'In A Magical Girl Retires, the universe has a way of balancing the scales of power and justice: the power of one magical girl may flow to another to redress the balance, or a girl in peril is given the exact superpower she needs to lift herself out of it to safety. The most iconic magic girl of all, Sailor Moon, specifically refers to herself as a champion of justice. The magic that magical girls want is not to grow into giants or concoct powerful fragrances or manipulate time or be clairvoyant--it's the power of justice. Magical girls exist because justice does not.' - A Note from the Translator, Anton Hur.
My 950th review!
Never in a million years would I have thought that I would reach this milestone, and it would be about a Korean Magical Girl novella. Mainstream, too, as it was in my local bookshop. But, girl, am I glad this happened, because a Magical Girl book about adulthood, female empowerment, and modern social and economic issues is just my jam.
'A Magical Girl Retires' starts off with our nameless twenty-nine-year-old heroine, deep in debt and shattered hopes and dreams in a post-pandemic world, attempting suicide. But she is saved by a Magical Girl of Clairvoyance, Ah Roa, who arrives via taxi, and tells her she is destined to become a magical girl. Not just any magical girl, but perhaps the most important magical girl in the world, of all time - the Magical Girl of Time.
'Grandfather, they say I'm a magical girl.
The Magical Girl of Time, the greatest ever.'
The book is about magical girls living in the real world - which everyone knows about, BTW - and they unionise, plan and organise events, and stop terrorists. Above all, they are finding ways to prevent the ever-growing threat - the real crisis, and apocalypse - of climate change. It's not all sparkles, frilly dresses and skirts, magic wands and sceptres, and big bad alien monster threats. It's not all exterior and visible, and it is certainly not child's play. These girls and women, apparently coming into their powers at the worst, even traumatic, time of their lives, when they were at their weakest, are doing their part and making the effort to save their undeserving, chaotic world (well, not all of them, and not all of them are "good guys", but that's spoiler territory).
But 'A Magical Girl Retires', in its magical realism, is mostly about our protagonist's day-to-day life, which is pretty mundane for a new magical girl; one who is trying to figure out what her powers are - what makes her so special? Is she special? Does it matter in the end? - with the help of her new magical girl friend. She still has to find a job to pay her credit card debt. Also maybe, maybe, she can still fulfil her dream of being a watchmaker...
You can read 'A Magical Girl Retires' in a day. I would have if I hadn't been so busy. You can carry it around and read it at any time. Despite its girly, manga-esque cover, and the fact that it is about manga-esque magical girls, it is an adult book, with serious adult themes, such as suicide, climate change, capitalism (linked to entropy), and domestic abuse.
It is definitely not the most well written novella ever. It needed some extra editing, plus character distinction, although this could be a translation issue. And like a lot of novellas, the whole thing, the premise, could have benefitted from being longer.
Another criticism I can launch at it is it needed to handle its domestic abuse theme more thoroughly, with more exploration and sensitivity. A deeper sympathy was needed there: without getting into heavy spoilers, 'A Magical Girl Retires' does vilify a victim.
And why does the first person narrator protag refer to a short person as a "d***f" on page 38? That word is a slur for little people - for they are not fairy tale creatures - and in a 2024 publication, it is jaw-droppingly insensitive.
It's a shame. Yet even with all its flaws, I can't hate 'A Magical Girl Retires'. For someone like me, who does not dislike anything to do with magical girls easily, it is a starry trinket in my book (pun unintended). Everything else in it is so endearing, enticing, intriguing, poignant, and clever. I can tell that the author, Park Seolyeon, really loves the Magical Girl manga and anime genre. Like me!
The everywoman protagonist, our first person narrator, is sympathetic and relatable enough (her little lacking in empathy and the "d***f" usage notwithstanding), even though we never know what her name is. In this very short story, we receive enough about her - about her past, her family, her struggles, and her true ambition in life, as a woman in a shitty, patriarchal, late-stage capitalist world - to root for her and want to see her succeed. She might just save the world, momentarily, as a magical girl, in her own unique, grounded, realistic style.
Her relationship with Ah Roa, aka a saint and an angel, and the other star of the story, is very sweet. The two magical girls might be "destined" to be more than friends. No magic mirror will determine that, however - they will get there on their own.
In fact, female empowerment, friendships and other ships are major, magical motifs in 'A Magical Girl Retires'. There isn't a single male character present, unless you count the main heroine's deceased grandfather.
So there you have it: my big review of Park Seolyeon's short book, 'A Magical Girl Retires'. It's a great premise that delivers in small but substantial bulks, and it is a quick and breezy read for something that contains heavy, real topics. The passion and effort in the writing and creative ideas are there, regardless. If you love 'Sailor Moon', 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', and any other Magical Girl shows, then absolutely check it out. 'A Magical Girl Retires' is a love letter to the beloved, proudly "girly" genre, aimed to capture and ignite your adult mind as well as your childlike, nostalgic heart.
I am nearly thirty-three-years-old, and I am still waiting to become a magical girl. I have been ever since I first saw Sailor Moon when I was around five-years-old. Maybe I can be one, in my own way. Anyone can be a magical girl, and fight for justice in this hopeless, violent, idiotic hellscape we call earth, our one and only home. To fight, to save, to help, to try, to find peace with each other. It's that first step, like giving to charities, and finding likeminded individuals and friends, and taking part in protests; in doing our part, in seemingly small, ineffectual and insignificant ways... these steps do make a difference. They do help someone, somewhere.
I am a magical girl by heart, with or without a sparkly outfit. Magic, the supernatural, they may not be real, but what all "magical girls" fight, and fight for, they are real. The human heart and spirit, and altruism, kindness and goodness, are real.
Never give up hope for a better world. A nonmagical world... that won't need magic and miracles anymore.
'In our world, so many people never face consequences for their actions. Justice is not given--it is earned. The climate crisis, which throws its shadow across the events that unfold in this book, was created by generations of people who won't have to deal with the worst yet to come. Our descendants will have to pay the climate bill we racked up [...]
But for justice to exist, we have to imagine it first. [...] We do not have the power to turn back time, to change the past. But we do have the power to change the future. We have the power, in big ways and small, to enact justice, which in turn means every single one of us is capable of becoming a magical girl.' - A Note from the Translator, Anton Hur.
I thank 'A Magical Girl Retires', for being the subject of the 950th book review written by this booklover and magical girl lover.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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