While a part of me wonders when the show will get into the specifics of the war that acts as the catalyst for the entire plot, it’s nice that it flexes its philosophical muscles more directly this episode. War is a tragedy heavily tied to human nature that you could almost pessimistically see as inevitability. I like the nurse’s line in this episode about how war doesn’t really seem to bring peace; there are just calm periods between wars. In a lot of ways, the point of the war or how long a war has been going on doesn’t really matter because ultimately, war sucks. People need to die to keep that war going, and there isn’t a solution to the problem so much as there are just ways of mitigating the damages. It is very much an analogy of putting a band-aid on a broken arm, or I guess in this case, maybe a band-aid on an infection or some curse.

While I do think the show could’ve done a better job of highlighting just how uncomfortable Sheena felt about the war itself before this episode, I like the uncomfortable position she was put in throughout. The whole episode is made to highlight two things. The first is just how heavy the losses during war are felt. I like the subtlety of Gratitude Day and how it highlights that the pain of what’s lost often gets left behind in the items that are left over by the students that died. The show is so subtle that it actually took me a while to realize that the girl who gives Sheena and Mimi those dresses actually had her roommate die during one of the previous attacks, which is why she says that the dresses won’t ever be worn together again. While I wish there was more talk about the war in general, I do like how the show is playing with subtlety to really highlight that this is just the way these girls are forced to live, whether they like it or not. It’s similar to how people are forced to endure whatever war their country or state is a part of, even if nobody asks for it.

The second thing that the episode highlights is Mimi’s feelings about this war as its most effective soldier. I’m a little surprised that the show dropped the fact that Mimi’s mom was the one who used the resurrection spell, which means I overthought last week’s episode. This show doesn’t seem to be trying to subvert any expectations or catch me off guard, so when in doubt, I should go with the simpler answer. That being said, Mimi is naïve to the idea of loss. She acts like a little kid who doesn’t understand the weight of all of the deaths that she has caused because she’s just doing what other people tell her to do. She can’t die, so she can’t really feel the consequence of what her loss could mean to other people, and therefore, she can’t comprehend the loss that comes with other people losing their lives. She would probably feel really depressed if Sheena died in war, and I wonder if the show will set up something with that later on. But in a more worldly sense, death doesn’t really have any meaning to Mimi.

The episode also highlights that educating her on the importance of life could actually have a negative consequence. Like it or not, Mimi’s curse is an effective tool that helps the school lower the number of students sent out to battle. If Mimi decides that she doesn’t want to fight anymore, that means more students will have to be sent out to make up for the difference, which means that more people will die. Again, Mimi is a band-aid, but a band-aid is better than nothing at all. No one thinks this is good, but no one has an alternative solution either, and that sucks, but so is the reality of war.

So the question posed to Sheena at the end of this episode seems to be one of the main emotional arcs for the entire show: what does Sheena want to do? Does she want to go out into battle herself? Does she want to stop Mimi from going out at all? Does she want to find a way to end the war differently? I don’t know, but she doesn’t need to solve one of the world’s biggest issues in a night, so the most she can do is promise Mimi that she will be waiting for her when she gets home. I love that moment and the simplicity. While this show struggles to feel unique compared to its contemporaries, its simple, straightforward approach is one of its most endearing qualities. I look forward to seeing what potential solution Sheena comes to in future episodes.

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Bolts also streams regularly on Twitch as the indie VtuberBolts The Mechanic where they talk about and play retro media!

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day is currently streaming on
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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

Shueisha announced on Thursday it has launched its global digital manga platform Manga Million in over 100 languages including English, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French, Turkish, Tagalog, Korean, Polish, and others. The platform has over one million pages of translated manga from 400 titles at launch.

The company stated that over 150 of those titles are shojo manga. The titles include ONE PIECE, Naruto, Bleach, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kingdom, Oshi no Ko, SPY×FAMILY, Chainsaw Man, NANA, Kimi ni Todoke – From Me to You, and more.

The application is free without registration for a “limited time” but Shueisha confirmed with ANN that the company has not has not yet decided on a timeline for free access. Shueisha also confirmed with ANN that AI translation was not used for this project. The company stated in its announcement, “International licensing partners from around the world provided support for this unprecedented translation endeavor, making MANGA MILLION one of the largest initiatives in Shueisha‘s history.”

Editor-in-Chief of MANGA Plus by Shueisha Shuhei Hosono is the initiator of the Manga Million project and he stated regarding the launch:

The project began with a simple question: what if we marked Shueisha‘s 100th anniversary by translating one million pages of manga into 100 languages? As we developed the concept, we also saw it as a way to address the language barriers that still prevent many readers around the world from accessing manga. We hope that MANGA MILLION, an unprecedented translation initiative spanning 100 languages and one million pages, will spark new discoveries and connections between readers and Japanese manga.

Shueisha also operates the MANGA Plus platform and app, which is available worldwide outside of Japan, China, and Korea in English and other languages. The app mainly focuses on shonen titles from magazines like Weekly Shonen Jump, Jump SQ., and Weekly Young Jump, as well as the Shonen Jump+ platform.

Source: Press release

Things on the Eastern front are now as bad as they could be—and I don’t just mean for Tanya. At this point, both the Empire and Russy Federation are being led by the inept—though with starkly different goals.

On the Russy side of things, Loria is using his position within the party to pursue his own goals. He has something he wants even more than victory: Tanya herself. Because of this, the Russy offensive is being handled extremely recklessly. There are the normal military orders, and those clash with Loria’s orders—likely creating the scene of Russy artillery firing on their own advancing troops as we see in this episode.

And on the other side of the conflict, as was evident last week, the Empire’s issue is that those in power care only about staying in power. They’re more than willing to throw bodies at the problem to secure some fabled idea of “victory”—even if the reality is that this will gain little besides dragging out the war.

But the real issue with the Empire is that the leadership only wants to hear opinions that support their goals. This means that the most competent—those who can see the situation without bias and are willing to speak truth to power—are being removed from positions of power. This, of course, includes Zettour.

He has long been the strategic powerhouse of this war, and with him shipped off to the eastern front—tasked with holding the front lines during the Empire’s foolish new military push—the military command back in the capitol is in chaos. Zettour acted as far more than his rank and title would imply. He was a fixer and a politician in addition to being a military man.

Now, he’s a man tasked with being the scapegoat should the upcoming offensive fail—which it almost certainly will. And so Zettour faces an impossible challenge: to use a defensive front to win an offensive battle. With his forces already stretched far too thin, he has only one card left in his arsenal: Tanya.

As far as tactics go, Tanya is the only person we’ve seen on par with Zettour—and she sees things exactly as he does. The best plan they can come up with is to use Tanya’s forces as bait—to draw the Russy forces in and smash them.

Of course, the problem is that Tanya’s troops have to act as both bait and rescuer, leaving both forces far undermanned. And now that both Mary’s squad and Loria’s machinations have also focused on Tanya in addition to the main army—well, it looks like this might be the end for both Tanya and Zettour.

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Saga of Tanya the Evil II is currently streaming on
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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.