Manhwa Reviews - Annarasumanara

Manhwa Name : Annarasumanara  

Author: Ha, Il-Kwon (Story & Art) 

Serialization: Naver

Genres: Mystery, Drama, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Psychological, Seinen 
Volumes: 3  
Chapters: 27

Status: Finished 
Published: Jul 2, 2010 to Dec 31, 2010 

Day to day our society is becoming more realistic, more competitive & our lives are becoming more and more structured, directed toward a certain goal. To prosper in this world there is quite often no room for what one want's but almost always our path is focused towards what we need to do to be a respectable member of the community. In this modernized viewpoint there is no room for someone who does not want to grow up, children are forced to build up their life focused towards being a successful professional, whether they want to be that or not. Annarasumanara is the story of someone deciding to not grow up, its the story of never forgetting or giving up one's dream, the story of what this pressure can do to someone & the story of the beauty of magic in its many forms in our modern society.

Story
This is where this Manhwa truly shows the authors real talent, he somehow uses an all too realistic and tragic setting of a struggling high school girl, of her hardships to support herself and her little sister through school while also struggling with the choice between her dream and reality. At first its her straightforward desire to soon become an adult, but then a magician who claims to be a real one somehow enters into her life and tries to remind her of her innocent childhood, reminds her of her memories and dreams. But the hard reality never lets her go and the story goes forward through her experiences and realizations in quite a satisfying pace. That's about all I can give without spoilers but I can also say that the progression and the execution is quite flawless in this short piece. 
Although some might disagree with me on this point but for me the story is the strongest point of this Manhwa it deserves a 9.5 out of 10.

Art
Some might say this is the best part of the Manhwa. This is in full color & frankly the art is visually mesmerizing. There are pages without words which say a lot of things through the beauty of the art, the facial expressions portray the emotions exquisitely, the background is also very detailed and has the unique ability to draw attention to the stunning bits of details. If not for the brilliance of story surely the art would have been the best thing here, and it does manage to hold on its own quite pleasingly.
It gets 9 out of 10 from me.

Characters
There are only three main characters, the main girl Ah-ee whose development through her encounter with the mysterious yet childish magician is the main story. Ah-ee is someone who is put in such a unfavorable situation from the first, with no parents with her she has to work on part time jobs & deal with debt collectors looking for her dad while looking after her younger sister and keeping her in school too. Yet comes the magician who tells her that someone should do as many things as they want as they do things that they don't want or have to do. The magician is a character who does not really go thorough development in a sense but the more appropriate word would be unveiled in a artistic way by the author. And it is really hard to not be puzzled by him or not to like him. Then there is the character of Il-deung who seems to have everything, seems to be on the right track to reach his goal, yet there is something lacking. His interaction with Ah-ee then his introduction to the magician & how he is influenced by his ways is like another part of the same story or like another side of the coin.
The side characters do not really get that much time or space in the story due to the short length but author still somehow manages to present them in quite a palatable and pleasant way.
The characters get 9 out of 10 from me.

Enjoyment
As for enjoyment, in between all the long and dragged stories out there this short yet memorable Manhwa is something I really enjoyed. Despite its size the pacing was very adequate and the story progression never felt rushed at all.
I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a nice story, beautiful art or is simply tired of reading/waiting for those long winded series' out there, believe me you wont be disappointed.

Overall Score -
                           9 out of 10.  

If you want more info and other reviews of this Manhwa check out its MAL page -
http://myanimelist.net/manga/30079/Annarasumanara
You can check out it in english in MT -
http://www.mangatraders.com/manga/series/7207