Noah left, Astra right.
...Astra-sama laughing in such a way... I'm glad he found his sun, then.
-Rosenrot, Vice-captain of the Chivalric Order
It's My Life is a comedy Slice of Life manga series by Narita Imomushi, which ran in Ura Sunday from 2014 to 2018.
Taking place in a fantasy setting, it follows Astra Ludger Doomsday, a former guard captain, as he retires to live in a house in the woods. Hoping for a peaceful life, he is joined by a magical elf girl of the silver-eyed Antikythira race after she crashes into his house on a Flying Broomstick. She mistakes him for the Evil God, and they live together as he doesn't have the heart to break to her he's not. Hilarity Ensues.
The manga got an anime OVA adaptation, with an original story, released in 2019.
It's My Life contains examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Subverted. Kyuss tries to call Elise by her actual name for once (he usually calls her an ironing board) and guesses "Lizzy". He later freaks out when Rose refers to her as Elise, thinking that he's misnamed her, but since Elise's full name is "Elizabeth", calling her "Lizzy" isn't exactly incorrect.
- Ambiguously Bi: Kyuss gets a fair bit of Ship Tease with Elise, but he also idolises his best friend Astra in a manner that looks like a crush.
- An Ice Person: Elise favors ice magic, although she's capable with anything.
- The Artifact: Astra started hiding his face after he was rejected by his best friend. He continues to wear his mask and refuses to show his face, even after reconciling with said best friend.
- Author Appeal:
- The author clearly loves metal. The chapters are named after rock and metal songs, Astra's subordinates are named after members of Iron Maiden, and in an Omake, Kyuss keeps on misremembering the Antikythirans' species name as various metallers' names. Even the magic incantations come from metal songs, particularly from Finnish bands.
- By Imomushi's own account, the series only features things he likes or wants to draw - masks, a person's thirties, non-humans, glasses, flat chests, large chests, tans, yuri subtext, yaoi subtext, old men, little girls, little boys, body hair, animals...
- Beach Episode: Chapter 21.
- Beast Man: Many, including Draconic Humanoids and Cat Folk; see their respective entries below for more.
- Berserk Button: Threatening Noah or damaging Astra's house or property is this for him.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kyuss comes to Elise's rescue in chapter 28.
- Cat Folk: Buntline, the resident carpenter near Astra's house, is one. Most of the village is shown as this too.
- Celibate Hero: It's not that Astra's never been interested in anyone, it's just that he's more interested in his house, whether getting it or looking after it.
- The Chains of Commanding: Elise inherited the position of Tribal Chief at an early age after her mother died; being new to the role, and trying to live up to her mother's reputation, she dedicated all her efforts to it at the cost of having any sort of personal life, and as a result, she's awkward to the point of tsundere when dealing with others on an interpersonal level. After she meets Astra and company, she wants to be free to pursue her own desires, but is bound by the responsibilities of her position.
- Cuddle Bug: Riff, the shopkeeper and apothecary at the Cait Sith village, is very fond and clingy of Noah, to the point that the girl asks Astra not to take her there the next time because Riff riddled her with kisses.
- A Day in the Limelight: Chapters 25-25.2 are GorGor's Origins Episode.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Or rather, defeat means becoming friends again; Kyuss and Astra used to be friends, but Astra being more talented than Kyuss, combined with Kyuss's own insecurities, causes him to turn against Astra. When they meet up again, they get into a fight, and Kyuss's defeat causes him to realize the problem wasn't Astra, but himself, enabling the two of them to reconcile.
- Draconic Humanoid: The Dragonewt Brigands are two brothers, both of whom are bipedal human sized dragon people.
- Elves vs. Dwarves: Commander Oz Snowblind, a white dwarf, really doesn't get along with Dr. Feelgood, who is a big elf.
- Evil Twin: Noah has one.
- Eye Scream: The way to get the gemstone of an Antikythiran is to remove an eye and let the gemstone grow in the socket.
They have to be alive for the process. - The Faceless: Astra's face is never clearly shown; in the present day he wears a mask, and in flashbacks his face is shadowed, obscured or indistinct. His only visible feature is his eyes.
