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)

The art and the mood was really powerful in this book. It really is correct to recommend it for Utena fans. It's very dark, though--I'm not sure where it's headed, but considering Mimi's state in the last chapter...somewhere dark.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for the e-arc!

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day follows an orphanage for girls that is actually a boot camp for magical child soldiers to fight in a gruesome war. Our main characters are Sheena and Mimi who have a chance encounter that turns into them becoming roommates at the orphanage. Sheena longs to stop fighting and wants peace while Mimi welcomes the fighting and death. I thought this had some moments that made me curious but overall did not attach me to the story. The artwork was beautiful and I think this could reveal more as time goes on but I will not be continuing this series. I recommend this series if you like yuri manga with sci-fi elements.

This was a really interesting beginning to the series. Really curious what else will happen, and I like the art style.

I find myself agreeing with a lot of the other reviews. I don't think this is a story I will continue. I was really hooked by the premise in the first chapter, magical kids set up to fight a war by a bunch of adults gives me fun Harry Potter flashbacks. But then the story itself is quite flat - chapter, after chapter, of superfluous injuries that just happen, with no real story motivation, simply for the characters have an excuse to kiss and heal each other. I understand this is a Yuri manga, but I was hoping that with this premise we would get a bit more plot!

This is definitely going to be a yuri I want to continue even though I fear I will be devastated by the end of it!

An orphanage for girls is actually a boot camp meant to prepare those young witches for a brutal war. Despite the bloodshed, love brews among these young girls.

I don't think I'm going to stick around and read the rest of this series. I can't get over how potentially weird how "healing" works in this world, especially with how young the characters are. I am more interested in the war and the magic system and that was barely shown and explained. It's a shame because I really liked the art style.

I was super excited to check this manga out when I saw it (magical girls fighting a war? That's always an interesting genre in its juxtaposition), but after having read this first volume I now wish I had read the reviews first. This manga includes (as is unfortunately much too common, but I've managed to avoid it through reading reviews in most cases so far) depictions of nude ten year old girls, heavily sexualised content surrounding the magic system (where magic can be shared through kisses to heal people) and worst of all, the fac that the school nurse (who maybe is trans and misgendered a lot, or a crossdresser, either way a "pervert teacher") also kisses her students to heal them. I don't think I have to explain why such a depiction, especially in manga, which is already so often bad in its sexualisation of underage character and negative stereoptical portrayals of trans characters, is bad and harmful. Not only does it sexualise children, it also portrays a gendernonconforming, possibly transgender adult as a perpetrator of said child abuse. Besides that there are quite a lot of nonconsensual kisses between the children themselves, which are never examined and instead portrayed as normal.
While I do think an exploration of institutionalized child abuse as would probably be much too common in a school set in such a militaristic war-like setting could be interesting, this is not what seems to be happening in this manga at all and I will not be reading other Volumes.
The art style is nice, but not enough to save any of the bad magic system, that's dependent on the massive sexualisation and exploitation of children.
TW: csa, an adult kissing a child, magic as excuse to forget consent exists, gore, children sent to war, child death, grief, injury

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this advanced copy!

I was completely intrigued by the cover and by the synopsis and then I fell instantly in love. While the circumstances surrounding the evil attacks and the school system are still a bit vague, I am eager to read more in this series.

Sheena is shy and reserved and seems hesitant to use her magic powers to fend off the evil that is attacking her world. Her roommate has just died and Sheena is assigned a new roommate, Mimi. Mimi is cute and sweet and bubbly and insanely powerful. How they are going to help each other grow will be an intense ride, I am sure. The art was lovely and delicate but also brutal. I am also a bit concerned with the age gap for Mimi. It appears she is 10 years old, but has already seen violence and nudity. It feels like if this is handled incorrectly, it could become a massive cringe/ick with the romantic tension between her and Sheena.

The art and story are cute and I'm intrigued by the world and the magic. I'm slightly concerned by the fact that she has the body (at least) of a ten year old and we've already seen her kissing and not wearing clothing. We need context or she needs to grow up. I feel like I need more information.

One thing about me- i will always, always gravitate towards pretty art style. But it wasn’t just the art, the title of the book also drew me in and I was in for one of the biggest surprises ever.

Girls having magical power and falling in love? Sign me up asap!! This magical world reeled me in from page one and it only continued to stroke my curiosity with each new chapter. I will now be reading ever installing in this manga has to offer.

Something about this just felt a little... off especially with the nurse character and I feel like I didn't get any real plot, back story or character development. No thanks.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day 1 by Nachi Aono.
This dark yuri manga took me by surprise with how twisted and intense its world is. Sheena is a cautious and anxious warrior. While, Mimi is cheerful and carefree, fearlessly diving into battle. When Sheena is injured one day, Mimi takes it upon herself to heal her, sparking the beginning of their deepening bond. I'm excited to see how their relationship evolves as they face the challenges of both love and war.

The art style is gorgeous but the plot execution was meh. I would think the first volume to at least touch on the magic system, but it doesn't. There's many tropes I don't buy into or just hate.

Why are 10-17 year olds fighting in this generalized, overarching magical war? I understand they're in an orphanage and training... so why are some actively being sent to the battle field?

I hate that the school nurse is a "cross-dressing pervert" excited to take the first kiss of an underage girl in the name of healing? Free us from this trope of cross-dressers/trans people being some pervert.
Why is a kiss specifically on the lips the only method of healing? I would think an adult in magical medical profession would have more options than the children under their care. (At least Recovery Girl in MHA only had to peck her patients anywhere and didn't get a perverted excitement at the thought of healing them.)

I don't think I even have to go into detail about my disappointment in the depiction of nude minors and them kissing in lewd manners.

I will not be continuing this series, there's just too much that didn't sit well with me and the plot wasn't done well enough to keep me interested.

I did quite enjoy this first installment of the series and can’t wait for more. There was a lot learned about the world and characters in such a short piece. I do wish that it were longer because I want more information on this world and characters. Mimi has to be my favorite, she is a very bubbly, outgoing character but I feel there is more to her than just this and I crave to know what it is.

Probably closer to a 1.5 stars.

I really, really wanted to love this. I think the art style is absolutely stunning, and those coloured pages at the beginning truly blew me away. The premise sounds fantastic, and I'm always interested in reading more sapphic content, but I really, really wish there was a mention about their ages in the description. Mimi and Sheena being 10 years old really didn't sit right with me, especially because of the overt sexual overtones, between them, but also between the teachers.

This idea that kids can be "healed" by a kiss from the nurse -- and I mean a real kiss, not just a peck or something similar to Recovery Girl from My Hero Academia, if you're familiar with that -- as well as the way the kisses between Mimi and Sheena are portrayed (with panting and spit), plus the panels of Mimi naked, with only her hair keeping her somewhat modest...I don't know. Maybe I'm being too puritanical about it, but something about it really just rubbed me the wrong way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.