Do you believe in magic?
Such a silly question, but so much meaning and weight to it than you might expect. Before reading Annarasumanara, your answer will probably be a “no,” but I guarantee you, after reading this, you will say “I believe in magic.”
This review is mostly spoiler-free, the few spoilers that might come up will be hidden
Scoring system
My scoring system for manga/manhwa is divided into sections.
Plot: 40 points
Characters: 30 points
Art: 20 points
Enjoyment: 10 points
Total: 100 points
Plot
The story is focussed around Yun Ai, a very intelligent and dedicated highschool student that struggles with poverty. When she was a kid, her dream was to become a magician, but due to her situation, she gave up on that dream to get a proper job, so she can become a wealthy adult. But one day, due to a lot of misfortune (or maybe luck), she ended up in an abandoned amusement park, where she met R, a man that claimed to be a real magician and asked her a simple question, which is the title of this review and central to the plot: “do you believe in magic?” After saying a cold “no,” Yun Ai got out of there. But that was only the first of many other encounters those two would have.
Although it is a very short story, it accomplishes everything a good story needs to, it has a small, but amazing series of events that never feels boring, but is not rushed. In 28 chapters it delivers a complete and coherent story, with plot twists to keep you invested, a strong message and mysteries that are all solved in a satisfactory way.
As for the philosophy behind Annarasumanara, it is about growing up a life that is not yours, but rather what society tells you it is yours. Later in the story, R uses the metaphor of an asphalt road, a cold, colorless and lonely pathway that the people around us put us in and expect everyone to follow the same track, the socially acceptable. Since R didn’t want to go through that, he is seen by everyone as crazy, a homeless vagabond that is just a weight for society, he is an example of what the kids shouldn’t become. But, even though that isn’t what is socially acceptable, he is happy living his life, performing his magic and entertaining people, and shouldn’t that be what matters? The magic that is mentioned over and over again is just a metaphor to the fire in the eyes of a child, that has a dream and wants to pursue it at all costs, and when they become adults, they just forget about it and those bright eyes become cold and grey, full of unfulfillment and frustration.
The ending is also perfect. (Obvious spoilers for the last chapter)
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
After all of that confusion with the police, we are presented to Ai and Il-Deung in their college years, we see how they both grew after their encounters with R, how they want to live their lives and what future they want for themselves. That gives us a nice sense of progression, with a clear vision on how they changed over the course of the webtoon (I’ll get more in detail later). The last panel is an invitation, the author is now inviting us to go through the same journey as Ai and find out what we want for our future, concluding the story perfectly.Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
we never found out who robbed that lady. It is a minor detail, but it would’ve been nice to see who in fact did that and leave no ambiguity whether or not R was capable of doing that or not, but it doesn’t take away the beauty of the story.Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Another point that really bothered me was R’s confession to Ai, he is a 30 year old man and she is a highschooler, I get that he is still a child inside, but that is still pretty creepy and totally unnecessary, because that didn’t impact any of them at all, you could just take away that scene and the story would play out exactly like it did.Plot: 36/40 (story + themes + pacing)
Characters:
Annarasumanara has both a great narrative and an amazing cast of characters. Due to it being less than 30 chapters long, the main cast is only composed of three people: Yun Ai, Il-Deung Na and R, I’ll talk briefly about each one of them and give my thoughts of the entire cast in general.
Yun Ai:
Our main protagonist is a pretty, intelligent yet poor and hopeless young lady, who once was cheerful and optimistic, but the cruel reality of the world extinguished the fire in her eyes. She was forced to grow up really young, and according to psychologists, that usually leaves behind trauma and, in a worst case scenario, depression. You can see that she was pretty sad in the beginning of the story, but I don’t have a lot of knowledge to state that she was depressed. The fact that she had to become an adult so early in life parallels R really well, who I’ll discuss shortly after this, and make their dynamic on-screen so nice to read.
Now going in for more detailHer character progression was some of the most inspiring I’ve seen in awhile. Even though she struggled with life daily, R gave her back her hope, now she was happy once again, pursuing her dream to be a magician,
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
and eventually she started working as one for a restaurant to entertain the customers.
