Walk into the world of an orphanage with sinister intentions.

In this world, there is a boarding school that trains children to be weapons. Drivers of war—ruthless assassins—specialized in magic. Shiina’s roommate just fell at the hands of the enemy; all she has left is her memory and the plush toy she kept in her room. To add insult to injury, there are rumors in school of a new student. And this new student is to be her new roommate—Mimi, the jewel of the school.

Overall thoughts:

I had no idea what to expect from this manga when I picked it up because the cover looked cute. I wasn’t expecting this intense story with rich worldbuilding! I’m invested in the story and very curious to see where things go. What happened to bring forth this war that requires children to fight it? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

This is a story about finding friends and comfort even in the unlikeliest of places. Because at the end of the day, all you have are each other.

Who is this manga for?

This manga is for fans of action stories rooted in a more slice-of-life approach. Even if you don’t enjoy younger protagonists, the story is told in a way where you can’t notice it. This is a heavy one, but it has plenty of earnest moments. I’d recommend it to yuri fans looking for angst, but wholesome, and action-packed.

See you in the next one!

TRAGIC YURI?????? this was cute! I love plots like this! and the art is so nice! The managka wrote THEO too which I also enjoyed. I'm looking forward to the English publication of this yuri.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eARC!

It was an underdeveloped though intriguing first volume of a series that I might read a second just to see where it's going to be steered.

There's a magical school that creates girl warriors for the war and Sheena is a bit of an anti-war activist who already lost one roommate. Cut to the middle of the night and a mysterious girl who turns out to me an immortal weapon of war, Mimi appears covered in blood and then becomes Sheena's new roommate.

The creepy side of manga edges in: there's a nurse at the school that is odd both for her oversexualized actions and what's so important about her to the school/story. Second, the queerness of Mimi is apparent from the start and the magic is helped for healing through kissing. In some contexts that might be just fine but coupled with the odd nurse it felt more wrong than my misjudging the situation. Maybe I am?

What I did enjoy was that idea of a school for girls in war training and the loss of girls who don't come back. The grieving process was intriguing to me and I would have liked to explore that a little more than where it seems to be going.

This dystopian yuri manga follows Mimi and Sheena in an orphanage that serves as a training ground for child soldiers, where children are turned into deadly weapons for a brutal war. The gorgeous cover immediately caught my eye, and the premise sounded like something I would absolutely love—an intense, high-stakes story about survival and war? Count me in. But unfortunately, I had some major issues with this book.

What Didn’t Sit Well With Me:

1. The age of the characters. The story features a relationship between a 10-year-old and an older preteen/teen (exact age unspecified). Even though Mimi is technically an immortal weapon, she is portrayed, drawn, and acts like a 10-year-old, which made this aspect extremely uncomfortable.

2. The magic system (mana shared via kissing). In theory, this could have been an interesting concept, but considering the age of the characters, it felt deeply inappropriate. The fact that the school nurse also kisses children to heal them only made it worse—especially when kissing is also depicted as a romantic act elsewhere in the story.

3. Sexualization of young girls. There are scenes featuring nudity of underage female characters, which is completely unacceptable.

While the storyline has potential, the execution—particularly the portrayal of underage characters in romantic and inappropriate contexts—made this an uncomfortable read. The dystopian setting and premise could have been compelling, but the way certain themes were handled overshadowed any positives. Unless the characters are aged up to full-grown adults, I cannot recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure if I misunderstood this, but are we to be reading about a developing relationship between a literal 10 year old child and a 16 year old? I understand there is some subtext that this is not an actual child, but just inhabiting the body of one. But we still see this character act like a child, dress like a child…. And actively pursue a romantic relationship with an older teen? Giving it 2 stars because something could have been lost in translation, and the art is cool. But I don’t think I enjoyed this despite a really, really cool premise, I just couldn’t get over the Lolita of it all

I am questioning why the characters had to be children. Had they been older, maybe this would have been okay. However, I can say that the themes in this manga just made me uncomfortable regarding specifically the characters ages.

Death lurks behind a mysterious orphanage where children train to become magical weapons of war. Among them is Sheena, who longs to stop the fighting and end the conflict. On one gruesome night, Sheena meets a strange girl covered in blood, with a smile on her face.

The girl is a great warrior but reckless on the battlefield and nieve in life. For all she's seen and done there are so many things she doesn't know. She seems unfamiliar with how the orphanage works or how they are tested. Her background is mysterious to Sheens and to the reader.

I enjoy Yuri manga very much and this is no exception. The budding relationship is both sweet and a little innocent. The art work is cute but I find most manga is drawn that way.
I'm looking forward to the next installment to see how Sheena and Mimi's relationship grows.

