I was really interested in starting this mange series. Because the premise sounds amazing, right? A magical school from which the students fight evil. Could be done well. Plus it's a yuri one, which just adds to my intrique. However, the characters are way too young to be presented the way they are - in such a sexual way. It's a first volume and I'm used to some things starting to make sense in mangas as the story progresses in subsequent volumes, but here I have just too many question marks. I will have to seriously consider whether I will continue it or not as I'm interested in the story but the sexualization of children is too much for me.

A lovely story with beautiful art accompanying it. I loved the characters and their dynamics and sincerity.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day is Nachi Aono's first commissioned serialized work. It is set in a school for orphaned children with magic, who are trained to become living weapons for their nation. Fourteen-year-old Sheena loses her roommate to battle; soon afterward, she encounters Mimi, a girl with powerful magic who takes a particular shine to her. As Sheena gets to know Mimi, it becomes clear that there's more to the school than she realized, even as she begins to question the system in which she lives.

Aono is experienced with creating yuri (GL) comics, and has explored various types of relationships in a darkly cute shoujo art style. This is my first time reading her work and am curious how this compares to previous stories. At first, it felt a little too questionably tropey, with "healing magic" kisses, "they were roommates," and the potential for all major characters to pair up (in GL couples, of course!) in a possibly Class S manner, but the ending of Volume 1 has enough mystery and foreshadowing that I am intrigued regarding what will happen next. If you like fast-paced relationships, dark academia, and witch girls, you may enjoy this.

(A note of caution, however: This series is probably better suited to readers accustomed to the variance specifically within the Japanese yuri genre (ex. the school nurse character); folks expecting a more Western style of GL story may not like this series as much.)

Readers interested in this series may also enjoy: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011), Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama, Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997-1999), The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu, and the Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik.

This was an okay but not really outstanding entry in the "dark side of magical girls" subgenre. The story read as though the girls were much older than they're described, which would be interesting if the book was doing something with the idea that trauma makes you grow up too quickly and in weird ways, but it's not. I could also live without the implicitly transphobic trope of the slutty cross-dressing school nurse. The art was nice, though.

Now this is really... interesting? Honestly, I'm not really sure about what to think of it, right now. The artstyle is adorable and the characters are sweet. The story so far - hard to tell. It's kind of brutal, rising kids for war, making them feel like "oh, my classmate died? Yet another one? Okay, let's go on." And then this tiny sweet girl just killing like picking flowers. But okay, it's interesting and it's manga, so let's not ask XD Could become really exciting and I hope more chapters will be uploaded.

This could've been an interesting story, but the sexualization of 10 year old characters is an automatic no for me. It's not just the part about how they can heal each other through kissing, but one of the 10 year old characters comes back from battle naked at one point. Easily, they could've made the characters adult-aged without changing much of the plot or world building.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

I think this was a good look into a new world and the characters did draw me in. I have been personally out of the world of manga for awhile, and this definitely reminded me why I love this type of story telling. This story and characters has me intrigued, I am looking forward to volume 2 to see what more we get to learn!

No. Just No. This was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.. it literally made no sense I can’t even with this one.
I didn’t even finish it

I received access to this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this access.

Unfortunately, I have the same complaint I've seen some reviewers have - the age of the protagonists and the pure sexualization used didn't sit right with me. Making it that you have to sloppily make out with someone to heal them, and the main characters are 14 years old...it makes an interesting premise uncomfortable to stomach. If these characters were aged up, I likely would've rated this higher - but as it stands, I likely will not go back to this series when the next volume is released.

This was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.. it literally made no sense. The over sexualization just ughhhh….like what was the purpose o kids making out for healing magic?!?! Out of all things

Although the concept of the story is interesting, I wish the characters were aged up. It was deeply unsettling to see the way the characters were sexualized considering they are all underage. I see no reason this couldn't have been shifted to focus on adult characters. I will not be continuing the series for this reason.

I received an E-ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for this opportunity.

This volume offers a short opening to a manga series following a pair of young girls growing up in a magical school where orphaned children are trained for the sole purpose of becoming warriors to fight in an expansive war. The set up is interesting, we mainly follow Sheena, a fourteen year old girl who’s roommate was recently killed and receives a new roommate in Mimi, a young girl who is one in the long line of specially trained soldiers, a deadly weapon honed to kill indiscriminately. However, the overall tone of the story made me feel a bit uncomfortable, as the premise of this story is for it to develop into a romance between Sheena and Mimi, who are adolescents with a 4 year age gap. Personally I am uncomfortable with the way that Mimi was presented in this volume as I felt like her actions and her body seemed sexualized/fetishized. If these characters were older I don’t think I would have these same issues. As a result I will not be continuing this series.

I really wasn’t all too sure what to expect from I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day. My knowledge only came from the recently announced anime adaptation, which will star Rie Takahashi and Rina Hidaka as the main two leads. But wow, for a yuri series, this wasn’t what I was imagining. Dare I say, I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day has truly taken me by surprise!

For starters, the world isn’t something you’d normally come across in this genre. It’s a war-torn country, where orphans are used for magical combat. There’s no guarantee of return for any who are set out, as students almost daily hear news of classmates dying in battle. Most recently, student Sheena Totsuki has had to deal with losing her roommate, feeling crushed while her classmates take the tragedy in stride.

Enter Mimi Kagari, whose first impression isn’t the best. Covered in blood, Sheena kind of freaks out over both her appearance and attitude. Despite being trained for war, Mimi is the cheerful type, with an empty stomach the only trouble she deals with. That’s when rumors spread about Mimi, who may be the school’s secret, immortal weapon. Sheena will find out firsthand about Mimi, as the mystery girl becomes her roommate.

The war aspect of I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day is hidden throughout the first half of the premiere volume. Yet author Nachi Aono does a surprisingly good job with giving readers a feel of what’s going on. From the dark tension of the classroom to Sheena’s personality, it becomes very apparent that this world the orphans live in is not safe in the slightest. Only when Mimi appears does there seem to be a beacon of hope for both Sheena and the violent world they’re in.

And yet, even when showing a practice battle, this manga doesn’t hold anything back. The fight itself is pretty fast-moving, but watching as Sheena sustains a grave injury goes to show how no one — even the main characters — are safe from pain. There’s blood, amputations, and rough lacerations that these young teens are having to take and lose. However, the most brutal of injuries comes from Mimi, with a sight that’d make anyone sick to their stomach.

With it being a yuri, I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day does hint of romantic interests between the students. Sheena’s friends Ari and Seiran are already linked as a couple, and the narrative will certainly push Sheena and Mimi down that path. The fact that people can heal wounds with kisses also emphasizes the LGBTQ+ aspects of the world everyone resides in. However, I was kind of surprised by how students unfairly treat the nurse Fran, who is hinted as being either a drag queen or transgender, an attitude that might raise some eyebrows within and outside the community.

Despite that little issue, the first volume of I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day has me craving for more. Not since 2016’s Izetta: The Last Witch have I seen a mixture of yuri and fantasy work as strongly as this has. After reading these first few chapters, I totally get the hype behind it. However, since I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day will no doubt continue to whittle down the playing field, it’s going to be hard to get attached to any of these characters, as they might bite the dust in a future battle. A small price to pay for embarking on a grim fantasy that’ll surely fill your need for both love and blood.

A creeping, horrifying juxtaposition of cute school girls and violence

EMOTIONAL APPEAL (10/10)
I was genuinely shocked by the brief moments of violence because they were inserted so well into the story. The main character does tell us that it's a school to raise child soldiers, but it's all calm, school-girl typical vibes before we're jarringly showed, oh shit they're actually soldiers. I was amazed by how off balance I felt. There's no extreme gore, no dramatic fight sequences. In fact, I find it more creepy because there's this distant battlefield we don't get to see yet, and the evidence of it feels so out of place on the clean, regular school grounds. The adults also treat the aftermath of violence in a blase way that scared me.

CHARACTERS (7/10)
We quickly see that most of the characters have very different sides to them: they don't feel two-dimensional. The side characters actually interest me the most. One weird part is that the child characters are all apparently 10 years old, but it's confusing to try and tell from their visual appearances.

ART (9/10)
The art is pretty and well done. A few panels felt a bit sketchy and unpolished, but for the most part, the art was consistently high quality. The logical sequence of the panels also made sense other than maybe one or two odd visual transitions.

FLOW (10/10)
I loved the pacing of this volume! There's enough breathing room for us to get to know the characters and school setting and enough frequent juicy tidbits to keep me interested in more. There's many mysteries, like what they're fighting, what the battlefield conditions are like, etc., but from what I've seen so far of the flow and plot logic, I trust the mangaka to reveal everything in time.

REPRESENTATION (7/10)
I highly enjoyed that there was an established wlw side couple already! I thought the trope of transferring magical energy through kissing and making it seem romantic was kind of weird considering they're 10 years old. At least it wasn't depicted as sexy, though. There's also apparently a trans woman? She's literally just a hot woman whom one of the characters directs some transphobia toward, so I guess she's trans? In a way, that's refreshing.

ENJOYMENT (9/10)
I gasped in outrage when the volume ended--I still wanted more! Volume 1 did a great job of keeping my interest. I'm looking forward to volume 2!

This manga does not really make sense. One girl is dead. Her roommate is sad. She’s at a school for witches. But there’s some type of war going on where people have died. And apparently a 10-year-old semi bimbo who was just covered in death but seems to be this amazing killing machine is now moving into the school. And let’s not forget about the nurse that looks more like a prostitute. This book makes little no sense. I get the feeling it was started as included chapters in something else. But altogether I just find this confusing and I have no desire to finish it.

It's amazing how such a short graphic novel can go so deep into the discussions of war, childhood, and sexuality in a very subtle manner. The artwork is astonishing and I am very curious to see the subsequent parts of the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It is about an orphanage for young children, turning out magical child soldiers to fight in a war.

The story has potential, but I would have liked to see more about the war/what they are actually fighting? Mimi has me curious and I want to know more.

The magic system made me very uncomfortable and was very off-putting.

Nachi Aono's drawing style is both expressive and detailed, which makes the emotions of the characters and the flow of the scenes come across strongly. The manga manages to explore a dark magical girl story in an orphanage for girls. It is also mainly advertised as a yuri manga. From what I've read until now I find the complexity of human relationships and the search for love and understanding in a hostile world written in an authentic way. I personally feel like after reading only the first volume it's hard to draw hard conclusions, especially because it feels like a longterm, slowburn story, But I do think that if the characters were older this would have worked a lot better. There doesn't seem to be a reason for some of the characters to be this young. I’m really curious about the world building though and where the story will lead, I enjoyed this volume enough to pick up the next one and see where the story goes from there.

Sidenote: I also don't see what kinda sexualization or nudity some other reviewers are talking about. I left this read without seeing anything profoundly sexual about it. Sure the healing part can be very specific with the sharing mana by kissing, but as another review already said. There's nothing sexual about performing cpr on someone either

"This dramatic and compelling yuri manga presents a dark and fascinating world. It explores the lives of young characters forced into a brutal existence, where an orphanage serves as a training ground for magical child soldiers in a devastating war.

What truly stands out is the delicate portrayal of innocence amidst this violence. The main characters, despite their harsh upbringing, possess a captivating purity. The author masterfully crafts their interactions, revealing their complex emotional landscapes.

The story delves into a blossoming connection between the female leads, with subtle yet powerful lesbian undertones. This adds a layer of emotional depth to the narrative, and I'm eager to see how their relationship evolves. I'm particularly interested in seeing how the author develops the female leads further.

The artwork is exceptional, enhancing the story's emotional impact and creating a visually stunning experience. The narrative is full of intrigue and unexpected turns, keeping the reader engaged from beginning to end. I highly recommend this manga to those seeking a unique and thought-provoking story that blends action, emotion, and delicate romance."

Sheena lives in an orphanage, which doubles as a school training girls with magic for combat in the war. After her roommate passes in a fight, she’s replaced with the odd Mimi, who arrived at night, covered in blood.

Sheena and Mimi attend classes together, Sheena grappling with both her new roommate’s odd behavior and seemingly not wanting to fight. Oh, and having a gay crisis after Mimi has to kiss her to heal her. Cause that’s how they heal people in this world.

This was a pretty interesting introduction, Im so curious about both what on earth they’re fighting in this war, and what is going on with Mimi. The reveal at the end is wild. Can’t wait for the next one!