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Title:  NG Live Vol 1

Author:  Mizuho Kusanagi

Publisher: Tokyopop

ISBN:  9781427814456

May Contain Spoilers

Keidai is more than a little unique.  The high schooler remembers his previous life as Sirix, a gladiator in Pompeii, and he’s surrounded by his friends from that time.  Only they don’t remember any of it.  When Yuuma moves in next door, Keidai is in for more disappointment.  His wife from the past is now a middle school boy!  Can the fates be any crueler than that?

I have to admit that I feel a little bit of pity for Keidai.  He’s cursed with memories of his past life, but nobody else is.  Not his best friend, Loleus, who has been reborn as a girl named Serizawa.  Not his mother, who was his younger sister Aria in the past.  Not even his father, who was once his bitter rival for the affections of Serena, his wife from glorious Pompeii.  Knowing that he is the only one to retain his memories of the past, Keidai has gotten along without too many problems.  He’s always on the look out for the reincarnation of Serena, and when he first sees Yuuma, he’s on cloud nine.  Here, finally, is his wife, and they can be blissfully reunited.

Hold it!  Yuuma, though he doesn’t look it, is a boy, and he doesn’t appreciate Keidai greeting him with a hug when they first meet.  He thinks that Keidai is a perverted creep, and he develops an almost instant disliking for him.  Toss in some jealousy over Serizawa’s feelings for Keidai, and you have the makings of an almost perfect rivalry between them.  This is one messed up tangle of relationships, as Serizawa pines for Keidai, Yuuma pines for Serizawa, and Keidai is just so messed up that he doesn’t know who he longs for.

I enjoyed certain elements of the story more than others.  I found that most of the comedy fell a little short of the mark, as Keidai is constantly in a jumble over Yuuma.  Yuuma is the spitting image of his beloved Serena, and he can’t get past that.  Whenever Yuuma is around, Keidai just sees Serena.  Worse, he doesn’t like Yuuma, but his heart keeps betraying him by going pitter-patter whenever the younger boy is around.  Now that is really a love-hate relationship.

What I did like was Keidai’s undying, unrelenting devotion to Serena.  He constantly dreams of his past life, and the dreams just won’t let him be.  He’s reminded again and again how perfect his previous existence was, and how happy he was with Serena and his friends.  Mt Vesuvius ended his idyllic life, tearing him away from Serena.  Before he was forced to leave her on a family errand, she vowed to wait for him to return.  Forever.  The soul of Sirix latched onto that promise, and was reborn as Keidai.  I felt that the dramatic elements of the story worked much better than the comedic ones, especially as Keidai is troubled by the last moments he spent with Serena in the past.  His inability to protect her from harm eats away at him, even though 1900 years have passed. 

The character interactions were interesting, as the threesome tries to make sense of their feelings.  Even though Yuuma and Keidai are like oil and water, they can’t help but be drawn to each other.  Serizawa is the same; she feels an affinity for both of the boys, but she doesn’t fully understand why. Though they bicker and fight, they always make peace and continue on in their strange friendship.

The situations that they were maneuver through aren’t always as entertaining.  The pacing was also very uneven, and I couldn’t sit down with this title for more than a chapter or two at a time.  Though I’m not enchanted with the package as a whole, I did enjoy the premise enough to want to find out if Keidai regains his former happiness.

Grade: C+

Review copy provided by Tokyopop