Highly recommended Published 2/18/2025

Thanks to @netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this story, and it was great introduction to characters.
Thank you to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for providing the opportunity to read and review e-ARC.

I enjoyed the art style and concept of the story. I do think aging up the characters could positively benefit the story. If their ages had not been defined I would have assumed that they were older.

Tones of naked children and an excuse to kiss others being sharing mana? Also the nurse is portrayed as creepy but also isn’t cis so that comes off very icky as they portrayed them in such a gross light. Very oversexualized.

1.5 ⭐

I am very against the sexualising of 10 year old girls, especially in a way where kissing is healing magic and the school nurse routinely does this to students.

I am not a fan of how this played out either, things seemed fairly disjointed too. The idea behind it seems like a good premise, but unfortunately it just wasn't executed well.

I think I wanted to give this more of a chance because of how I related to the conversation about pain and not being able to use parts of your body, but it seemed like that was just a passing conversation, rather than an actual conversation of depth.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Netgalley, and Nachi Aono for this e-ARC. I was provided this ARC for review only, I was not paid for this review. All opinions are my own.

Oh boy, okay.

So the premise of this is cool!

"An orphanage for girls is actually a boot camp, turning out magical child soldiers for a gruesome war. Yet love finds a way to blossom amid bloodshed, in this dramatic, much-anticipated yuri manga that is spiritrual kin to the likes of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Otherside Picnic, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury." (From the NetGalley descriptor.)

It's dramatic and bloody for sure, but the love blossoming part is the biggest issue here! We meet Sheena, stuck in this same magic school all the orphans go to because apparently if you're an orphan, you get trained up to be a war child! Sheena's unsure about her place and not great at magic, AND her roommate just died in battle? Cool.

Then Sheena, who is of indeterminate age (probably early teens?) meets a child, shares her dinner, finds out said child is one of the more ultimate world machines, oh, and that 'blossoming love' spoilers, is between her and this literal 10 year old. They sort of get vague about it like "oh maybe she's not really 10 despite her body age" but she acts, speaks, and looks like a child (even down to the smock dress they have her wear unlike the other girls in this school who all look/seem older than her), and if you think it's subtext, no, there's several kisses. Sure, kissing is a convenient way to "share mana" and heal but boy howdy... they are kisses. Other girls are shown kissing romantically in the same manner. There is no difference besides them saying it's for healing.

But wait, there's more! The school nurse, who is both called "she" and "Ms" is also called a 'man in drag' and an "old man" (and also just has her cleavage out for no reason), so either the writers are being awful at transwomen or it's all a weird and gross bit where she actually is a man wearing female clothes because this character, a full adult, IS like, "huhuhu I'll get to kiss her to heal her~~" which is only perpetuating gross stereotypes either way.

It sucks that there's so many weird choices with the ages and the bad gender stuff because the setting is interesting, and these girls 10-17 being basically forced to go to magic war school IS interesting... or would be, if they told us literally anything about who they were fighting, why they were fighting, or any single thing about this war other than preteens/teens using magic for battle. But the rest of it... well, I won't go read volume 2 unless somehow these issues are worked out (doubt).

Thank you as always to Kodansha and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for review...!

The cover made this look like a sweet yuri manga while the title hinted at the darker setting. While the art style and some of the scenes were certainly cute, the fact that the main romantic characters are portrayed as 10 years old (or perhaps one as 14 years old and the other as 10 years old - it's not totally clear) was incredibly off-putting. The mana-sharing by kissing isn't terribly creative, but not outside of the norm for magic-based yuri manga. The mystery around exactly what kind of magical being Mimi truly is and Sheena's wrestling with the reality of death added depth and intrigue to the story. However, the age factor gives the whole story an icky veneer.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha for an ARC of I Want to Love You TIll Your Dying Day by Nachi Aono.

This manga focuses on an orphanage of young girls who have the ability to do magic. The orphanage uses their magic and raises them as weapons of war. Of the girls in the orphanage, the story focuses on roommates Sheena and Mimi. Sheena is quiet, a little unsure with her magic, and genuinely terrified of the world around her, while Mimi is outgoing and powerhouse of magic, which allows her to be near fearless. The two are nearly opposites, but learn to get along.

The art style is gorgeous and there's a couple interesting plot points introduced in this first volume that I look forward to seeing play out.

Other reviews have made mention of how the healing magic exists in this universe. I understand people's concerns regarding the ages of the characters, but I quite enjoy the fact that it's something different. It's a magic system that sets this story apart from other magical girl stories.

Thankyou Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for this eARC.

The idea for this seemed right up my street, the stress of a magical school where we train orphans for warfare? my bag completely! I would have loved to keep reading and learn more about why they are fighting but unfortunetly the sexualisation of minors is not something I can support. I will not be continuing with this series.

