>>282038501
They're either
>in training to ohohoho
>too evil to ohohoho
>too nice to ohohoho
Tomoyo belongs to group 3, while Meiling is in group 1. Observe the difference in finger and thumb posture and facial expression. Tomoyo offers a cunning retort, but this is a means of engaging in conversation. Meiling's smug aura is diffused through her social group (consisting of herself and imagined onlookers), in order to assert superiority.
This has been your daily ojou taxonomy lesson. Thank you for your attention, and have a pleasant day.

>>279934769
Abstractly, I think the genre is about
>having a formula
>playing around with each variable in the formula to keep it interesting
>tying the formula to the overall narrative
>varying the formula gently
For example, the Cutie Honey formula is "Honey fights Panther Claw". The variables are "villain of the week" and "what transformation Honey uses". Then over time you make it more sexy, or more funny, or focus in on the parts that work and ditch the others.
Sailor Moon adds a lot of extra variables (team of girls, tuxedo mask, layered villains). CCS is really good at making the formula fit with its world and themes. Nurse Angel doesn't do any of the elements particularly well conceptually, but makes up for it somewhat with good execution. And so on.
So I think the ideal Mahou Shoujo does all of those things well. But realistically it's just a set of tradeoffs between each item. I have no idea which I like best. Maybe CCS.