R:
A mysterious street magician that performs in an abandoned amusement park; and every time he does magic he asks the same question for everyone: “do you believe in magic?” He is my personal favorite of the cast because of the aura of mystery around him, you don’t know anything about him until the final 5 chapters or so, when you get that flashback, and that makes his whole arc so compelling, yet painful to read. His Peter Pan Syndrome is something central to the plot, since it parallels Ai’s and Il-Deung’s characters so well and differently.Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Later we are presented to another side of him that we didn’t know, his “craziness.” He can be violent sometimes, but he was never born that way, society crafted him to be like that, they expected him to go through that asphalt road and become just another brick in the wall (if you got the reference you are a person of culture). All of that pressure eventually lead to his breakdown, symbolized when he threw that chain at the window, where he could see his parents and everyone that was making him go through all of that. After that, I asked myself how many people go through the same as he did. Of course R is an extreme case, but so many people around the world suffer from the same situations and become anxious and depressed because of the stress generated from that. If you are in that situation, please look for a therapist, it is really important to talk about that with someone specialized in that field, but if you don’t feel like that, feel free to message me on here or on discord.
Il-Deung Na:
He is described as a beautiful and intelligent boy, but his character design doesn't quite match with that (at first). He is always the nº 1 student in his school and sits next to Yun Ai in class. Just like her, his character also parallels R, but I would go as far to say that he is almost the same character as him. He hates R at first because he is what he always wanted to be, but never got the chance to. His development is the best in the manhwa, being symbolized by his glow up (and what a glow up I must say).
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
When Il-Deung confronts R, they have one of the best dialogues I’ve seen in fiction. R talks about the asphalt road that I talked about before and tells him to get away from that, and go to a field of flowers, a colorful and beautiful place where he truly can be himself. His journey to self discovery is as beautiful as Ai’s, but it is even more powerful because of the visual metaphors. In the early parts of the story, he was drawn in a really weird way, with an unrealistic neck and a pretty ugly face, but when he finds the beauty in life, he becomes a pretty cute boy with a sweet appearance. I loved that in the webtoon and that is certainly a plus. He also had a similar breakdown to R’s, throwing a chair at the window and breaking out of the chains that bound him to the asphalt road. That is a nice touch that gives his character a lot of weight, but I think it could’ve been executed a bit better. It seemed like he was just another R, if he had a similar, but not the exact same breakdown as R, his character would feel more organic and unique, but he is still great.Overall, the small cast is composed of great characters, each one with depth and charisma that makes for an enjoyable and meaningful journey.
Characters: 26/30
Art:
The art in this manhwa is phenomenal, the use of colors as a metaphor is the biggest highlight of the webtoon for me. When Ai is at school, work, or at home, the colors are grey and cold, with the only exception being her lips, but whenever she is in the park with R, the color scheme becomes brightful and magical.
One of my favorite panels is one with the amusement park in grey, but that little mailbox is bright red, since it is a symbol of hope for Ai.
The character design and background art is extremely beautiful to look at, probably some of the best urban background art I’ve seen:
Art: 18/20
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Enjoyment:
This is, of course, relative from person to person, but in my experience, Annarasumanara is an amazing ride. Sometimes I had to stop reading because of how much it made me think about life, but it wasn’t like I was not entertained by it. It found a ballance for me between fun and philosophy that made me appreciate the manhwa a lot more. Again, this is subjective, even more subjective than the rest of this review, but I will never be the same after reading this.
Enjoyement: 10/10
Final thoughts
This might not be the best thing you’ll ever read, but it certainly will be one of the most meaningful. It has a simple, yet important message about life, future and society that can change many people’s perspectives on those topics. It is a very short read too, only 28 chapters long + a short prologue. You can finish this in a day, and I definitely recommend doing so. If you end up not liking it, it’s fine, not everyone has the same tastes as mine, but I think it is very hard to give this webtoon less than a 6/10. If you read everything up until here, thank you for paying attention to my thoughts of one of my favorite comics of all time, even including western comics like Dark Phoenix and The Killing Joke, if you have any constructive criticisms, please let me know.
And to conclude this review, I ask you once more:
