Magical Girlfriend Narrator

Basic Trope: An Unlucky Everydude meets a seemingly perfect girl who is unhuman in some way, romance ensues. Straight: Mary is an angel that has come to earth to fight evil. She meets the lonely Bob and they strike up a burgeoning romance while he helps her kick ass and save the universe. Exaggerated: Mary is actually the goddess of the realm, but finds herself strangely attracted to Bob's quaint mortal charm. Downplayed: Bob is close friends with Mary. They never take the relationship further. Bob is Badass Normal who fights demons but he still need Mary's super natural power to finish them off. They fight together. Bob and Mary have Unresolved Sexual Tension that never gets resolved, ever. Justified: Despite being a Butt-Monkey, Bob is really a Nice Guy. Being an angel, Mary values his kind heart. Inverted: Mary is a hotblooded tsundere who meets Bob, a timid angel sent to earth to learn to fend for himself. Mary is a Shy and troubled girl who meets the angelic Bob, who falls in love with and protects her. Subverted: Mary befriends Bob and uses a relationship with him as a cover for her existence on earth, but doesn't care about him. Mary turns out to be just a stage magician who wears an angel costume for her act. Bonus points if Mary's a guy in disguise. Mary appears to be an angel to Bob at first, but she's actually a demon in disguise. Double Subverted: ...Until she really does fall in love with him. Until Mary's grandmother reveals that she does, in fact, have angelic ancestry and activates her potential as "an engagement present." Demons in this setting are of the Heaven's Devils variety, and she's ultimately on the side of good despite being a demon. Parodied: Mary and Bob love one another, but their mutual misunderstanding always ends up causing wacky hijinks and physical violence. Zig Zagged: Mary falls from the sky and Bob is convinced she's an angel sent to him to help him deal with how little of a life he has. He takes her into his apartment and nurses her back to health; by the time she's better, it's become clear she is in fact no angel. However, by this time, they've grown on each other and so much wacky stuff has happened that they decide to stick with the facade - and one wacky adventure does turn Mary into an angel. But the thing is that angels lose their powers if they fall in love...which turns them into cupids and Mary's new duties cast a fresh light on their relationship. Averted: Angels either don't exist or stay in heaven where they belong. Bob gets over his fantasy of the perfect girl and meets somebody nice. Enforced: When all you have is a geeky 12-24 year old male audience.... Lampshaded: "Mary's wonderful girl but there's something odd about her....Wait, is that a halo!?" Invoked: "I wish I could meet the perfect girl!" * POOF* When a demon attacks Mary in her human disguise, Bob tries to help her despite his visible fear of the demon, and gets injured in the process. So Mary looks after him for a while. Defied: Mary likes Bob, but due to her angelic vows she can never be with him. She eventually leaves so he can get on with his life. Discussed: Their friends constantly gossip about the irregularities of their relationship. Friend 1: "Mary and Bob are a couple?!" Friend 2: "How would they even... you know...?" "So is this the part where we fall in love?" SMITE Deconstructed: Bob doggedly pursues a relationship with Mary who finally agrees. The strain of their vast differences and the constant danger of Mary's quest takes its toll and they finally break up. Reconstructed: ...Until they both learn to accept one another and work together, just in time to save the day.

