Read it all (Chapter 35 currently) in a couple of days, what a great manga. I love the art style, the mangaka draws them in a cute manner that still retains some seriousness to it. The backgrounds are great, but I also think it's because I'm biased for that "old castle" look of the school - this ancient architecture. Also, Mimi's hair looks so cute and fluffy.
Sheena seriously grew on me over the story, Mimi was my favorite character but I now find them both interesting and fun. Sheena starting out as a "deadweight" of sorts and then putting effort into her abilities is what got me, how she's willimg to try now and get better... and for Mimi, how can I not adore it? It's so gentle...
The side characters are okay but I find that when it focuses on them for too long, I keep wishing that it would go back to the main leads. And this mostly happens to Ali, maybe because she appears more often than the rest? I was more interested in Seiran than her, so the scenes with the pair were more interesting to me, but after that one passed away, well, we only really get Ali by herself when she does appear.
The story and world make me feel so invested, there's the saying that a book can make you travel anywhere, and this manga surely hits that spot for me. I always read it on my tablet at night at the comfort of my bed with all the lights off, and it feels cozy to read this. I feel like I am there and also curious about things, wanting to learn more and paying attention to what they have to say.
The story is somewhat like a Harry Potter-esque setting but with a war going on, a little more gore at times and the yuri element.
I cried pretty hard at the confession scene in Chapter 34, I can't explain why. It felt personal to me, like I could relate to it, but I'm not sure the reason for it. Is it because of all their struggles? Mimi being so innocent? Me being so invested? Sheena's internal monologues? I didn't cry anywhere else... so far anyway. I felt a little of it when Seiran vanished, but tears didn't come out. Anyway, the whole scene was done beautifully. The storyboard, the dialogue, the drawings. The way Sheena asked to go for a walk, it all connected so well to me.
The only negative things I have to say is that the combat/fighting scenes can be confusing at times for me to follow or understand exactly what is happening. There are very few cases where I also felt this during "calm" scenes, I think the mangaka shines best when they are doing the latter.
And the other thing is that there are very few times where I'm not exactly sure who is speaking. There is also this single page where I wasn't sure if Sheena spoke the words in the middle, but this was on me. I kept looking and looking, wondering if she did say it out loud, and my interpretation is that she didn't. The reason why I thought she did was Mimi's face right after the dialogue, but then I concluded that she actually made that face because of the tears in-between the words.
And something else that bothers me is how sometimes the mangaka draws the eyes in a way that makes it look like the characters have tears on them when in reality they don't. But all of these are just minor inconveniences.
Lastly, it's a question. I noticed that sometimes Mimi will refer to herself as "I" or "me", I'm just wondering if that's accurate to the original script? Most of the time it's getting translated as her using her own name, so it throws me off and makes me curious when she doesn't.
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