is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Suenobu. Life was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Bessatsu Friend from April 2002 to February 2009, with its chapters collected in 20 volumes. A live-action drama adaptation aired in Japan on Fuji Television and its affiliates from June to September 2007. A single-volume drama novelization was published with it.
A sequel series, titled Life 2: Giver/Taker, ran on Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from June 2016 to October 2018. A five-part live-action drama adaptation aired in Japan on Wowow from January to February 2023.
In 2006, Life won the Kodansha Manga Award for manga. By October 2018, the series has over 10 million copies in print.
Plot Life Third-year best friends Ayumu Shiiba and Shinozuka promise to each other that when they graduate middle school, they will remain friends. After Ayumu scores higher on the entrance exams than her, Shinozuka breaks off their friendship. Hurt by this betrayal, Ayumu starts self-harming.
Entering her first year of high school, Ayumu keeps to herself, having difficulty fitting in with others around her. There, she is introduced to the popular Manami Anzai and becomes her friend. As Ayumu regains her optimism, she one day discovers Manami attempting suicide after being dumped by her boyfriend, Katsumi Sako. Stopping her in time, Ayumu attempts to mend their relationship by visiting Katsumi's house, where she accidentally uncovers his secret fetish. Ayumu is caught and assaulted by Katsumi, and is later mistaken by Manami and her friends to be stealing Katsumi from her. As Ayumu endures severe bullying from her classmates, she can only turn to an unlikely ally and friend, Miki Hatori, for strength and guidance.
Life 2: Giver/Taker Six years ago, Itsuki Kurasawa witnessed the death of her sister Honoka at the hands of eleven-year old Ruoto Kishi. In the aftermath of Ruoto's arrest, Itsuki's family and her life fell apart. Fueled by a desire to prevent any more suffering like she did, Itsuki grows up to become a formidable police detective.
In the present day, Itsuki is informed that Ruoto has just been released. On the way home, she finds a note on her door with a message threatening to "steal what's most important to [her] once more." Knowing Ruoto is behind this and speculating that he will go back to killing again, Itsuki vows to put him back in prison. Her recklessness gets her in trouble with the police department and even the public, as Ruoto, who now runs a bakery under an alias, uses his charming looks and personality to feign innocence. With the help of a few unlikely allies, such as fellow detective Kaname Imai, Itsuki uncovers a number of deaths and suspected murders all leading back to Ruoto since his release, including one from before Honoka's death. Now in a race against time, Itsuki is desperate to stop Ruoto before he kills even more.
Aside from sharing a few themes, Life 2: Giver/Taker has no relation to Lifes story and characters.
Characters
Life
A high school student (First Year, Class 2). She studies at Nishidate High School, or Nishikō ('Nishi High'), who consistently struggles on tests despite being very intelligent. She lives with her single middle-class mother and younger sister, Akane, in a company house but her father is never present (in the television drama, Ayumu has a younger brother named Makoto, their mother's name is Fumiko and her father "is always out of town on business trips"); her family does not pay much attention to her until Volume 19 of the manga, when she is hospitalized due to the stabbing incident. After the end of her friendship with Shii-chan at the very end of middle school, she has difficulties fitting into high school life and resorts to self-harm in order to cope and relieve stress—in Volume 5 of the manga, she has 19 cuts. Manami is her first friend at Nishikō (it appears that she is afraid of Manami because Manami gets angry with her when she talks to other girls in the class) but their friendship does not last long (until Volume 4)—Manami and her group start to bully her because they think she is trying to steal Katsumi from Manami. When Ayumu tells the truth about Katsumi's real self as well as Manami's bullying and involvement with Akira, no one believes her except Miki and Yūki. Despite many hardships, including Manami's bullying, Katsumi's stalking and molestation, Akira's abusive behaviors, and the teachers' and family's passiveness, her friendship with Miki and Yūki's support give her the strength she needs to stand up for herself, to stop self-harming, and to become a stronger and more confident person. In Volume 15 of the manga, the truth finally comes out but she is not satisfied until she understands Manami's feelings and thoughts as well as Manami's wish to live on, although they cause Ayumu to get stabbed by Manami and, thus, hospitalized. After shortly meeting with Manami, she reports all Manami's bad deeds to the police and continues to live on.
