#salanghaneun nanal

Go Ara’s manhwa is just… a bit too much for me. I remembered her as the author of “Teenager Younghwa”, one of the most depressing things I’ve ever read – and loved. It was in my early days of reading comics, so I was struck by the contrast of these cute watercolour drawings and heaviness of the theme and triggers the manhwa contained. Nothing was graphic though, but I could feel the pain in everything in that story and it left a deep impression. Lately I remembered about this author and was surpised as I saw that her other works appear to be cute and slice of life stories with no tragedies and decided to give them a try. Haha. I was fooled. It’s just same old Go Ara who can kill me with just a few words and simple lines.

“Beloved Days” is her second long work. It does start with cuteness and awkwardness of ordinary life, yes. And then, quietly and subtly, the author gives much room to family drama, personal drama, bitter feelings of the past, wounds left by love that brought mostly suffering, but no regret it happened in your life. The tone changes, but the slice of life component is as strong as before. As if nothing changed, but now you see the characters under a new light and it just hurts. What else can I say? This is how you make a good story. This is how you show human drama and make me feel things.