Earlier yesterday at dawn (literally, I stayed up all night) I read some psychological mangas and then I found this one particular Korean Manhwa which I thought it was really interesting. Well, basically, interesting in MANY ways; its plot, its art; its conflicts; all of them.
You could find this manga [here] by the way, and do read it when you have the chance.
Below I'll pour my thoughts about this manga. This might contain spoiler, so don't read it if you want to figure it out yourself.
This'll be a long post, I'm sure of it.
You could find this manga [here] by the way, and do read it when you have the chance.
Below I'll pour my thoughts about this manga. This might contain spoiler, so don't read it if you want to figure it out yourself.
This'll be a long post, I'm sure of it.
Annarasumanara
by Ha Il-kwon
Summary: Released: 2010 Author(s): Ha Il-kwon Artist(s): Ha Il-kwon Genre(s): Action, Drama, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Slice Of Life, Webtoons |
The story begins with Yoon Ai, a girl who's forced to be an adult because of poverty, found a paper of money worth 10000 won on the street. She picked it up but unfortunately the wind blew it up and it flew from her. Desperately, she ran to catch it because she badly need because she need it for her daily needs which were almost gone. She tried to catch it and somehow she ended up in a closed amusement park. As she wondered how in the hell did she ended up there she met a man in tuxedo. She then remembered a rumor which stated that there's a crazy magician lived here. Could this be the magician? As she pondered this the man asked her, "Do you believe in magic?" as he showed the 10000 won which she was chasing earlier.
After this fateful meeting with the magician, all sort of thing started happening and changed her life little by little.
Well, I AM really amazed by EVERYTHING about this manhwa. Great storyline, great art, interesting conflict, unreadable ending; this manhwa is really thrilling! It has a lot of deep meanings as well.
Because I'm too lazy to find out what are the deep meanings, I'll post some other readers' thoughts regarding this manhwa.
After this fateful meeting with the magician, all sort of thing started happening and changed her life little by little.
Well, I AM really amazed by EVERYTHING about this manhwa. Great storyline, great art, interesting conflict, unreadable ending; this manhwa is really thrilling! It has a lot of deep meanings as well.
Because I'm too lazy to find out what are the deep meanings, I'll post some other readers' thoughts regarding this manhwa.
From Soudadorable on MyAnimeList.net:
"Children are miraculous things. Even those born in unfortunate circumstances have the impressive power to see magic in everyday life, an ability we all lose upon entering adulthood. This naive outlook on life is something we look back upon fondly, and lament over losing as we begrudgingly walk forward into our adult lives.
But some people refuse to walk that path; they refuse to grow up.
Annarasumanara is the tale of one such person and the impact he has upon a young girl who's been forced to grow up quickly, in a realistically difficult world.
The story is a masterful weaving of the harsh realities of life as an adult, and the whimsy and escapism of the world of magic. We see our protagonist Yoon Ai as she struggles between the difficult life of poverty she knows, and the fantastical scenarios the mysterious magician L brings into her life. Torn between knowing how rough life can be, and wanting to believe it can be magical, she is taken on an emotional trek by the mysterious magician, and learns the importance of allowing oneself to believe.
Along with Ai, another gets swept up in the Magician's magic. Classmate Na Il Deung provides insight into a very different kind of harsh living. He is financially secure (to say the least), but his need to believe in magic and free himself from his tethers might be even greater than hers.
These three central figures make up the story as we watch the pressures of their respective existences weigh heavily upon them as they seek the balance between growing up and being responsible, and never losing one's joy for life.
The story is magnificent, but without a doubt the strong point of Annarasumanara is it's art. The artwork in this manhwa is nothing short of astounding. The paneling and layout is artistically stunning, the detailed backgrounds, particularly in the fairground scenes, the scarce yet impactful use of color, and most importantly to me, the emotion found in the face of every character is beyond breathtaking. There wasn't a panel in the story that I couldn't look at for minutes at a time. It is not just art for the sake of story telling, but art for the sake of art.
As a young person who never fully grew up myself, Annarasumanara provided me with a great 27 chapter escape. The world we live in, the relationships we form, the people we can become are truly things of beauty, as shown in this stunning little manwha.
Believe in the mysterious, believe in the whimsical, believe in the hope for a better tomorrow.
Believe in magic."
From zenron on MyAnimeList.net:
"What would happen if you turned away from society? What would happen if you stopped on the road of life? What would happen if instead of moving forward, you planted your feet squarely on the ground and refused to lose your childish purity? What if you never grew up?
These are all questions which Annarasumanara asks the reader. I'd say that thematically, it is similar to the likes of Peter Pan, but that would be doing this manwha an incredible injustice. For a story all about rejecting adult life, this story is a lot more mature than the average.
