lit. "Magical Girl Wars" is a media franchise created by the internet television variety show 2.5 Jigen Terebi. It consists of an iOS game titled Magica Wars Lock-On which was released on December 20, 2013; a free-to-play smartphone browser game by DMM Games titled Magica Wars Tactics, released in January 2014; a PlayStation Vita game was released on March 27, 2014;2013-12-03, Magica Wars, Gainax’s Next Anime Series, Is Getting A Vita Game , Siliconera2014-03-11, Magica Wars Zanbatsu hits PS Vita in Japan this month , Gematsu and an anime television series by Gainax that aired on April 8, 2014.
The franchise personifies Japan's 47 prefectures, each one being represented by a magical girl. The character designs are determined via a contest on the art website Pixiv. The voice actress for each girl was born in the prefecture that they represent.
The Magica Wars concept started development on June 28, 2012, coinciding the premiere of 2.5 Jigen Terebi. Using the concept of "livening up one's locale", a character design contest was hosted on the illustration SNS Pixiv during June 28 to August 8 wherein each entry consists of a magical girl and her familiar. By the end of the contest, a staggering 3,248 entries from Japan and other countries joined the period. Of these entries, 60 were chosen as official designs for the magical girls that would represent the 47 prefectures of Japan and Taiwan, with 3D sprites especially made for three of these entries, which are representatives for the Miyagi, Aomori and Kanagawa prefectures.
After the selection of the 60 entries from the character design contest, three games were green-lit for release. Two of these games, Magica Wars Lock On! and Magica Wars Tactics, were designed for smartphones, while a third, Magica Wars Zanbatsu, is released for the PlayStation Vita handheld console. An anime series and a manga based on the concept were also green-lit. Each project has a different number of cast of Magical Girls, the anime and manga having the fewest featured. The Zanbatsu game featured 47 prefecture magical girls, two original girls, the amnesiac protagonist Sakaki Amane and another original character Maki Inada who gives the amnesiac Amane her name and is the first person who Amane meets; also guest starring in Zanbatsu are some Magatsuhi-corrupted magical girl cast from Lock-On as antagonists. The Zanbatsu game ended service on December 22, 2015 after slightly over a year's run from March 2014.
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