is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Mizuho Kusanagi. It was serialized in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume from December 2005 to March 2009. The individual chapters were then encapsulated and released in nine tankōbon volumes. The series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Tokyopop between 2008 up to 2011 when Tokyopop's North American publishing company was closed down.
The story follows Keidai Saeki, a teenager who retains memories of his past life as a gladiator in Pompeii. In the present, Keidai is reunited with his past life's wife who has reincarnated as a male; meanwhile his male best friend is reincarnated as a female with feelings for Keidai. Reviews have been mixed about the series with reviewers praising or panning the art style and characters. In Japan, the sixth volume of NG Life was ranked 25th on the Tohan charts.
Plot
Keidai Saeki is a high school student with memories of his past life as Sirix Lucretius Fronto, a gladiator in Pompeii who lost his wife Serena in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. In the present, he is reunited with Loleus, Sirix's male best friend who reincarnated as a girl named Mii Serizawa, and with Serena, who has reincarnated as a male middle school student named Yuuma Ujoh. Keidai has to deal with the feelings he has for Mii and his past love for Serena. As the series progresses, Keidai meets other people who retain memories of Pompeii and discovers that Sirix's guilt in failing to save his friends is the reason why he retains his memories. When Keidai falls into a coma, he is able to relive the last moments of Pompeii where his actions put Sirix's suffering to rest, allowing him to move on with his life and confess his love to Mii.
Characters
Keidai is a high school student with memories of his past life as , a Pompeiian gladiator. His life is thrown into turmoil after he meets Yuuma Ujoh, the reincarnation of Sirix's wife. Keidai is also linked to his family's incarnations; his mother, , was Sirix's younger sister, , while his father, , was Sirix's rival . He is friends with Mii Serizawa, the reincarnation of Sirix's close friend. He is unaware of Mii's feelings towards him and his own feelings of her. As the series progresses, Keidai's feelings for Mii grow as he starts to distance himself from Sirix's memories.
Yuuma is the reincarnation of Sirix's wife , a maiden who captured the hearts of men with her beauty and kindness. Yuuma retains Serena's feminine face and is often mistaken for a female. As a result, he aims to become more masculine to stop the confusion. Yuuma develops a secret crush on Mii early in the series, but his feelings are not reciprocated. He decides to give up on those feelings believing Keidai and Mii belong together and tries to push them together in order to help Keidai move on from Serena. It is revealed that Serena was reborn as a boy because in her final moments she felt that had she been a man, she could have been at Sirix's side in the final days of Pompeii, rather than be left behind waiting for him.
Mii is the reincarnation of Sirix's best friend . Serizawa met Keidai in seventh grade when they helped a trapped bird and was the first to learn about his past life. She has a crush on Keidai but remains silent about it, fearing it would ruin their friendship. Serizawa is very popular with boys, though they do not make advances, believing she and Keidai are a couple. In her past life, Loleus helped Sirix meet Serena. Kusanagi reveals Mii's name comes from Serizawa Kamo.
Shinogu is Yuuma's older male cousin and the reincarnation of Serena's overprotective older sister . Like Keidai, he retains memories of his past life, and hates Keidai for abandoning Serena during the volcanic eruption. He has an aversion to hot weather because of his strong memories of that day. He began working as a student teacher at Keidai's high school after Yuuma's family moved to town. Shinogu despises males except for Yuuma, and is a womanizer. Shinogu holds a grudge against Souichi Mikage because in his past life as Delos, he betrayed Aglaia.
