Life - MangaUpdates

Life

Description

All Ayumu dreams of is making it into the same high school as her best friend. But when she gets in and her friend doesn't, their friendship crumbles—sending Ayumu spiraling into depression. She finds relief in cutting herself but soon realizes that her scars may interfere with her budding high school life. Can she trust her new friend, Manami, who seems too good to be true? Or will Ayumu's apparent lack of compassion and understanding get her tossed aside like she was before? And is there anyone else out there who could possibly love her for who she is? A melancholy coming-of-age story by Keiko Suenobu! (From Kodansha USA)

Official English

Note: Won the 30th Kodansha Manga Award for shoujo in 2006.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Life 2: Giver/Taker (Side Story)

Associated Names

Life人生

حياة

ไลฟ์ (Thai)

ライフ

라이프

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.74-80 by Ame Scans 6 years ago

v.17 c.67 by Manga Yobai 13 years ago

v.9 c.35 by Eclipse Scans 14 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

20 Volumes (Complete)
13 Volumes (Shinsouban, Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

2 topics, 4 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 7.8 / 10.0 (266 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.65 / 10.0

32%

15%

16%

13%

Last Updated

April 20th, 2025 8:57pm PDT - 2 months ago

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Genre

Drama Mature Psychological School Life Shoujo Tragedy
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Become a Girl at Night

UnOrdinary

Parasite Doll

Usagi Yojimbo

From Nightmare to Love

Recommendations

Vitamin (SUENOBU Keiko)

Mars

Cat Street

Bitter Virgin

Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan

Author(s)

SUENOBU Keiko

Artist(s)

SUENOBU Keiko

Year

2002

Original Publisher

Kodansha (2002; 2016)

Serialized In (magazine)

Bessatsu Friend (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Kodansha USA (18 Vols - Ongoing; Digital)

TokyoPop (Canceled / 9 Vols)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #760

(+83)

Monthly Pos #1840

(-79)

3 Month Pos #3114

(+218)

6 Month Pos #3635

(-398)

Year Pos #4138

(-645)

List Stats

On 788 reading lists

On 789 wish lists

On 434 completed lists

On 81 unfinished lists

On 302 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Life the manga

13 years ago

Life by Suenobu Keiko

16 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Best part start is when Female Lead retaliate

by Raiden94
2 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

An enjoyable and great read..
I felt a bit relieved that romance is not the main focus..
Best part is when the Female Lead start to retaliate which would happened after couple of volumes..

Was this comment useful? Yes

Too bad for the unresolved romance

by SangMo
8 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

I get the main focus was the bullying, but....

The romance was really under done. Yuki basically confessed to her at the end, and she didn't hear him.

Was this comment useful? Yes

Mixed Feelings

by Omgosh
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

Ok, this is my first review:

I reccoment this Manga, I enjoyed a lot the first half, but mostly because I enjoy the "Despair" theme and the self-hurting premise was really interesting.

Btw, the manga was more sad and depressing before the "unrealistic" bullying started, then the history became kinda boring and predictable.

As always, the "Mary Sue" ruins the protagonist.

I waited till the end to see Shii-Chan appear (the middle school friend), i wouldn't even care if she just did a small appearance saying hello.

The ending was "meh", if someone stops reading at chapter 60 would be the same, there is no more character development and is really predictable.

Was this comment useful? Yes

This is too much...

by yuri_shibuya
8 years ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

I'm a victim of bullying myself but this manga is too much..
The heroine is too weak willed and took her 5 volumes to have the resolve to stand up to the bullies..

The teachers are also STUPID or may I say like cardboard boxes for decoration. The heroine is clearly being bullied and they still didn't notice...
The bullying from her classmates are too exaggerated!!!
I would die if I was wrapped in a plastic bag and pushed in the stairs, but the heroine came back unscathed...

I'm not happy while I'm reading the girl being bullied..
I get the message that students get bullied up to this day but must the author prolong the heroine's agony...
In this manga the PARENTS, POLICE, and ADULTS are useless props and are blind for not seeing the exaggerated bullying that is happening in the story...

I'm starting to hate shoujo mangas again..
If you want too read it for the sake of FEEL trip then go ahead..
But the bullying is getting out of hand and too UNREALISTIC....
The manga only revolves around 20 volumes of UNENDING and UNBELIEVABLE cycle of bullying or should I say harassment...

