Going back to Mahou Shoujo

It was the start of pandemic when I begin to collect toys that became the majority of my collections which were at first consisted of books and music boxes. And it was the Mahou Shoujo collection that came unexpectedly. Before, I was not really paying that much attention to magical girl anime. I like them, but I only watch them occasionally. I was introduced first to Sailormoon at the age of 4. It was followed by Wedding Peach, Magic Knight Rayearth, Akazukin Chacha, Superdoll Licca, Precure and ofcourse Cardcaptor Sakura. Because I watched a lot of them during my childhood, my memory of the episodes and story line were a blur; only remembering the main characters and OST. I left it there when I enter adulthood and forgot their charm really. Not until COVID started. COVID forced me to take everything slowly, but it also affected me mentally because I was used to 7 days of work outside the house, interacting with people, and travelling from city to city. Slowly depression is also creeping inside of me from day to day. That's when I rediscovered mahou shoujo animes again.

Magical Girls somehow helped me cope with the constantly changing everyday life of lockdowns and (actually) life uncertainties. The light story, the humour, music, and also the feel good theme helped me a lot to occupy my leissure time which was spent mostly on overthinking. I began to go back to the magical girls of my childhood and found myself hooked on them again. I then researched on their toys and surprisingly I can still recognize them; remembering how the toy section of the mall became an alley of pastels when they were first released in the 90's. I started on Cardcaptor Sakura years ago from the Clow cards from anime conventions and stationery sets from various shops and collectors. I planned on collecting her wands but it's hard to come by in shops so I continued on stationeries again at the beginning of 2020. At that time, I started my collection of Takara Licca chan and customed a brown haired doll into a Sakura Kinomoto doll. Year of 2021 was the year of Pretty Cure. I started with the Bandai Cure dolls first. Since I buy them second-hand, I have to restore them and sometimes sew their clothes if the dolls didn't come with any accessories. It was followed by various battery operated devices from the Futari wa Pretty Cure until the Troupical-Rouge Pretty Cure. Beginning of 2022, I suddenly got lucky on a few vintage Bandai dolls of Sailormoon and other retro anime such as Cutie Honey, Akazukin Chacha, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Wedding Peach. All were sent without clothes, with dusty bodies, ink transfers, and damaged (but managable) hairs. But I still love them and I think it was great feeling whenever I see them having a second chance.

Collecting magical girl toys and merch somehow became therapeutic for me. I learned how to fix wires for battery operated toys, and to restore vintage dolls to look like new again. I also called the hobby also "hunting" since from where I live, this kind of toys were a bit rare. I love the part of researching for rare finds and learning about the toy companies and artisans that produce them. I joined appreciation groups too and met a lot of friends that share the same passion. I am happy that I found mahou shoujo animes and tried my luck in collecting them. Although my collection is not that impressive, they bring me joy and they remind me of my happy childhood memories. It was also a great help for my creativity nowadays since I teach arts to small kids which are mostly girls. It brings a lot of inspiration when it comes to color and design for teaching crafts, and ideas when it comes to sewing challeging clothes for dolls too. 

I know this kind of hobby is frowned upon by some especially if they learned that a person like me at my age still collects them, but I don't really give them any thoughts now. The thing which is important for me is that I have found a positive outlet during these dark times, and I that it brought me joy and inspiration