I do think, that if the characters were older this would have worked a lot better. We dont need 10 year olds kissing adults/other kids and nude images of kids, but if it was reworked int an adult manga with adult characters it would make a lot more sense as a manga.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with this title.

The cover and the artwork is what initially grabbed my attention along with the concept of an orphanage training children at the school in magical warfare. Unfortunately, that is where my enjoyment stopped. While the artwork was beautifully done and there was potential for a really interesting story, I would not recommend anyone to read this. I understand that it was only the first volume but, the plot itself was very lacking aside from a few pages here and there. However, most importantly, my overarching issue is the problematic sexualisation of young underage girls. There is absolutely no need to add to the societal problem of sexualisation of children. The depiction of a nude underage girl towards the end shouldn’t even be legal in my opinion. Additionally, I don’t know what the intention was regarding the character of the nurse but, every single scene with that character was uncomfortable and harmful to the lgbtqia+ community if it was attempting what I assume.

I will not be continuing this series or reading anything else by this author.

It's the cruel anonymity of prolonged warfare that hits you first in I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day. Sure, this is a yuri series with a questionable need for its young characters to kiss each other (more on that later), but our introduction to this world is via the brutal, unfeeling lens of death.

The opening pages of Nachi Aono's first English-published series introduce us to Sheena Totsuki, a middle-school-aged girl who just lost her roommate in a military conflict. We never learn that roommate's name. In fact, every student in this academy is referred to primarily by a numbering system; their names are afterthoughts, more nicknames than anything official.

In this first volume, we never even learn who our students are being trained to fight, nor the name of their own nation. In a distinctly 1984-esque approach, it's simply "us" and "them"—where the "us" is an orphanage of children trained in magical warfare. Deaths are almost daily, occurring with such routine that most of the students are seemingly numb to the concept.

The sorcery on display is reminiscent of I'm In Love With the Villainess, or perhaps Little Witch Academia (minus the brooms and cauldrons). Wands and books abound, but death is only a hairsbreadth away; there are no flashy incantations, but rather a loose, natural feel to the spell-casting.

Shortly after losing her roommate, the vacancy in Sheena's dorm is filled by Mimi Kagari—a tiny girl with a bubbly, air-headed personality, possessed of frighteningly powerful magic that has earned her a reputation as an "immortal secret weapon." She seemingly has no issue with murder or war; a stark contrast to Sheena's continued fear of combat, and her reluctance to take a life.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day weaves an interesting romantic dynamic between its characters, letting the audience determine whether the love we're being shown comes naturally, or is the byproduct of close proximity and a heightened sense of mortality. Early on, we're shown that a particularly potent brand of healing exists in this world—namely, kissing can transfer mana between people, and heal anything from a small scratch to a dismembered arm.

As Sheena becomes Mimi's new roommate—and something of a guardian figure—the pair are drawn closer together, and become swept up in something awkward and intimate when Mimi heals Sheena after a training incident goes awry. With her first kiss stolen, Sheena struggles to understand her own emotions—and to reconcile them with the attitude of the happy-go-lucky Mimi.

Final Thoughts

In summary, I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day by Nachi Aono offers a unique approach to the yuri genre, skillfully combining the bleak narrative of a wartime dystopian with the awkward stumbling of youthful affections. Raising more questions than answers, the first volume is an excellent introduction to our characters and their world and is perfect for fans of Darling in the Franxx and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day is available from February 18, 2025 through Kodansha Comics license.

Anime Atelier reviewed the NetGalley copy of the manga.
© Nachi Aono, Kodansha Ltd.

Thank you so much for letting me read this manga. I very much enjoyed this story. It is a little crazy but still very entertaining.

So, I've never dived into mangas before but I did enjoy this. I'm not sure how to go about rating mangas specifically, so I'll talk about what I usually look for in books - characters, originality, enjoyment and plot. I'll also talk about the graphics in this.

Characters: i loved Mimi the most, I loved her cheerful personality and I do plan on continuing this series to follow her story if it continues! Sheena, I enjoyed her as well; I loved the differences between her and Mimi.

Originality/plot: I can't speak about if this is original or not, as I haven't read any mangas before this - however I did enjoy the plot and found it interesting.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed this, I found it quite quick to read and I really liked having the graphics to understand what was going on. I'll always love a sapphic book, the representation is needed. There were parts I was slightly confused about, although I think that's just because of my lack of manga experience.

Graphics: I loved the graphics! Sometimes I find it difficult to imagine what a character would look like, so I found having those graphics really helped. It was a beautiful manga and I did really enjoy it.

I loved this! What a great introduction to characters, magic and future love story. Also what an ending. I can't wait to get the next volume.

I loved this! What a great introduction to characters, magic and future love story. Also what an ending. I can't wait to get the next volume.