I posted a blog entry on this series before Tokyopop.com 2.0 went up. For some reason, it was deleted. I was so sad~! But...I decided to take time to type up the information about this series again on my livejournal blog. I decided to post it here.

Okay...1900 years ago, there was a city called Pompeii. It was an Italian city that was destroyed by a powerful volcano and to this day, many of the ruins are still intact, including the corpses of the civilians. But what about before Pompeii was destroyed? What kind of people lived there? Who did they love? Who's love was ended tragically because of that stupid volcano? Silix and Sarena of course. 

Silix was a warrior of Pomeii. He was strong and noble, but he did have a weakness. His lover, Sarena. She was the daughter of a doctor. Not to mention she was a real beauty! Many men had their eye on her, even a bigshot named Raul. Silix's friends and family supported him and told him to at least go talk to her. One of these people was called Loleus: BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Another supporter was called Aria, Silix's sister.

The day came when he suddenly fell and hit his head and it was time for Sarena herself to care to him. From that day on, their love became more and more strong until they even got married. They had to go through her protective sister, Sumirna, who hated men, but of course, they got through that. When the volcano was smoking, they thought it wise to escape, but they weren't sure it would actually erupt. Silix had to go on a mission to help others escape, but knew how dangerous the volcano situation was. He urged Sarena to escape, but all she said was that she would be waiting for him...and that was it. Silix never saw her again...everyone he knew was gone when he returned. Even his city was gone...

FAST FORWARD TO MODERN DAY JAPAN. Kedai Saeki is a good 17-year old high school student. He's hot, popular with the girls, good at sports, good at acedemics, but there's just something a little wacked out about him. He has dreams about his "past life". No one takes his nonsense seriously, but they cope with it. He claims to have been a Pompeii warrior named Silix, who had a beautiful wife named Sarena, a very close friend named Loreius, a sister named Aria, and a rival named Raul.

One of Keidai's friends is named Mii Serizawa. It turns out that she too, was a Pompeii civilian in her past life, according to Keidai. She looks exactly like a female version of Loleus! And...then there's a junior high kid who lives next door to Keidai named Yuma. When ever Keidai sees him, he can't help but think about Sarena because...HE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE HER!!!!!!! Only one problem: Yuma is a boy. So Loleus and Sarena did a gender swap when they were reborn, isn't that cool?! *bleh*

Here's where all the fun begins. Since Yuma looks like his past wife, Keidai has feelings for Yuma, but Yuma has feelings for Mii, who was Loleus in her past life, and Mii has feelings for Keidai, who was just a male friend in the past life. What's even cooler is Keidai's parents. His mom is actually the reincarnation of Aria, who was Silix's sister, and his father is the reincarnation of Silix's rival, Raul. It's hilarious how when Yuma is over at his house and he's talking to Keidai's father, he gets really mad at his father and says, "Back off!"

Since chapter 3, when Keidai, Mii, and the rest of the theater club had to do a play about Keidai's Pompeii memories, Keidai has felt a more-than-friendship connection to Mii. This play forced out his feelings for when he had to leave Sarena before the volcano erupted. Instead of a simple, "I'll be waiting", Mii added a bit more saying that "I'll always be with you" kind of thing. Everyone on stage was crying for real because the emotion was so real to Keidai. It could even be felt in the audience. This was the first time Yuma cried and he didn't know the reason why. T.T Since then, there have been numerous times Keidai's heart has suddenly gone "Th-MP!* when seeing Mii's cute face~!

Out of all these people, only Keidai has dreams of his past life. He's remembered since he was a little child, and no one really believed him because they couldn't remember at all. However...are there other characters from Pompeii who actually do remember? yes. Yuma's cousin and Keidai's student teacher, Shinogu. From the beginning, he has always seemed to hate Keidai. It's revealed later on that he sees Yuma as Sarena and Keidai gets all excited. However...Keidai's excitement is cut short when he realizes that Shinogu is actually the reincarnation of Sarena's older sister who hated men, Sumirna! Keidai tries numerous times to bond with Shinogu, but Shinogu just flat out hates him (it gets really funny sometimes).

Then there's a mystery that comes up when a girl named Reina shows up. She looks exactly like Sarena, and even has the right gender! So what does that make Yuma?! (A long lost brother of Sarena or something?!!!!) She does not have memories of her past life, but has been told by her older sister, Shuna, that she is indeed Sarena from Pompeii. Shuna was a high-class woman named Agraya, whom Silix was assigned to as a bodyguard. Shuna has two personalities in her. One side doesn't remember she was Agraya, and the other half does. She's able to remember the man she hated the most, who is actually now after her in modern day. This man askes Keidai if he really remembers his past life as Silix. Keidai thinks about it for a minute and realizes that the only reason he remembers his past life is because of his dreams. He can't remember anything he hasn't dreamed about yet. This makes him really depressed because out of all the memories he's dreamed of, he can't remember the day Pompeii was destroyed. He can't fully remember the sorrow he suffered after Sarena and Loleus died. Mii tries to cheer him up and starts to cry herself, making Keidai hold her until she feels better.

So...why it it that only Keidai has these dreams? Why do Reina and Yuma look exactly the same? The series is still ongoing in Japan, so all the mysteries have yet to be resolved. I give this manga series a 9/10. It's art is some of the best I've seen, and the story is hard for me to walk away from. I hope it'll be licensed in the U.S soon ^^