Amanza

" Amanza" is an emotional journey of what a terminally ill patient and his family and friends go through. The series is short and it manages to combine not only the various stories of the people around the main lead, his own story but also the animation parts that were a universe of its own. In the end, the drama didn't shy off from showing the hard truth of what happens at the end of a situation like this. No miracles, no fairytale endings, but a closure that somehow made the ending bittersweet.

The performances, in addition, were spot on, with the roller coaster of emotions handled masterfully.

So, overall, eight out of ten.

Cancer sucks. Kim Ji Soo did great. All episodes that focused on the main character were great but the other episodes that shifted the focus to other characters took away from the main character instead of building these memory blocks around him. It was a short 9 episodes, the last 1 didn't count, there was no room to explore around. It felt they wanted to build a much bigger story but there was no time, again, should've kept the focus on the main character and maybe give him more screen time. The addition of the store clerk not only was cringe but also redundant and could've been better spent somewhere else. Although the animated parts of each episode were alright but the voice over quality was less than subpar, sometime it came off as if the speakers were reading from a script. The last episode for some reason was just a collection of these animated parts stitched together.

Despite the sad storyline, death and dying was dignified in this film. Death was made fantastic by the animated journey that the protagonist have to go through to meet the undertaker (a pleasant king not the morbid looking skeleton) but in his journey he was accompanied by a stranger he happened to help once. The OST used were also very soothing and melodious. Highly recommended to those going through grief and uncertainties of dying and death. The animation at the end was a good summary to cap the series. I wish that it could be made to a movie. It is a very moving portrayal of how familiy members, friends, and your special loved ones will root for you in the end.

This is a very short, but effective, series. Most episodes are less than 20 minutes long. Even so, it manages to show the full range of feelings people have when the life of someone they love ends unexpectedly. No pat answers here-just sadness, regret, love, and gratitude. The intermittent animations illustrate symbolically what's happening to Dong Myung. As the movie progresses, the viewers get to see how everyone is touched by his impending death.

I especially appreciated that the pain and despair wasn't minimized or sanitized-some lighter moments kept the drama from getting too heavy. And the animations help too. Definitely worth a watch. Eight and a half stars.