‘What Makes you Different to Me?’: Searching for Fairy Tale Sorority within Junichi Sato and Kaori Naruse’s Prétear – The New Legend of Snow White (Shin Shirayuki-hime Densetsu PurīCa, 2000-1)

This paper will explore the various feminist transformations and subversions of ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella’ within Junichi Sato and Kaori Naruse’s magical girl manga series, Prétear – The New Legend of Snow White (2000-1). The mahō shōjo (magical girl) genre, often placed at the intersection of romance and fantasy, overtly engages with the western fairy tale intertextual web. The heroines are often lost princesses, heirs to magical thrones of power, capable of the quintessential magical transformation from ordinary schoolgirl to overpowered superheroine – a transformation reminiscent of Cinderella’s fabled ballgown and slippers. However, as fairy tale heroines and princesses are criticised for their archetypal passivity, magical girls are forced into necessary activity, frequently – though often to their dismay – tasked with saving the world from an apocalyptic fate. This activity frames them as a point of collapse between the gendered and moral binaries of fairy tale archetypes – assuming the power of magical females, such as the fairy godmother and wicked witch, and narrative agency of the male hero or prince.

The correlation of magical girls and fairy tale princesses is often woven into the fabric of their narratives, retelling and realigning western tales within the conventions of the mahō shōjo genre to compelling and subversive effects. Junichi Sato and Kaori Naruse’s Prétear is no exception. Blending the narratives of both ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella’, Prétear positions the western fairy tale tradition as a direct pretext, whilst disrupting its structures. The merging of these tales is significant, allowing for their shared narratives and themes to rise to the forefront.