Vol 2 Chapter 22: Magical Girls Squad
Is “Magical Girl” a suitable the for entertainnt and creative works?
This question has sparked a decades-long debate in the Material World’s creative and publishing industries. Even now, there’s no definitive answer.
About fifty years ago, in the Material World, anything related to “Magical Girls” had always been a hot topic in entertainnt. People were full of imaginative ideas about these mysterious protectors, trying to project all kinds of fantasies onto them.
So of these imaginations were beautiful—praising them as heroes, longing to be like them. Others were critical—questioning the origins and intentions of Magical Girls. And of course, there were also the unspeakable ones—the kind that could never be ntioned in polite conversation.
This creative boom lasted for quite a while. “Magical Girl” gradually transford from a well-defined term into a cultural symbol within entertainnt. Eventually, even real Magical Girls began to take on a certain idol-like or entertainnt quality. So fans started organizing themselves, supporting their favorite Magical Girls in various ways.
But as with anything, things can go too far.
Once works about Magical Girls beca mainstream, bad actors inevitably infiltrated the scene—seizing control of public discourse for personal gain or spreading rumors to defa others. Caught in a tide of gossip, the public struggled to tell truth from lies. The phrase “Magical Girl” gradually started to change in aning within public discussions.
Most Magical Girls, faced with these frustrating rumors, could only pretend not to see or silently endure. After all, their voices were too small in the face of public opinion—no matter what they said, it would only get twisted further.
Yet even among Magical Girls, personalities vary. When the rumors and gossip—and the increasingly outrageous creative works—crossed the line, a few with tougher personalities finally snapped.
“I can't shut all of you up, but I can sure deal with those sleazy paparazzi.”
This was a quote from a retired Magical Girl from the Xiluo Province during an interview, around forty years ago, when the conflict first exploded.
Starting from Xiluo, both active and retired Magical Girls launched a direct confrontation with the publishing and distribution industries. The standoff spread to the eastern provinces and eventually turned into an all-out ss, with no clear winners. On the surface, though, it seed like the Magical Girls ca out on top.
Because the Magic Kingdom officially spoke out to city governnts across provinces—putting an imdiate stop to the conflict.
Works that distorted, defad, or maliciously speculated about Magical Girls could no longer be published or distributed. In the years that followed, comrcial works thed around Magical Girls slowly disappeared from the market, except for those ani targeted at young girls.
Of course, stories portraying Magical Girls in a positive light still existed and had their own audiences. But they were no longer a mainstream topic.
Fast forward forty years, and public perception of Magical Girls seed to have circled back: in reality, they’re heroes who protect cities; in fiction, they’re cartoon characters for children.
It was in this context that, a few years ago, a mobile ga called Magical Girl Squad quietly launched on the intercity network in the Dongying Province.
The ga used the popular gacha and character-training format. Its content was frankly underwhelming—players built and trained their own Magical Girl squads, presented through turn-based combat and generic growth chanics. The artwork looked like cute doodles straight out of a kids' coloring book. The in-ga characters were pixelated chibi figures, completely lacking appeal.
In a later interview, the ga developer said, “This is what Magical Girls are like in my mind.”
Unfortunately, his vision didn’t resonate with the market. The ga’s unremarkable appearance and plain na failed to gain attention. Within months of launch, Magical Girl Squad was already running a deficit.
But this was business as usual in the Material World’s gaming scene. Too many gas launch only to vanish without a trace. This one seed destined for the sa fate.
And yet… it didn’t die.
The turning point ca two years ago.
By then, Magical Girl Squad was in a full-blown crisis. As a small studio’s experintal project, the ga had nearly bankrupted its creators. Then, for reasons still unclear—perhaps a company acquisition, maybe a new investor—the ga was miraculously revived.
It got a major 2.0 update. While keeping its storybook art and character-building gaplay, the visuals improved drastically. More importantly, detailed lore and background were added to what was once a barebones ga.
In the new setting, players take on the role of a creature called a “Fairy,” tasked with seeking out Magical Girls in a fictional city and forming a squad by collecting and nurturing them.
Managent and strategy elents were introduced, and the old turn-based combat was refined. The ga finally beca fun.
But that still wasn’t enough to make Magical Girl Squad a hit.
The market is full of polished gas. Great art or clever chanics don’t guarantee success. This was still a niche ga from a small company, mostly ignored despite the update.
What finally made it blow up was a single blog post on social dia.
“Wait… is this supposed to be ?”
The post included a screenshot from the ga’s character screen.
The blogger? None other than the Material World’s most famous current Magical Girl—Blue Star.
As the captain of Tiandu City’s Magical Girl Squad and widely recognized as the strongest Magical Girl, Blue Star’s social dia account had a massive following. Even her briefest posts would attract waves of support.
So when she posted a ga screenshot, thousands of fans rushed to download it. On that day, Magical Girl Squad’s servers crashed from the surge in traffic.
As more players dove in, they uncovered a shocking truth—the ga’s setting was too realistic.
Setting aside the “Fairy” concept, long tied to Magical Girl urban legends, the ga’s portrayal of Magical Girl powers and battles was uncannily detailed. So self-identified retired Magical Girls even claid that the person behind version 2.0 might have been one of them—because the settings were that spot-on.
That alone might not have ant much—there are quite a few retired Magical Girls, and so entering the gaming industry isn’t unheard of.
But then people started noticing sothing else: several in-ga characters bore uncanny similarities to real Magical Girls.
They didn’t look exactly alike, but their abilities, personal files, and background details matched almost too well—sotis even revealing information fans had never heard before.
Take the character Blue Star had posted. She didn’t look much like Blue Star, but her combat stats and profile details were identical. Even details that had never been publicly disclosed.
Hence the question: “Is this supposed to be ?”
There was no real privacy breach—no nas were nad. Nor was it slander—every Magical Girl in the ga was shown positively.
In short, Magical Girl Squad managed to dodge all the previous restrictions while scratching the public’s itch for gossip—with pure, convincing “realism.”
From there, the ga gained popularity among Magical Girl fans, then spread to the general public.
Two years have passed since, and the 2.0 version of Magical Girl Squad has remained hugely active—until recently, when it finally began to reach its original target audience: teenage girls.
Even just in Class 3, Grade 2 at Xizhao Middle School, several girls could be heard discussing the ga between classes.
And Lin Xiaolu—a girl who didn’t care for gas and preferred watching Magical Girl ani on the couch—ended up downloading the ga too, thanks to Jiang Yuan’s enthusiastic recomndation.
After a short patrol around the Luoming District, Lin Xiaolu returned to the secret base, plopped onto the sofa, and opened Magical Girl Squad.
Expressionless, she watched the opening animation. While munching snacks, she waited for the data-heavy update. Even after finishing a whole bag, the update still wasn’t done. She was getting impatient.
Gas are such a hassle. Maybe I should just watch TV instead? she thought.
But in the end, her love for the “Magical Girl” the outweighed her impatience, and she waited it out.
After wading through a confusing opening story and a yawn-inducing tutorial, she finally got to try the gaplay herself.
Expressionless at first. Then, a frown. Then she suddenly sat up, baring her small fangs and yelling:
“Ugh! This is so boring! I’m done!”
She had been wondering what kind of wild ga could beco a hit just by slapping on the “Magical Girl” label. Turns out, it was a slow-paced turn-based ga with overcomplicated stats—totally unappealing.
She tossed her phone aside and turned on the TV with the remote. But her favorite animation channel happened to be playing a show she didn’t like. That only made her more bored.
With a sigh, she picked up her phone again and reluctantly resud playing.
She cleared the newbie stages with a basic team, slogged through so dull story content, and finally got a system ssage: she could now recruit new Magical Girls.
Recruiting ant pulling cards—a standard gacha chanic. Lin Xiaolu followed the prompt without much thought and entered the banner screen.
That’s when one image caught her eye.
The banner showed a Magical Girl in a reddish-purple bubble skirt, her expression shy but strangely resolute. She held a notebook-like weapon, which the ga called a “Magical Armor,” clearly corresponding to the Magical Armor used by real Magical Girls.
This seed to be a newly released character. The banner was titled “Resurfacing mories,” and her alias was Morning Glory. Along the edge, a caption read: “Let blooming magic guard the unfulfilled mories.”
For so reason, Lin Xiaolu felt a strange sense of familiarity.
She didn’t know this character. The art style was cartoony and simple. But still, she had the nagging feeling she’d seen this girl sowhere before.
That familiarity faded quickly. Looking again, she no longer felt anything unusual.
It’s just a ga, she told herself. Probably just my imagination.
Following the tutorial’s instructions, she entered the newbie banner.
Then, with a strange sense of excitent, she tapped the “Recruit” button.
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