Yumi's Cells (2021)

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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Inside out drama version

Long time want to watch this drama, especially cause of the cute cells. Finally this year decided to watch for my Alphabet Drama / Movie Challenge. Good drama, but unfortunately leave unpleasant feeling in our heart when they close the curtain. Fortunately at the time that I watch this, they already has 2nd season to continue the story. But I think I'll gonna watch this next year for another Alphabet Drama / Movie Challenge. Haha...

The drama is really cute with all the cells involve, like watching inside out but more complicated feeling & emotion. Story about a woman named Kim Yu Mi (YM) & all the emotion that lives in her, and later on also we can see Ku Woong (KW) emotion. The really story quite close to the reality of our life, so we easily attach to it.

A little reality check:
+ Really make me smile when KM love cells infiltrate YM heart by very simple thing. By using frog... Yeah sometimes that simple thing that silently infiltrate our heart.
+ I don't know like or not about this, but sometimes KW is a little too perfect as man. He is man with rarely having relationship but he can read all the little gesture that YM give. Like when he decided to block YM knowledge about how close he is with Seo Sae Yi actually is, he can sense danger that if he said about it YM gonna be angry so yeah he block it instead. Sometimes man is so stupid reading woman gesture, so when I found man like this in the drama world it makes me a little bit happy.
+ As simple as love infiltrate our heart, sometimes a little things too that annoyed us. And when that little thing finally piling up, and sometimes without our knowledge too, that's when we think to end things up.

Overall this really good drama to watch

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Very, very well played drama

I'm usually not someone who writes a review unless it leaves an indelible imprint and "Yumi's Cells" did just that. This will be reviewed in three parts: the beginning of the relationship, the middle and sadly, the end.

The beginning: Yumi is suffering after a betrayal of a long term relationship and meets Woong through a blind date. After a somewhat rocky start, the attraction builds between and they finally become a couple. What is so fascinating and believable is the total organic and awkward movements of their first dates. Woong is instantly smitten and Yumi is trying to understand how to emotionally move forward. Everything is perfect in these first four episodes in its portrayal. Also, I'll never get past Woong's lustful dinosaur taking over. I never loved an animated creature so much in my life.

The middle: Woong and Yumi have an established relationship that is constantly tested by Woong's employee, Sae Yi. She's enjoyed Woong's adoration for a while and he was her fallback soother when her outside relationships crashed. This was an absolutely realistic portrayal of the third ghost in the party of two. Woong is reluctant to take her actions serious and the constant possession of Sae Yi towards Woong grates on Yumi's nerves and rightfully so. There comes a breaking point of the three when Yumi, in a mature manner, tells Woong in front of Sae Yi, that she's used him for years and he allows it. As she walks away, she tells him that's he a good person and should be surrounded by good people. I loved the dialogue between the two leads because every emotion is subtly played in every word they spoke. Thankfully, Woong chooses Yumi and I think I cheered in my tv room when that happened.

The end: Woong reluctantly moves in with Yumi after his business experiences financial hardship. What starts off as a rocky cohabitation ends up being something both enjoy. Their easy companionship moves Yumi to blurt out the words "would you like to get married?" Instead of Woong being upfront and honest about where he is in his life and what he is coping with at work, he shuts down emotionally and moves out. When he places her key on the kitchen table, the chasm between the two starts to grow and seeing Woong having lunch with Sae Yi (without Yumi's knowledge) , almost shouted his positional thoughts in the relationship. At the end, he states he's not in the same relationship place as Yumi and walks away. There's no music, no words of thought spoken to the viewer, just the deafening quiet sound of water from a fountain as Yumi watches him leave.

This is the most well written, best acted and most accurate portrayal of a relationship, of the give and take emotions every couple has, the very realistic reasons that it doesn't work out. I'm not a crier but seeing Yumi's reaction during their separation had me in tears. When a storyline draws you in to the point of feeling the characters, it's in a master class of storytelling. "Yumi's Cells" did just that and the characters are going to resonate in my memory for some time.

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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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Story with relatable dating relationship

I was hesitant to watch this at first because of the animation; but I am glad I did give in to the urge to do so.

This was uniquely different in that it combined animation with real people. The way the writer weaved the story to incorporate the various cells was engaging. You cannot help but wish that you can hear your own cells discussing among themselves.

Since this is a webtoon, you can basically see it in most IG posts about how this season would end.

Ahn Bo Hyun was such a revelation! I didn't like his character in Itaewon Class (though he was really good there); but as Woong, I totally fell for him. In fact, for me, between Yumi and Woong, I would love to see more of Woong.

I don't know the ending of the webtoon (heard there was a season 3), but I am hoping that it would be Yumi and Woong

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A funny and relatable show

Well this one its really difficult to talk about because I don't think its perfect and actually I got a little bored in some episodes but at the same time, the narrative is so interesting and some episodes were pretty good and funny to me.

First, I think the main idea of the drama is really amazing and Yumi`s cell are SO SO captivating that its impossible to not like them. But, at the same time, the cells are SO GOOD that they stole the whole show too much and I was looking foward to see them more than the characters itself. The cells were cute, funny and their animations were amazing. For me, without the cells the show wouldn't be that interesting but it's YUMIS CELL after all so I guess it makes sense that the cells is the best thing in the drama. Besides that, some scenes of Yumi was pretty relatable and I found interesting that it's a drama focused on the dramas of a girl and we see all her problems and her glow up until the end. The idea of Yumi becoming a #1 priority for herself was pretty cool too and I think we are going to see a even more matured Yumi in the future (are you seeing this Neverthless?).

Talking now about the other characters, most of them were annoying for me in some parts but I liked their chemistry. Yumi and Woong were pretty good together and even when I was annoyed with them I still liked them as a couple. The ending was a bit sad because Yumi clearly didn't overcome her love for Woong but yeah, we know she will because now she is growing up.
PS: I don't know if I`m excited for season 2 because I didn't liked Bobby but I will watch for sure because I want to see more about Yumi`s grow.

So yeah, for me it was a funny and relatable show to watch. I`m happy that I gave a chance and decided to watch. If you are looking for something different and a show for spend some time I definitely recommend this.

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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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When romcom met slice of life...

For lovers of both romcom and slice of life genres, this is something for you. This show mixes the two genres perfectly and masterfully with the help of the irresistibly charming cells. I think it would not be a stretch to say that this is challenging the standard Kdrama romcom format and would probably alter or influence the romcom game in the long run.

First off, I have read the Webtoon and I loved it completely. Now, having read the original also means having a billion of expectations and worries about the drama adaptation. I loved the original enough to worry if they would be giving this brilliant work of author Lee Donggeon the justice it truly deserves. Well, I think there were enough reasons why do one needed to worry about Kdrama adaptions of webtoon originals given the track record of the Kdrama adaptations so far. But this one is definitely not a disappointment. Yumi's cells drama version certainly delivered what the original was able to provide its readers --- the fun, warm, and sometimes painful feeling of joining Yumi's journey, and growing and learning along with her in the process. It was like a warm hug or a cozy blanket -- it has that kind of comforting feeling.

The story is simple and yet very endearing. In fact, it uses some basic and well-worn narratives of romcom and yet it felt so new and different. I'm crediting the bulk of this creative story to Lee Donggeon as it should be, but it is also very impressive how the screenwriters weaved through and navigated this story with ease and so much respect to the original. They stayed true to the original, most of the time, with only some little addition of few things here and there that I found questionable at first but quite reasonable upon realizing the bigger picture they were trying to paint. This story might look simple but I know full well that in the hands of less capable screenwriters and director this creative and brilliant world that Lee Donggeon had created would easily crumble into an unsalvageable mess. Thankfully, this one delivered excellently in execution.

The characters are ordinary. They're far from the usual larger-than-life characters of romcom Kdramas ---no chaebols, no CEOs, no heroes trying to save whatever or whoever needs the saving, and etc. Its strength lies in the mundane and ordinariness of its characters. They all felt like ordinary people that you could encounter in your daily commute, could be a neighbor, even an old friend. They're all flawed and that what makes them feel so real and relatable. You won't love the characters all the time. You'd be irritated, annoyed, or even mad at them sometimes but at the end of the day you'd realize you actually care about them.

Kim Go Eun is simply Kim Yumi! She ate and digested this role completely. I think she didn't just bring Yumi to life, she made Yumi her own by giving her own exquisite touches to her own Yumi. You see in adaptations it is so easy for actors to just match and copy the appearance and habits of the characters they're playing, but to make the character your very own and making your audience think that no one else could play the character better than you is a true mark of being an exceptional actor. KGE deserves all the recognition she could get from this. Ahn Bo Hyun, too, is a revelation here. Actually, the cast here were all brilliant in their own roles. And who would have thought that KGE and ABH pairing would be this explosive on- and off-screen? These two together were simply amazing and definitely a tough act to follow (looking at you both Babi and Soonrok).

Overall, what I am really thankful about this drama adaptation is how it was able to preserve that fun and heartwarming feeling of the original. It was really impressive how they have managed to bring out from me the same emotional investment I have felt while reading the original. Reading how other people have related and felt comfort from this is also how I know that this drama had successfully brought Yumi's Cells to life.

Hats off to all the people involved in this drama. You've all done an exceptional job at this. See you all again in season 2. To Kim Yumi, I'm riding this journey again with you and thank you for letting me tagged along with you on this first chapter.

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Heart warming. Fun and Realistic

Just love the cells. I thought it would be similar to INSIDE OUT but it was nothing like that. It was way joyful than I expected laughed a lot as well. All the animation part was so fun to watch even have a biased cell, the chore cell haha. The story is simple but charm of all actors make viewers crave more.

Kim Go-eun acting seems perfect for the role but most surprising was Ahn Bo-hyun as main leading actor. His character from
Itaewon class and this is totally different and both looks promising. At the end, the cameo roles of Jinyoung and Choi min ho were icing on cake totally worthed.

I think the chemistry stands out the most and the fact that everyone' s thinking towards the same situation is different as individuals way of foreseeing things are varied. But ending seemed abrupt and things ended quickly for their relationship without showing more of reasons for breakup so that cannot be unseen but definitely every kdrama lover should watch this one.

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Yumi is frustrating and flawed and so relatable thanks to some truly adorable cells!

I really loved this drama. I didn't know what to expect when I started it but it was fun and smart and frustrating and so relatable. On the surface, it's a pretty mundane love story with the usual romance tropes and misunderstandings, but it's the cells and their antics that reveal all the inner turmoil that was so easy to identify with. Even when Yumi drove me super crazy seeing her cells made me understand her and reflect on times when I was just as sensitive and irrational. Plus the cells are so super cute!!! I was almost tempted to give this drama perfect scores because of my cell bias, but the main thing that stopped me from doing that was Yumi herself.

Kim Go Eun plays Yumi. I actually found her performance overall to be a little dull, but that worked pretty perfectly with the premise. Her lowkey performance is a great juxtaposition to the chaos of the cells in her head. This is my third attempt at a drama with Go Eun as the female lead, and she's always bland to me. I didn't like her in Cheese in a Trap, and I still haven't been able to watch Goblin (Yes, THAT Goblin... the one that everyone loves so much). This time, with the help of the talented voice actors who play her "cells", I finally could enjoy her in a lead role. I was still annoyed by Yumi for most of the drama, but I was also empathetic. Yumi is an insecure romantic, in love with the idea of love, but still scarred from a traumatic breakup. She is matched in this drama with Ahn Bo Hyun as Ku Woong. Woong doesn't make the greatest impression on her at first but soon I was sucked into all the ups and downs of their unexpected relationship. Would they have been an exciting couple to watch without the cells, probably not, but with the cells input, commentary, and actions I was hyped to watch every single episode. Don't get me wrong. I loved Woong, and Bo Hyun's performance, I just think two laid back leads only work well in this kind of scenario. I was also more #teamWoong than I was rooting for Yumi, and I appreciated getting insight into his character too.

The supporting live action cast were all great, although many of them are pretty one note (like the hilariously annoying Ruby, and infuriating Sae Yi), but the real MVPs of the cast are the voice actors. I have my favorites... (Shout out to "Naughty"!!! I loved "Hunger" too!) but they are all the true stars of this drama, with some even taking on multiple cell roles. I don't know the webtoon at all, or how true to that the original cells this drama is, but getting to see and hear them made them seem all so real and made me imagine my own internal cell village. Yes, they are adorable but they show how messy, and contradictory, and imperfect people are, even with the best intentions. I know it's not exactly the most original concept, but the execution is unique, and it really is brilliantly done.

Would I watch this again? Definitely. Just to see the cells? Absolutely. Of course I am happier that there will be a season 2 with new episodes. Still, the concept is clever enough to keep me entertained watching the same episodes again, even if the overall plot is basic, and the lead wasn't always likeable. Being able to comiserate with her is much more important than liking her.

The soundtrack is great too. It's been a while since I wanted to download a song from a drama and "If I could read your mind" was as addictive as this drama. I loved how the soundtrack complimented the cuteness of the cell world without being too cheesy or childish. I love when constantly repeated songs make me excited and not annoyed while watching.

Overall, don't let the cartoon characters fool you. This isn't a Korean "Inside Out". This is a grown up drama about how crazy love can feel on the inside. It's cute, it's sad, it's infuriating, It's hilarious. I would definitely still consider this a light hearted drama, with nothing in the story that's too heavy, although some of the most entertaining parts may have you reflecting deeply. I never cried, but I laughed and cringed a lot. It's not a typical RomCom, so some people may be disappointed by the milder chemistry between the leads, but with the cells taking the lead I didn't miss any chemistry, and they definitely felt like a very realistic couple. I was more rooting for Yumi's growth than chemistry. I also prefer the awkward and realistic relationship plot vs the idealistic love story plot that's the romcom norm. I'm curious about the webtoon but I'm also too afraid to spoil season 2 to check it out just yet. I highly recommend Yumi's Cells as perfect to binge, especially since these are really bite sized episodes within episodes that keep the drama moving at a great pace. I'm really looking forward to seeing this same cast again (yes, even Go Eun, and especially Woong.) a rare k drama treat... while hopefully dodging spoilers from the webtoon and it's fans. I can just imagine my inner cells grabbing popcorn and planning a watch huge party in anticipation of season 2!

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