Life (ライフ) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Suenobu. Life was serialized in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Friend. In 2006, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo. A live-action drama series, produced by Fuji TV aired in Japan from June 30 to September 15, 2007. A single-volume drama novelization was also created. Like the manga, it was published by Bessatsu Friend and written by Keiko Suenobu; unlike the manga, however, it saw a limited run and is now out of print.

Characters

Manami's group: Girls in Ayumu's class at Nishikō. Their names are revealed only in Volume 9: Hirose (or Hiro-chan), Emi, Chika and Iwamoto (or Iwa-chan). They go in the same class as Manami, Ayumu, Miki and Yūki, and are Manami's friends. They are so manipulated by Manami's behavior and actions that they believe whatever Manami says, therefore, they'll do whatever it takes to protect Manami, e.g. bullying Miki or Ayumu. However, Hiro discovers Manami's plot against Katsumi and Ayumu (Volume 9 of the manga) but ends in hospital for attempted suicide and is forced to lie that she's the culprit of the bullying situation in exchange of being forgiven by Manami; due to this reason she's expelled (until Volume 20 of the manga). After Hiro's attempted suicide, Iwa gets scared so she decides to distance herself from Manami (Volume 12 of the manga) and transfer school to Kyushu. Emi and Chika also start to see Manami's true colors but they speak out only after the incident with Miki's cheat sheet, thus, they start to ignore Manami. After the stabbing incident, Emi is the only one who is brave enough to explain to the teachers and Manami's father about the whole bullying situation because she wants to redeem herself.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Keiko Suenobu, Life was serialized in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine from 2002 to 2009. It was released in twenty tankōbon volumes. The English-language version of the manga, published by Tokyopop, was originally rated OT (Older Teen; 16+), but starting with the release of Volume 6 and carrying back over to future reprintings of the previous five, the rating was changed to M (Mature; 18+) for extremely explicit content in that volume. As of June 2008, nine volumes have been released in the United States; Volume 10 was scheduled for a September 2008 release, but on August 31, 2009, Kodansha (original Japanese publisher of the series) announced that they would drop their manga licensing contract with Tokyopop, leaving Life unfinished until 2023, when Kodansha USA announced that they have licensed the series. Suenobu created a sequel to the manga, titled Life 2: Giver/Taker, which started serialization in the seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on June 25, 2016. In 2023, Kodansha USA announced that they also licensed the sequel manga.

Television drama

Fuji TV began airing a television drama based on the Life manga on June 30, 2007, at 11:10 PM (replacing Liar Game). The eleventh and final episode aired on September 15. The protagonist, Ayumu, was played by Kie Kitano. Mika Nakashima performed the theme song "Life".