(no subject)

[miko2]

Sometimes it's hard to understand how my mind works, but let's start with this: over the last week I've been reading various Ranma 1/2-related fan fiction stories. Many of them have been crossovers with either Ah! My Goddess or Sailor Moon. Many of these have involved Ranma becoming an incredibly powerful Goddess, God, or Sailor Senshi / magical girl. (At least one of them has Ranma being the reincarnation of Queen Serenity, mother of Sailor Moon). In both of the Ah! My Goddess crossovers, Ranma visited heaven (Asgard/whatever) soon after ascending to divinity.

We won't get into the whole "main character suddenly becomes godlike, or an actual god" discussion here. Most of these stories are pretty well written so I've ignored things like that that I tend to find a little annoying. The point is, my mind tends to process things in a weird way. I've been listening to some of my Gothic metal the last few days, and some songs seemed particularly suited to a story about magical girls. I'm not sure why. I've already posted about how much I'm in love with the Elis song Tales From Heaven and Hell, which deals with the death of a father and wondering if there's anything after death. Never mind that nothing in this song matches anything in any of the stories that I've been reading -- in my mind, it seems like a good start to a magical girl story of some sort, and Sabine's voice seems well suited for a magical girl show.

It inspired me to toss a bunch of potential "magical girl" music onto my iPod and listen to it today. This included a lot of anime music and a lot of Gothic metal. I began to list which songs seemed to fit a potential magical girl story, and where they might fit, and this afternoon I refined my magical girl story song list a bit. So here's what I have:

A. Opening Themes

(Several anime songs that I like, some from magical girl shows. They don't necessarily fit into my overall "story" but I wanted to include them.)

1. Ryo Ohki's Theme (from Tenchi Muyou)
2. Fruits Candy (theme from Card Captor Sakura)
3. My Heart iidasenai, Your Heart tashikametai (theme from Ah! My Goddess OAV series)
4. Virtual Star Embryology (Revolutionary Girl Utena theme)

B. Funeral Scene

(Story begins after the main character's father has passed away, leaving her alone and not sure where her life will lead.)

1. Tales From Heaven or Hell ~ Elis (a song about a father's death)
2. All Soul's Night ~ Loreena McKennitt (a song about honoring the dead)
3. Swamped ~ Lacuna Coil (a song that speaks of destiny, and about strange things on "just another (normal) day")

C. Gods and Revelations

(Main character meets whatever entity grants her magical girl status and power / it is revealed that she is to become a magical girl.)

1. Lullaby (song from Key the Metal Idol) (A pretty lullaby, sets a mood.)
2. Open Your Mind (theme from Ah! My Goddess TV Series)
3. Valier - Queens of the Valar ~ Battlelore (song about magical girls... well, Tolkien magical elf girls anyway.)
4. Mother Earth ~ Within Temptation (song about the ultimate magical girl.)

D. Ascent to Heaven

(Main character visits heaven/a magical land/learns more about her powers, role, and destiny.)

1. The Mystic's Dream ~ Loreena McKennitt (this song was used for the made-for-TV movie Avalon, based on the book by Marion Zimmer Bradley).
2. Color My Sky ~ Edenbridge (Edenbrige is music designed for a beautiful otherworldly setting.)
3. Avalon ~ Lunatica (One of the ultimate magical lands, of course. I call on the winds to lead me through the veiling mists, to reach my motherland in the dawn, Avalon! mystified island, heart of Britannia, Place of my childhood, core of my memory...)

E. First Battles

(Figure you have to have some early fights for the main character to learn their skills and figure out who the big enemy is. In this and the later battle sections I throw in a lot of the battle songs from the Revolutionary Girl Utena series. Most of them are quite short.)

1. Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku (from Revolutionary Girl Utena)
2. When Where Who Witch (Utena)
3. Der Letzte Tag ~ Elis
4. Last Evolution (Utena)
5. Fuuin Jubaku (Utena)
6. Show Me The Way ~ Elis (Oh mother, keeper of eternal truth, You show me the way, you show me that everything I ever need in my whole life, Lied there inside of me.)
7. Nanbito mo Kataru Koto Nashi (Utena)
8. Inhuman Illusory Soul Fusion Magic (Utena)
9. On the Wings of Sun ~ Secret Sphere (Run warrior, run, fight brave the shadow of the night, Wings of glory with blood stain the sky)
10. Utopian-Past Tense (Utena)
11. Earth as a Character Gallery (Utena)
12. Three Ships of Berik Part I ~ Therion

F. Love Interest

(It wouldn't be a good magical girl show without a love interest.)

1. Between Love and Pain ~ Arwen
2. The Maiden and the Minstrel Night ~ Blind Guardian
3. Into Your Light ~ Leaves' Eyes (Take me to that place, where I feel so safe... into your light)
4. Lovelorn ~ Leaves' Eyes

G. The Enemy

(The enemy of the magical girl is revealed.)

1. Ice Queen ~ Within Temptation (On cold wings she's coming... you'd better hide...)
2. Innocent Hearts ~ Elis (Innocent hearts are made of glass, fragile, break easily...)
3. Snow White Queen ~ Evanescense (You belong to me, my Snow White Queen, there's no where to run...)

H. All Is Lost?

(The protagonist faces her moment of doubt or darkness... perhaps her love lies dying....)

1. Lost Soul ~ Elis (When did I begin to follow the shadows? When I lay my soul into your hands....)
2. Rowena's Song ~ Unshine (Will I die by the sun and forever lose my one, in this dark, where all hope is gone...)
3. Dark Wings ~ Within Temptation (Don't you die on me, you haven't made your peace, live life, breathe, breathe... dark wings they are descending, see shadows gathering around...)
4. The Promise ~ Withing Temptation (I held you tight to me, you slipped away, You promised to return to me, and I believed)
5. The Beekeeper ~ Tori Amos (A song about making a bargain with death to save the life of the one you love.)

I. Final Battle

1. Eldanie Uelle ~ Fairyland
2. The Script For My Requiem ~ Blind Guardian (Returning of the miracles, it's my own requiem... agony is the script for my requiem...)
3. Conic Absolute Egg Algebra (Utena)
4. Silent Scream ~ Lunatica
5. Transparent Period of Adolescence (Utena)
6. World of Glass ~ Tristania (I'm a falling stone in a world glass, I'm a ticking bomb with a smiling mask.)
7. Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth 16th Century (Utena)

J. Victory & End Themes

1. Fly Me Courageous ~ Drivin 'n' Cryin
2. Lay Your Head Down ~ Screaming Trees (If it all goes wrong, you can lay your head down...)
3. Quetzalcoatl ~ Therion
4. Leaves' Eyes ~ Leaves' Eyes (True love lasts forever)