Heart-warming, insightful, and relatable
I'd read the webtoon a while ago and really liked it, so I was looking forward to this drama, and it definitely didn't disappoint! On the surface it's a pretty simple rom-com; we see the characters go through ups and downs in their romantic lives and career journeys. But showing how decisions were made and what their thought processes were added so much to depth to what would've otherwise been a very straightforward plot, and it's just so creative.The characters are extremely realistic — flaws and all — and we end up with a slice-of-life drama that's actually really insightful and profound in its approach to relationships and emotions. I'm absolutely delighted with this one and really looking forward to season 2.
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Meh!
I was pretty hyped up about this show before it started but the trailers made me wary and rightly so. I have read the webtoon on which this is based and it's pretty disjointed so I wasn't sure how the drama would go.Story:
It's okay. The narration is quite tight and there is much anticipation built among the viewers as Yumi's relationship progresses. But somehow I just couldn't find myself invested in her character or that of the male lead and that's why this drama fell flat for me.
Acting:
I don't know whether it's the character set-up or the lack of curiosity (cause I've read the webtoon) but I didn't like the main characters at all. I do like ABH's acting in Her Private Life & My Name and he's doing a great job here as well.
KGE is cute as Yumi (I get Goblin vibes whenever I see her ) but yeah, I just couldn't connect.
Overall:
I struggled to watch the first two episodes as they aired as I felt the plot moved slower than molasses and found some scenes pretty cringy. I have very low expectations for my rating to go any higher and I think it's probably because of the story line.
Finally after much contemplation (not really), I have decided to drop this. It's just not my cup of tea and frankly I have better things to waste my time on watching.
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This review may contain spoilers
Only SK could make me cry for a man...
*Sigh* How do I even start?At first I avoided Yumi Cell's like the plague because the premise didn't seem all that interesting to me but once I gave it a chance, the cells really got me. And then Yumi did. And then Wung.
Even as someone who could not imagine themselves with a man, their relationship got me giggling and kicking my feet until it didn't. I hated Bobby from day one. I hated how Wung seemed to change out of nowhere. I even started questioning whether they were ruining his character because of something to do with the actor.
But then I got it.
Yumi Cell's is annoyingly relatable: the characters will have you screaming, crying and throwing up and the trajectory of Yumi and Wung's relationship almost made me wanna drop the show. But then I realized that it all made perfect sense. They are both very human. The situations they get into are very real. And as much as I wanna believe everything could be perfect, that's just not reality, and Yumi Cell's makes one hell of a case for it (becoming the perfect mirror image of real life).
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Why I dropped Yumi's Cells. My unpopular opinion...
Based upon the reviews and the ongoing comments section, I hold a very unpopular opinion. I did not like Yumi's Cells Season 1. I had very high hopes, wholly and solely for the cast. I hadn't read the manwha and my adhd brain doesn't do well with the mixed mediums of anime and reality, but that cast! *chefs kiss*. I came in with fully open eyes and no specific expectations, but I was rapidly dis-engaged.My first point of question - am I watching the same characters as everybody else?! [If anyone here has watched "Sex Education", a show made in Britain, streamed on Netflix. I feel like I had the same disconnect with other viewers watching it, as I have had here. At the end of Season 3, everyone seemed to be angry with Otis (the main lead) for dumping Ruby - where-as I found Ruby to be a horrible person, terrible for Otis' self-esteem and personal identity... but I digress]
I don't understand why anyone would want Yumi and Woong to stay together! We as the omniscient audience, are privy to Woong's thoughts, as he deals with both Yumi and his female workmate, Sae Yi. It is very clear that he was lying to Yumi from the outset, and also that he is keeping Sae-Yi on a string, by avoiding being direct with her. Maybe you consider them white lies to, in Woogi's opinion, spare people's feelings. I see them as lies, to spare his own feelings of vulnerability or discomfort, to manipulate other people's behaviour and opinions. He consistently states that he likes to be straightforward and honest, but he fails to actually be so (he doth protest too much!). He is the epitome of the "I am a good guy" manipulator - he believes he's a good guy, and wants everyone else to believe it, but his actions are not those of a good person. Maybe I have PTSD in this regard, but this kind of person is the WORST to me! Props to the writer for characterising him so well, and props to Ahn Bo Hyun, for portraying it so convincingly, but that, was my first cause for pause. My heart, being ABH shaped, I was relieved to read that he, at least (unlike the seeming majority of the audience), was very aware that Woong is problematic.
Ahn Bo Hyun revealed that his resemblance with Goo
Woong in this area is “close to zero.” “Unlike Goo
Woong, I don’t do things that could cause someone to
become angry or to misunderstand,” he said. “I know all too well that it won’t do me any good.” (Soompi Nov 7 2021)
Now to my second stick in the throat: It comes very early in the series; Yumi's dealings with her workmate, Chae Ugi. He thinks they're close friends. Yumi has a crush on him, but sadly it is amplified, by her need to one-up another workmate Ruby. In this whole game, Ugi is a victim - he bares his truth (it's strongly insinuated he is gay, without overtly stating it) to Yumi, and she promptly excuses herself from the conversation, to go have a sook/cry/wallow, with no thought whatsoever for Chae Ugi's very difficult situation.
In a country that continues to have no functioning anti-discrimination legislation, (https:///news/2021/11/11/national-assembly-south-korea-should-act-swiftly-enact-anti-discrimination) admitting, at work, that you are gay, is exposing yourself to not only public shaming and the vitriol of netizens, but also being sacked from your job (in one of the most difficult job markets in the world) with absolutely no recourse. Yumi is supposed to be a woman in her late 20s, but her behaviour is this scene is very teen-brain. *"OH woe is me, he doesn't like me!"* Boo!. Hoo! He just fully exposed himself and his life to you, and you promptly excused yourself. What the, what!?!
So all of that would've been ok for me to swallow if I could see the possibility of growth. But when I posted my concerns in this forum, I was battered down, told I was wrong, and given multiple re-tellings of ALL of Yumi's feelings (as if they're not right there, perfectly illustrated and animated as Yumi's Cells FFS!) as if they were a justification for her questionable behaviour.
At this point, I just lost hope, that it was a story I could engage with, seeing as I definitely couldn't engage with the audience. So I dropped.
I may watch season 2, in the expectation that Yumi has evolved a bit as a person. And without concern that she is compromising herself, with an "I'm a good guy!" liar Woong. I don't care how you justify or rationalise it, he is NOT a good guy, he's a lying LIAR!
Just to clarify, my music rating is a pass, and no more because I cannot recall any of it. This means it wasn't intrusive enough to be annoying (fail) nor great enough to be memorable. All other ratings are reflected in my opinions above.
Addendum Oct 2022...I just found my notes/musings, whilst I was watching the epsiodes during airing, so I'm posting them now:
There are disturbing examples of inherent misogyny (misogynistic inherent bias) as well as toxic masculinity, in the cells of Yumi's Cells
This show has started to go south for me, at the appearance of a cell called Hysterius.
Hysterius dwells in the unconscious and brews poisons... hysteria means of the womb, ergo if you have a womb, you will naturally be brewing poison somewhere in the deep dark recesses of your unconscious. Ergo ALL WOMEN ARE TOXIC!Hysteria is a hugely problematic word; originally used to describe mental illness specificlly in women.
[Coined by the likes of Freud, who it turns out, was treating a whole bunch of young women who were victims of incest, but their father's and brothers were fine, and those girls just had penis envy!]
Much like 'lunatic' (mental illness due to the full moon), it's not a term in current use unless you intend to be extremely misogynistic and derogatory.
Yumi responds like a spoiled child, completely lacking in sensitivity or compassion, when her crush confides in her that he is gay (she walks out with little explanation to wallow in self-pity in the bathroom)
Naughtysarus vs naughty cell: seriously?! A man's sex drive is represented by an out of control monster, whilst a woman's sex drive is represented by a small mildly cheeky, tree rutting MALE cell in tighty-whiteys!?!? In other words a woman doesn't actually have HER own innate sex-drive because it's a masculine trait. How did we ever populate the planet?! Oh that's right, RAPE. The out of control monster just has his way with her.
Woo Gi's female friend Sae-Yi tells him all women of a certain age are only interested in marriage. This ties in with SK's ever repeated mantra - men and women can't be friends. Why not? Because only sex exists between men and women. No other relationship is possible? Or as 'naughtysaurus' suggests; confronted with an 'attractive' woman in any situation, a man will lose his self control? Or men and women have nothing in common that would actually allow friendship, because of the ROLES we are required to play. Confucius was a fracking Narcissist! (So is my mother)
The character Sae-yi is an anti-feminist character and a stereotype that is common in Hollywood as well. I call this stereotype "The Ally". Undermining other women with her generalisations (about all women Yumi's age wanting to marry...all women but not me. I'm not like other women...is implied). She competes for control of Woo Gi, despite not wanting to date him (that men, in this instance, are commoddities; to be owned and controlled; is implied). And her and Yumi can't be friends either, but rather, competitors for Woo Gi. If you were his real friend you wouldn't reveal to his girlfriend that you chose her gift, not him.
IMO Woo Gi is a bad guy, the stereotypical "I'm a good guy!" Wolf in sheep's clothing. He tells Yumi, from their first date and then repetitively "I don't lie", when we can see from his cells that he is constantly lying by omission. But based upon audience response and comments, that's ok!? He's just a poor communicator, trying to protect Yumi's feelings! GAAAAAAHHH it makes my skin crawl to think that people find this endearing and ship their love!
Woo Gi is also very aware that Sae-Yi is problematic. He controls the information he gives to both her and Yumi. The dinner where he avoids Sae-Yi's advances rather than, I don't know, being direct and telling Sae-Yi how much he likes Yumi. Honestly to me it looks like he's keeping Sae-Yi on a line, in case things go south with Yumi
A cell called "Sensitivity,"?! I want to know the direct translation of this cell, because the cell's behaviour does not match the actual meaning of sensitivity. Maybe Hyper-sensitivity, Insensitivity or Reactivity would have been less ambiguous, but I guess this would have made Yumi's immaturity much more obvious to an audience that clearly doesn't want to relate to her as such. Yumi does not display any sensitivity, but rather self-absorption. I think the audience is relating to it as VULNERABILITY, which is much more palatable than IMMATURITY.
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This review may contain spoilers
The Main Character of This Story is...THAT HORRIBLE BEARD
I'm gonna be straight with you people...I almost didn't watch this show because of the beard. Like...it's not even a normal beard it's a weird flat clump of sparse bristles stuck to the underside of dude's chin. I dig a good beard, but the style of this one is pretty repulsive. So imagine my surprise and delight when the beard became the focus of so many episodes! I felt righteously justified when Yumi hated it too, and was super happy whenever it got axed.It's sort of a weird dichotomy to be rooting for the removal of something that was clearly important to the dude, when in my own life I strive to almost never force my own preferences on another person (except long nose hairs, like IDC who you are if you're coming at me with spider legs sliding along the outside edge of your nostrils you gonna hear about it). Like normally I would be annoyed at the female character for wanting to force the dude to change himself to fit her preference...but that beard was so unflattering.
ANYHOW, beard aside, going into this I was also pretty skeptical of the cartoon and live action combination. There's something probably broken in my brain, I really don't enjoy cartoons. However, now that it's over I have to say they did a pretty good job. They really made the little cartoon cells part of the story in a way that amplified the messages they were trying to get across. It was nice to see the cells so accurately depict the inner struggles we all go through, and it was interesting how differently the two leads' cells were represented. Some of the maddening choices people make in these dramas (and often IRL too) are difficult for me to accept and understand, but the cells helped bridge that gap and made it so I could understand where each person was coming from and why they made the choices they made. I definitely think the inclusion of the cartoon cells benefitted this production immensely.
One other thing I should note...the OST and the sound team did an exceptional job in this show. The scene at the end with almost every sound muted but the fountain was so well done. Other scenes had similar effects, the audio choices really resonated with the emotions in the scene in a way I've rarely seen anyone pull off successfully. The DRAMA in a soundscape isn't an easy thing to pull off, but they put so much care and effort into making the background sounds a part of the story that it was noticeably masterful.
All of that said, I think this is an exceptionally well done show and definitely worth a watch. There was comedy, feels, and just enough mystery to keep the thing going episode after episode. It wasn't epic, but it was pretty darn good. To be fair, relationship struggle dramas rate generally pretty low for me, so 7.5 is actually a really good score!
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A realistic drama about the ups and downs of relationships.
I was really excited for Kim Go Eun’s, I loved her in The Goblin and I loved her in The King: Eternal Monarch. She’s one of my favorite actresses and she is the only reason why I watched Yumi Cells. I also love Ahn Bo Hyun in My Name and Military Prosecutor Doberman. I felt like this drama was stacked in the casting department and with all of that said.
I was confused on the mixed reviews. In my opinion, any drama that has this many mixed reviews is a clear red flag and even though I don’t like to read anything about a drama I am about to watch, I did my research and started to dig.
I KNEW everything coming into this drama. I knew there was a season 2 and in talks of season 3. I knew that the rating wasn’t favorable for a reason and I KNEW what that reason was. BUT I love my actress so much, I decided it was STILL worth watching.
I have to admit, I’m a major Rom-Com fan. I love cutesy moments, cheesy storylines and of course my happily ever after romance. Every once in a while, I will appreciate something different. I get it, there is an art form to drama at times.
The Pros:
1.) The animation is something you love or you hate it. I think I was annoyed at first, but after a little bit, the little cells started to be funny and cute. I started to love and have my favorite cell, like naughty cell and shopping cell.
2.) The acting and casting was perfect. Kim Go Eun is such a seasoned actress and you can completely see every emotion she goes through, from happiness, embarrassment and sadness. I’m happy Ahn Bo Hyun was casted as the ML because it’s such a different role from the other dramas I watched, I really liked seeing him in a nerdy light.
3.) 14 episodes was pretty good length, it could have been edited down to 10, but I take 14 over 16. There was a good mixture of happy moments and frustrating angsty moments. Although more filler scenes, but that is the slice of life kind of storyline.
The Cons:
1.) I didn’t like the pacing of the show. Some reviewers will love watching the ups and downs of a relationship, but I felt like I would have enjoyed it more, had I watched the couple go up and then eventually go down. BUT to see them be happy, fight and then makeup, several times. It felt like I was watching a lovers to haters C drama romance. I was very annoyed.
2.) The HAIR! I get it, they wanted a portrayal of a realistic couple and so they took two beautiful models and FRUMP them up so much to the point, I was just shaking my head. WHY?! I’m happy the FL wore a decent wardrobe, but the HAIR people!
3.) You don’t know where the drama was going to go and I felt like it was misleading, but in the end I kind of understand the direction to where the drama wanted to take you.
Not all relationships are perfect and that is okay, I, however, am not sure I want to watch that in a drama. I watch dramas to watch pretty people have these fantastic stories with struggles and an eventually a triumph in the end. I want to finish watching a drama with a smile on my face and happy endorphins so I can proceed with my not -so perfect life.
In essence, I watch dramas to escape from reality, not to watch reality. But that is how I feel and I’m so glad there is a season 2. I which hope will give me the happy endorphins I so desperately wanted.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not your happily ever after
Starting this off was very interesting. It’s real life drama intertwined with animation of cells that are within Yumi, and what makes Yumi unique and individual.Each cell is introduced one by one, and there are many cells to remember, but there are the few main cells which you will see more often- primarily Love, Reason, Sensitive, Hunger and later on Lust/ Naughty (lol!) and each have their own shape and size and unique style- oh don’t forget Fashion cell! Kudos to the writers for being so creative with this!!
Now regarding the relationship element- Gu Wung was a red flag from the beginning to me. They met on a blind date- and he was immediately captivated by her. He came across aloof and somewhat disorientated, but eventually they started dating. What I couldn’t agree with was his lying, continued lying with the ruse of not wanting her to worry or overreact. Both were not completely honest and open with each other, which resulted in many misunderstandings. Wung also did not draw boundaries with his long time ‘girl’ good friend which is a major red flag for me. So in a way- the storyline is very realistic and relatable.
Kim Go Eun was commendable in her role, but the hair cut and style... uhmm no. Sorry. Uh uh. Don’t expect a happy ending :)
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Mostly watched this for Kim Go Eun and I have no regrets. This wasn’t the best drama by any means, but the realistic take on relationships is quite nice since it’s so unique to kdramas. I still prefer my over-the-top “you are my everything” kdrama romances, but this drama was a nice change of pace. Although I’m not the person to go for slice-of-life dramas like this since I have a tendency to get bored as soon as the leads get together in the drama, Yumi’s cells stayed pretty interesting throughout its 14 episodes. I don’t think the ending was anybody’s favorite, but I look forward to a second season to watch Yumi mature and find new romances. (I totally spoiled myself before the drama even aired but what else is new) Was this review helpful to you?
Yumi's prime cell, the one that really defines her is the Love Cell, and I really related to how she put her partner first and prioritized him. But when Yumi and Woong had their first fight, I was so proud of her for putting herself first and speaking her mind because that is so important.
The show made me feel so many emotions. It was more a slice of life show than a traditional romance kdrama which I wasn't expecting, but it doesn't get boring because the cells are so entertaining and they really make the show. You see the characters as they go through everyday life, like going on their first trip together and the conflicts that arise from just doing normal things. And when they encounter issues in their relationship, it was all so realistic, like having miscommunications and not being honest with each other.
Maybe this is a spoiler but don't expect a "happy ending".
I haven't read the webtoon before, so the ending came out of left field for me but I think they are going to be multiple seasons for Yumi's Cells so I get it, I do. Despite knowing that now, it does feel tough to end the first season like this. Initially when I saw Woong, I wasn't even attached to him and their first date was so awkward and terrible.... it was like the worst first date ever. But then he really grew on me and they were a really cute couple. I liked how his cells and the way that his inner city was built was so different from Yumi's and reflected his personality and the way that he thought and processed things.
I'm really rooting for Yumi and her happiness.
All the feels.
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On the other hand Woong is a more interesting character. He is parsuiting his dream. But Yu mi is also trying to earn money with her dream. Woong's costumes were funny. It was new to watch a kdrama male lead wearing casual clothes in stead of suits.
Animation was good but the way the cells talk it was like they were talking about a different human. But they were Yu Mi's own cell's - they are Yu Mi themselves.
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A creative and fun romcom where the 'cells' steal the show
I was quite interested from the title to see how they would incorporate the 'cells' aspect when went into this, and I have to say that they totally and completely stole the show for me. They are absolutely adorable and the thought process that goes into every action is quite realistic too. Considering how this is what is meant to set the show apart from other romcoms, I'm very excited to see the future episodes because the cells have stolen my heart. The animation is really good and cute and matches the aesthetic of the show.Considering only the first episode is out yet, I can't judge the storyline itself but it is plenty enjoyable and I'm loving Kim Goeun in this role. I have to say though that the Willy Wonka/Edna haircut isn't doing her much justice.
The colours in this drama are so pleasing to the eye, and there is SO much blue wherever Yumi is present, and I'm not even complaining one bit.
The music has been plenty cheerful and a win throughout.
All in all I'm expecting this to be very fun and I'm looking forward to the future episodes!
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It is a masterpieceeee!
What a great storyyyy!!! It is a very great fun drama. Everything was perfect. The casts especially the main role Kim Go Eun delivered the emotion really well. Best actress!!!💯.The live action and animation blended really well. A dynamic drama indeed. Kudos to all production team too for distributing to this masterpiece. It ia a great healing drama. Everyone should watch it.
The cells are really cute tho. A relatable story, describing a woman's and man daily expressions, emotion, in daily life.
The music and ost also great and healing for me.
Go go go and watch it.
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