I recently finished reading The Moe Manifesto: An Insider's Look at the Worlds of Manga, Anime, and Gaming by Patrick W. Galbraith. I was particularly interested in this book because it contains interviews with two creators involved with Showa magical girls -- Sato Toshihiko (佐藤 俊彦) and Nunokawa Yuji (布川ゆうじ). Nunokawa was involved with several shows in the Studio Pierrot Magical Girl Series, including Magic Angel Creamy Mami (魔法の天使クリィミーマミ), Magic Star Magical Emi (魔法のスターマジカルエミ), Magic Idol Pastel Yumi (魔法のアイドルパステルユーミ), Magic Stage Fancy Lala (魔法のステージ・ファンシーララ). Sato was among the creators of Magical Princess Minky Momo (魔法のプリンセス ミンキー モモ).
Both of them basically say that they never anticipated adult of male fans of their series, and were quite surprised. Nunokawa goes so far as to say that they didn't know how to make money off of the adult fans at first. Nunokawa also says that he believes the enduring power of the magical girl trope lies in its association with opportunities for peaceful change. I tend to agree with that, although I wouldn't want to limit the potential power of the archetype just to that.
Sato mentions Idol Angel Welcome Yoko (アイドル天使ようこそようこ), an early Heisei magical girl I don't hear about very often.
Overall, I enjoyed the bok, and I do finally feel like I understand what moe means which is nice. I do feel like Galbraith shrinks from the most intense question in that field, which is why there's so much focus on youth, but I do understand why.