MEDIA EXAMPLES

3×3 Eyes: Ordinary High-School Student becomes the undead servant/companion of a three-eyed demon with a Split Personality. Gender-flipped in Yuu Watase's Absolute Boyfriend. Average girl who has bad luck with boys ends up ordering a cybernetic boyfriend and now has to teach him everything about girls so she can pay off her debt to his creators. Ah! My Goddess: awkward, mistreated Keiichi Morisato and his Magical Girlfriend – pure-hearted wish-granting goddess Belldandy, who fit every basic aspect of the Trope to a "T". The passion of their relationship, the depth of their characters (and the characters around them), and the emphasis on drama and comedy depends on the incarnation – over the course of the 25½-year run of the original manga (1988-2014), there was a 5-episode OVA (1993-6), a theatrical movie, a two-season TV series (2004-2006) plus a few more Japan-only OVAs to go with it. Skuld starts becoming one to Sentaro, and being with him makes her considerably more familiar with wielding her powers. She's the one trying to court him, though. A.I. Love You, the first manga from Ken Akamatsu (the creator of Love Hina and Negima! Magister Negi Magi), was a textbook example of this, with a lightning strike bringing a lonely geek's homebrew AI to life. The early chapters heavily played on the Wish-Fulfillment, but later ones increasingly subvert it. Gender-flipped in Akuma na Eros, where Miu ends up dating Satan and eventually becomes his wife. The heroine of Aoi Chan Panic! is a Half-Human Hybrid alien girl who falls in love with the male lead. Ashita Dorobou has an interesting variant of this trope. Straitlaced protagonist Kyouichi Miyasako, 30 years old, broke up with his quirky, free-spirited girlfriend Ashita Tendou way back in college, and has been haunted by regret ever since. Suddenly, with a UFO hanging in the sky over Tokyo, she returns to him, wearing the same maid costume she was wearing when he dumped her, and she hasn't aged a day. He tentatively accepts her back into his life, even though something feels off about the whole situation. Teased in The Big O. Reading between the lines, R Dorothy Waynewright carries a bit of a torch for protagonist Roger Smith. She leans much more Tsundere than the typical example, though, and for his part he's far more badass than most of the recipients of such attention. Ultimately subverted by the fact that he's largely oblivious to her affections and that the world is mysteriously "rebooted". Black Bird (2006) - Gender Flip: Tengu who falls in love with the mortal girl he has vowed to protect. Gender-flipped and subverted in Brigadoon: Marin and Melan. Marin is a Happily Adopted Heartwarming Orphan who falls in massive trouble when bionic machines called Monomakia fall from the sky reflecting another world and attack her for unknown reasons. Enter Melan Blue, a Gunswordsman monomakia that arrives to act as her protector. Subverted as Marin is only 13 years old and Melan Blue is dedicated to his duty to protect Marin, the duo fall slowly for each other throughout the course of the series. Chobits: Ordinary Cram School Student finds a cute Robot Girl in the trash and takes her in. Hideki lampshades the trope in the second chapter. He could have written this page himself. Hideki: "You hear about it all the time...a guy finds a Nice Girl, takes her home...she's always cute of course...then it turns out she's got some sort of special powers...and she falls madly in love with the guy!" One Yuri Genre example can be found in the manga, Creo the Crimson Crises. Within the manga the central pairing is between Suou, who initially starts out as an Ordinary High-School Student, and Creo, a Magic Knight demon princess. In Dare Mo Shiranai 29 Nichi, Yukio falls in love with Akari, a Cute Ghost Girl who happens to share his 29th of Feburary birthday. Dragonaut: The Resonance: Jin falls in love with Toa, who has the appearance of a girl, but is really a mecha alien space dragon. In Demon Love Spell, shrine maiden Miko Tsubaki finds herself falling in love with incubus Kagura. Dusk Maiden of Amnesia: Normal human boy falls in love with amnesiac ghost. The Elder Sister-like One follows the story of a boy named Yuu and his daily life with his unrelated elder sister (actually Shub-Niggurath as a cute young woman, who he made a wish to in exchange for her becoming "family"). Their interactions, especially in the H version of the series, teeter between familial and romantic. Elemental Gelade: Human boy finds a cute girl sleeping in a box and she has the magical