It's been a bit since I found a GL I was this intrigued by. A lot of that comes down to the plot structure. Orphans with magic are raised for warfare, and the story starts with the death of an unseen roommate, so the tone is set early, but the girls are aware of their reality and try to make the best with the time they have. Then we are introduced to Mimi. who is a whole other can of worms as to just what she actually is. This series has a lot of interesting worldbuilding that makes up for the more mundane setting. If it was a more typical schoolgirl romance, it wouldn't have grabbed me as hard. I like what I'm seeing here, I hope the momentum keeps going.

Yeah, I don't appreciate the tranphobia in this manga at all. Penning the only non-gender conforming person in the whole story as a sexual predator is a wildly harmful and inappropriate thing to do, and needs to stop now. Also didn't love the focus of children kissing being a bigger topic of the plot.

Such a cute story and amazing graphics. Read this in one sitting and can’t wait to read further.
The story was so original and the main characters Sheena and Mimi were so lovable. Can’t wait to see where this story goes and it will be an insta buy for anything further by Nachi Aono

~ARC Reader~

Thanks to NetGalley for access to this ARC!

Starting with the one thing that left a bad taste in my mouth: the nurse character and the language used around them. They are apparently a cross-dresser or trans and they are belittled and berated repeatedly by the students and insults are hurled at them constantly if they are in a scene. That was my only major detractor.

It was a delightful start to a story. I like the plentiful yuri pairings aside from just the main couple. Also the backdrop of a magical school in a war-torn world is pretty unique for a romance manga in my experience, so I found that refreshing! The artistic choices for the more gory scenes were very well done too. Hoping to see more volumes in transaltion!

I want to thank Netgalley for an advanced ARC of this manga to read

180 pages

This is a story about orphaned children being in an orphanage/Magical Military training school to send them into battle, to use magic and fighting skills to defeat their enemies and monsters but there are these special girls who are chosen to be elite warriors and are called MiMi.

We follow a child who lost her roommate in battle and has a new roommate given to her who is a MiMi.

I liked the story & how it progressed leaving me wanting to read the next volume, the main character is having trouble dealing with things and also starting to realize her future and I have a feeling we will be seeing more about the connection they are making between main charact3r and MIMi..

This is a fact read and not everyone will enjoy it but I did and I haven't liked allot of manga's recently

First review on netgalley!

Overall, I liked it. It’s a cute manga, which is interesting cause it's a story about the horrors of war, how casual the world (which is either a fantasy world or an alt history world) is when it comes to violence, which makes it more horrifying, and how growing up entrenched in that violence steals your childhood (as far as I can tell from the 1st volume.) The war is off screen and abstract but impactful all the same. And the scenes of the war making it back home (mock battles, injuries, deaths, etc…) are gruesome, which makes how calm and cutesy the rest of it is more jarring. What can I say? I'm a Madoka Magica fan, so I like cute stories that are actually super dark.

3.5 stars on that alone but…

I do take away points for the casual transphobia, which sadly is pretty rampant in manga. I can't tell if the character who experiences transphobia is meant to be trans or in drag, but it doesn't really matter; it's not cool. At least the main character treats her with respect. I'm not super surprised about the transphobia, but for a book that was labeled LGBT, it's disappointing that the T is ignored.

3 stars and I will be continuing the series as it comes out. It IS only the 1st volume of a manga, so I'm interested to see if it evolves as the series progresses. Also, I love the Author's avatar at the back of the book

*Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest reivew*

Yikes! I saw this on Netagalley and thought it looked very cute, in addition to having an interesting premise. I've been really getting into manga that put spins on the magical girl genre. But this one was very much not it.

Right off the bat, the way that the school heals the girls who manage to make it back from the war front is to kiss them? Very strange and disturbing given that kids range from 10-17 and the main characters are 10 years old.

Despite its cute art style, I will not be coming back for this manga. It gave me a weird vibe all the way around and honestly I considered not even adding this to my goodreads and leaving it on NetGalley. 1/5 Stars, probably less.

there was nothing wrong with the story or the art. I was excited to read it, but I had to drop to 2 stars just because of the nurse character. not only is the trans pervert teacher trope harmful to the trans community, it also gives nothing to the story and is just gross. the book would be good without that trope and if the main characters were older than 10.

If I had to summarize I Want To Love You til Your Dying Day in one word, I would say it's wildly uncomfortable. Following orphans who are conscripted into a military school with little regard for their livelihoods, I wasn't expecting anything feel good. But underneath the dehumanization they are subjected to, these characters find connection and meaning in each other despite their unbearable circumstances.

This is all well and good, if you can look past some questionable elements it really has something emotional at the core of its story. However. I don't think most people could or should look past the pandering present here.