... Last updated 8 years ago

Was this comment useful? Yes

Too much crying

by BreakingSpades
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

I liked it, even though it was unrealistic. Bullying is a real problem but this was over exaggerated. The main character kept driving me crazy with all the tears. Even by ch65 she was crying over miki being supportive. Over all I think it was good. I binged read it in one day lol. Anzai is a crazy bitch lol

Was this comment useful? Yes

Sad

by hotarusasaki
12 years ago

Rating: N/A

I found it as quite a sad story, that pretty much made me cry in most chapters, but then again I like sad or touching manga's and I cry pretty easily when it comes to manga. The saddest part is just what happens in the story could and does happen in real life even if it doesn't happen to you or anyone around you. I really liked the moral of the story though, this story isn't just some shoujo where it's just a cute girl falling in love with a hot guy which personally sometimes get me wondering what's the point in reading it. This story actually makes you see things from different views and tells us how you can be part of the bullying just by standing there and letting it happen, and to stand strong even if there's no one supporting you. It also makes me want to choose my friends carefully, and to have your own ideas instead of just agreeing to everything. Personally I could sympathise with the main lead half of the time so I guess that made me like the story more. For those that don't want to read this because you think the main leads a wimp, she does actually get stronger. Although its not stronger as in she suddenly could do all these martial arts (it'd be a interesting development if that does happen though XD) but stronger as in she learns to stand up for herself instead of just being pushed around.

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SORRY ABOUT MY BAD ENGLISH

by Jalapeno-san
12 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Unrealistic? No. Exaggrated? Yes... but that is to make this manga more intense.
It awakens feelings of terror, shock and sympathy. Makes us question the morality
of our actions and what would we have done instead of the main character.

Also bullying in Asia is like this. My aunt told me some girls would humiliate
other girls pulling their skirts down, make them eat dirty food etc.

Mangas who makes us think more deeply, from others point of view... mangas like
these already deserve more than 8/10. Add few psychopaths and decent art and
I think you already deserve 10/10.

Also it's a huge plus the author touched such sensitive subjects as rape and suicide.

Was this comment useful? Yes

Unrealistic

by levatein
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

Having marathon the whole series up until the latest chapter [67], for some reasons I was urged to write several criticism of the series.

1. Lame heroine
The point tells everything. I personally don't understand why is it so hard to communicate and tell whatever she experienced/suffered to someone, AT LEAST her family. On the contrary, she just kept it to herself to gradually worsened the bully. This is where I found it somewhat unrealistic (except the kidnapping and delinquents). I know that in real life there are some cases of someone who couldn't talk to anyone and had to bear with the bullying, but most of them are certain cases such as broken family, internal conflict, or whatever psychological reasons. But in this series, the heroine's family were just perfectly fine and I don't see any reason not to talk to them only because she thinks noone believe her. In addition, does a voice/video recorder to get evidence ring a bell? However, good thing that during the process the heroine grows stronger and stronger...

Sudden change of character development/behavior
This issue is also rather strange for me. Although the series has drama, tragedy and psychology in it but all still seems unrealistic. The biggest sudden change lies to Chika. At the first few chapters, her personality is courageous, good and value friendship. In the middle part of story, she changed for worse to be submissive to Manami. Then after Manami got picked on, she suddenly (again) to the bossy, cunning type of character. And her personality changed in a matter of few days. Well, that's some psychology for you.

Overall, I don't have any problems with the series. It's just somewhat... unrealistic. The story is going down and turning into more and more stupid so much it pissed me off. Well, it's rather complicated feelings when you read this.

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Shallow

by momimomi
14 years ago

Rating: 5.0 / 10.0

1 Shallow Characters - as soon as you see new character you can guess what s/he will do.
2 Black&White World - there is no gray, only good and evil.
3 Predictable Plot
4 Average Art

But it kept me hooked till the end.

Was this comment useful? Yes

Really, it depends.

by Jeshia
14 years ago

Rating: 7.4 / 10.0

Before people start bashing the story because of the extremism, please consider that Japan is a different place, and the school, while fictional, is quite a realistic portrayal of an actual school. Bullying is not a phenomenon as it occurs everywhere, and this manga is a close-up account of what can happen to a person. It's not extreme. Her reactions, based on her character, are quite predictable as well as saddening.
As far as people's reactions to "why aren't the teachers doing anything?" Ha. I almost want to laugh at that. You seriously think that does anything? I think most of us have gone through the experience of tricking the authorities or at least having the authorities do NOTHING AT ALL. People naturally prefer the easier life. For many, it's easier to pretend as if bullying or other negative events never happened, /i/ even if they're reported. /i/

My critiques of it include the length coupled with the drama. I felt that the message of this manga was well delivered, yet I think it could have been neater and more poignant. The way the author drags it out makes a potentially profound story almost irritating to read.

My end comment? If you like something that hops on almost all the touchy teenage issues with a psychological perspective, go ahead. If you like "normal shoujo" or don't like shoujo at all, don't bother. Really, if you're looking for a REALLY good psychological manga, you should look elsewhere.

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