Hello, welcome to Pantsucafe. And, welcome to my first installment of 'Manga You've Never Heard Of.' My first title to introduce you to, with all honestly, is an interesting choice considering the title. Annarasumanara isn't actually a manga as the title would imply. Rather, it's a manhwa, which is pretty much the same thing as a manga, just Korean. I was scrolling myanimelist a few months back and my computer was freezing up. I lost my cool and started to rapidly click my mouse ('cuz, you know, that'll help you soooo much), got fed up and left the room. When I came back, my computer was no longer frozen and was on some random page I must have accidentally clicked about Annarasumanara. It has been a pretty golden discovery and has lead me to dig deeper into manhwa.
In the world of Annarasumanara (try saying that ten times fast), we follow the high school lady known as Ah-ee Yoon. Having lost her mother to death and having her father on the run from loan sharks, she lives alone with her younger sister and struggles to keep a roof over her head and food on their plates. One day, while at school, she overhears her fellow classmates talking about a magician who wanders an abandoned circus. As she listens in, she hears a tale of a good looking magician who asks his targets whether they believe in magic; when met with doubts, they are the subject of a disappearing act...never to be seen again. Ah-ee frowns at their stories. Believing in such stories is childish. She doesn't have the time to be childish. But, after some mishaps, Ah-ee finds herself at an old circus she remembers from her childhood and face to face with a handsome magician who asks her, "Do you believe in magic?" Annarasumanara is a story that challenges the ideas of "growing up" and what truly is childish along side trying to get you to honor the mystique and beauty of the unknown.
The story of Annarasumanara isn't the greatest thing ever. Its morals are obvious and somewhat preachy. But, despite such, it's a fine journey to read through. It holds a certain mystique that just grabs you and holds onto you for all three volumes (yes, it only has three volumes). I believe this mystique is largely due to the art that accompanies the story. The majority of the art is rather grayscale, but will occasionally have full colored images or colored moments within all the grayscale. Or, entire pages that break the typical system of panels and just become what look to be a canvas of art. Both are used as interesting symbolism that coincides with the story at hand. These artistic methods intertwine with an emotional story to deliver a hard hit to your heart. I highly recommend Annarasumanara. Even if it isn't the greatest manga/manwha you ever read, I'm more than sure you'll find it to be a hidden, almost magical, gem.
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