power to turn into a weapon. She forms a contract with him and they set out on a journey to a mythical place. Elfen Lied is arguably a deconstruction, with Lucy being more of a Dark Magical Girlfriend. Lucy is a mutant who is found and taken in by ordinary guy Kohta and his cousin after she escapes from her prison. She certainly loves Kohta, but due to her traumatic childhood spent bullied for being different, her magic is only good for exterminating humans. On top of that, she suffers from a Split Personality which makes switch from cutesy to murderous constantly. Many wish-fulfillment elements common in the genre get flipped on their head or presented as creepy or unwholesome, as well. Played with in Eureka Seven: Renton's love interest is… a strange girl with quite "magical" abilities who doesn't seem to understand common human sense. And has an unusual hair color too. However, while Eureka at first appears to be an angel, he learns rather quickly just how cold and ruthless she can be. Played for Drama by the Fatimas of The Five Star Stories - their beauty and loyalty are the result of hideous genetic experiments and brainwashing, they are treated as playthings by most people and the few that aren't brainwashed usually go insane because they're unable to cope with their lot in life. Alien Badass Biker Haruko from FLCL. As the series director states in supplemental materials: "People who are bullied don't need to put any effort into being bullied… effortless communication. The maid-boom is like that too, right?… It's a dream for people like me. People who have to put effort into having a conversation with someone." Izark the cool and stoic young warrior is a gender-flipped example in From Far Away to the series' female protagonist, Noriko. As the incarnation of the Sky Demon, Izark has an extraordinary physical strength, able to move faster than any humans, is able to control fire and wind, and also transform into a dark dragon-like creature. On the other hand, Noriko is an Ordinary High-School Student who is Trapped in Another World but is also prophesied as The Awakening who will soon awaken the existence of The Sky Demon itself. Gender-flipped in Fruits Basket. Tohru ends up living with and falling in love with a magical shape-shifting guy. Type-flipped too; Tohru has the personality of the Magical Girlfriend (albeit including Stepford Smiler tendencies), and the guy is an unlucky loser within the circles of people either of them notice. Girls Bravo: A small, weak-willed, gynophobic boy who breaks out in hives whenever girls touch him winds up going to another world and coming back with a cute, petite-yet-busty girl with superpowers, an incredibly sweet personality, and a surprisingly strong attachment to the hero. Within moments his entire life is turned upside down and he's thrust into a great adventure. Parodied mercilessly in Gou-dere Bishoujo Nagihara Sora which is ironic since this trope is played straight in most of Minazuki's other works like Heaven's Lost Property and Watashi No Messiah Sama. Maki of Hakoiri Devil Princess is a devil princess who accidentally gets summoned by the human teenager Keita. She will grant any wish Keita has and inevitably falls in love with him, but there's one problem: she will take his soul after his third wish. Happy World!: The Protagonist is the guy who receives all the bad luck in the world, and Heaven sends an Angel to protect this person and whoever he passes on the curse to. The protagonist eventually falls in love with the Angel sent to protect him. Heaven's Lost Property: Perverted Ordinary High-School Student seeking to live a quiet life becomes the master of a robot angel that fell down from the sky. In Himesama Tanuki No Koizanyou, Riku is betrothed to Tanuki princess Miyo. I'm Gonna Be an Angel!: Trainee angel falls in love with normal human guy and vows to become a full angel for him. Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship from Inuyasha can be described as a Gender Flipped version. She is an Ordinary High-School Student (albeit one who happens to be the reincarnation of a Miko), but he is a powerful half-demon. Mai from Itsudatte My Santa!. She possesses magic powers (although she's an Inept Mage) and falls in love with Santa when she is sent to cheer him up and improve his luck. Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens: Nagi is a centuries old tree goddess who awakens when Jin fashions a sculpture from the wood of her sacred tree. Of course they fall in love. Karin: Titular Friendly Neighborhood Vampire falls in love with normal human boy. Subverted in Kimagure Orange Road. Madoka Ayukawa could be considered Kyōsuke Kasuga's magical girlfriend thanks to her many skills, Tsundere personality and sexy looks, but Kyōsuke is actually the one with Psychic Powers. Lilim Kiss has a young man releasing a succubus from her pendant. After one kiss that leaves her very full, they find out they share corresponding moles on various parts of their body. Because of that, the potency of the energy she takes is doubled for each pair of moles. Eventually, they become more of a couple. Monako Haida, the zombie love interest in Living Dead!. In Love Neko, Eiji orders a Robot Girl, but gets a scrappy looking, aggressive, tough-talking brat of a robot boy instead. Slap-Slap-Kiss quickly ensues. Parodied in episode 8 of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, in which Sasshi and Arumi enter a dating-sim world in which Sasshi has to gain the stereotypical moe girl's heart. She later reveals that she is an angel that has to go back to heaven, and also an android with an unnecessarily complicated name. Magikano: A witch who will lose her powers unless she awakens the protagonist's latent magical powers, and his sisters who are also witches (and in one case a love rival). Mahoromatic: Robot Girl with a short lifespan becomes the maid of an Ordinary High-School Student. Mamotte Shugogetten. The main character ends up with two (diametrically opposed) magical girlfriends. One is a Nice Girl who draws magical energy from the moon and summons cutesy sprites. The other is a Tsundere Vamp who draws magical energy from the sun and can bring inanimate objects to life. Hilarity Ensues. Io of Meteor Prince is a Human Alien prince who arrives on Earth in order to mate with the protagonist Hako Natsuno. While she is initially put off by his advances, she slowly falls in love with him. Played in a very unusual way in Midori Days: The unlucky guy is a tough fighter-type whose reputation frightens away girls, and the girlfriend is an ordinary girl who's always wanted him and got her wish granted through "magical" means... by somehow literally becoming his right hand. Weird, but the wish-fulfillment is still there. Lette from the Yuri Genre manga The Miko's Words and the Witch's Incantations qualifies. Not only is she a Cute Witch, she makes a deal with the god of Tsumugi's shrine and gains part of her divine essence so Tsumugi can travel with her Tsumugi being unable to leave the shrine unless in the presence of a god, effectively becoming a demigod. Monster Musume begins with hot Lamia Miia moving in with Unlucky Everydude Kimihito as part of a cultural exchange program mixup. Then they're joined by more Cute Monster Girls until there's an entire Unwanted Harem. Hijinks ensue. My Bride is a Mermaid has normal human Nagasumi who is engaged to Sun, the sweet and beautiful mermaid. Most of the time though, it doesn't take itself seriously. Set up, then averted, in My Dear Marie. Hiroshi is an unlucky at love scientist who creates a robot with the appearance and name of his crush. But though he programmed her to be the perfect wife, she turns out to be quite different and Hiroshi starts telling people that he and Marie are siblings as a cover story. My Lovely Ghost Kana. Boy meets a lovely ghost named Kana. Yup. In My Love Tiger, the hero finds himself engaged to a Tiger Girl. Gender-flipped in My Sweet Dragon, where a shy, insecure girl gets a gorgeous boyfriend/husband who is a dragon. My Wife Is a Demon Queen is pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin - a guy is married to the queen of all demons. Oh, My Sweet Alien! is about the every day life of Nobuo Makabe and his homemaker wife, who happens to be a space alien. Please Teacher!: Mizuho technically qualifies as this for the young man Kei, being that she is a Human Alien (well, a Half-Human Hybrid who's half-Human Alien, to be exact). And it doubles as a Teacher/Student Romance complete with heavy, heavy Fanservice. Rizel, the genetically engineered female lead of Rizelmine. In a twist on the trope, male lead Tomonori isn't happy about this, as he Likes Older Women and is still in love with his teacher, even though she's engaged to be married however, in the end he learns that Rizel is the older woman he fell in love with when he was young, having saved her from being hit by a truck - she was unable to grow after they met because she fell for him too, and needed more than just the love from her three "papas" in order to age. Rosario + Vampire: Ordinary High-School Student Tsukune