I think this manga will stand or fall with one thing: Does the mangaka have the guts to kill of the little children and not only adults/teenagers? Because if not, and if the children remain an important part of the cast, then they are probably gonna be annoying dead weight which constantly needs to be saved and protected. And watching the heroes spending too much time rescuing one damsell in distress after another can get really boring.
On the other hand, I am not a fan of killing children just for the egdyness. I hope they find a safe place where they can split up or something like that.