“Magical girls exist because justice does not.”

Yeah, the depressed millennial woman suffering from burnout and credit card debt suddenly finding out she's a magical girl got me, okay? A Magical Girl Retires is a short novella, but it manages to hit hard with its contemporary topics of climate change and covid intertwined with fantastical ideas such as clairvoyance and time manipulation. The beautiful cover and chapter illustrations added a romantic and nostalgic charm to the story.

I've loved the magical girl anime genre since I was a child, and this was a thoroughly enjoyable modern take. It's quick, witty, and incredibly relatable. The translator's note at the end was also a very good read, and I'm looking forward to reading more Korean literature when possible!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

First Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an Advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was delightful, as a fellow 29 year burnout with too much debt and no real idea of where my life is going this book was a comfort. Our main character was incredibly relatable and the humor was fun. I would have liked a slightly longer story, hell I would have loved a longer story. But i think that this is a story better left leaving the reader wanting.

I wish the larger conflict was a little bit more devoped and longer as a critique.

The art is a wonderful and really captures the vibe of each chapter.

Overall i loved this book and recomemd this to every 20-30 something who wants to know did Iever stop being a girl? And is just lost in at where their life is going.

I’ve been in love with magical girl narratives for what feels like forever. It’s very rare to come across a story that goes beyond the realm of adolescence. Reading about Roa, an adult magical girl tasked with saving the world while still needing to be employed to pay her bills felt like a dream. But this story is so much more than that, exploring themes such as the trials and tribulations of both modern society and the future, the disappointment of unrealized potential, incandescent female rage and so much more. A line from the translator’s note really sums it up best. “The magic that magical girls want is not to grow into giants or connect powerful fragrances or manipulate time or be clairvoyant—it’s the power of justice. Magical girls exist because justice does not.” Here, girls almost never age out of that yearning to be more, to be magical. It never leaves us because justice almost never finds us. I loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I grew up watching magical girl shows such as Sailor Moon so I obviously had to read this, and I wasn’t disappointed. While the book is short, the opportunities for analysis are well thought out. The concept of these magical girls and how they are created was both sad and kind of amazing since they now have magical abilities. Not to mention the illustrations were beautiful.

I highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

A short, fast-paced read, A MAGICAL GIRL RETIRES is ostensibly lighthearted yet surprisingly thoughtful with hidden depth and dark themes. The main character's plight should be relatable to countless young people with her economic woes in a seemingly hopeless world.

Park is very clever in her use of the machinations behind magical girls and their magic that subtly, succinctly reflect the harsh reality faced by girls and women, which is especially relevant for her feminist-hating and incels-coddling native South Korea. The novel's underlying dark themes are threaded with some humor and sparkles, and I like how the most alarming disaster is concluded to be climate change, not some aliens, criminals or monsters.

While the book's current short iteration works alright, I think Park could have expanded the story even more. A longer length would certainly make the characters, wolrd and themes more fully fleshed out, as well as reducing the currently almost dizzying and frenetic pace of the novel. Hur's translation, as always, is great and I also like the illustrations by Kim, though I do find it quite ironic that no woman prominently contributes to the English version.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC to review!

“The reason magical girls exist is because they needed their power the most. In other words, before a magical girl awakens her powers, she’s the weakest person in the world… Because these powers are granted to the weakest people, it just looks like girls are the only ones who get to be magical.”

A Magical Girl Retires explores concepts of purpose, despair, agency, and above all— justice. It critiques those who have the power to bring positive change, only to use it for evil— and the price that everyone else must pay to right those wrongs. It empowers us all to engage our inner Magical Girl to band together to address injustice and the greatest threat to humanity— climate change.

Seamlessly floating between exceptionalism and the mundane, it perfectly captures the reality of existence. Saving the world from destruction— only to fear being late to work at the convenience store and have crippling credit card debt. Foiling a plot to bomb Heathrow airport— only to be called to attend a job fair and union duties.

Also, the translator’s note was wonderful— highly recommend reading it after finishing the book!!

“But for justice to exist, we have to imagine it first.”

really fun, very magical and captivating from start to end. this teeny novella has such fun concepts! i was SO hyped when I got this one and it did not disappoint, thanks for the arc.

I thought this was such a fun read and the artwork was gorgeous. It's so relatable as a millennial - there were parts I thought would be cheesy or too silly that ended up being the perfect amount of comedy to take some of the stress out of the situation without undermining the seriousness of the topic. It was a fairly short read but I enjoyed every second of it.

Thank you so much to HarperVia, NetGalley, Anton Hur, and Park Seolyeon for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review!

A Magical Girl Retires was an absolute delight! I read it in one sitting and had a wonderful time. This was my first time reading something by this author, and I am very impressed!