There is:
Naked, bloody body horror of a 10 year old
Excessive amounts of focus on kids kissing each other
A gender nonconforming character depicted as a sexual predator

Frankly, this feels like a painful throwback in many ways. Plot convenient excuses for intimacy, throwing out random pieces of world-building and just seeing what sticks, and edgy bleakness all feel like something that was Frankenstein'ed together out of a early 00s otaku fever dream.

Overall, I don't think this is a great series for most readers unless you have a high tolerance for grimdark, edgy fantasy and depictions of children in profoundly upsetting situations. If you can stomach Made in Abyss, you might like this manga. It definitely was not for me.

Thank you to Kodansha Comics for my ARC provided through Netgalley.

I'm very new to manga, and based on the beautifully illustrated cover and the interesting premise of this story, I thought it might be a fun choice for further exploring the genre. It was not.

There is very little depth to this story, which is a shame given how much room for world-building there is when writing about an orphanage where children are trained for war. Even the characters were flat and one-dimensional; I never learned anything about them beyond the absolute bare minimum, leaving me uninterested. None of that, however, even begins to compare to the issues I took with the LGBTQ+ "representation" and sexualization of children in this book. I'm not sure I need to explain why an adult character heavily implied as trans (or at least GNC) being shown kissing children, even as a method of "healing," is disgusting harmful to the trans community.

I received this manga as an ARC in exchange of my honest review

The concept is very original and I was very excited to discover this yuri fantasy world in wich magic helps to fight in a war, and it was good until I read the pages where two 10 years old kiss and it’s a very awkward couple of scene. Yep you got it, this manga is sexualizing 10 years old girls. Also about the kiss, it’s supposed to be healing and the school nurse,an adult, is healing the children of the school by kissing them. That is not ok. I love a good LGBTQ+ representation and this is not it.

The only “good” things about this manga is the cute couple that is secretly dating and the stunning visuals. Not enough to give it more than 2 stars.

Unfortunately this manga was a miss for me. It felt a little like we were getting thrown in the middle of the story with no context; I was really missing any world building that would have helped clean up the confusion. Beyond what was told in the summary for the manga, I do not think anything was expanded on. There's no detail about this war that these children soldiers are being set out on, I was left with a lot of questions about who they are fighting.

Something else I had issues with was the way the very young characters were sexualized. It made me uncomfortable, especially the way kissing was explained as a way use healing magic , which felt out of place for characters this young. The nurse character also felt very problamatic.

Unfortunately I will not be continuing with this series.

At first, I was excited to read this manga when I saw 1) the cover (which is beautiful), 2) that it was about orphaned children trained to fight a war (with magic). The orphaned bit made me think about the promised Neverland. And magical girls fighting a war? Yes. However, my excitement quickly faded when I saw a 10-year-old girl kissing. Making it a magical way to heal people is not a sufficient argument to make children kiss. Sexualising children is a big no for me. For that, I dnf it at 50%. Adding to that, The writing felt flat too.
Still, I like the art style of this manga.

Reading the review after deciding to dnf it, I feel like I would not have read this if I had read the reviews earlier as it speaks about the same issues.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC of this manga in exchange for a review.

This story follows a girl enrolled in a magic academy where students are trained to fight in a devastating war. Fearful of the front lines, where many never return, she dreads her fate—until one day, she encounters a mysterious girl drenched in blood. The next thing she knows, this enigmatic stranger is sitting in her classroom and assigned as her new roommate. From there, the story takes a dramatic and intriguing turn.

The art in this book is stunning, beautifully capturing the intensity and emotion of the narrative with incredible detail. The blend of magic, mystery, and suspense keeps you hooked, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for sending me an eARC of I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day by Nachi Aono!

I really liked a lot of this! I thought the colored pages at the beginning were really good at making the audience engaged in the material.

I love how Sheena is very quiet and keeps mostly to herself and then she gets paired with rambunctious Mimi. I do find Mimi very interesting, from the very first meeting she has seemed odd. I mean she just walked up to Sheena covered in blood and conversed with her as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

I do think that the kissing magic is a bit weird, mostly because of Sheena and Mimi’s age, 10 years old. Towards the end, the way the nurse was going about the kissing healing magic made me uneasy.

The scene with Mimi and the nurse towards the very end had my jaw on the floor. This was really good and I really enjoyed this volume and cannot wait to read more of Mimi and Sheena’s story!

Okay, this manga was all over the place. There was no world building, so things made next to no sense, even if you read the blurb. In addition, there is minimal character development and a lot of things are told and not shown. Also everything, and I mean everything was weirdly sexual. This book follows approximately 10 year old girls but everything is sexualized and one of the teachers is called a “pervert” in the text. Honestly, this book is just a mess.

I thought the premise of this book was interesting, and I liked the pace and illustrations. However, the potential of a strong romance between the two main characters makes me a bit uncomfortable since Mimi looks like a ten year old girl, even if she isn't actually. I'm not sure if I will continue with this series, mainly for that reason.

I Want To Love You Until Your Dying Day is a fantastic title, and the artwork in it is truly stunning - especially the first few pages that were done in colour. It's clear a lot of love and care was put into perfecting it. The concept/basis is really intriguing and unique - an orphanage that trains children in magical warfare, with a wlw love story. The world and idea has so much potential, but I Want To Love You Until Your Dying Day does not currently fulfil that potential.

The world building is very minimal. I'm not sure I learnt anything from the manga that wasn't in the blurb. With such an interesting basis, it would've been nice to learn about the orphanage, the ongoing war, and the world they're living in. It would've also been nice to learn more about the characters. All we really know of anyone is that Sheena doesn't want to kill anyone, and mimi is a super powerful weapon. It would be great to see how mimi's past has influenced her, as she is so bubbly and childish while no doubt having to be deeply traumatised from her experiences. We also don't get to see Sheena processing her grief over her roommate dying. Furthermore, we never get any clues as to why any of the kids are orphans, so I've got to assume it's due to the war. The plot isn't really developed either. All that happens is mimi turns up, and then her and Sheena end up roommates and kissing.

Moving onto the problematic elements. Both Sheena and Mimi are very young - far too young for the style of romance portrayed. It felt heavily sexualised and I was deeply uncomfortable reading it and seeing the artwork. There was even drawings of mimi naked, albeit her hair covers up anything explicit. This is honestly disturbing considering her age and I would advise against publication until that's removed. As well as this, the school nurse is troubling. She is extremely sexualised and referred to as a pervert - not appropriate for a book with children imo. She also has healing magic that works through kissing people on the mouth, which is borderline paedophilic in the context of the orphanage, and feels more like a badly written erotica trope than a sci-fi/fantasy story about children. Furthermore, as other reviewers have pointed out, the nurse is somewhat transcoded, which adds an entirely different layer of problematic issues to her character. I would urge Nachi Aono to reflect on this and the ease with which unconscious bias and problematic tropes/cliches can slip into our work.

I really hope this manga gets revised, the problematic elements tackled, and the world-building + plot strengthened, as I think there's a good story to be told. However, as it currently is, I am rating it 1.5/5.

Thank you to Nachi Aono for making this available to me through NetGalley,
and good luck for your future writing.

Name of Book: I Want To Love You Till My Dying Day
Author: Nachi Aono
Would I Recommend The Book?: Tentatively, Yes

Objective Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Subjective Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️ ½

Violence Rating: 🗡️🗡️

SFW/NSFW: SFW

Potential Content Warnings:
Questionable maturity levels of one of the characters, mistreatment of a presumed transgender character, child soldiers, mentions of war, someone’s arm gets cut off.

Genre Tags: Fantasy, Dystopian, Features Action/Fight Scenes, Queer Story, Romance, Features some Horror Elements,

Additional Comments:
[I would like to disclaim that I am American and some things might be lost in translation, or could be considered normal in Japan. The things are reviewing are being reviewed under a Western Lens and how other Western individuals might perceive the content.]

Wow! I really enjoyed this volume one and I really want to read more. I thought that the concept of a magic school of child soldiers was a very interesting premise. I’m always really glad to find more queer media in any capacity. I fully intend to read on, just because I’m curious.

My two biggest gripes with the work are probably just because I’m American.

(1). The nurse is heavily implied to be transgender and is referred to as “Ms,” throughout the work and uses she/her pronouns, but is referred to as a man in drag and also called the pervert teacher. The character is absolutely gorgeous and I don’t think she deserves any of this disrespect.

(2). The love interest looks young (like a ten year old) and acts young (very naive) and she’s immortal. The main protagonist comments “how are we the same age?” Another character comments that she’s ten (so maybe they’re both ten?)

Whatever, overall this was an enjoyable first volume.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an early release copy of I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day by Nachi Aono.

I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day has an interesting premise, I liked the art style, the characters, and the story. These magical children and the war aspects were interesting elements to read about however there was some stuff questionable stuff in this manga. The “Healing” aspect of the book could have been worked a little differently, it was a little uncomfortable to read those scenes when knowing how young these characters are not to mention the adults are partaking in these “healing” magics too.

Mimi and Sheena are both decent characters, I liked Mimi and her story elements. The war, battle, and her abilities are interesting to read. I feel that I needed a bit more from Sheena to really enjoy her as a character. I don’t know if I would continue this series or not, I hope the romance doesn’t blossom until the characters are older more 15-17, I feel the healing element would be more acceptable between the students if they were aged a little more appropriately. (This is around the age that young adult romances are)