Being a Magical Girl Warrior isn't all fun and games... but it isn't all bad, either.
"We made a vow, unshakeable:
In starlight, we're unbreakable.
We'll protect the world with all we are.
And when we fall, we'll fall like stars."
Unbreakable is a 2022 novella written by Seanan McGuire (writing as Mira Grant).
For as long as humanity has existed, there have also existed the Chosen—children who are recruited by mysterious, fairy-like beings known as Heralds to become Magical Protectors and defend the world from various otherworldly threats. At least, until thirteen years ago.
Thirteen years ago, a cataclysmic battle was fought between teams of Magical Protectors and the various monsters they were recruited to fight. In the aftermath, only two Magical Protectors were left in the rubble of Seattle, WA: Piper Jackson and Yuina Nakano, the remaining members of the team known as Unbreakable Starlight.
Present day: Piper is under house-arrest, couped up in an apartment with the aging cat of her one of her former teammates. Yuina, meanwhile, has become little more than a propaganda tool by the government, going around the talk show and publicity circuit to talk about her time as a Magical Protector. In some ways, she seems better off than Piper, when in reality, she's anything but. Meanwhile, the remaining Heralds are rounded up by the government and locked away, far from any children they could contact. Magical Girl anime and related media are banned, so as not to encourage children to accept any invitations to become Chosen.
But while most of the world's Magical Protectors may be gone, the Outside—the void beyond the known universe that is home to the various monsters the children fought—is still around. And the longer the Earth goes without its protectors, the more likely another incursion is bound to occur...
Not to be confused with the M. Night Shyamalan film of the same name.
Unbreakable provides examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Implied. No dates are given, just that the battle that resulted in Seattle's destruction and the deaths of Yuina and Piper's teammates happened "thirteen years ago." In the present day, the world doesn't seem too advanced compared to the year of the novella's publication (2022), but the government apparently has access to technology that uses sonics to hold the Heralds in place.
- All Myths Are True: Possibly. Excerpts from an in-universe (unpublished) book titled Children's Crusades: A World History of Chosen Protectors have the author theorizing that many myths of gods and heroes fighting monsters are based on records about Magical Protectors.
- Bittersweet Ending: Yuina and Piper succeed in freeing the captured Heralds and releasing them into the world, ensuring that more Chosen will be invited to join the fight. However, Yuina burns out from accepting too many invitations to give her the power to help in the aforementioned jailbreak, dying and leaving Piper alone for the time being. However, Piper is still determined to keep fighting, and will go on to find new recruits she can lead.
- Body Horror: The Heralds are nigh-impossible to kill. Even after being subjected to dissection by government scientists to see how they work, they keep on moving...
- Central Theme: The struggle between the older generation and the younger one forms a core component of the narrative. Magical Protectors are outright banned by adults who only see the negative side of things—never thinking that there might be a good reason that the children need to defend the world. Any attempt by Yuina and Piper to tell their side of the story—that being a Magical Girl Protector was necessary, and they don't regret the friends and connections they made along the way—are ignored by the adults in charge who believe the girls were brainwashed and manipulated. Later on, it's revealed that the Heralds are the younger generation of the monsters from the Outside, and that the reason they recruit children is because doing so allows them to delay their inevitable maturation while the Chosen battle the adults of the species, ensuring the Heralds will have their share of sustenance when they decide it's their turn to feed.
- Piper: ... "think of the children" always gets support, unless what you're thinking about is leaving them with a better world. Somehow, we never need to think of the children when we're talking about climate change, or preventing pandemic diseases, or anything else that costs money. But here we are."
- Child Soldiers: How the Magical Protectors are viewed by the populace. Interestingly, it's the adults who are adamant in pushing this narrative. The two remaining girls, Yuina and Piper, while admitting that things weren't always good, make a point that it wasn't all bad. Yuina's attempts to be fair and balanced in this regard in her autobiography is shown to greatly upset her handlers.
- Eldritch Abomination: The creatures of the Outside—described only as leviathans with huge maws and tentacles— create tears in various universes in an attempt to devour all life. They've done so for as long as the universe has existed, and with the Heralds' help, the Magical Protectors will keep fighting them back until the Heralds themselves mature into those same kinds of leviathans and proceed to end our universe on their own terms.
- Feel No Pain: Piper's ability as a Magical Protector is that she can dial back how much sensory input she gets. In the present, she keeps that power as a coping mechanism. As a result, she can't feel when she steps on something or cuts herself, and she suspects she might be developing a Urinary Tract Infection due to never knowing when her bladder is telling her to go.
- Foreshadowing: Piper at one point narrates that Ashley (who was religious) believed that every demon needed an angel. She was talking about how the Magical Protectors are there to defend humanity from the Outside, but think more about that comment: What are demons in traditional, Biblical lore? Fallen Angels. This foreshadows The Reveal that the monsters from the Outside are in fact the adult forms of the species the Heralds are a part of.
- Kryptonite Factor: Sonics are the one weakness for the Heralds. And, since they're the same species, the world-eaters from the Outside, too. The Heralds have a hard time explaining this because doing so would give away that the two species are actually the same.
- Lovecraft Lite: Cosmic horrors from beyond the universe are trying to eat this one. But with the help of cute, fairy-like companions, various children around the world are recruited to be magical warriors who can face off against these threats. Of course, the fact that said companions are actually the larval stage of the same kinds of horrors and are only holding off the current adults so that they may feast on our universe when they mature is something that has to be contended with.
- Magical Girl Genre Deconstruction: Sets itself up as this, beginning with the destruction of the main characters' team, and following the various lockdowns and surveillance the government puts them through. Ultimately, it goes for a more Decon-Recon Switch, showing that while being a Magical Protector is not all fun and games, Yuina and Piper still made connections and friends that were important to them. And without anyone to defend the world, the Outside will simply keep coming until its destroyed the known universe.
- Magical Girl Warrior: Unbreakable Starlight was composed primarily of girls. However, it isn't just girls who are recruited by Heralds; mention is made of boys being recruited, and even in Unbreakable Starlight, one member, Ashley, is mentioned to have been non-binary.
- Mentor Mascot: The Heralds are described as animal-like companions who could pass for marketable plushies but have eyes that look too human to just be plushies. They're actually the larval stage of the various cosmic horrors the children have to fight.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Zig-Zagged. The term "Magical Girl" is used in-universe, but Piper and Yuina don't like it. This is mainly because it isn't only girls who get recruited by the Heralds. Piper in particular points out that her and Yuina's teammate Ashley was actually non-binary (even though she hadn't officially come out yet and was still using she/her to refer to herself right up until her death), and that the term "magical girl" erases her and others like her who were called to fight.
- Slave to PR: Yuina finds herself in this position. She has to be presentable enough to the public to let people know that she isn't a threat, while also serving as a cautionary tale for why children should never accept a Herald's invitation. Though she's managed to hold things together publicly, once alone she's clearly not happy with how her life has turned out.
- Stepford Smiler: Yuina when in public.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The final paragraphs have Piper do this to the reader. See the quote at the end of the page.
- The Unmasqued World: After the incident from thirteen years ago, everyone in the world is aware of Magical Protectors and the horrors they face. This causes the governments to crack down on the whole operation, while Magical Girl anime and similar works are banned. Excerpts of an unpublished book going into the history of Magical Protectors appears throughout the narrative.
- I see in you great potential. You could help to protect and defend this world. You could be amazing. Will you accept my invitation?Will you fight?We could be unbreakable.
