Just this morning, Karina was sitting at the breakfast table, cleaning up the miso soup her grandmother dropped on the floor. Now, she's being called out to class to go to the hospital and see her grandma's body...with a piece of seaweed still stuck to her uniform. She still finds time to make it to her hourly job at a family restaurant, but on the way home, she sees a glittering, elephant-like creature floating the sky... And a teenage boy appears to push her out of the way of its attack! Death is stalking Karina's town in a form that only she can see, and this boy gives her two choices: Die or transform and fight! She can scarcely follow what he's saying, but her clothes do change, and the staff she finds herself holding has enough heft to do some serious damage... But is there space in Karina's life for getting revenge for her grandma and fighting magical monsters when she's already stretched to her limit?

Magical Karina has story and art by Coyuri Tōno. English translation is done by Ryan Holmberg and lettering by Madeleine Jose. Published by Kodansha USA (May 19, 2026). Rated T+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I'm honestly not sure what Kodansha's copywriters were thinking when they came up with the copy for this book. Despite proclaiming it “perfect for fans of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura,” it feels more like a book for the cynical magical girl reader. Karina constantly feels blindsided by life, which is her way of expressing the difficulties of living with a grandparent with dementia. She can barely recognize her beloved grandmother in the woman her mom moved in with them, and that makes her feel like she's making her grandmother's condition all about herself.

And then her grandmother dies, and Karina feels relief. That's a very normal thing to feel in this sort of situation, even if it feels like the worst possible thing you could feel in the moment. Karina once again assumes she's making her grandmother's situation about her, which may explain her reaction when a mysterious boy named ZEN tells her that her grandmother's death wasn't from complications of dementia, it was caused by a soul-sucking monster – a monster Karina has the power to transform and fight.

I will admit that the pieces here are standard classic magical girl fare. But how they're put together is what makes a difference, and that's much less appealing. For one thing, if you have trypophobia, this is 100% going to be triggering, because the monsters – whether in human or animal form – are all covered with small holes. I don't have trypophobia, and I had a hard time with it. But there's also no real rhyme or reason behind any of ZEN's and Karina's (and later Yuni's) actions. We don't know what the monsters are or why they're here. We don't know why ZEN's body can be preserved and brought back to life or why he has a “dwarf soul.” And the way the magical girls fight and their outfits aren't very impressive. While I get that it's meant to be funny that Karina has a mace and Yuni has brass knuckles, it's not particularly engaging.

If I had to say why this book disappointed me, I think it would boil down to it lacking a clear, unifying purpose. It's one thing to create a sense of mystery, but it's another to do that to the point where the plot is barely dragging itself along. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to fans of classic magical girls. Maybe readers who don't have much investment in the genre will find more to enjoy.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Karina has a lot going on in her life and no one, really, to talk about it. She takes care of her beloved grandmother, whose dementia has made them strangers, has a job, school, and a lot on her mind. When a strange man also demands she transform and save people's lives, it's just too damn much.

Unfortunately for Karina, it's all real. As she tries to balance all the competing forces in her over-complicated life, now she has to freaking save the world. Then the guy dies in front of her.

Watching Karina deal with all this bullshit is both stressful and somehow inspiring. I know I would not cope as well as Karina does under one-third of the pressure she's under. Eventually, she gains a teammate, and we think, for a moment, that she might be able to save everyone after all. But Karina's life is still damn annoying. I hope it all works out, but it'll have to be done without me.