Chrissy vs A Magical Girl Retires

Canadian Correspondent Chrissy has been keeping busy during this winter freeze by reading, and her most recent was rather, um, magical.

A Magical Girl Retires

Written by Park Seolyeon

Translated by Anton Hur

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.

Greetings MMI Readers,

I hope you are all keeping warm and well and sane now that January is now in our collective rearview mirrors. I choose this time of year to bury myself in books. I picked up A Magical Girl Retires at Literati Book Store in Ann Arbor this past weekend, where I was attending The 2026 Ann Arbor Folk Fest featuring Greensky Bluegrass.

What attracted me to it was the cover (duh) and the adorably tiny size. This little book is smaller then my phone. Perfect for me to read on our car ride home. This is a little pocketbook, an ode to a millennial coming of age story, manga and Magical Girls. 

Reading it, reminded me of Sailor Moon, but Sailor Moon is a suicidal millennial in crushing credit card debt who is saved at the last minute by the information that she is indeed a Magical Girl herself.

This whimsical story tackles climate change and hopelessness.  It was a quick read and I didn’t really know what to expect. So I didn’t expect much. 

I could see this being turned into an animated series. Seolyeon’s little book felt like a Pilot episode to something bigger. Maybe some of the nuance of the dialogue literally got lost in translation, as it was translated into English from its original text. Either way I’m glad I read it. Very fun and unique in the way it turned traditional manga tropes on their head.

I am glad I’ve added this little book to my collection. The cover art is very striking, and there are illustrations throughout. 

A Magical Girl Retires is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

Park Seolyeon is an award winning author hailing from South Korea, whose writing focuses on gender and work inequality.

Chrissy Winters is a writer who lives surrounded by golden wheat fields and swaying soybeans in rural Ontario, Canada.  A graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writers Studio, Chrissy is a wife and mother of three and dog mom of two.  She loves creating characters, reviewing books, film and television and is fueled by exercise and coffee. Connect with her on Instagram @chrissyreadsandwrites.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.