is a Japanese

Tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

television series produced by

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Dentsu , simply known as , stylized as dentsu, is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is the largest advertising agency in Japan and the fifth largest advertising agency network in ...

OLM, Inc. , (formerly Oriental Light and Magic), is a Japanese animation studio, animation and film studio headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, founded on October 3, 1990, by former Gallop (studio), Studio Gallop and OB Planning employe ...

and created by

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over 100 feature film, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films span a variety of different genres, ranging from violent and surrealism, b ...

. Each season revolves around

magical girl is a Genre#Subgenre, subgenre of primarily Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered on young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into wh ...

s who fight against enemies, with a toy line produced by

Takara Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...

. After ''

Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! is a Japanese television series that aired from April 2, 2017, to March 25, 2018, on TV Tokyo. The show is the first installment of the ''Girls × Heroine Series'' conceived by Takara Tomy and OLM, Inc. with the assistance of Shogakukan and LDH ...

'' was first broadcast in April 2017 with success among its target demographic, four more series followed, grouped under the ''Girls × Heroine Series'' name. Following the series' ending, it was succeeded by ''RizSta -Top of Artists!-''.

Overview

Each season focuses on elementary school and middle school girls who are given magical items to fight against the forces of evil. 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.

Series

As of June 26, 2022, five entries have been made. ''Miracle Tunes'' currently has been dubbed in 2 languages and has a European remake. Each of the series has a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation by Asaka Ogura published in

Ciao (magazine) is a Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The magazine launched in 1977 and always comes with a free gift which used to always be paper crafts, but now varies every month. The magazine's competitors are ''Ribon'' and ''Nakayo ...

and Yuuki Harami published in

Pucchigumi is a Japanese monthly children's manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Several different manga titles and adaptations aimed at young female readers have been serialized in the magazine in its decade-long history. The latest circulation figures ...

. # ''

'' (2017–2018) # ''

Magical × Heroine Magimajo Pures! is a Japanese television drama series that began airing on April 1, 2018 until March 24, 2019. It is the second installment of the '' Girls × Heroine Series'' produced by Takara Tomy and OLM, Inc. with the assistance of Shogakukan and EXPG St ...

'' (2018–2019) # ''

Secret × Heroine Phantomirage! is a Japanese television drama series that aired from April 7, 2019, to June 28, 2020. It is the third installment of the '' Girls × Heroine Series'' produced by Takara Tomy and OLM, Inc. with the assistance of Shogakukan and EXPG Studio. The ...

'' (2019–2020) # '' Police × Heroine Lovepatrina!'' (2020–2021) # ''

Bittomo × Heroine Kirameki Powers! is a Japanese tokusatsu TV drama series that began airing on July 11, 2021. It is the fifth and final installment for the '' Girls × Heroine Series'' produced by Takara Tomy and OLM, Inc. (with the assistance of Shogakukan and EXPG Studio). Th ...

'' (2021–2022) # '' RizSta -Top of Artists!-'' (2022)

Movies

1 '' Secret × Heroine Phantomirage! The Movie: We'Ve Become A Movie'' (2020) 2 '' Police × Heroine Lovepatrina! The Movie: Challenge From A Phantom Thief! Let's Arrest With Love And A Pat!'' (2021)

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. 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 ''

'' & '' Police × Heroine Lovepatrina!''. In 2021, 'Lucky²' was announced, a combination unit of members from lovely² and the cast of Kirameki Powers. They will provide the opening for ''

.'' 1 Miracle² - Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! (2017–2018) 2 Magical² - Magical × Heroine MagimajoPures! (2018–2019) 3 Mirage² - Secret × Heroine Phantomirage! Endings Theme (2019–2020) 4 Lovely² - Police × Heroine Lovepatrina! Endings Theme (2020–2021) 5

Girls² Girls2 (pronounced "Girls Girls") is a Japanese idol girl group formed by LDH in 2019. The group consist of EXPG Studio graduates who starred in Takashi Miike's '' Girls × Heroine'' series. The group debuted in June 2019 with the release of th ...

- Permanent Idol Group Providing Openings And Movie Songs (2019–Present) 6 Lucky² - Permanent Idol Group Providing Openings And Endings (2021–Present)

Reception

When ''

'' first aired, ''Confidence'' and ''

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

'' determined it started a "new genre" for shows aimed at the female toddler to primary school age demographic. The series was viewed as a new female counterpart to the ''

Ultraman The , also known as ''Ultraman'', is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, which began with the television series '' Ultra Q'' in 1966. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, fi ...

'', ''

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until ''Kamen Rider Decade, Decade'' and except Thailand), is a Japanese superhero fiction, superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by ...

'' & ''

Super Sentai The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...

'' series due to including female-oriented interests, which were often seen in media targeted to young girls. Sumiko Kodama from ''Confidence'' also noted that the show's integration of

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

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 In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

. Editors at ''Real Sound'' believe the popularity came from the revived interest in live-action

shows aimed at a female audience, which had declined in the early 1990s due to competing toy sales with ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

'' and growing interest in '' Precure'' series The success of the show led to it being a direct competitor to other series for children, particularly the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series.

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girls x Heroine Mass media franchises Takara Tomy OLM, Inc. Japanese drama television series Japanese children's television series Magical girl anime and manga Magical girl television series Tokusatsu television series TV Tokyo original programming