Yumi's Cells (2021)

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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!

Citeste mai mult

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

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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 :)

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult