Dark Magical Girl/Sandbox



A Dark Magical Girl's greatest fear isn't monsters, or magical threats from beyond time and space. No, a young girl's greatest fear overshadows all of those things.

Her greatest fear is to be alone.

Normal Magical Girls have a good relationship with their family members, they make friends at school--they may be a little dim, but that's okay, and this all translates into the magical ability to defend what they love from external threats.

A Dark Magical Girl doesn't have that. For her, Parental Abandonment is not funny or convenient. Her parents are absent at best and abusive at worst, and though she's smart, she can't understand why her life has turned out as it has. She doesn't have real friends or exploits past the academic (if she goes to school). This is because she either doesn't know how to communicate socially, or she's already lost her friends, and wants to avoid making new ones, the loss of which will just bring her further pain. If she seems outwardly creepy, it's another unfortunate reason people avoid her, which only leads to her being further perceived as evil or otherwise abnormal.

She often acts as The Dragon or the Dark Chick to the Big Bad, who she may crave approval from as a parental figure. Inevitably, the Dark Magical Girl will fight the Magical Girl, acting as her Evil Counterpart or Shadow Archetype, her motivation being acknowlegment from the Big Bad or jealousy of everything the heroine has that she does not. She doesn't want the Magical Girl's pity, but the MG usually tries to reach out to her and gain her friendship regardless. The DMG almost always gets converted to the good guys by the end. Once this happens most Dark Magical Girls tend to be fiercely loyal to the Magical Girl heroine.

The abilities of the Dark Magical Girl are often the polar opposite to the Magical Girl. She is also usually faster, smarter, and more ruthless then the MG, making her the primary obstacle to the MG's triumph. Younger Dark Magical Girls tend to be Little Miss Badasses, even if they are a Cute Witch. If she is a Magical Girl Warrior, she's frequently a Lady of War. One common way of signalling a Dark Magical Girl is her outfit is usually slightly more fetishy and dark, which might explain why a Heel Face Turn doesn't always mean a switch in costume.

The Dark Magical Girl is a subtrope of Anti-Villain. Not to be confused with the Black Magician Girl or especially the Dark Action Girl (who is quite different).