[LIST] Academic Research and Papers about Magical Girls

i used to be questioned a lot on my sources for my 'Fight like a Girl' panel, so I added a slide at the end with my primary sources, but my research usually goes further than that. While I do prioritize the voices of Japanese Women I don't limit myself to them because they are not the only group of people impacted by the genre. The genre of magical girl has existed in the west as long as it has in Japan and what's 'good' vs. what's 'bad' is reflected primarily through the lens of the culture that consumes them.

This being said, here's a list of some of the sources I use along with others people may find interesting. This list is primarily focused on on peer reviewed or cited work, research papers, and interview pieces with either experts in their respective fields or have insider information due to working within the industry.

The Voices of Japanese Women

Sugawa-Shimada Akiko

Akiko Sugawa-Shimada is a professor of Cultural Studies (Anime, Manga, adaptation), Gender Studies, Audience/Fan Studies at the Yokohama National University. She, by far, has the most extensive body of work related to the subject; between her published papers and her international talks given on the subject she has over a dozen credits to her name. She's not just limited to magical girls and often focuses on shoujo and other medium that pertains largely to female audiences. She obtained her Doctorate (Philosophy) at the University of Warick - her final thesis was on th 

Available in English

• Children of Sailor Moon: The Evolution of Magical Girl in Japanese Anime
• Representations of Girls in Japanese Magical Girl TV Animation Programmes from 1966 to 2003 and Japanese Female Audiences' Understanding of Them

Japanese Only

• Your pain is mine: Consolation among fighting Magical Girls
• Girls and Magic: Representations of Magical Girls and Japanese Female Viewership

Unavailable / Out of Print

• “Witches”, Witchcraft, and Feminism: Functions of Magical Girl TV anime for Girls in Japan - Magma: Subculture Pop Magazine , PB5: 2-13, 2012: (in Japanese)

Saito Kumiko

Kumiko Saito has far less credits to her name but it's still important to examine her work as she takes a contrarian view to Akiko Sugawa-Shimada's. She is an Assistant Professor of Japanese and received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University

• Magic, "Shōjo", and Metamorphosis: Magical Girl Anime and the Challenges of Changing Gender Identities in Japanese Society​

Additional Japanese Sources

The Moe Manifesto, by Patrick W. Galbraith

• While Patrick is not Japanese all the interviews in the book are of Japanese men and women. Specifically regarding magical girls he interviews Nunokawa Yuji (Producer at Studio Pierrot during the 80s magical girl boom) and Sato Toshihiko (Involved in the planning of Minky Momo).

Asian American Women Voices

Nicole Chan

I unfortunately could not find Nicole Chan's credentials. However the paper itself is cited and researched, and therefore more credible than the average blog post.

• The Paradoxical " Magical Girl " Female Empowerment in Magical Girl Anime

Coco Zhou

Like with Nicole Chan I could not find much on Coco Zhou other than she was a graduate student at McGill University. Her work has been accepted by Flow Journal, a project of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work is cited which provides credibility to her work..

• Magical Girl as a Shojo Genre and the Male Gaze
  
• Fight Like a Girl: Deconstruction of Shōjo in Puella Magi Madoka Magica​​

Non-Asian Women Voices

Jasmin Boehm

While I could not track down her full list of credentials she does describe herself as "A student of Japanese (Pop) Culture premodern and contemporary". Her paper is cited- even including above mentioned works

• Musings II: Magical Girls, or, Empowerment VS Sexism

And that's it for now! This list is meant to be a living breathing document and will be expanded upon as more papers are published.

Last Updated: 7.13.21