A girl in Ayumu's class at Nishikō, later also Ayumu's friend. Strikingly beautiful and independent, she is usually the top student of her school, and has a quiet willpower and strength. She can relate to what Ayumu is going through—she is also a victim of Manami and her group but, unlike Ayumu, she does not let it bother her, at least outwardly. She has been known to work multiple jobs, such as working behind the counter at the risqué Rainbow Café and being a bunny girl at clubs (in the TV drama, she only works at Rainbow Café, and her being a bunny girl is only hinted at), therefore, most of the time she is not at school. Like most of her classmates, Miki is about fifteen or sixteen, but she stretches the truth when trying to find work, saying instead that she is nineteen. She lives with her father, Tsurayuku, but most of the time he is hospitalized due to his heart disease; after her parents' divorce, she never sees her mother. At the age of 6, she lived with her grandfather, a cabinet maker, and his apprentices but then she moved out with her father—it is revealed in Volume 12 of the manga, when the girls go to visit Miki's grandfather for the summer vacation. She is always a good friend to Ayumu by helping her out, comforting her, and cheering her up (she is one of the few students who does not bully Ayumu); Ayumu is the first one to ask her to be friends. In Volume 15 of the manga, Ms. Toda frames Miki in cheating during exams (as part of Manami's request) but no one in the class believes that (this causes the truth about Manami to come out) and she is not punished. In Volume 19 of the manga, while visiting Ayumu in the hospital, her father's doctor suggests Miki to leave because her father needs to get a surgery so she decides to move and transfer school. Before leaving, she spends a great day with Ayumu and Yūki.
A guy in Ayumu's class at Nishikō, later also Ayumu's and Miki's friend. He first appears in Volume 6 of the manga after bumping into Ayumu, where he immediately notices she is distressed. When Manami and her group are trying to take Ayumu into the bathroom (likely to torment her), Yūki along with other guys from the same class stops them and tells them off. He reveals to her his own bullying experiences in Tatsuki Middle School, including being stripped and beaten by his classmates, events which lead him to stand up for Ayumu, though he insists that he is trying to erase his own pain not because of her sake. Afterwards, he is always helping Ayumu out when in trouble. In Volume 7 of the manga, it is revealed that Akira was his main tormentor and Yūki transferred school to avoid the bully. Despite his past experiences, he overall has a gentle and kind nature.
Ayumu's first friend, later ex-friend, at Nishikō. She is extremely manipulative and spoiled; as the daughter of a rich CEO (and possible future mayor), she uses her powers, charisma and conceit to force others to do her will, also by blackmail, threats or sexual favors. Her manipulations allow her to use emotions as a weapon; she appears the "innocent good girl" (in front of teachers, her parents, or other people of authority), the martyr (when her bullying draws the attention of other classmates and teachers), or the predator (when tormenting others). People tend to take her side because of how she conducts herself in confrontational situations. She is obsessed with her boyfriend Katsumi (during their first break-up she becomes suicidal but Ayumu saves her)—it is revealed that she was bullied in middle school when dating Katsumi, nevertheless, she likes to bully anyone who deserves it, betrays her or stands up to her. At first, she and her group, including Ayumu, bullies Miki because she is into "some pretty bad stuff". However, she later turns all classmates (except Miki and Yūki) against Ayumu for a misunderstanding, in which Katsumi breaks up with her and starts to pursue Ayumu, although he tells Manami that "Ayumu is pursuing him". After an incident where Ayumu destroys Katsumi's cellphone, Manami gets angry with Katsumi because she thinks he is defending Ayumu, but they soon make up. She uses Akira to do all her dirty work, e.g. getting revenge on Katsumi (she feels betrayed because he wants to break up with her) and Ayumu. She also lies to her parents that she is being bullied by Ayumu and Miki causing her father to show up at school and forces Hiro to tell the school that Hiro is the bully (so Manami will not bully Hiro anymore for almost telling the truth to Ayumu). Since Hirose's attempted suicide, all her classmates thinks (but speaks out only in Volume 15 of the manga) that she is the culprit of everything (Ayumu's bullying, Hirose's attempted suicide and lie, Ms. Hiraoka's transfer, and Miki's cheat sheet), thus, they start to ignore her. All her bad deeds, including her true colors, are then known to the whole school so she escapes to Katsumi's home, thinking him as her only ally. Here, Manami explains Ayumu the truth behind their friendship (she approached Ayumu because Ayumu wasn't ugly and should have been her follower without questioning or opposing her), her involvement with the hospital incident and her intentions of killing Ayumu with a knife (she hates Ayumu because Ayumu opposes her, thus, she cannot let her live happily) but she stops when she discovers Katsumi's scrapbook. After hearing the truth from Katsumi, she stabs him in the back and she then stabs herself in the stomach. Before giving herself a mortal wound, Ayumu stops her; living is her punishment to redeem herself. In the hospital, Manami reveals her father her true real self and seeks Ayumu out because she wants to be reported to the police. In the end, she is in a reformatory.