Yumi's Cells

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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sí, vale la pena ver esto

lo empecé a ver por recomendación de una amiga, mucho tiempo después de estar procrastinando hacerlo, finalmente me decidí cuando ya estaba por estrenarse Yumi Cells 3

a pesar de que amo lo predictivos que son los kdramas en general, este me sacó de mi zona de confort pues pasaban cosas que no me esperaba y hay pequeños skits donde me comí enteramente la trama solo para ver que era parte de la imaginación de los protagonistas

la forma en la que es más real respecto a cómo se llevan las relaciones, y sumamente relatable en cómo solemos pensar las cosas, a veces contradiciendonos es sumamente divertida porque las células lo hacen impecable

realmente vale la pena verlo y seguramente haré rewatch

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Time of Death...

With the third season just out and the drought going on in Kdramaland due to overpopularity I thought hmmm...this series is due a rewatch. I remember at first being put off by the animation, but it won me over big style. The cells humour is off the charts they're adorably cute. On repeat viewing, it really struck home. I kept thinking God that's exactly what it's like.... God this series is soooo clever. The person that must have come up with this concept must be a genius in effect! The acting was phenomenal, very emotive. This is what kdramas did best, resonate with your emotional core and form a connection, but now it's joined the West's superficiality! Romance is out! Ego is in! Personally, that last scene when the relationship was declared dead like the time of death, yes that's exactly what it's like. Nice to have reality portrayed for once because in real life this is the majority of cases and the minority are in the "happy ever after" category. Both people are nice, they love each other, so why did they break up? There's no precise reason, it's just an accumulation of small events as seen with the gourd metaphor.

Ps. I don't like that Babi he's a sneaky snake and not half as good as Woong!

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Deep dive into the "behind the scene"

Without the cells, it would be a very mediocre romcom about two immature people. BOTH YUMI AND WOONG ARE PATHETIC. The cells make it funny.... and deep. We get to see how immature people think and operate.

Yeah it is very clear they will break up .... they are both soooo immature and do NOT communicate..... and YuMi's Intuition is exiled and all her cells are scared of listening to him... YUMI DOES NOT RESPECT THE DEEPEST PARTS OF HERSELF. ANd it is clearthat Sei Yi is a total total snake, and Woong is a total total immature clueless guy who has the Lustodinosaur... Perfect match for the SeiYi who is 100% skilled 100000% sociopath poisonous TOXIC snake... wow Sei Yi is something else, sooooo evil.... just like Ruby..... and Yu Mi is .... too.... immature and naive good girl - after she found out that Sei Yi picked the necklace and gave yuzu, she should have NOT called Woong, he had to come back crawling to her or else be dumped. It is clear he will cheat, eventually. That snake will snag him as soon as he lowers his guard even 1 milimetar.
And instead of setting clear communication and accountablility, that dumb starved girl runs to him and calls him upstairs... And he... does NOT talk.... the immature moron..... he cannot even say he needs to stop at the restroom. He is a total clutz
Woong goes to date with Sei Yi and hides it from YuMi

Well... she is starving after 3 years of abstinence, but ... at least she should know that he is just a little snack and not take him seriously.

One thing that is missing is how Woong decided to break up. We did not see his thinking at all. The money was not an issue anymore so he could have gotten married, but he decided not to.

I love how real this is, the triangle is 2 women on 1 guy. The real life is almost always like that. Unless the woman is somehow a s.x bomb and/or influential, and used just for mating and/or status.

Excellent acting by FL actress. MLs are decent but nothing special.

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season 1 is about ONE guy Woong. but BaBi is lurking in the background posing as YuMi's friend while he is breaking with his ex
Meanwhile Woong has a "second wife" an ex from the past that consistently and openly butts in to get him away from YuMi
finally Woong dumps YuMi and she accepts bc Woong went off the deep end with the bankruptcy of his company and did not say a word about it - Woong is a lame proud arrogant selfish he-man man-child AND a fun boy toy, and she keeps kissing his as# to keep the fun boy toy

season 2 is about BaBI taking over YuMi, genuinely loving her... and once in a blue moon, Woong trying to come back and bailing out fast every time.
But the whole thing is slimey as YuMi got with BaBi not out of love, but to use him as a happy pill and to have him treat her like a princess. So she essentially leeches off him. And as soon as she is far from him, he finds another chick who kisses HIS as# and genuinely loves him. And YuMi stops "loving him" as soon as it is clear he cannot be 100% perfectly serving her 100% of the time.

So the cells makes this interesting. The stories are about flawed ignorant unaware people, and the cells show how these people operate.
Season 2 is so cheesy cringe bc both Woong and BaBi stay single and loyal to Yumi FOREVER although she dumped them.

YuMi is like this worm that just chews through men, using them for s.x, attention, etc.


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Season 1 is interesting only bc of the Cells... bc it shows the typical hormone-driven relationships that fall apart, how immature people think, what operates them inside to create those stupid external behaviors - how mismatched immature ppl get together for the sake of s.x and fun and keep it going for a short while until the first problems.