What I loved:
- Very relatable main character: we all want to be special, right? but we also just want a normal life and to be happy. I felt very seen and represented with the main character’s mental health and desires.
- Easy-to-follow plot: engaging, fun, fast-paced, some small twists here and there. Very entertaining!
- Characters: I loved all of the characters, even Mirae, and I loved that the cast was all ✨women✨

Overall I am rating this title 4.5 out of 5 stars! Rounded to 4 for Goodreads and NetGalley. This is perfect for fans of magical realism and contemporary fiction!

**This ARC was provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to both companies for this opportunity.**

“I… don’t think I’m young enough to be a magical girl?”

In ‘A Magical Girl Retires’ we follow a 29 year old woman in her journey to becoming a magical girl. However, the life of a magical girl is not as glamorous as they make it out to be in the tv shows. This magical girl has to study, work and pay off her debts while also having the crisis of climate change hang on her shoulders!

I truly did not expect this to become a book I read in one sitting. Although it is not a super long book, I am just not that kind of person. I get distracted super easily, but this book captures my attention and did not let go of it.

It is a heartwarming and comedic tale which takes the magical girl trope and flips it on its head. I loved it. While this book teaches the reader that one is never too old to go after their dreams, it also teaches that perhaps out of all your dreams the one that comes first in your mind isn’t always the right option for you.

I would recommend this book to everyone who loves Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica!

As a person who loves a good anime this read like a magical girl/slice of life anime thats either 12-14 episodes long or a 90 maybe 120 minute movie. I was unsure if I would enjoy it but Park Seolyeon’s ability to discuss the real life struggles of debt, job hunting and global climate change made the characters feel more relatable and real. Its slow and mundane in spots but then it just peaks up hence my comparison to a solo season anime or movie.

I really enjoyed A Magical Girl Retires, a novella by Park Seolyeon about a young adult in Korea who is trying to figure out her next steps in life. It is amazing how much is covered in less than 90 pages, about the main character's relationship with her grandfather and love of watchmaking, about magical girls, climate change and revenge vs. justice. The book has a well respected translator, Anton Hur, which helps it flow well. I enjoyed the illustrations as well. A fun and quick but also moving read. Thanks to Netgalley and HarperVia for this eARC.

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon is a novella written for older magical girl fans that explores topics of girlhood, suicidal ideation, and when are you too old to start over?

I wanted to read this the moment I saw the cover. It is not an exaggeration to say that I immediately flipped out and searched for it on NetGalley because I had to read it. I grew up on magical girl, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. and I still love it, so a novella exploring the themes of the genre from a twenty-nine-year-old POv was absolutely up my alley. The credit card debt and card card as a magical wand and climate change are just cherries on top for me.

The Voice is perfect for the blend of nostalgic coziness and exploration of deeper, heavier, darker topics.

This novella absolutely did it for me. I loved it from the opening page all the way to the last sentence. I have wanted this novella for years and it delivered. I’ve wanted to see older magical girls and lonely twenty-five and up women finding friendship in each other and the hint of Sapphic attraction in the same book for a very long time. I’ve wanted to see magical girls dealing with current and modern issues, not only monsters.

I want more books like this. This is probably my favorite novella of all time.

I would recommend this to lovers of magical girl who are looking for something dealing with our current social issues.

A story about a 29-year-old woman who lost her job during covid and stops just short of killing herself over credit card debt when she finds out she’s a magical girl? Literally WHO could say no to a book like this. I feel like lab scientists couldn’t have cooked up a more compelling combination.

Without overselling it TOO much, this was little bit of Kaiji, a little bit of Madoka Magica, and a teeny tiny bit of Tokyo Mew Mew (it counts!). And yes, it IS gay (it counts!!!!!)! Kim Sanho’s chapter insert illustrations are SO subtly gorgeous, too, and really help set the tone of the book.

All in all, a really fun, super quick read (I think it was about two hours when I finally sat down and started). I’d especially recommend this if you’re a comics/magical girl fan who doesn’t read much fiction, as a literary gateway :0)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Netgalley review, possible plot points mentioned below.

For a book with such big ideas, 100 pages and less is not going to execute the idea well. We're thrown into the story that constantly feels like a lot of information is missing entirely and nothing is really explained. With the small amount of pages it literally goes:

Damn I'm not a magical girl - oh that girl is killing the world while I'm at work (there's that weird part where she's like :( we shouldn't go after the girl trying to kill the world that's mean she's just a girl 🙄) - oh I'm at a magical girl meeting - I have powers and that other girl is defeated so suddenly

Then what was the point of the book summary if it never really followed through?

"Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul’s Mapo Bridge" genuinely didn't see at all??

"It’s global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too." Again where??

This book could have had such an impact, making a fun silly book while also battling topics of climate change of debt and the pandemic but instead we got almost none of what was mentioned, maybe it should have been a graphic novel instead.

I was really looking forward to this arc but in reality I'm super bummed over it.

