Line #3 WebComic/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lifeanddeath.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Welcome to the world!"'']]
3
4	->''"The Dead shouldn't intervene with the living."''
5	-->-- '''Death'''
6
7	''[[https://tapas.io/episode/174809 A Matter Of Life And Death]]'' is a webcomic published on Platform/TapasMedia by a Vietnamese artist/game design student going by the handle "The Snipster." It typically updates every Friday and weekends.
8
9	Death is a god with an unsurprisingly depressing job - determining which human souls get to be reborn and live their lives anew, and which ones must be sent down to the land of Nim to become horrifyingly malformed beasts known as blights. However, Death also has more personal issues at hand, the most prominent being his long-standing feelings for his counterpart Life, who avoids him at every turn. Through a combination of awkward run-ins and changing circumstances, the two titular gods attempt to gain a better understanding of one another, and possibly even begin a budding romance in the process.
10
11	But not even a new[[spoiler:ly rekindled]] relationship can fix everything that's wrong with the world the gods reside in or the people in it. In the end, Life and Death must confront their respective issues head-on in order to truly be happy with one another; not to say they don't have each other's support along the way.
12
13	On Valentine's Day 2021, it was announced that the comic was ending with the creator (who is UsefulNotes/{{aromantic}} UsefulNotes/{{asexual}}) stating that they "genuinely don't feel comfortable drawing romance/sexual/intimacy anymore." They also stated that they hope to revisit the comic again in the future.
14
15	''Not'' to be confused with [[Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath the Michael Powell film of the same name]].
16
17	----
18	!!This webcomic contains examples of:
19
20	* AlternateUniverse:
21	** A special 4-part episode created as a celebration for the comic's one-year anniversary focuses on one in which Life and Death are humans, with Death (now known as Des) being the owner of a cafe, who strikes up a fake relationship with a charismatic tour guide named Leo (Life).
22	** There was another special 3-part episode, this time featuring Life as a merman and Death as a human Life saved from drowning.
23	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Pretty much anything goes in terms of color scheme for the gods, it seems. For example, Life's skin is teal with his eyes and signature stars being more of a chartreuse color, Wisdom is gold and yellow all over, Love has white hair in contrast to her skin, which can either be red or brown depending on how you see it, and so on.
24	** Gods like Death and Madness somewhat subvert this, though. Death has virtually no color to him, save for his eyes and the streak in his hair, which are orange. And according to WordOfGod, the color scheme we see Madness with in the comic itself is actually how he looks; in other words, he's in grayscale.
25	* AmnesiacHero: Life doesn't remember much about his past, [[spoiler:and likely doesn't remember having a romantic relationship with Death by extension]]
26	** WordOfGod states that while he doesn't remember everything, he hasn't forgotten everything either.
27	* AmnesiacLover: [[spoiler: Life, to Death.]]
28	* AndIMustScream: It's implied in a [[https://tapastic.com/episode/252814 bonus entry]] that becoming a blight is ''not'' a painless process, and the end result is something that barely resembles a human if you're lucky. Oh, and they're doomed to wander around as mindless beasts fueled by sheer instinct and hatred until they're killed. [[NightmareFuel Sweet dreams!]]
29	* AnimateDead: [[spoiler: Death forced Life to do this after Life didn’t take the reveal of what Death’s job really was well. It traumatised Life so badly it caused him to become the AmnesiacHero he currently is.]]
30	* ArtShift: The art style is far more simplistic at the beginning of the comic, before switching to a more detailed style near the beginning of "Velveteen." WordOfGod justifies this as experimenting with different styles.
31	* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:Flashbacks show that this was the beginning of Life and Death's friendship.]]
32	** Also applies to [[spoiler:Wisdom and Madness.]]
33	* BetaCouple: Wisdom and [[spoiler: Madness]] are at least implied to be this.
34	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Life is usually a pretty nice guy, but he has [[https://tapastic.com/episode/249088 his]] [[https://tapastic.com/episode/357988 moments.]] [[spoiler:Although the former example may be a subversion, as Life later states it was something akin to a MercyKill.]]
35	** Death is shown to be a completely capable fighter. Also doubles as a case of BewareTheQuietOnes.
36	%%* CrazyJealousGuy: Not Life himself, necessarily - but his human counterpart, Leo, on the other hand, occasionally dips into this territory.
37	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: '''Life.''' Just compare his [[https://tapastic.com/episode/177202 introductory page]] to [[https://tapastic.com/episode/248266 this.]]
38	* DeadpanSnarker: Nearly ''everyone'' seems to have some snarkiness in them, but it's especially apparent with [[HearingVoices Mad]][[TheGadfly ness]] and [[TheStoic Me]][[MamaBear dic.]]
39	* TheDreaded: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lord High Destroyer Nim]] is apparently this. He hasn't been shown in person quite yet, but according to the gods themselves, he's quite intimidating. [[spoiler:Death was also this, once upon a time, apparently on account of his aura; the other gods recognized it as something alien, and not to be trusted.]]
40	%%* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Both of our leads can qualify for this, but Life especially. [[spoiler:[[https://tapastic.com/episode/494849 Looks like being alone for about 495 million years will do that to a person.]]]]
41	* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHim...: [[spoiler:Deconstructed in "Blackbirds Fly," where Medic's casual threats only succeed in frustrating Death, who calls her out on it. Although she doesn't seem very interested in what he has to say.]]
42	** [[spoiler: It goes even further when Death later lashes out at Life.]]
43	* ImmortalImmaturity: InUniverse example with Life. WordOfGod states that he's very much aware of his age, but finds no use in acting like it.
44	* MamaBear: Medic, to Life. Somewhat inverted, as she's actually younger than him.
45	* OddFriendship: Death is a [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette strikingly]] [[RavenHairIvorySkin pale]] and gloomy SociallyAwkwardHero with a staggering height of 7'5" and a generally mysterious atmosphere. Love is a cheerful, bubbly dark-skinned blond with a terrible sense of direction and is outright stated to be the shortest God in the land of Ithis at 5'1". They also happen to be best friends [[spoiler:despite flashbacks showing that Love was actually ''afraid'' of Death, once upon a time.]]
46	* OppositesAttract: Life and Death, quite obviously. [[spoiler:Although "Blackbirds Fly" seems to subvert this trope by revealing that Life and Death's friendship was initially based on [[CommonalityConnection both of them realizing that the other had some serious self-esteem issues.]] ]]
47	** Wisdom and [[spoiler: Madness]].
48	* RavenHairIvorySkin: Death - his human counterpart Des, even moreso, considering that he's known for attracting several suitors in the area, both residents and tourists alike.
49	* ShipperOnDeck: Love is this as a result of helping ''everybody'' who is in, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin love]]. One bonus strip has her successfully convincing a guy to confess his feelings for a long-time male friend.
50	** Wisdom is also this to Life and Death, albeit a much more exasperated variation.
51	%%* TheStraightMan: More often than not, Wisdom takes it upon himself to play this role.
52	%%* TallDarkAndHandsome: Death, though it's closer to cute than handsome.
53	%%* TallDarkAndSnarky: Amusingly enough, Death also seems to fall into this territory a few times, particularly when he's annoyed.
54	* {{Uke}}: Subverted. Death, while having the sad doe eyes and a more pliant personality, is a very capable fighter, independent, and more willing to take the initiative in a situation.
55	* UnrequitedLove: Death [[spoiler:still]] harbors feelings for Life, who initially wants nothing to do with him. [[spoiler:But this wasn't always the case.]]
56	* WasOnceAMan: What happens when a human is revealed to have no remorse for their major wrongdoings upon their death? They're sent to Nim, where they eventually [[https://tapastic.com/episode/231667 become]] [[https://tapastic.com/episode/241021 blights.]]
57	%%* WeUsedToBeFriends: Death and Life. [[spoiler:Although it's heavily implied that their relationship went beyond friendship.]]
58	* WeaksauceWeakness: Gods can apparently get sick like normal people, as long as whatever's affecting them is from the realm of Ithis.
59	%%* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The episode "Blackbirds Fly" is this.

Context WebComic / AMatterOfLifeAndDeath