thor123

About Death is one of those amazing webtoons that I tend to go back to every once in a while to check if it's still as good as I remembered it to be. After going back 3 times, I can still say that it's as great as on my first time experiencing it.

Story and characters

The greatness of this series is built around a simple premise, which might sound familiar to those who have watched Death Parade: people who died, and remember or talk about their lives. When you die, you meet God, who will lead you to your reincarnation. On the way there, he will talk to you, to judge you or just to hear your story, he will inflict pain or give you a second chance... God is a whimsical being in this manhwa, with mood swings like humans. And that same God is a being that guides people, showing the way in life and death alike. This makes him one of the most interesting characters in the series, even without hearing his story.

Most of the stories are quite simple, and they're all short: every episode brings new characters, and thus new stories - although there are some exceptions, where a character is shown twice. Some will argue that this makes them less strong - they would be wrong.  The stories in About Death are all so consistently powerful, packed with emotions (get those tissues ready!) and thought-provoking that it would be absurd to lower the score "because it's episodic".

The simplicity of the stories makes them easily recognizable, and the characters who star in them relatable: even if you only "meet" them once, they are interesting, and you will easily recognise their emotions. However, it should be noted that lots of the stories have deeper meanings to them: the author has thought very well about the place death has in our lives, about the consequences of death, about the way people deal with loss, and about the regrets people have at the end of their lives. Some of them also have some unique twists, to stop the recipe from getting stale.

As for the stories being too short: some will say that you a certain "length" is needed to create a bridge between characters and readers. I'd reply to that by saying that this manhwa perfectly uses the principles of "show, don't tell" and "a picture is worth a thousand words" - length is unnecessary when the story is handled by capable people.

The last thing I'd like to say about the stories is that they're not always sad. There are also happy endings, where people accept their second chances in their old or new lives. If you're going to read this, be prepared to get thrown from one emotion to the next.

Art

The art is quite simplistic, but I liked the style a lot - you can tell a lot about the personality of the characters by just looking at them, while they don't have generic looks.

The way "the afterlife" and "the world of the living" are portrayed in different manners is a nice touch too

Sound

This might be a header you don't expect in a review for a comic, but it does belong here: on the official website there's background music to accompany the webtoon. It's a nice touch, and helps strengthen the atmosphere - even if it's not strictly necessary for the manhwa to be enjoyable.

Overall

This is a nice, rather short webtoon about life and death, which can be read for free at the official website - with some nice background music as a bonus! In other words, there's no reason not to read this, and I strongly recommend About Death to everyone here!