Do you believe in magic?

AN-NA-RA-SU-MA-NA-RA

And... the great Ilkwon Ha does it again!! POW!

Or rather he already did it but I didn't read his works in chronological order hehe.

The official Summary of Annarasumanara: Yun Ai wanted to be a magician when she was little. But now in reality, she is a high school student who cannot even afford new stockings. Since the day she met a real magician at a fair, she desperately wants to follow her dream.

I have to say I really admire his style. It was such a short manhwa but the characters he created and the experiences he gave them were so real that it didn't even matter. He really does have a premise/theme and really focuses on it. If he didn't then it wouldn't be so touching. It wouldn't have such meaning.

But it really did have a huge impact. This manhwa obviously talks about dreams as you can tell from the summary. A lot of comics that are targeted at children are very unrealistic when it comes to dreams. They say things like "follow your heart" which is too vague to be very good instruction. But Annarasumanara tells it how it is. It portrays the reality of life as well as the magic. It displays the good and the bad of both following your dream and sticking to a career you might not necessarily want to do.

One of the comments said that this manhwa should be available to all parents and children so they can develop a better understanding. I of course wholeheartedly agree and while it is available it isn't prominent enough. But of course the flaws in the education system are many and that is an argument better left for another time.

Ilkwon Ha's works really are inspiring. This one was more poetic and artistic than the others, but lacked the comedy of the others. I highly recommend this - 10/10.

If you've read it and want to discuss feel free to comment ^^

Duty after School - Thoughts

So I've been hooked on this Manhwa lately called 'Duty after School' by Ilkwon Ha which is on the webtoons app (which is amazing btw). The Summary is thus: What would you do if your school's extracurricular activity was a military service a midst actual war? A class of students are turned into platoons of soldiers in a war against unknown, possibly alien, slim-like objects.

Ilkwon Ha also wrote 'God of Bath' which is an absolutely hilarious manhwa about bathing houses and with this manhwa in addition his service record is quite impressive. His character creation is very well done, there are no gaps in logic and both of the story ideas were very interesting. The art style is not super detailed but it reveals emotions well and is very effective at telling the story which is the most important part.

This story brings out the ugliness of human nature very well and it can be very dark and harsh. But it also shows the goodness of humans too, so its actually pretty well balanced for this genre. It portrays the heavy emotions just as well as the shallow and includes well placed and very natural feeling humor too. Not to mention it is a drama about teenagers so of course it has romance which is yet again executed very well.

All round it is a pretty damn amazing manhwa and I highly recommend it!

[SPOILER ALERT - CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK]

So I'm just at the point where they have arrived at their second assignment area after having been told that they would be sent home in the very immediate future. There have been many deaths and misdeeds have been swept under the rug. Their lives are pretty bleak but they seem to just keep going on at this stage.

The scene with the teacher and students who stayed back getting told by the student (Ang I think) who was sent home due to his leg being injured sparked something within me. Ang was saying that they couldn't understand how utterly terrifying it was. As if all the dreams and hopes you have are stripped away when faced with war. And when you've watched/read enough of these life and death stories you take some of it into you. It feels like you are there, like people important to you have died and you don't feel anything except numbness.

Also when I see all the weak characters that freeze or hide in fear when confronted with danger I get so angry at them. But of course I've never been in those situations where death is a hair-breadth away and if you choose to do the right thing it's almost like you are throwing away your life. I wonder if I could react like all the heroes do? I wonder if I would stand up or be frozen by the fear?

I guess I'm lucky that I don't know the answer.