Abstract

Through a queer lens, this thesis examines the role that the magical boy character plays in the manga Magical Boy Majorian (2007-2008), and in season 15 of the popular magical girl genre anime franchise Pretty Cure, entitled Hugtto! PreCure (2018-2019). Using queer theory and gender studies research, this thesis argues that the magical boy figure challenges problematic forms of masculinity by performing what I call ‘shōjoness,’ a particular form of feminine aesthetic mainly found in shōjo (for girls) manga, and anime. The thesis contends that henshin (transformation) sequences allow a space for gender negotiation, which disrupts a heteronormative structure through the crossing, and blending, of gender expression and form. Acting as what Sedgwick calls a queer survival object (1993), the magical boy becomes a site for queer representation, but also what I call a queering device. In other words, this thesis argues that Majorian and Hugtto serve as escapes from the burden of heteronormativity, while also holding to some extent the power to inspire change in attitudes toward queerness within, and beyond the pages of the manga, or the screen of anime. Analyzing key scenes from both works mentioned above, this thesis explores how medium specificity (manga structure, and animation techniques) renders queerness by contrasting it with more standard ways of drawing, and animating, consequently challenging normative ways of being. Informed by Scott McCloud’s theorizing of the gutter, Thomas Lamarre’s work on the interval, and Sara Ahmed’s discussion on queer orientation, Moon Prism Boys frames particular forms of interstices as spaces that have the potential to positively disturb a monolithic form of masculinity when brought into contact with queerness.