NG Life

Talk about double vision.

A Shojo manga based on the age-old tale of reincarnated lovers... with a twist.

Keidai Saeki, average Japanese high school student, remembers living an entirely different life as Sirix, a gladiator in ancient Pompeii; this means he has a hard time existing in the present, especially when no-one else seems to have memories of their own. Keidai exists in two worlds, one of which is long dead: His little sister in his past life is married to his former rival, and they turned out to be his parents, his male best friend is now a cute girl with a crush on him, and his beloved wife Serena has been reborn as the short-tempered boy next door who's crushing on his best friend! And of course, Keidai is literally incapable of seeing them as anything but their past-life selves.

Life for Keidai is essentially a twenty-four-hour Mind Screw.

NG Life is a nine-volume romantic dramedy shoujo series by Mizuho Kusanagi, the mangaka responsible for Mugen Spiral and Game X Rush. Licensed for North America and published in English by Tokyo Pop, all nine volumes have been released as of July 8 2011.

Tropes used in NG Life include:

• All Men Are Perverts: Serizawa's dad certainly thinks so; it becomes Hypocritical Humor when we discover that he draws ecchi manga as part of his job, and Keidai earns his respect by proving that 'girls in wet clothes are sexier than naked girls!'
• Aloof Big Brother: Though they're not related - yet - Raoul acts this way towards Sirix, particularly during the Pompeii arc.
• Always with You: Loleus' dying words to Sirix.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Delos turned out to be targeting Aglaia, whom he nonetheless looks out for, due to his working for a rival house.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Shinogu. He's happy to have a harem of high school girls, but he doesn't take advantage of them as some clearly want him to.
• Crash Into Hello: This is how Loleus and Sirix meet.
• Death Equals Redemption: Delos forgoes escaping and dies in Pompeii, having remained behind to wipe out his family in revenge for their plot against Aglaia's house.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Both Smyrna/Shinogu and Reina begin to defrost after their interactions with Keidai; it's implied that both have one-sided feelings for him, not that they'd ever admit it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Keidai, unable to reconcile his feelings for Serizawa with his disappearing memories of Pompeii; Loleus, lying beaten and alone by the roadside.
• Does Not Like Men: Smyrna, even when she's reincarnated as a guy.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: A standard part of Keidai's life; he even daydreams of times gone by.
• First Girl Wins: In the long run, though Loleus isn't yet a girl.
• Foregone Conclusion: We all know what happened to Pompeii.
• Friendless Background: Though he was befriended by Serena, Loleus - as a slave - felt as if no-one would care if he died... until he met Sirix.
• Gladiator Games: Everyone's past lives practically revolved around them: They were either gladiators themselves, worked as part of the games, or were part of families involved with the games.
• Genki Girl: Serizawa.
• Go Out with a Smile: Aglaia dies like this.
• Gothic Lolita: Reina dresses this way and affects a sarcastic demeanor more mature than her age.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Aglaia pushes Sirix, who's carrying a wounded Loleus, to safety just before the tunnel collapses.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Loleus, towards Sirix and Serena; he later puts himself between Sirix and Delos' blade. He says it almost word-for-word, no less.

Loleus: "Sirix.... I want you to be happy."

• Involuntary Battle to the Death: When Sirix and Loleus face off in the arena. It gets averted, though.
• Irony: Serena wishes that she were a man, so she could accompany Sirix through crumbling Pompeii, and Sirix smilingly says that it would cause him problems; in their next life Serena is reborn as a guy, which does in fact cause Keidai problems.
• Jumping the Gender Barrier: Hey, guess what? Your best friend who'd do anything for you is now a cute girl with a crush on you! Too bad you're still hung up on your past-life wife, who's jumped the gender barrier in reverse.
• Love Confession: Once he realizes his feelings for Serizawa, Keidai has to do this about three or four times before she finally believes him.
• Magnetic Hero: Sirix. Everyone who wasn't a Complete Monster at least respected him; Keidai has a similar effect on people despite being somewhat less impressive on the surface.
• Meaningful Echo: "We'll meet again." You know, because... Reincarnation.
  • After meeting Loleus, Sirix pretends to have 'forgotten' why Loleus treasures that scrap of cloth; in a similar fashion, Keidai pretends to have 'missed' Serizawa's reply to his final confession.
• Meaningful Name: The series itself: NG Life = [Keidai's] No Good Life. After everything's sorted out, an epilogue chapter changes it to Nice Going Life.
• Memento MacGuffin: Loleus treasures the strip of cloth Sirix used to bind his hand when they first met; his second-most treasured item is a gold headband Aglaia gave him after she saved him from the gladiator games.
  • Perhaps more accurately, Smyrna's ring in the post-series past-life sidestory.
• Mistaken for Gay: Keidai's goodbye message during Shinogu's stint as a substitute teacher apparently sounds like a Love Confession.
• One of the Boys: How Keidai treats Serizawa for most of their friendship, mostly because he sees her as his male best friend.
• Pair the Spares: While this may be one reason behind the popularity of the Yuuma x Reina ship, many fans simply seem to really like the way they interact with each other.
• Please Don't Leave Me: Sirix says it almost word-for-word as he cradles a dying Loleus.
• Rape as Drama: Almost happens to Smyrna in a side-story; leads to a one-sided (and very well-hidden) Rescue Romance on her part when Sirix interferes.
• Reincarnation: The centerpiece of the story, of course!
  • Reincarnation Romance: For Aglaia/Shuna and Delos/Souichi as well as Raoul, Aria, and their incarnations as Keidai's parents. Also for Keidai, eventually, though not the way he thought it would be.
• Shout-Out: Keidai and Yuuma pose for manga-artists working on 'a romance between an assassin and a female bodyguard,' a reference to the mangaka's previous series Game X Rush, in which the male bodyguard was originally meant to be female.
• Survivor Guilt: A large chunk of Keidai's unwillingness to move on is guilt carried over from his past life; he blames himself for failing to save anyone and believes that his penance is to remember everything that happened... despite the fact that no-one could have predicted or prevented Vesuvius' explosion, and Sirix died almost immediately after everyone else.
• Take a Third Option: When Raoul tells him that he can "only protect one thing" - go to Serena or rescue Loleus and Aglaia - Sirix refuses to choose. It... doesn't go so well and results in a form of crosslife Heroic BSOD.
• The Determinator; When motivated by those he loves, or their memories, nothing can stand in Sirix/Keidai's way.
• The Not Love Interest: Loleus, while confronting Delos, basically admits that Sirix is his most important person though Sirix is happily married; Serizawa puts Keidai before even her own feelings. Subverted when Serizawa finally does get Keidai.
• Tsundere: Yuuma and Shinogu are extreme Type A's towards Keidai... particularly Shinogu, who exhibited identical behavior as Lady Smyrna towards Sirix. It's all but stated that bullying him is how Smyrna/Shinogu covers for actually caring about Sirix/Keidai.