As for sexual fetishizing of female superheroes that is rather rampant in the US too. (Not sure about Britain since from my limited knowledge, in particular, 2000 AD has rather strong female characters and frankly most of the stories are too grim to allow any really sexual attraction to form.) But I think the trend to sexualize Magical Girls is similar to the trend of frape. Magical Girls are empowered women but they are forced to submit to the sexual power of another. They may be able to defeat the embodiment of pure evil but they are at the tender mercy of a penis/tongue/dildo/fist/foot/etc…

Jaden – yes, but have you noticed that in the West its almost always male superheroes and in the East its female?

This is presumably because in the West we want to be them, and in the East they want to be INSIDE them.

1. Spider-Man – follows the same logic, a teenage superhero for a teenage demographic. Also any superheroine for the teenage demographic, Google Power Girl.

2. Although not usually tied to the origin (usually really bad science plays a part there) we have Krypto, Ace the Bathound, and Lockheed from X-men and Excalibur.

3. Best example is the Green Lantern’s Power Ring.

4. Superman and Batman were made in the 40’s, and fair chunk were made in late 50’s and early 60’s.

5. Most of a hero’s Rouges Gallery is formed in the first few years after their creation.

6. This thing is uniquely Japanese in origin, Japanese heroes just love to shout out their attacks too for some reason.

7. Shazam!

8. Again a Japanese thing, in American comics the costumes are so tight they just seem nude.

9. Homoerotic in general, but for lesbianism we have Wonder Woman and the X-Men as the standouts. In later years X-Men even has had tentacle bondage lesbianism.

10. One time they moved the Justice League to Detroit.

Truth be told the trend in current Magical Girl stories is the same as in American superhero stories, the whole post-modern dissection of the genre where it both pokes fun and makes homage to the past. That said there will probably be backlash soon, while it won’t have the same innocence as the old shows it will go back to the same frame of thought. I think that is what Shugo Chara! is doing anyway, I rather like it too.

BTW, I thought the new Nanoha movie was a retelling of the original series. Im cool with a new storyline, of course, especially if we get some new OP, ED, and Inserts. Nanoha music rocks. :D