a magical girl retires follows a twenty-nine year old woman in credit card death who, on the night she intends to end her life, is approached by the clairvoyant magical girl, and told she, too, is a magical girl.

this book, tonally, was a lot more realistic (even slightly pessimistic) than i expected. that didn’t stop me from enjoying it, but it was just an experience. the themes of debt and hope from tragedy pervade the book, which are commented on well, but make it very grounded in reality. this is especially true given the ideas of credit cards and climate change.

my main issue is that the book was too short. a lot of great ideas come up and are considered, and the narrative is cohesive, but there could’ve been more death. this includes the romance subplot; it was in there a good amount for the length of the book, it didn’t overshadow anything, but it felt underdeveloped because there just wasn’t enough time.

it’s good, it’s worth the read, i just wish there were more. recommend for lovers of magical realism that relates very clearly to our world and those who are looking for a fresh, more grown-up spin on magical girls.

be more chill is about loser high school student, jeremy heere, and the quantum computer he puts into his brain to make himself cool and go out with christine caniglia. i heard about it because it was adapted into a musical i was into in high school.

the musical is better. it’s so much better. it has some moments that i question a little, but nowhere near as many as the book. i do also think that the musical has a better grasp on slang and homophobia for 2018 than the book does for 2004.

there are a couple things i like. first, ive been in a reading slump, and this was easy to read. it’s very fast paced, its characters are pretty surface level, and i know a lot of the major beats. that also added a layer of enjoyment (pretty much the only layer of enjoyment): i could do the dicaprio pointing meme when i recognised something from the musical. the concept is interesting, it’s like. very low sci-fi. and i did like how the squip talked to jeremy and how that was integrated in the narration.

the main bone i have to pick with this book is the misogyny. girls (they’re not women, they are sixteen) are often called “females,” which is dehumanising, obviously. sure. michael calls it out at the end a little, but michael is also pretty gross. just because that moment of criticism is there, it doesn’t actually seem that this book criticises misogyny in any meaningful way. it reinforces it. christine is maybe the best depiction of any of the girls, like she has hobby and interiority to some extent, but she feels a lot more like an archetype, and a foil to chloe and the popular girls who are willing to have sex with jeremy. this frustrates me because, girls as sexual objects, but also they aren’t depicted as having lives or interests.

also, other than the ending (i guess, but not really), jeremy’s schemes work out for him way too much. he should have crashed a car and i will not elaborate. also i don’t like him!! treat people as people!!! i don’t care ab a teenage boy’s masturbation habits!!!

there are a few parts that feel like relevant commentary with how much ai has become integrated into our lives, but i can’t recommend this book because of how gross it feels. if you’re into the musical, listen to the album again.