So, I’ve appeared with another review and this time it’s a manhua. You know what’s a Manhua is, right? No? Manhua is chinese version of manga. Many of those are colored and they are generally done by hands and not computer softwares, is what I’ve heard.

This manhua has been written by Feng Xi Shen Lei. Also called, The Beginning and the End: Once again, this particular piece reminds you that humans get so busy in work, that they forget why they were working in the first place.

Plot – The manhua follows the story of a guy named Yuan Ge who is handsome and at a high post in some company. He sees everybody in the terms of gain the relationship with that particular person will bring to him. He travels in subway trains despite him being on a higher position because he thinks that traffic jams are a wastage of time.So you can basically see what kind of Scrooge he is!

Story opens with him ignoring the news of his wife’s death while being in a company meeting. Apparently he makes all the arrangements for his wife’s funeral but is unable to attend. On the top of that, he thinks that he has completed his duty towards his emotionless wife (which he thinks she was). He can’t even remember her face well.

After some days, he starts noticing a 14-15 year old girl in the train he takes. He has been shown intelligent enough to deduce what a person’s profession and position might be in their respective companies by their clothes (pretty much same as Sherlock Holmes, no, it’s not shown like that though). But this girl is mystery to him. He sees her everyday but as soon as he is distracted by even one thing, he loses sight of her.

Since he never gets to talk to her, she slowly starts driving him nuts. He goes as far as to get checked for pedophilic tendencies in him since the girl is way younger than him and he takes his feelings for love.

*Spoilers start* – Can’t do without the ending can I? But if you’re still tempted to keep it unknown, I must say that it’s pretty interesting. So you can go and read the manhua yourself to uncover the girl’s identity.

He finally decides to chase her and reaches his old school where past memories come to him and it is revealed that the girl is his deceased wife only. Earlier, he blames his wife for everything but now he discovers that it was him all along. He had promised the girl that he would earn a lot of money to buy precious gifts for her. As he starts becoming ambitious and rising the ladder in his company, he asks his wife to change for him. She has to leave her job of kindergarten teacher, shun her cute image to be able to blend among the wives of higher ups, suck up to them for his husband and ultimately along the way, she falls sick. On the other hand, Yuan Ge stops coming to home, or comes late at night and goes early in the morning and such and such. The wife has been shown pretty caring. She prepares food for him as early as 4 o’clock. This finally breaks him and he realizes his mistake of ignoring her completely.

Analysis – From life point of view, I think that the author has shown a proper present life scenario. I mean, I don’t know if it happens everywhere around the world, but it does apply to Asian countries, especially patriarchal societies where they think that it’s a girl’s duty to look after the household and related chores.

Even if we don’t go to that side of the story, it in general depicts how the life has become so fast paced that we forget every thing, including our relationships. There is no time for talking, for sharing emotions, for anything. We’ve become too busy in earning our bread.

Thus we need to rediscover ourselves because we’re missing a hell lot as this guy Yuan Ge realizes. We need to re-remember main purpose in our lives which we have lost sight of, becoming too entangled in the society and material life.

Other things –  Art is good. Plot is awesome. I loved the self discovery thing and the author doesn’t fail to compare the thoughts of the guy pre and post his realisation of the truth like he hated the monotonous breakfast she used to keep for him every day on the table and later he finds out that even though she was sick and coughing all the time, she would get up every day to prepare fresh food for him. So he basically lives his life once again, through memories, to get to know that had he cared for her health earlier, she may have been alive today. But they say that we realize value of something or someone when we lose it. It’s the fact of life and that’s what has been shown here.

In just seven chapters author has shown all kind of emotions and I respect that. Oh, now I realize, this one also has seven chapters. In the end, I would say, highly recommended!!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/once_again/