- Fantastic Racism: The Antikytherian race as a whole considers humans as dirty and corrupt.
- Fluffy the Terrible: GoaGoa is a huge dragon who is easily tamed by sweets, gets scared by strange plants, dislikes being left alone, and generally behaves like a spoiled child.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: Chapter 26.5 is an omake chapter with the cast doing Cinderella. Thing is, Astra was cast as the Prince, and when Noah as Cinderella crashes the ball, he is not happy with what she's done to his castle...
- Friend Versus Lover: Played for laughs in one bonus chapter where Kyuss and Noah try to claim ownership over Astra. The argument's quickly settled when both realise that they're aiming for different positions in Astra's life.Kyuss: I'm Astra's best friend!!
Noah: I'm Astra-sama's wife!!
Kyuss: What, so our positions are different, huh? I guess that's okay then.
Noah: Well then, let's agree that Astra-sama belongs to the both of us. - Hidden Elf Village: The Antikytherians live on an island that's completely surrounded by mountains. The only way to get in or out of the village is through flight.
- Hot Springs Episode: Chapter 36.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
- Astra stands 202 cm (6' 7 1/2"), Noah stands 121 cm (4').
- Kyuss stands 195 cm (about 6' 5"), Elise stands 160 cm (5' 3")
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Both Astra and Noah were markedly lonely before they met each other. Astra adopted a lonely life behind a mask because his friends resented him for making them look bad by outperforming them and gaining rank, while Noah was picked upon by her peers due to her being bad at magic.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Chapters in the manga are called days, and are named after Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal songs.
- Ironic Name: Astra Ludger Doomsday is a generally nice guy and a retired captain of the guard despite his name.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Elise has her memories temporarily suppressed for the first half of Volume 5. The resulting Amnesiac Dissonance leaves her more humble, open, and vulnerable.
- Mad Scientist: Riff's a magical version, coming up with weird magical devices.
- Mage Killer: One of Astra's functions in battle at the guard was to find and slay the enemy wizards first, because it's known that they can be terrible threats. As such, he has a very good idea of what magic users can and cannot do, even when he's not versed in magic himself.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Astra tries to defy this trope when his subordinates come to visit his new house. His attempts to explain Noah's presence only end up making it worse.
- Mundane Utility:
- Humans use magical items for everyday tasks; lamps, stoves and showers are all magic-powered, and Astra's recently learned of magical washing machines and vacuum cleaners.
- Astra uses his incredible skill with the sword to cut hair.
- Mysterious Waif: Noah's an orphan of unknown origin with immense magical power she can't control.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Astra's subordinates at the guard, Gers, Smith and Murray, are named after the three guitarists of Iron Maiden, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray.
- No Sense of Direction: Noah gets lost occasionally; her original meeting with Astra is because she went West instead of East across an entire continent.
- Older Than They Look: When Noah asks Buntline how old he is, Astra comments it's hard for humans to tell beast folks' age. Buntline asks Astra how old he is, Astra says he's 35, and Buntline says he's more than twenty years younger than him.
- Pet Monstrosity: Astra and Noah have a pet dragon named GoaGoa, a blind species of dragon named and based off the Nidhogg.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Buntline is said to be the village chief, but he never does anything to demonstrate that he has such authority, and he seems to spend more time helping Astra with house work.
- Precocious Crush: Noah is an 8-year-old who wishes to become Astra's wife.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Zigzagged with Elise. Her eyesight is fine, but she wears glasses to change the colour of her silver irises to make herself look less conspicuous. However, the additional notes mention that she continues to wear her glasses at home, because she just likes them.
- Shout-Out: The Antikythirans' name references the Antikythera mechanism
. - Silver Has Mystic Powers: The three magical races of the series' verse are connected to silver. Antikythirans have silver eyes, the other two yet-unseen races are said to have silver horns and silver body markings, respectively.
- Slime Girl: A slime decides to model itself on Noah, who's not in the least bit happy about it.
- Spell My Name With An S: GoaGoa or GorGor?
- Squishy Wizard: Noah is young and inexperienced at magic, though she's powerful enough to summon a spell to reduce a temple to rubble.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Dragonewt brothers want Noah's eyes, child or not.
