All in Agents of the Realm
Underneath the magic and fabulous outfits, magical girl stories are about girls and women finding their place in the world as they deal with their day-to-day as students, develop relationships and friendships, and discover their identity through the trials set before them.
Call it cheesy, call it manipulative, call it whatever, but no one can deny the wide gamut of emotions a scene can generate when set to the right music.
The concept of archetypes and their use in storytelling — especially in contemporary times — has been a hotly debated topic.