The story is of course, based around magic. Not the type you usually see in fiction, with Wizards and battles, but with the type of Magician you'd see at Carnivals or Birthday parties. The plot is ambiguous for the most part. You're never sure whether someone is telling the truth or not. Hell, you're never even sure if some of the characters are sane or not. But, this is not a negative. It's handled very well. It never makes the mistake of making something so ambiguous that the narrative becomes confusing or loses it's grounding in reality.
The art is, without a doubt in my mind, the best art I've seen in a Manwha or a Manga. It's truly a joy to see people break away from normal art and do something abstract or interesting. It's clever in a way that I haven't seen in a Manwha before, where the abstraction of the work actually has tangible meaning to the plot, and isn't done just randomly out of nowhere. There are a couple of artistic quirks which I really want to talk about but I'll leave them, I don't want to spoil it.
When it comes to characters, it's nice to see some real character progression throughout the series. The characters really change as the series goes on.
This is a Manwha which I can give my full recommendation. 10/10 from me."
I totally agree with their comments. After this manhwa, I began to ponder about the real meaning of my existence. Well, this manga tells you the story of how the society will only accept people who has the normal stereotype; people who is straying will only be left out. THIS really give me a hard kick about this harsh reality.
For example, the magician. Later in the story you will find out that the magician is actually a guy named Lee Minhyuk who came from a super rich family; a genius boy who's hoped by everybody to be success, so he only study and study because he don't want to disappoint them. Alas, in the end he became stressed out by it and now he became a magician. I like him for some reason, and he's pretty handsome though he's already thirty.
For example, the magician. Later in the story you will find out that the magician is actually a guy named Lee Minhyuk who came from a super rich family; a genius boy who's hoped by everybody to be success, so he only study and study because he don't want to disappoint them. Alas, in the end he became stressed out by it and now he became a magician. I like him for some reason, and he's pretty handsome though he's already thirty.
Next important character: Na Il-Deung. This guy freaked me out when I first saw his character design. Well, this is why I'm freaked out: his head is freakingly long and huge.
LOOK.
LOOK.
Here's Na Il-Deung | Here's the magician |
No kiddin', right? But I think I kind of get why he has a big head. Doesn't "big headed-person" means the people who's too full of themselves? Well yeah, Na Il-Deung is like that in the story. He came from a wealthy family and lived the life like the magician before he became life. That's why, when the magician met him he said that Na Il-Deung was living under the asphalt curse. You'll find out what he meant by that later as the story progressed. Even though Na Il-Deung has a freakishly huge head, but eventually his head became normal as he had all of his senses back. I mean, not being a shitty rich kid and all. And yes, I was confused when people in the manhwa said that he IS good looking. No, wait, wtf, how's that good looking? But seriously, he REALLY is good looking. We could see that as his head turned back normal.
Uh-huh. Ain't he good looking?
Lastly, let's not forget about our main character, Yoon Ai. This girl lived in poverty alongside her sister who's still an elementary school student because of his father left after he had a lot of debt to the loan-sharks. But she didn't blame him for her condition and kept working hard as she hoped that her father will come home someday. This girl is really an admirable character, and I could learn a lot of her characteristic to make myself stronger. But sadly, she had to forget all of her dreams because of her conditions. She thought that she doesn't have any time for fancy dreams; she just wanted to become an adult quickly and live decently. But it was all changed thanks to the magician, where later she would learn how to do magic tricks from him. Yes, she had the dream of becoming a magician when she was little.
Lastly, let's not forget about our main character, Yoon Ai. This girl lived in poverty alongside her sister who's still an elementary school student because of his father left after he had a lot of debt to the loan-sharks. But she didn't blame him for her condition and kept working hard as she hoped that her father will come home someday. This girl is really an admirable character, and I could learn a lot of her characteristic to make myself stronger. But sadly, she had to forget all of her dreams because of her conditions. She thought that she doesn't have any time for fancy dreams; she just wanted to become an adult quickly and live decently. But it was all changed thanks to the magician, where later she would learn how to do magic tricks from him. Yes, she had the dream of becoming a magician when she was little.
Guys, I seriously recommend you to read this manhwa. This could perhaps give you a piece of mind of the reality which is happening in our society. You won't regret reading this.
But I'm a little bit disappointed with the ending, because there were no news regarding to the magician whereabouts after he got released from his charges of robbery. I AM SO CURIOUS OMG PLS HA IL-KWON MAKE A CLARIFICATION OF THIS ASDFGHJKL
Here's a bit of screenshots if you are curious about what this manhwa is like.
But I'm a little bit disappointed with the ending, because there were no news regarding to the magician whereabouts after he got released from his charges of robbery. I AM SO CURIOUS OMG PLS HA IL-KWON MAKE A CLARIFICATION OF THIS ASDFGHJKL
Here's a bit of screenshots if you are curious about what this manhwa is like.