Hello everyone,
This morning I was thinking a lot about the last couple of shounen/seinen oriented mahou shoujo series (no, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is not included in this genre 
) I watched and unbelievably the only name that floated in my mind was "Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha" that is after all a 2004 series so quite old.
After a bit of unsuccessfull search about other series of the same type here I am with this rambling talking about this genre that is somehow forgotten from the anime industry.
Let's start with a couple of questions. What is a Mahou Shoujo series? And what is the difference in this very genre between a Shounen/Seinen oriented series from a Shoujo one?
First of all, the Mahou Shoujo genre talks about a group of girls that by vary means depending on the series are fighting some greater evil by taking up magical power from a cute familiar. (Generally this empowerment is applied with a lengthy and colorful transformation scene)
Till here, everything is ok, but at this point start with the real differences between the two branches of the same genre.
The shoujo one focuses more on the emotional side of the conflict with the protagonist's love interest relationship and all the drama that surrounds the protagonist position as mahou shoujo while the battles are highly underrated and generally less "detailed". The girls design is also a lot more "simple" maybe trying to appeal to the "everyone is a normal girl, so you can relate to them".
The shounen/seinen one focuses more on the the grand scheme of things and the girls by themselves, with their characterization and graphical details giving to each girl an appearence of the ideal girl from the male point of view.
The battles are very detailed, lengthy and shounen battle manga-like (see Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha for an example of it). Another interesting point is the total absence of any love interest in the girls.
Out of the two genres (both followed by me), I prefer the shounen/seinen one as the emotional focus on the girls looks more real and more "relatable".
Do you remember the emotional struggle of Fate being punished by her mother costantly while she was just trying to do her best to please her and her reluctance to fight her till the very end? What about the Hayate's sickness and the great pain her guardians had to suffer to try to save her from the cruel destiny?
Those touching moments and many other is likely what have made this series so popular and followed together with the great personality of the whole cast and the good dose of twist they're capable of giving us.
What about the Strikers sequel? Well, while it had some good point (loved the final episodes with Fate/Nanoha/Hayate with the limits disabled for pure ownage) following the original franchise genre, it derailed in a more sci-fi approach to the whole plot removing a lot of the charm from this epic story that was revolving around the mistery and the alternance between normal life and mahou shoujo life in the ignare earth. (even if without any doubts, Fate is always hot even as an adult 
)
While the first genre is quite alive with many series even recent that give a good portrayal of it (In my mind appear Shugo Chara that I quite liked as a series), the second one is lacking presence in the industry except maybe for the great Nanoha film remake, but well that's an established series! (we need new characters and new stories!)
I don't have much clues about why this genre was abandoned by the industry I do hope for a revival of it with some brand new series with new characters and story. (Akiyuki Shinbo do you hear me?)
And you? What's your experience with Mahou Shoujo series? Have you already watched the whole Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha's series?
If not, this is your chance to redeem yourself and maybe I'll have a new comrade inb the fight to get new series come out in this genre!
Regards,
feal87