Magical Midlifer, Vol. 1

by MAKI, Nemumi Haiba, Andrew Hodgson (Translator)

Magical girls―guardians of the people, vanquishers of witches, and defenders of the innocent, all while putting smiles on the faces of children in a flashy spectacle of mass-marketable entertainment. However, things aren’t always so family friendly behind the scenes! When the villains get too gruesome for Saturday morning cartoons, these youthful protectors are, in turn, protected by…grizzled middle-aged men? They may be a bunch of old farts, but these geezers have one job―to use their wealth of experience (and some kick-ass magic) to support the mystical maidens from the shadows!

Genres: Manga

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[Frank Chillura (OhYouRead) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book I can read quickly and feel fulfilled. It definitely doesn’t take itself seriously while poking fun at the magical girl genre without doing it in a negative fashion. I found it refreshing to have a middle-aged MC who was still in the middle of the action and cleaning up messes.

I’m a fan!

[Susanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magical girls fight witches for social media ratings. But behind the scenes, there are deadlier foes that the girls are too weak to handle. That is a job for magical midlifers with powerful magic and skills.

Tanaka is an unassuming middle-aged man who the girls think is their driver and a bit of an after thought. But he’s a magical midlifer, and a powerful one too. The story follows him as he cleans after the girls who one by one learn that they’re not as important as they thought they were. And there’s even a fun twist about him and his past.

This was a fun and fast-paced, but a tad lifeless start to a series. Tanaka was a good protagonist, but the girls were all a bit annoying. It wasn’t explained why all magical midlifers were men when all magical girls were women, but maybe that’ll come up later. The ending was a small cliffhanger and I’d be interested to learn what happens next. Art was good.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tanaka really is the Rupert Giles to all magical girls

[Zephorah Dove · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole premise of this was hilarious and the storyline delivered. I need to see where the storyline is going in order to formally give my full thoughts but the first volume reeled me in.

Thanks so much to Yen Press & Edelweiss for the DRC.

[ash ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so funny i actually laughed out loud to myself

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a pretty good first volume! I hate how everyone treats him so poorly at first though (;_;) the best part was his transformation panel lmao.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. I need more of Tanaka right now.

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

En discutant de mon ancienne passion pour les mangas de magical girls quand j'étais adolescente, on m'a parlé de cette saga sur le sujet... mais en version décalée ! En effet, les magical girls sont devenues des influenceuses, et il faut bien nettoyer derrière elles après les combats. C'est là qu'entre en scène le très discret, mais efficace, Magical Quadra. Une histoire what the fuck qu'il convient de lire au 5e degré, mais c'est drôle et original !