Famous for such hits as Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, the magical girl genre has almost always centered around just that... girls. These productions usually feature a team of young heroines who are given magical powers, allowing them to transform into brightly colored superheroes and save the world. At least one major exception to this rule gender-bent the genre, however, with its team of magical boys.
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! was a rare "magical boy" series that both flipped the world of magical girls on its head and homaged many of its historical elements at the same time. This love letter was never written in a tongue-in-cheek way; instead, embracing genre tropes and using them in inventive ways.
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!'s Origin & 'Magical Boy' Premise
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! began in 2015, marking itself out immediately as both a parody and a reverential tribute to magical girls. The central characters are teenage boys Yumoto Hakone, En Yufuin, Atsushi Kinugawa, Io Naruko and Ryuu Zaou, who have the responsibility of becoming magical heroes thrust upon them by an alien wombat. Using the Loveracelets, they transform into Battle Lovers, defending the world against monsters and those that would spread evil, hate and strife. Many of these monsters were once people who, though not necessarily evil themselves, had hard lives and rejected the world as it had rejected them.
Along the way, the Earth Defense Club also gains a rivalry with the Earth Conquest Club, with the members even attending the same high school. These rivals, Kinshiro Kusatsu, Ibushi Arima and Akoya Gero, are led by their own magical animal in the form of a talking green hedgehog named Zundar. The Earth Conquest Club are the ones who create the monsters the Battle Lovers fight, making them the true threats in the series.
Though Cute High was meant to start with the anime, a manga about the Earth Conquest Club actually came out a year beforehand. Two seasons of the show have been produced so far, along with an OVA, as well as a light novel series that continues to this day.
How Cute High Lovingly Homages the Magical Girl Genre
Like with most magical girl shows, Cute High had bright colors and extravagant costumes for its title heroes, albeit with more traditionally masculine clothing instead of skirts or dresses. Despite this latter point, the frilliness still makes some of the boys look appropriately feminine. These, of course, come complete with transformation sequences, making the over-the-top affair even more glamorous. The portmanteau of "loveracelets" also falls in line with the genre's tropes, as the weapons and gear used by magical girls are typically given equally as ridiculous yet catchy names. The presence of talking magical animals is another comparable factor, even if cats with moons on their heads are cuter than space wombats.
Another element that the series shares with its influencers -- in a corny yet endearing way -- is the idea of healing people with love, all while fighting in the name of justice. This might seem a bit too on the nose and could even turn off some viewers, but it should fit right in with fans of franchises like Sailor Moon, who want a similar Saturday morning cartoon vibe overflowing with positivity.
Speaking of the Pretty Guardians, Cute High is something of a full circle evolution for how the magical genre has evolved since Sailor Moon debuted. Sailor Moon was essentially made to be an equivalent for Super Sentai tokusatsu teams -- but for girls. There's even an episode of Cute High where the boys put on a show for children before they're interrupted by monsters. The kids think it's part of the routine, and enjoy it for its resemblance to a tokusatsu adventure. Their rivals being incredibly similar to them is also reminiscent of both tokusatsu and magical girl shows.
All of this is done in a loving way, mind you. The series is not a dark deconstruction that cynically beats away at the magical girl formula like Madoka Magica does. It's also not a mean-spirited, disdainful attack on the genre, like recent attempts to do so with isekai. Instead, Cute High lovingly sends up what viewers expect of magical girl shows, applies them to boys, and is colorful and fun while doing so.
