Nagasaki Prefecture, in the early twentieth century, was a magical kingdom whose imminent power prompted the Americans to drop the atomic bomb on them in World War II.

[1] She teams up with Kizutaka Kugi, a ten-year-old class representative, who is a genius and a sociopath with desires to rule people, treating everyone he meets as pawns.

[3][i] The motivation for writing the story came from Kodansha's editor Katsushi Ōta's idea of a media mix of witchy characters.

[iii] When the first issue of Faust was published, Nisio was asked to write the story to realize this plan, and this work was born, for which Ota says, "I cried and said, 'It will never be made into an anime.

[iv] Initially, the title was planned to be "Magical Girl Risuka," but after Ota's comment that he wanted something like "New Century" (新世紀, Shinseiki) from Neon Genesis Evangelion, "New Authentic" (新本格, Shin Honkaku) was added.

[v] Ota's definition of a "magical girl" is one who transforms into an adult, but Nisio's version of her was like Ojamajo Doremi, where the clothes simply change with a spell.

[11] Mahō Shōjo Risuka began as a series of light novels written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Kinu Nishimura from Capcom.

In 2006, Kodansha announced a fourth light novel, Shin Honkaku Mahō Shōjo Risuka 0 (新本格魔法少女りすか 0), but it has not been released.

[14] Hiro Mashima, in commemoration of the release of the fourth volume of the series, drew a scene from the chapter "Easy magic cannot be used."

A manga adaptation was announced on December 3, 2020, and started serialization on April 9, 2021, in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, with Nao Emoto as illustrator.

[34][35] In January 2023 issue of the magazine it was announced that the manga is entering hiatus due to Nao Emoto going on a maternity leave; it was expected to resume serialization in spring 2023.

[37] Andrew Cunningham, the English translator for Faust magazine, notes "the author's clear intent to explode everything dark about magical girls without any of the nauseating sugar that usually coats them make it alternately horrifying and gripping.