Magical girl March

Artists take the challenge to celebrate femininity

By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor

If you’ve noticed that your social media seems to be sporting a lot more pinks, pastels, and sorcery, then you might have inadvertently been experiencing “Magical Girl March.” This challenge gives artists a list of prompts to complete each new day of the month. The prompts consist of simplistic things—such as your favourite established character—to more interpretive topics, like the sun or moon. No matter what, the theme remains the same: magical girls!

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “magical girl” is a genre of anime and western-style cartoons. Examples of this genre include Sailor Moon, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Card Captor Sakura, The Legend of Korra, and She-Ra. Depending on if you’re watching anime or western-style cartoons, and when the show itself was published, what constitutes a “magical girl” may differ, but the thing that remains the same in all cases is that they are powerful characters that identify as female.

The challenge itself allows artists to share their own take on some of their favourite characters, as well as encouraging them to come up with a few powerful leads of their own, depending on the prompt for that day.

Given that this challenge also takes place in March—the same month as International Women’s Day—it seems especially poignant. Female characters are often portrayed as “lesser-than,” meaning that their character arcs usually end with them becoming a side character, or a love interest for a male lead. It isn’t very often that they are featured on their own merit. So, what better way to celebrate women than highlighting the kinds of examples in pop culture that we want to see more of? The fact that the challenge puts more art into the world is just an added bonus. If you want a list of the prompts, or to see the resulting artists’ renderings, just search “#magicalgirlmarch” on any social media platform.