Magical Girls have always been a huge part of the anime industry. From Sailor Moon to Lyrical Nanoha to Madoka Magica, the genre is really quite popular. However, one university in the United States is using them as subjectsfor an English writing course. And the best part? Students have to watch certain anime to study for this course! The professor who taught the class uploaded a lecture he gave, titled “Grace v. Glamour: The Duality of Sailor Moon.”

The class is being taught at the University of South Carolina, one of the American state’s largest and most respected institutions. According to the professor, the course aims to:

● Understand the basic tropes and methodologies of the magical girl genre.
● Use the genre to introduce basic tenets of feminism.
● Question whether niche interests like anime can elaborate on theoretical questions of aesthetics versus politics in a meaningful way.
● Connect the magical girl genre to larger questions of political importance.
● Teach students how to write (this is, after all, an introductory level English course).

So, you thought you were just studying anime and magical girls, huh?  The class would focus on various themes, such as politics and feminism, which might surprise a lot of people. However, the class is still an introductory English writing class, so they have to get students excited about writing and interacting with media. The materials used in the course include:

Little Witch Academia
Sailor Moon: “A Moon Star is Born!”
Cardcaptor Sakura: “Sakura and the Blacked Out School Arts Festival”
Revolutionary Girl Utena: “Nanami’s Egg”
Bakemonogatari: “Tsubasa Cat, Part 2”
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, in its entirety.
The Powerpuff Girls: “Equal Fights”
Steven Universe: “An Indirect Kiss”

And here’s a part of the class’s syllabus:

Week 7
Mon. Sept. 26 – Reading: “Beyond Bodice-Rippers: How Romance Novels Came to Embrace Feminism.”
Wed. Sept. 28 – From Bakemonogatari: “Tsubasa Cat, Part 2”
Fri. Sept. 30 – Reading: Sianne Ngai: “The Cuteness of the Avant-garde”

That’s pretty packed indeed! Well, if watching Bakemonogatari and Sailor Moon would make you interested in writing, then why not?

The professor is even getting rave reviews online. It seems that a lot of people are actually quite enthusiastic when it comes to the subject known as anime.

source: Rocket news 24