Sunday, 5 July 2020
Discussion: Magical Girl Conspiracy
Hi guys, I've decided to take a little extra time for this one to make absolutely sure that I get it right. I've come up with a plan for a foundation to proceed forward for this plotline, and would like your thoughts on it before writing it out.
First of all, new cast members.
Dani: Goth, put off by happy go lucky style of magical girl genre
Eden: A sporty tomboy.
Beth: A snobby bookworm who doesn't have time for television.
Cari: A military otaku, who is annoyed that the actual military never gets involved in these things - or are made to look incompetent.
Francis: A young writer who feels her work was passed over because of a more popular magical girl show. She feels they're pandering and cloy, a fad that will one day pass and be seen as silly.
These five are gathered together for the purposes of a focus group by the Magical Girl Channel, as they wish to expand their audience a little. All five will be paid for their time.
Start the episode off with Asmodeus thinking about his intention to go for a wider market appeal. Doing this one at a time won't work for their purposes, so he's set up the focus group. He arrives (in human guise), introduces himself, and has even brought a performer along to say hello.
The five introduce themselves, and explain why they don't like the magical girl genre. Of course, they've already known about this in advance. An episode of a magical girl show has been made that should address their concerns and interests - but they feel that feedback from all five would be quite useful. Naturally, they will be provided with food, water, and a break between episodes to discuss amongst each other, but all five have to sign an NDA to agree not to discuss what they see and hear with the outside world.
How does that seem?
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Sounds cool overall. Comments:
ReplyDeleteSince Dani is a goth, I could see Asmodeus adding a rival magical girl with a tragic backstory. Those are moderately common in the genre anyway, so she could get into the show without having to give up her only defining characteristic so far.
From her description, Eden doesn't really have a reason to dislike the genre, and I think that may be an opportunity. What if she actually really likes magical girls, but pretends to hate it because she's embarrassed by it? That way, whatever Asmodeus inserts into the show for her could miss the mark, and magic could effect her differently.
If Beth doesn't regularly watch television, then showing adding something to the show might not be the right thing for her. Oh, it may get into her head just like the others, but instead of asking when and what channel to catch the next episode, she should want to know where she can get her hands on the novelization, and why it isn't out already.
There are good reasons that militaries get left out of most magical girl shows, which is an extension of why magical girl activities are usually kept secret from their parents and other adults. If military arms or tactics just don't work against magical enemies for whatever reason, (magical barriers immune to tank shells and carpet bombs, tendency for possessed troops, weapons, or vehicles to cause unacceptable chaos and destruction, etc), then the logical thing for a military to do is to take command of the only people who can fight the enemy: magical girls, at which point they're in the uncomfortable position of explicitly using child soldiers. I'm not sure how Cari's specific issue can be addressed without running afoul of those reasons or looking like obvious window dressing. Maybe someone else has some ideas.
Francis is someone who can be of use to Asmodeus. As a professional writer, she's qualified to write the novelization that Beth will want. Getting her employed on the project would get his hooks into her better than anything he could put in the show, would keep her in a position where she can be closely observed, and would have someone building up and spreading the enchantment who is already involved with production, so that when the side effects start to appear, the situation could easily snowball beyond Asmodeus's ability to control it.
If they're going to sign an NDA, is it going to have anything unusual, magical, or outright evil in it? It doesn't necessarily have to, but it feels like an obvious possibility that should at least be mentioned, whether it's one of the girls reading carefully and seeing nothing wrong or Asmodeus mentioning behind the scenes that he slipped a little something in.
A solid cast and I like the potential of the concept. A good premise to gather a group of gals you would never see hanging out together. The episode, post-discussion tempo is a great method for showing their development. And a clever scheme by the villains to advance their plans while appearing legitimate.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would suggest modifying Dani, Eden, and Beth. Cari and Francis are my favorites of the five because a military otaku and a professional writer are a strange pick to be a magical girl (since that’s their inevitable fates), whereas the other three feel like common typecasting for the role. I think it would help to give them more atypical nuances.
On the matter of the focus testing. I was thinking that the “show” they watch would actually be a shared delusion between all of the girls. Projecting what they believe would be an “ideal” magical girl show to create the content of what they are “watching”. To an outside observer, there is nothing but static. No episode or anything legible playing on the TV. The content they’re perceiving formed from their own minds. The preference and biases of each girl mixed together to create the story and characters. With themselves as the protagonist (or a projection of their “ideal magical girl”).
With their conflicting personalities, it definitely should become a mess.
Going off Anon's Ideas. I agree that one of them should secretly like the genre and this allows them not only to come out with it. but become an accomplice with Asmodeus' schemes.
Or maybe have two of them on his side, one wholly under the spell and the other being cognizant and willing for their own reasons.
And I agree that this should spiral out of Asmodeus’ and his company’s control.