I thank the authors and netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

This is an adorable story! While far from my favourite take on modern day Magical Girls and what it would be, Park fantastically captures the anxiety that we’re all facing these days, and what it would mean for magical girls to exist in our world. I really enjoyed the story, and it’s ability to invoke feeling in the reader is unmatched. The illustrations also really added to the story. Last, but far from least, ahhhh! Sapphic Koreans! So rarely as a sapphic Korean do I get to read stories with sapphic Koreans, and it’s delight every single time. I wasn’t expecting it, so imagine my surprise when the story went there? Flawless! I’m in love.

I'm a huge fan of the translator Anton Hur and his tendency for translating weird and interesting little books. I trust his taste. From the first moment I heard the title, I knew "A Magical Girl Retires" would be one of those.

This is a rather whimsical little tale, as much a love letter to magical girl animation as a subtle commentary on women's powerlessness in society. The prose is straightforward, and despite some rather dark themes, it is carried by it's lighthearted humor. I wouldn't call this book laugh-out-loud funny, but it is aware of it's own absurdity. The addition of gorgeous manga-style illustrations is a treat, and I spent a long time looking for the illustrator before realizing I already follow them on Twitter (@sanhomaydraw in case you were wondering!). Personally, I would have liked to explore some of the characters a little more so I could truly fall in love with them, but the novella's short length didn't really allow for it.

"A Magical Girl Retires" is a fun and quick little read. Anton Hur mentioned being a fan of the author's other works, so I hope more will be brought to English audiences in the future; and as always, I am looking forward to any of his future translation projects, as well as his authorial debut later this year!

Gorgeous cover art and translated by the incredible Anton Hur? I knew immediately I had to read this novella.

In brief, this is set in a society with magical girls (think Sailor Moon or Madoka Magica but less dark). Our main character is depressed, drowning in credit card debt, and at the end of her rope. She attempts to commit suicide one night but instead meets a magical girl who tells her that she too is destined to be a magical girl. But she quickly realizes that magical girl work isn’t all sparkles and rainbows, and that she still needs to manage her real-life problems. Add that onto a magical conflict and the impending doom of global climate change, and you have an entertaining little novella.

I quite enjoyed reading this story and adored the chapter art. It is fast paced and witty, while still addressing some deeper themes such as depression and hopelessness in early adulthood, self-worth and community, and justice. I especially liked the contrast between the lighthearted tone of the story and the apocalyptic backdrop. The sapphic romance was also extremely endearing.

I feel like this story has more to say about women in society than it's letting on, and I'd have liked more exploration into that theme. However, I do acknowledge that the story works well as is, and sometimes less is more.

Overall this was a fun read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves the ridiculous sparkle of the magical girl subgenre and doesn’t want to take themselves too seriously. And as always, I’m so happy to see the ever-growing appreciation and love for translated works, and am grateful to be able to read international works in English.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First of all, what a gorgeous cover! It reminds me of all of the magical girl animes I used to watch. Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon is a brand-new parody / homage to the magical girl genre. The story revolves around a 29 year-old millenial woman who feels like she is at the end of her rope. When all hope seems lost, a guardian angel appears and tells her that she has been chosen to become the most powerful magical girl of all time. She accepts, but being a magical girl in the real world isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Can she learn to control her powers and defeat real-world evils like climate change?

Here is a magical excerpt from the opening chapter:

"I understood this woman, who was named Ah Roa, had known exactly where I would be and came to find me at just the right time.
But back then, when I didn’t know anything, the only thought that came to mind was that this was a miracle, and I burst into tears.
“You . . . you know about my destiny?” I asked.
“Of course.”
Her voice was so trustworthy, so pleasant. Ah Roa came up to me and took my hand, her touch as gentle as someone handling something fragile.
“Your destiny is to become a magical girl.”"

Overall, A Magical Girl Retires is a satire that will appeal to fans of Amazon Prime's The Boys or the Platinum End anime by the creators of Death Note. One highlight of this book is the amazing premise. I've been waiting so long for a magical girl novel to appear in mainstream fiction. This book, which is translated by the world-renowned translator, Anton Hur, from Korean, is the closest that the magical girl genre has had to breaking out outside of Japan in the past 20 years. Another highlight of this book is how this book is a work of literature from Korea in translation. As a reader of Asian descent, I am a huge proponent and supporter of Asian fiction in translation.

I am so happy to be able to review and support this novella. There aren't enough books and short stories being translated from other languages, and I am so happy that this book is being given a chance to reach readers outside of Korea. I did take off 1 star because the beginning of the story is a bit bleak and depressing. Plus, there is a lack of humor throughout the book that I would have expected from a parody. Make sure that you read the content warnings. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of magical girls in general, I recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in April!

I really enjoyed this tale. The worldbuilding was just enough to get the reader intrigued about how Magical Girls work throughout the world but also left it a bit vague in terms of the impact and what other events they have impacted throughout the world. Maybe the author is leaving it a bit open for future novels? The book itself was just the right amount of magic, wit, and self revelation. I would love to see these characters and this world again. This was my last read of 2023 and it was a 5-star read for sure.