gets sent to a Monster School. There he meets cute vampire girl Moka and she falls in love with him since he was the first person she sucked blood from… and continues to do so, much to his chagrin. While it's a totally straight example at first, it shifts away from the norm for this trope about halfway through Part I of the manga, as Tsukune starts his progression from average dork to Bishōnen badass. Saber Marionette J features an Unwanted Harem of Robot Girls. Each one is a different archetype: Innocence, domestic, and buff. Saikano has an extremely dark take on the genre. Chise is a shy, clumsy girl who gets turned into a weapon against her will and slowly loses her humanity while her boyfriend does everything he can to keep her from completely losing herself. Sankarea: Starts off as human x human, but quickly changes into human x zombie (not that Chihiro minds). Parodied in The Secret Devil-chan: the hero summons a succubus to take his virginity, only to discover "she's" a guy… and until the pact is fulfilled, he has to live with the demon. Naturally, Hilarity Ensues. In Seimaden, Hilda becomes romantically involved with the demon Laures. Sekirei mixes this with a hefty dose of the Action Girlfriend, focusing on a battle royale between super-powered Human Alien beauties and their Puny Earthling boyfriends. A handful of Magical Boyfriends also exist in the story, and most of the prominent Ashikabi bond with multiple Sekirei and establish Battle Harems. Almost all Ashikabi were either losers or living empty lives until they met their Sekirei, and later chapters establish how The Power of Love not only makes the Sekirei stronger but causes positive changes in the Ashikabi over time. Steel Angel Kurumi — although the boy in question isn't geeky; he's merely a bit too young for girls yet. In Steel Angel Kurumi 2, the trope is coupled with someone of a bit more appropriate age — who also happens to be another girl. Mana of Super Dreadnought Girl 4946 is a 49.46-metre-tall girl in charge of defending the Earth, who ends up falling in love with a normal human boy. Tenchi from Tenchi Muyo! definitely fits the whole Unlucky Everydude trope. The main differences are (a) He gets A Whole Bunch Of Magical Girlfriends, (b) He's too much of a Nice Guy to head to marrying all of them with any kind of speed, and (c) the girlfriends are actual people with all the complications thereof. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a Space Pirate with a price on her head several dozen orders of magnitude greater than Earth's combined GNP. As for the princesses, one's a bossy, prudishly-repressed proto-dominatrix and the other's a little girl who happens to be the avatar of one of the three goddesses who created the universe, and they're both half-sisters of his grandfather. The cute lil' Mad Scientist is really 20,000 years old and the mother of the Space Pirate, but she wants him anyway, and she's another of the three goddesses who created the universe. Word of God says that the third goddess wants in as well. Then there's the two Galaxy Police Detectives. Ten De Showaru Cupid involves a relationship between a normal, human boy and a beautiful, devil girl. It's by the creator of YuYu Hakusho. Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase is a double subversion. Hapless photographer meets cute girl. She tries to kiss him, they bond magically, and then she's pissed that he still has free will, as she was looking for a servant/slave. A few episodes later it has turned into one of these, admittedly with a very different family dynamic. (Hers keeps trying to kidnap her back or kill her.) She even gets a romantic rival. UFO Princess Valkyrie: Magical alien princess crashlands her spacecraft on a bathhouse, killing its manager. In order to save his life, Valkyrie gives him half her soul and she falls in love with him. There's only one catch: she's now stuck in the form of a child. Urusei Yatsura famously parodied the genre back in the seventies (long before there was actually such a genre) by having the Unlucky Everydude be a slovenly, pitifully-desperate pervert who likely deserves all the trouble he goes through… and having the Magical Girlfriend be a beautiful Alien Princess who loves him despite his lechery, but is also a clingy, possessive Tsundere who isn't adverse to zapping him with her electrical powers when he strays, as well as being somewhat bumbling, usually causing more problems than she solves. To add to this, he already had a girlfriend he liked better, and genuinely didn't want Lum at first.