A magical girlfriend is a female character often associated with romantic comedy anime series, and is sometimes considered a genre of its own, or as the leading lady of the "fantastic romance" genre, which combines the fantasy and romance genres. As their name implies, magical girlfriends typically have unusual powers compared to regular people, magical or otherwise. They feature more heavily in seinen than shōnen stories.

Magical girlfriends can be one or many in a single anime (always attached to the male lead). Because of the tendency for rivals to appear even when there is one female lead and because of the unnatural gender balance among the cast, magical girlfriend comedies are often conflated with harem comedies. A good example of this conflation is Oh My Goddess!which is "often called a classic example of a 'harem' anime" despite the short-lived nature of most of the romantic rivalries.

The term "magical girlfriend" is used loosely, indicating just that the character is a "romantic interest" of fantastic or science-fiction origins.[verification needed] These sources can be supernatural (Oh My Goddess!), extraterrestrial (Urusei Yatsura, Please Teacher!), or technological (A.I. Love You).[verification needed] Regardless of origin, magical girlfriends usually have access to an unusual source of power. Unlike a magical girl who primarily uses her powers to fight evil, a magical girlfriend primarily uses her powers for the benefit of herself or those she is close to (such as the male lead).[verification needed]

Similar to 0 things you like: