This review may contain spoilers
Yumi’s Cell is the first Korean drama to blend in animation into the drama in such a intrinsic way. You can seen that there is a lot of work behind it and these little animated figures do a lot for the story and make it stand out from other dramas. The story really come to life because of them.The drama manages to bridge the gap between rom-com and more slice-of-life drama in my opinion. To me it has this calm and gentle focus the characters’ everyday lives that never feels too dramatic or unnatural, aside from the animated characters that bring out the more cute and comedic side of the story.
the cells that bring the humor (and are often my favorite parts of each episode) while the other characters get to be much more down-to-earth. It still has some those characters that you often find in traditional rom-coms but it manages to undermine some of these tropes and make it refreshing to watch. You can really just sit back and relax while watching the episodes.
Some of the side characters do not feel as complex, which may because we do not get to see the cells of all of them work like Yumi or Gu Woong who are in the leads and perhaps the drama relays a little too much on those cell characters to understand the nuances of the characters. But when it does the drama does a good job of showing all the little twists and turns of communication that Yumi or Gu Woong encounter, whether you agree with them or not, because you see the thoughts behind them.
The cells are a key factor in this and often make you look at things from a different perspective. The story really seems to stand by it’s characters though and allows them to be unlikeable when needs be, and also gives us a good lgbt representative (although he does not appear as often as I would like him to do) as kdrams do not do that often.
The pacing a bit unconventional and the story focuses a lot on communication and misunderstanding when Yumi steps back into the dating world after many years of closing her heart and the mistakes that come with that as a result. And I thought it managed to bring that theme it pretty well to the forefront without dragging the plot or making it too dramatic. The story always seems rather mild and light in my opinion. There was a certain calm over the story no matter what happened.
I found Yumi’s Cell to be quite sweet, warm and funny drama to watch. It is missing a key element that I like in kdramas, which is that the story hasn’t ended yet because we are only at the end of season one. I personally really enjoy kdramas because we get a beginning, middle and a end in about 16 episode. It’s one of their charms. There is so many shows that drag the plot and the tension until most of everything you enjoyed about the series is no longer there. But I’m excited to see how Yumi’s Cells handle this multiple season format. The drama is sweet and stands out from other dramas and just hope the next series manages to keep them charming and not drag the story out.
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The melonocolic, calm tone that overlies the story, slowly but surely builds up to the larger and more complex moments of the story, is beautiful and not at all too overwhelming so that other happier moments and humor can shine within the story and not make things too dreary or too slow.
The drama manages to figure out when to dile up the dramtics, when to give the supporting characters their chance to shine, introduce new characters and plots without leaving taking from the fact that the slow inner politics and family drama and love story, as well as the slow resolution of all the characters and moments, are at the center of the story.
The pace of the story is somewhat slow but steady, just like in the main love story, but it works for the tale that is being told. The drama has a tendency to get a bit too soapy and simplicity with politics, which gets a bit too repetitive as the story goes along.
But the dramatic, not too serious and soapy court politics also made it a lot of fun and very entertaining, and often addictive watch – especially in the second half, where the plotting isn’t as strong. The drama always gives the characters permission to drive the narrative forward with their mishaps and actions, which is good.
Each character has their own burden to carry, their inner devil and complex story, and everyone seems to have something to do with the story. The characters’ reason for why they’re doing what they’re doing works logically enough for the inner logic of the story that was being told.
The heart of the story always remains the quiet, tender and domestic, homely atmosphere that accompanied the love story and makes the drama very charming, even though it makes can feel a bit long-winded at times. But the characters’ slow-burning love and longing for each other was absolutely my cup of tea when it comes to romance.
The sets, costumes, and cinematography were also very lush and gorgeous and the few fight scenes we did get were fun and exciting to watch, even though they never took up too much of the story despite how much war there was within the narrative. This is often a harsh and unpredictable world, and the drama doesn’t really scrape off it, without making it seem completely brutal or just to have bloodshed just to surprise or shock the audience.
The development of the plot and the slightly too easy to defeat ‘villains’ within the story became a bit too uneven in parts and the politics and some of the side plots were a bit too cliché, repetitive and not the clever which make the narrative drop a little towards the end, even if it’s entertaining, but the quiet desire, sincerity, heartfelt talks between the main couple was the main lifeline of the drama and the beating heart of it all and the chemistry between the actors was so fantastic that it made this a very fun watching experience and very bingeable.
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The story of Miho (Gumiho) and her earnest quest to become human really got to me, as well as the tone and the humor of the story. I was hooked from episode one. The story and the characters were quirky and intriguing and I just couldn’t get enough and that feeling sort of stayed there or just grew even more as I continued to watch the drama.
It was pretty solid in the acting and the writing department, the leads were really likeable and it was just very cute and fun to watch. I had such a good time with it, it felt breezy, with some fun fantasy elements thrown in there, and some fluff; which is honestly what I require from a rom-com such as this. I don’t think it dragged too much. Some might say it’s far fetched, I think it fitted with the fantasy elements of the story.
I even liked the comic-relief characters, which doesn’t always happen. They do tend to annoy me and just be in the way of the main story or the main couple and sometimes I just get bored with it, but I think the Hong sisters usually do a good job writing them as quite the likeable characters with their own story that you can get invested it, while also making them fit well into the main story.
The problem on the other hand are often the second leads, which they use more as props to add tension to the plot, or as obstacles to the main couple. They aren’t that well developed and one of the few negatives I will give this drama.
I really liked the humor here, which doesn’t surprise me since I also really liked You’re Beautiful and My Girl. The humor that the Hong sisters use just clicks with me, I guess. There were some good laugh out loud moments for me (and as someone who rarely laughs out loud that’s something), and even when the drama goes a bit more dramatic toward the end, there are always some cute, heartfelt or chuckle worthy scenes in every episode
The main couple was super cute, the chemistry there was off the charts, and I quite liked the journey they had about learning to be become more human together, since Dae Woong’s grandpa refers to Dae Woong as non-human at one point because he is lazy and always up-to-no-good and he really matures throughout the series and Miho learns how to be human and what that is like, as she is a mythological creature. She is one of my favorite kdrama heroines.
I am not too familiar with the Gumiho myth, but I also feel like they handled the fantasy elements or how they corporates it into the story without it being over the top, too bizarre or creepy (I’m looking at you, Twilight), even if she is what 500 years older than him.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho sort of just manages to do all of that for me, so I am very happy with it. It really tucked at my heartstrings, it was cute and fun and had some heart and humor, and overall I just enjoyed my time watching it. I even watched some of it even when it wasn’t completely subbed, on Viki, just because I couldn’t get enough of it and I just wanted to watch it sooner rather than later. I even watched it again a few years ago and I still bawled my eyes out when it ended, because I just loved it and the characters so much.
The Hong sisters haven’t always delivered such amazing show for me after the holy trinity that is My Girl, You’re Beautiful and then My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, but when they are good they are goooood.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is a story that straddles the line of a sweet slice-of-life story about our heroine and the man she rescues from the snow with a simple setting that focuses on breathing life into the characters who are the heart of the story, and the world around them that turns into a rather fable-like, whimsical and emotional tale of war and humanity. This is a careful balance that requires some suspension of disbelieve to work but is for the most part enjoyable to watch.Despite everything is a lot of sincerity within this story that at first, as it starts of small because that reflects how our heroine Fan Changyu sees the world and how her life is at that point of the story and when the story manages to be earnest, simple and focused on the main characters while fleshing slowly out the story then it is at it’s strongest.
The narrative does manage to frame the character’s worldview and life very neatly and the smooth rhythm of the story and the comfortable pace it had early on allowed us to adapt to the world and get used to the own inner logic of it all, that makes this into a fanciful fable-like story and a very old school hero’s journey. Many of the characters we meet along the way are colorful and larger-then-life, but also very down-to-earth and real, and despite how unrealistic the story sometimes gets. But that is also what makes it fun, if people allow themselves to suspend their disbelieve.
Fan Changyu is a hero after my heart. Kind-hearted, with inner and outer strength that draws people in, stubborn without it seeming too unrealistic. She never comes across as monotone female character who is only strong for the sake of being strong, but is allowed to experience fear, make mistakes in a way that makes her story feel real and deserved. The character though does fall into the trap of the more old-school classic hero in a fable that gets too good at everything too quickly just for the sake of the plot, making parts of her journey feel unearned, while Xie Zheng fades too far into the background in favor of her, or other background characters, in the later half of the drama.
The deliberately slow-moving, sincere love story between our main characters, which is full of longing silences and yearnfully glances works wonders for large parts of the story, and whether our main couple is separated or together the story doesn’t really suffer from the absence of one or the other.
The romance is however put on the backburner for the sake of the hero’s journey that Changyu must go on, and as the narrative shifts from telling that slow-burn romance into something more politically heavy and shifting allegiances. That shift feels sudden and a tad bit grating for those who got rightfully heavily invested in the romance that the story promised and set up early on, and that shift does change the story a bit too drastically.
*spoiler* For my part the shift in thinking of Changyu, as she does things for the other people in her live and not just her husband, felt quite well earned within the narrative and I like the fact that he isn’t her whole world and her motives are also for her and her people, and not just so she can stand tall next to her husband. Because this feels like a story about her. Her hero’s journey. But I do understand why that deviation from the original novel wasn’t for everyone. *spoiler*
The drama deals quite well with its themes of humanity and the inherent value of a single life, and the sacrifices of ordinary people for the sake of the simple life they want to lead and to feel at peace. And it does all of that while delivering some soapy political intrigue, fun battle sequences and fun twists.
There are subtle references to class issues that are woven into the narrative through clothing, the characters’ attitudes towards money and how they see the world, as well as the reality of the harshness of everyday people and the willfully ignorant aristocracy who can play war because of their own greed.
There is an odd balance between the silly, adventurous and yet sincere tone all through the forty episodes that the drama spans. No matter how funny, heartbreaking or even sorrowful the events of the plot may be there is always a certain earnestness and warmth that shines through. A certain emotional essence that the story never loses.
Despite the even, and intentionally slow pace that allows itself to stop for a moment to allow us to spend quality time with the characters and the relationships they develop, the drama never gets boring. There’s always something going on, and the side stories are well handled and come at the right moments to enrich rather than interrupt the main story. And each of these side-plots within the narrative eventually ties back into the main story in some meaningful way.
Both Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng are on a long journey in this drama. They grow even if the story takes them in different directions, which then does lead them to the same place at the end. And despite the stumbles on that road now and again the drama still manages to deliver plenty of charm, heart, and entertainment value —especially if you’re willing to suspend some disbelief too embrace the soapier twists, badly written court politics and the occasional oddities of the plot that is in a rush to get to the end.
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These complex relationships that both mother and daughter pairs within the story have are intricate, touching, full of resentment and longing all mixed together. Because deep down they know that they can really only rely on each other. How great the loss will once life pulls them apart. Every mother wants a better life for her daughter and the struggle that comes with it is the daughter learning that the dream of a better future is an endless battle of will and hope that life wants to beat out of you. This is an incredibly realistic depiction of reality with a melancholic stillness and a Kdrama flare.
The drama takes its time with each and every relationship and character, making the story richer and more real. And even though this isn’t an epic high stakes tale or dizzying romance the story is certainly impactful in its raw tranquility. It doesn’t just show the bright sides of life but all the ups and downs. Life is messy and the drama doesn’t scrape anything off of that fact.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is not romance in the traditional sense or what people are used to find within Korean dramas, because this love alone does not guarantee a happy ending. It’s their teamwork and the constant work that Ae Sun and Gwan Sik put in that makes their happy ending work. They are each other the rock in the stormy sea for each other lives.
One might think that as the show moves to the latter half and the youth of Ae Sun and Gwan Sik fades, the younger generation gradually takes over and gets a bigger role within the story, that the story would weaken a bit or lose a little steam as we have become too attached to the other characters. But the latter half is just as heartfelt and endeading as before. The story of the daughter Geum Myeong is in many ways just as interesting as her mothers. And it’s all thanks to good character development and good consistency within the narrative.
The drama manages to capture a certain feeling or nostalgia within itself. You don’t need to have grown up on Jeju or even at the time the story takes place. It manages to fill you with this familiar feeling like a simple homemade meal or a warm embrace, and the lost innocence of youth and the struggle you could see in one’s parents that the drama manages to express to it’s viewers. We can see ourselves and the generations that came before us in these people and their struggles. Hopes, desires and sorrows are so universal, as well as this cruel tug of war we all have with fate.
This quiet story about a family who could do nothing without the mother who is the foundation that keeps the house up. Each episode moves us forward, but also takes us back in time, to highlight a certain moment or theme of the different aspects of life. The non-linear narrative style of the drama shows really well how the past echoes the present and how things never leave us, even though the scars or memories may have faded. Everything is somewhat connected.
Each actor is putting their all into these characters, the environment and cinematography work so well together to capture the story and these fleeting moments of joy, resilience and sorrow that the characters find themselves in. The story hooks you right from the start, pulls at your heartstrings and never lets go of you. Such a beautifully crafted, deep emotional story that takes you through the entire emotional spectrum and just really makes you want to call your mom and dad while you still can.
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