magical items to fight against evil beings. They are assisted by fairy mascots and together must battle ordinary people who have been turned evil by the enemy. Their job is to purify these beings and to collect various things which helps them in the battle ahead. As the seasons go on, their magical powers get upgraded, enemies become stronger and along the way, they may gain more members who will assist them in their battles.
Main series
4 seasons have currently been announced, and the 4th, Lovepatrina, is currently still airing. Miracle Tunes currently has been dubbed in 2 languages and has a European remake. Each of the series has a manga adaptation by Asaka Ogura published in Ciao (magazine) and Yuuki Harami published in Pucchigumi.
- Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! (2017-2018)
- Magical × Heroine Magimajo Pures! (2018-2019)
- Secret × Heroine Phantomirage! (2019-2020)
- Police × Heroine Lovepatrina! (2020-now)
Music
To promote the seasons, a temporary idol group is created with the main cast of the shows. Each group provides the opening and ending theme songs while also holding live performances around the country. When each season is completed, the girls cease activities in the idol groups.
In 2019, a new idol group 'Girls²' was announced.[3] This was a combination group which included members of all three groups. Yuzuha from miracle2, Momoka, Misaki, Youka and Kurea from magical2 and finally the newest, Minami, Kira and Toa from mirage2. Later, Ran Ishii from mirage2 also joined Girls2. They provided the opening themes for Secret × Heroine Phantomirage! and Police × Heroine Lovepatrina!.
Reception
When Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! first aired, Confidence and Oricon determined it started a "new genre" for shows aimed at the female toddler to primary school age demographic.[4] The series was viewed as a new female counterpart to the Super Sentai series due to including female-oriented interests, which were often seen in media targeted to young girls.[5] Sumiko Kodama from Confidence also noted that the show's integration of J-pop elements in collaboration with LDH also made the presentation easy for audiences of all ages to enjoy, as Miracle²'s real-life debut would remind older audiences of Speed.[6] Editors at Real Sound believe the popularity came from the revived interest in live-action tokusatsu shows aimed at a female audience, which had declined in the early 1990s due to competing toy sales with Sailor Moon and growing interest in magical girl anime series.[7] The success of the show led to it being a direct competitor to other magical girl series for children, particularly the Pretty Cure series.[8]
References
- "テレ東 女児向け特撮発ユニット・magical2、デビュー曲から好発進". Confidence via Oricon (in Japanese). 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- "『アイドル×戦士 ミラクルちゅーんず!』公式サイト". miracletunes.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-06.
- "miracle²×magical²×mirage²によるユニット Girls²がデビュー 『おはスタ』レギュラー出演も". Real Sound|リアルサウンド (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- Kodama, Sumiko (2018-04-08). "テレ東"新ジャンル"の女児向け特撮、ヒットの理由". Confidence via Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- "miracle2、特撮ドラマから飛び出した!少女たちが憧れるスパースターの魅力". Sports Hochi (in Japanese). 2018-02-17. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- Kodama, Sumiko (2018-02-18). ""競合なしアイドル"miracle2、女児をターゲットにする新戦略". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- "大人気シリーズ第二弾『魔法×戦士 マジマジョピュアーズ!』 幅広い世代の心を掴む仕掛けとは". Real Sound (in Japanese). 2018-04-08. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- Yamamoto, Keisuke (2019-02-27). "プリキュア一強に終止符? 話題の「女児向け特撮ドラマ」担当者に聞く、子ども番組が"守るべきもの"". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-06-12.