Woong is an arrogant dude and he keeps his "second wife" bc she strokes his ego, and he stays around YuMi only while his ego is stroked and looking grand. So he and YuMi used each other, and YuMi was a lot more giving, in order to keep her fun boy toy.

Season 2 is a study in toxic relationships. YuMi does NOT love BaBi and she gets together with him for convenience, takes him as a happy pill, "loves" him when it is all perfect, and loses any interest as soon as he is less than perfect. He essentially cheated by emotionally attaching himself to another chick, who was kissing his as@ and who genuinely loved him from the start, which YuMi never did. YuMi and BaBi relationship was majorly slimey, and BaBi was a lot more giving. YuMi was there as long as she was THE PRINCESS, and BaBi had to keep kissing her as@ and taking care of her.

The key problem is that YuMi is totally oblivious to her Hunch Cell and her Deep Inner Cell and is fact scared of them, so she keeps operating out of limited / dumb Emotions, Reason, etc

Season 3 is about .... ? hopefully real love for who the people ARE and a real relationship where both give and take and LOVE equally.

But there could be 100000 seasons and NOTHING WILL WORK AS LONG AS THAT HUNCH CELL IS FEARED AND PUT TO LIVE ALONE IN THE DESERT, AND DEEP INNER CELL IS BURRIED IN AN UNDERGROUND PRISON

YuMi is an ordinary clueless ignorant person, living life on automatic pilot. The interesting part is the Cells, we get to see how that all works

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Season 2 was so soap...
Adult men moping after their woman for YEARS AND DECADES and unwilling and unable to have new relationships - and one woman having at least 2 great guys like that forever dedicated to her - wow what a super disgusting lie soapy cringe trope that shows up on most if not all dramas. So those moping men just do not have s.x all their adult life, or for so many years and decades?
WOW WE FOUND WHY S KOREA HAS THE LOWEST BIRTH RATE IN THE WORLD - and why hostess bars and prostitution are so normal in Asia.
The reality was shown by both Woong and Ba Bi. Woong was keeping his "second wife" at work, and Ba Bi found "second wife" as soon as he moved away. And both those "second wives" had NO problem butting in to steal the man from his official girlfriend. On the other hand, men who were told the girl is taken, backed off immediately. THAT IS THE TYPICAL REALITY

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Just watched Yumi's Cells season 1 bc of really great review on byrei.ink - indeed it is a great study on how immature ppl get together for fun and then quickly break up. THE CELLS ARE SOOOO EDUCATIONAL AND DEEP!!!! I rated that 10 bc of its uniqueness and insights. I just fast forwarded through the cringe parts showing the external behaviors of two really dumb immature ppl butting heads without any communication.

Season 1 was about puppy young love based on hormones.

Then I watched 14 episodes of Season 2. And I feel very upset after, because it was about two slimey adults. YuMi using BaBi as her happy pill, to have someone kiss her as# and take care of her ALL THE TIME like she was a princess, and YuMi lost any interest and bailed out as soon as the dude could not deliver that all the time. And BaBi - he needs someone to truly love him, and I guess he wants someone to kiss HIS as# too, so he essentially cheated by emotionally attaching to a chick like that - and probably would have proceeded to switch ships at one point, JUST LIKE he was switching ships and jumping on to YuMi while he was breaking up with his ex.

SO SEASON 2 IS A STUDY IN VERY SLIMEY TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS.

And then this cheesy idea of 2 guys being loyal forever to one woman who used them while it was fun and then dumped them... SO unreal soapy!!!!

There was real stuff... both guys had "second wives", women who openly catered to them and tried to take them away from the official girlfriend YuMi. That is soooo realistic.
YuMi's male suitors behaved in typical ways of real life and backed off as soon as she said she has a boyfriend.

Overall, YuMi is a very ignorant unaware person and also a coward in many ways because she keeps her Hunch away in the desert and is afraid to listen to him, and also DEep Inner Self is burried in an underground prison.

So Yumi's Cells can have 10000000000 episodes where YuMi keeps using men, chewing them up while they are useful to her and then spitting them out.

In Season 1, YuMi has to kiss as# of Woong, to keep her fun boy toy. He is a moody arrogant man-child and a great boy toy
In Season 2, BaBi has to kiss as# of YuMi and make her feel like a princess, or else she loses interest in him. She gets with him not out of love, but for health reasons, to be treated like a princess, and loses interest as soon as he cannot be that loyal doting SERVANT ALL THE TIME. BaBi sold his soul and then could not resist his need for someone who truly loves him and gives to him, so he essentially chated.
BaBi needs someone who gives to him as much as he gives. BaBi did not have a mother and his father is cement, so BaBi needs real love, to be the center of attention.

Yeah BaBi is slimey too... He jumps ships as soon as it is not productive for him to stay.... As soon as "his woman" is "away" - he starts jumping ships...

So Season 2 is just ... ugly toxic muck bc it is clear these ppl are adults adn SHOULD be thinking...
BASICALLY SEASON 2 SHOWS THAT NOTHING WAS LEARNED FROM SEASON 1
and season 3 looks like the same concept


Season 1 is cute bc it is "starter kit"
but Season 2 is infuriating bc there is no progress whatsoever
the story just repeats
And Season 3 looks the same repeat...

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This drama is somehow interesting But Im not happy to watch

As we all know that, we always want the story to go way we want, and we might be a little disappointed if there're plot twists. To begin with, Yumi's life seems so busy , she's stressful enough with the last breakup and she has to work and also having a crush on someone who doesn't interest in girls. This is really sad and embarassed at the same time T^T
Then, she finally get to meet with Woong, I somehow thought that he was the one, but he's actually not at all. As romantic drama lovers, they always wanted a warmhearted, helpful man as the main male lead for main female lead, but Woong is indeed a reckless guy, he doesn't deserve to have Yumi as her girlfriend at all, when his girlbestfriend tries to provoke Yumi, he only keep quiet and pretend as if nothing happen. This part is really frustrate me as the viewers hmm... Since the drama is on going so I just have to stop here first. ^^

I dare to say that this is much alike in real life, watching this make me leaving my own imagination! hmm let's just be real and a-ppreciate it~~

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Didn’t think I’d cry, I was wrong

I fell in love with this couple. They had so many sweet qualities. This show devastated me in the last 2 episodes. It wasnt just because the ending between these two is so depressing. It’s realistic, it had me mourning my own past breakups. It led you down the path many people take, two good people that just don’t fit. Two people who love each other deeply, sacrifice for each other BUT acknowledging that it’s not a good fit. So unbelievably difficult! The relatable feeling of the one person who could end the sadness is also the person causing the sadness. Soo many tears the last 2 episodes. I loved them both and I’m so happy Yumi had the courage to call it when she knew it didn’t feel right. Inspiring, honestly. The drama was really bumped to the next level with the cells. I thought it was corny at first but it had a huge impact on perspective. You get to see the reasoning for reactions that would usually leave you frustrated saying “why would they do that??!!” Another level of understanding that just tugged at your heart strings. I had to pick myself back up for season 2 and new romance lol

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reality of dating/relationships

It showed the reality of dating, relationships….
The first guy really loved her. It shows that he doesn’t know much about relationships but he tried they eventually loved each other dearly but his pride got the best of him. It’s understandable that for men, they don’t like to talk about not being financially ready and it sets them back but not openly talking about it is what will push the relationship to break up.
Not communicating with her was the major factor for the break up.
Throughout the episodes:
Sensitivity and naughty hormones are so hilarious. The animation scenes made it funny and didn’t make it draggy.
It’s sad that they had to break up at the end but I don’t blame the FL for feeling that way.

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A study of why relationships can fail . .

Yumi is sleepwalking through her life into her 30s after a romantic betrayal. A series of events causes her to wake up and try again, and there is an addictive quality of wanting to see her succeed at last.

This addictive quality is also due to the 'roller-coaster,' action staged inner life inspired by Pixar's Inside Out. The Bond/action movie dramas of Yumi's interior feelings create more adrenaline to the situation, then this ordinary life and romance would inspire on its own.

The conflicts over pride, money, showing your vulnerabilities, ambiguous boundaries with friends and co-workers etc. are what make the show unique, these are the ordinary fights we've all had instead of the extraordinary larger than life conflicts in your normal Kdrama. But, this is also what holds this drama back, the determination to review over and over smaller, quiet dramas just between two people, prevents the show from truly lingering. .

Music was fine and certain scenes are such a good encapsulation of a first date, or a first fight that they are worthy of rewatch.

I also grade on other criteria:

Complex themes: 7.5
This is a character study of what prevents two, ordinary people, good looking, intelligent, nice from finding romantic relationships. Mainly, the inability to risk, be vulnerable, or show true feelings.

Complex Characters/Development: 9.5
Here, this show really shines, illustrating that surface human behaviors that we find so frustrating come from a very complex emotional and psychological inner self. Yumi also shows growth as she realizes that her past relationship has clouded her ability to commit in the present. The character of Sae-yi was truly exciting to see, a type of personality and friendship we often see in real life (encouraging dependency and discouraging growth and independence).

Relationships between Women: 7.0
Yumi is not fundamentally close to any of her peers, and keeps them at a distance which means she has some competitive and a bit catty friends from university/growing up and some kind fun to hang out with co-workers. She doesn't have an in-depth relationship with her mother and appears to have no siblings. The show really falls down on this point, though it may be realistic.

Cinematography/Production: 8.5
The inner feelings drama was cute and well done, and the film had a soft, indie feel to it that suited the show. The clothes and surroundings were all very realistic, and there were some artistic flourishes that mimicked the emotions that were concerning the characters.

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