A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.

This was cute! I didn't know what to expect going in, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this book seemed like it would be meant for me. Millennial, debt, climate change! All super relevant stuff. Unfortunately, it did miss mark. While I think that the concept and the characters had so much potential, the length of the story did not give that potential the time it needed to flourish. The main character was set up to be relatable to a specific demographic, but it didn’t get there for me. Which honestly, was definitely disappointing because I was very excited to read this.

My favorite character was the Ah Roa. I really wish we could’ve had more of her because I absolutely adored everything about her and would love to see a Novella focused on her journey.

This was a quick, fun read! The humor was great, I enjoyed the characterization, and the story kept me invested!

I am very, very new to reading translated novels. Obviously I've had some experience with manga, but written novels are a different story. But I have to say, this novel, though short, was absolutely stunning. I LOVED the characters, the cast being relatively small meant that each one could have a moment to shine, and I loved the small setting with big stakes. As a massive Sailor Moon fan who is now a grown adult, this book touched my heart and my soul and made me cry and laugh and smile. I loved the gentle romance, I loved the strong self discovery, I loved the deep introspection. This was truly a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone who loves anime, fantasy, or coming of age stories. The ending made me so, so happy. I was beaming when I finished this book. I would love to see more books like this, not quite a fairytale retelling, but something different set in a world we're familiar with. 5/5 stars.

So, here's my take on this book: it's like taking a stroll through the life of a magical girl who's finally someone you can totally relate to.

Overall, I'd slap a 4-star rating on this novel, though it's more like a 3.75/5. Initially, what grabbed me were the stunning art style and the voice of our main character. She's just so down-to-earth! As someone who's been through the ups and downs of their 20s, I found it super refreshing and enjoyable. But I gotta admit, there were moments where things felt a tad repetitive. It didn't bother me too much, but I was hoping for some fresh twists instead of the same old mishaps in different packaging. Still, I had a blast reading it.

If you're up for something that hits close to home (maybe even dives into a bit of an existential crisis), give this book a shot. It's a quirky, slightly darker take on the magical life that's lost its shine.

Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for hooking me up with this ARC!

An enjoyable romp through the life of a magical girl who is (finally) just like you.

Overall, I'd give this novel a 3.75/5, rounded up to 4 stars. I think initially I was really drawn to both the art style utilized (which is gorgeous), and the voice that our FMC has. She's so relatable! As someone who has absolutely experienced the downside of living in your 20s, I found this to be refreshing and fun. Despite this, I have to admit that there was a slight repetitiveness to the book. This didn't bother me all that much, but it left me wanting our FMC to experience things that were a bit... newer. That weren't the same catastrophes in different fonts. However, I don't think that this is something that needs to be a dealbreaker for future readers. I had so much fun with the novel despite this.

If you're looking for something that speaks to you (maybe even existential crisis you), I think that you should give this book a try. It's a fun, darker glimpse at a magical life that has lost its sparkle.

As always, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this ARC!

I really wanted to enjoy this one. It has several of the elements of a book I’d love: magic and existential dread in your 20s. But the writing style was so removed from the characters that I could not connect or care. It took me far too long to get through this short book and it was sadly not an enjoyable time. Hopefully it finds its readers. Maybe those who enjoy sad girl books with small speculative elements?

"The most iconic magic girl of all, Sailor Moon, specifically refers to herself as a champion of justice... Magical girls exist because justice does not." -- Letter from the Translator

This short novella was truly amazing. Despite its brevity, it still hits incredibly hard with its emotional impact and relatability, particularly for women and femme-presenting individuals.

The unnamed narrator, who represents the average every day woman in South Korea, opens the story with contemplating suicide over credit card debt. But it runs so much deeper than that. It's not just about the money--it's the build of all the little things that slowly crush our spirits: jobs, relationships, education, the regrets, loss, and the anxiety of our future.

However, she is rescued by Ah Roa, a magical girl who believes that she too can become a magical girl who has the power to save the world. But this is not just about saving the world. It's about saving yourself first. And finding love for yourself and others.

With kdrama-level snippets of comedy and deeply relatable parallels to the struggles of our reality, the novella encapsulates hopes, dreams, and failures all while maintaining our suspension of disbelief where the most ordinary of people can become a magical girl.

In a world where climate change looms over us all and the anxiety of what's ahead, this novella reminds you of the strength within yourself to move forward.

A young woman that is coping with the death of her grandfather and drowning in credit card debt gets a second chance at life by becoming a famed magical girl. I really enjoyed this novella. The main character was incredibly relatable. It captured the powerless feeling of what it is like to be a young woman with far too many challenges facing you. For a shorter story it really packed an emotional punch.. The chapter art was perfect. I look forward to getting a physical copy of this book to do a reread soon!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Via for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a book! I was originally interested in A MAGICAL GIRL RETIRES because of the gorgeous cover and the title, but I’m so glad that I stayed to read the book. The story of a depressed millennial woman who’s told she’s the magical girl who will save the world, changing her life and herself. It’s the classic fantasy of the magical girl combined with modern day problems like climate change presented in a somewhat blunt fashion that brings it all together. The story and the book itself were super readable and the time I was reading it absolutely flew by. It’s a little relatable while also expanding the idea of the magical girl, and it’s absolutely worth the read!

I think what works best about this book is the combination of the somewhat fun fantasy elements (the magical girl and her transformations and talismans), with the relatively mundane (credit card debt, jobs) and the more existential (climate change, purpose in life). The world itself is relatively fully formed while still existing as mostly left open to the elements that the reader will fill in. And even if you’re not aware of the way it interacts with Korean social culture as translator Anton Hur talks about in his note at the end, I still think the central ideas and messaging follow through.

As someone who’s never actually interacted much with the traditional idea of the magical girl in the media, this was a really fun way to look into this fantasy classic. A MAGICAL GIRL RETIRES is an easy, fun, and yet still thought-provoking read, and I would definitely recommend it!

A Magical Girl Retires is a witty, unique, and delightful story about self exploration through the eyes of a 29 year old magical girl. Who is so relatable in so many ways; credit card debt, unemployed, mental health problems, and so much more. This short story explores the narrator finding herself again through a friendship (maybe a little more than friends if you really think about it) with fellow magical girl Ah Roa. This is a perfect quick read for anyone who is currently feeling hopeless and lost and needs a little pick me up. Personally I loved the style of writing and the fast pace of the story. As well as taking fictional entities like magic and mixing it with real word situations. I want to be a magical girl so bad.
Disclaimer: Thank you to netgalley and HarperVia for this ARC

This book came to me at such an uncanny time it's almost scary because I have been going through similar things as the protagonist. Also as someone who has always love magical girls growing up, it felt like this novella was written with me in mind. I adore the premise of this book and the discussions it brought up, I honestly wouldn't have mind it if it was actually a bit longer to flesh out and develop more things out. The illustrations at the beginning of each chapters are gorgeous just as much as the cover of the book.

For the first 20% of this novel I was set to give it at least a 4 star rating, but the momentum that was built faded away quickly after that. It came out of the gate comedic and lighthearted, despite the slightly dark humor at the beginning (which I still found hilarious). There were gorgeous illustrations on the cover and throughout the novel on the chapter pages that were reminiscent of Manga or Manhwa (since this is set in Korea). Then after receiving her talisman the book falls apart to me. That’s when we feel a lot of the plot holes and the writing quality diminished greatly.

There were some humorous quotes, such as:

“What’s the best way to die that would create the least amount of annoyance for everyone else?”

“Maybe it’s the name that makes me think I’m playing Russian roulette with someone I can’t see.”

“If we were to talk about courage, I’m like… a used up tube of toothpaste.”

But the grammar and wording was tricky in some spots. There were a couple of passages I had to go back and read a couple of times to understand. Then at the middle of the book there starts to be parenthesis in every paragraph. It’s at that point that the novel seems to shift from a first person narrative to a memoir style, story telling narrative. It threw me off with the shift.

The book had a great premise but felt too short. We didn’t get any fully fleshed ideas. There wasn’t a good explanation for how the magical girls got their powers. There wasn’t a really good answer for why the Magical Girl of Time did wasn’t she did. The climate change as the end of the world concept is realistic but didn’t feel very eminent in the novel.

Since we didn’t spend very much time getting to know the characters more than just face level, they aren’t loveable and the relationships don’t feel natural. Ah Roa and the FMC would be a cute pair but it didn’t make sense how everything fell into place timeline wise. Also, the FMC feels a little dumb and 2D to me.

The climax of the novel is over in about 3 pages and feels very Deus Machina to me.


Overall, I think if this story has great potential but it was not fully realized. If it had fulfilled on the promise it had I would have probably added this book to my library. Unfortunately, the story fell flat at the end and while I liked it, I felt highly disappointed.

Thank you to Park Seolyeon, Harper Via, translator Anton Hur, and illustrator Kim Sanho for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This book takes place in Korea. The main character has some (not really a lot) of debt, and feels that her life is going nowhere. Then, she's approached by Ah Roa, a clairvoyant magical girl, and told that she is also a magical girl.

This is a pretty short, but cute, book. It has some dark themes but manages to keep the tone light. There are a lot of discussions about environmentalism and the magical girl politics.

The main character, despite her situation, was not insufferable and annoying. She had a humorous tone and was content to move the story along. I thought she had a unique and relatable backstory as well.

The main conflict was viewed in morally grey ways rather than "this person is definitively bad and deserves no sympathy." It's a good change from usual superhero stories where the main character is either super nice or horrible to the antagonists.

As a translation, I thought the language flowed quite naturally. There was literally one term that I had NO CLUE what it meant. At one point, Ah Roa says (this is a paraphrase), "do you want to crib off mine?" Crib off apparently means to steal.

Love the cover and the illustrated comic panels throughout.

Magical Girls, climate change, justice, the pressures of existing as a woman in the modern world. In 100 pages Park Seolyeon manages to hit hard with discussions on how to save our planet, if it’s even justice saving the human race, and how we are our strongest when we are at our weakest.

Our MC is 29, depressed, drowning in credit card debt, and contemplating ending it all. Her hopes and dreams seem lost, unachievable. She’s spent her life disappointing everyone, including herself. Then Roa, the Magical Girl of Clairvoyance, shows up and announces that MC is the most powerful Magical Girl - The Magical Girl of Time - and is destined to save the world.

What ensues is a heartwarming journey discovering love, hope, and wishes. For anyone who’s ever felt lost and hopeless in their 20s, this novella really hits home.

“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.