Review: NG LIFE

Shojo sometimes dabbles with history, usually for the sake of reincarnation drama or the concept of star-crossed lovers.  In this case, the creator of Yona of the Dawn looked at it and said "why not both?"

NG LIFE (NG Raifu), by Mizuho Kusanagi.  First published in 2005 and first published in North America in 2009.

PLOT:

Nearly two millennia ago, the gladiator Sirex pledged to his lady love Serena that would return to her even as their hometown of Pompeii was consumed by Mount Vesuvius.  Centuries later, Sirex has been reborn as Keidai, an ordinary Japanese teen boy.  While many of the people around him are also reincarnations of people from Sirex's life, only Keidai can clearly remember that past.  That makes things awkward when Keidai recognizes his beloved Serena in Yuuya, the grumpy boy who just moved in next door.  Keidai isn't sure whether to convince Yuuya of their past connection or try to forge some new relationships in the modern world?

STORY:

NG Life's problems lie in its priorities.  It's chock-full of great story hooks: a sweet yet doomed romance playing out in ancient time, a protagonist caught between the past and present, and both allies and rivals reincarnated in the modern day.  It's not like we haven't seen a similar series about reincarnation turn out well.  It's not like we haven't seen Kusanagi write great stories that involve a lot of action and intrigue.  The brief glimpses we see of that ancient world are great. Yet it gives priority to its weakest parts: the modern day setting and its sense of humor.

Maybe the modern half of the story would be more compelling if that part of the cast weren't so ordinary.  It's hard to get much of a pin on Keidai beyond his obsession with his past life, and virtually everyone else is pulled straight from the bin of stock shojo characters.  The one exception is Yuuya, whose small and delicate looks belies his quick-tempered attitude (and his major insecurity about his androgynous looks).  Still, that generic cast wouldn't be so bad if she gave them anything substantial to do.

For the first few chapters, Kusanagi mostly flails around as everyone mocks Keidai for his obsession with the past.  The worst offender is his supposed best friend, Serizawa.  She's the one person that Keidai has confided his dilemma to, and she mostly ends up using that information to mess with him by dressing Yuuya in drag or turning Keidai's memories into a play without his consent.  Speaking of Yuuya, a lot of the comic business around them involves a lot of latent homophobia.  Keidei tends to fret over his attraction to Yuuya (when he isn't outright hallucinating Serena in his place).  Yuuya responds to Keidai's overtures with a lot of comic slapstick and a hearty dose of insecurity about his own masculinity.  It's only towards the end of the volume that the story finds some sort of focus with the school play.  It's not perfect, but at that point any sort of direction was welcome.  Still, it makes for a rough beginning and it's hard to believe that this went on for 9 volumes without some drastic changes.

ART:

Reading this volume, you get the feeling that Kusanagi's real passion was in the ancient portions.  It's not just in how they are written, but in how much effort she puts into those flashbacks.  She clearly loves drawing the costumes, particularly Serena's flowing gown.  In comparison...well, the modern-day characters aren't badly designed, but they lack the same sort of verve.  The one place those character do shine is in their comic reactions.  Keidai in particular gets a lot of wonderful, goofy wild takes and they are easily the funniest part of the book.  

RATING:

Despite the interesting premise, NG Life is probably the weakest Mizuho Kusanagi manga we've gotten in English.  It takes too long to start figuring out what it's going to do with that premise and its sense of humor is lacking, verging upon offensive at points.  I can't recommend hunting this down unless you're determined to be a completionist for her works.

This series was published by Tokyopop.  This series is complete with 9 volumes available.  All 9 were published and are currently out of print.