Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.
Yumi’s Cells Season 1 & 2
( 유미의 세포들 / Yumieui Sepodeul)
MyDramaList rating: 7.5/10
Hello hello, it’s been a hot minute! Welcome to a new review. It’s taken me quite a while to finish this; after my last review I didn’t expect my next watch to be a double-seasoner. When my Spin-the-Wheel app picked this one out, I was initially hesitant to watch it, not just because it was a lengthier show, but also because I know there’s a third season coming out next year and I wondered if it would be better to wait and watch the whole thing in one go. Still, I decided to watch the first two seasons first, since they pretty much tied together into one story. When the third season comes out, I’ll just make a separate review of it (just like I did with My First First Love) and share the link in this post.
So, Yumi’s Cells. I have to admit that this show wasn’t always on my watchlist – I added it later on since I kept seeing it pop up. It was kind of similar to how I felt about Alchemy of Souls: I wasn’t initially that interested when it came out but I still ended up adding it to my list with a “let’s check it out at some point” kind of mindset. Finishing it kind of felt like getting something off my chest, in a way, because even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I can’t deny that I usually prefer to watch shows that are a little less time-consuming to watch. I am very glad that I decided to take notes while watching it, because it would’ve been a lot to remember from start to finish, especially with how long it took me to get through the whole thing. In any case, this is my review of the first two seasons, and I’m excited to share my views.
Just one side note before I start: I usually use a specific spelling system for Korean names to avoid associations with similar words and names in English and Japanese, but since some names were actually spelled out on-screen in this show, I decided to adhere to that and not create unofficial spellings to suit my own principles. Shortly put, I will stick to the official spellings of the names for Yumi, Ruby and Louis rather than for example use Yoo Mi, Roo Bi, Roo Yi.
Yumi’s Cells is a semi-animated multi-season TVING/tvN K-Drama which so far consists of two seasons of 14 episodes with a duration of about one hour and five to ten minutes. Every episode is in turn divided into three to four subchapters, which almost makes it feel like watching a serialized animation. I watched both seasons on my newly discovered K-Drama website KissKH (S1 & S2). There’s also a movie on there, which is fully animated and directly based on the webtoon of the same name by Lee Dong Geon.
Yumi’s Cells centers around Kim Yumi (played by Kim Go Eun), a woman in her early thirties who initially works in the finance department of Daehan Noodles, a large noodle brand corporation. We initially get to know her through the introduction of her Cells, aka the different aspects of her personality that are depicted as little animated creatures that reside inside of her, much like the Emotions from the Disney Pixar’s Inside Out movies. These Cells live in their own proper Cell Village and are responsible for how Yumi navigates through life and responds to her surroundings. Besides common Cells like Reason, Sensitivity, Anxiety and Pride, every person has their own distinctive Cells that are directly tied to their individual personalities and interests. Cells that regularly appear within Yumi include Appetite, Fashion Sense, Deduction, Naughty and Stingy. Besides this, every single person also has a Prime Cell, a main distinctive Cell that leads all the others and basically makes up the biggest aspect of their character. In Yumi’s case, this is Love. If there’s anything Yumi loves, it’s falling in love and being in a relationship.
However, when we first meet Yumi, this aspect of her personality seems to have temporarily “died”. Her Love Cell has been in a coma ever since Yumi’s last relationship painfully ended four years earlier. Still, there is hope: Yumi has developed a crush on one of her co-workers, Chae Woo Gi (played by SHINee’s Choi Min Ho). In order to get to spend time with him alone, she’s even willing to compete with another co-worker who’s also aiming for his attention. Nevertheless, Yumi’s crush is cut short prematurely when Woo Gi confides in her that he isn’t attracted to women (we love a progressive K-Drama🏳️🌈). Instead, he asks if she would be interested in going on a blind date with a friend of his, as he’s sure they’ll get along. This blind date heralds the start of the first season’s main plot and the revival of Yumi’s Love Cell.
Honestly, I think this show found me at the perfect timing. I’m also in my early thirties, and have been struggling with the insecurity of not having found someone to settle down with yet. Seeing a protagonist my age who was living her best life while casually dating without caring too much about the future or society’s standards was really refreshing and relatable to me. Some sequences resonated with me a lot personally, and it just felt like I was in the right state of mind to watch this series without feeling inferior in my own dating experiences, so that was a huge plus for me.
Before I get into more specifics regarding the characters and the story, I just want to emphasize how much I loved the interplay of the animation and live-action in this show. By creating an incredibly smooth transition between the Cell Village (animated) and Yumi’s life (live-action), and even occasionally intertwining the two, it really set itself apart with its unique and creative ways of storytelling. I kept getting surprised by the cleverness of the animated visualizations of certain sensations and experiences, and the incredible attention to detail.
I think this show did an amazing job at capturing complex human emotions and situations in such relatable and creative images through its animation. From how Reason and Sensitivity were always bantering with each other, to how the Village would fog over when the character drew a blank and ended up relying on the first Cell that managed to emerge from the mist to take control of the situation. The fact that they visualized Yumi’s stress relief and excitement through an actual rock band called Endorphin, associating it with blowing off steam like one would at a concert was genius. I also liked how they depicted the build-up of frustration through showing the Cells throwing bean bags at a gourd until it cracked, and how every new hobby and infatuation with something or someone spawned a new Fanclub within the Village, reminiscent of extracurricular college club orientation stands.
One of my favorite depictions was the “jar of courage” which symbolized the amount of courage one needed in specific situations. I thought it was really cool how they showed different scenarios in which Yumi needed courage from her jar, from getting rid of a bug and cutting in on the highway to changing departments at work. I also loved the symbolism of borrowing courage from others as a way of gaining confirmation from others to support certain decisions. I thought that was a really wholesome depiction of normalizing relying on others when you couldn’t muster enough courage or determination by yourself.
I also really loved the depiction of the Man Reconnaiscance Team. While she was single, Yumi had this unit of Cells that made her aware whenever there was an attractive guy near her. I loved how her Man Reconnaiscance Team literally went on a break as soon as Yumi stopped noticing other guys after developing a new crush or getting into a new relationship. They’d be like: “We’ll be back when she gets lonely again”, lol. It was giving dating apps 😂. It was also funny how, supporting this, all other men just became bland and featureless stick figure drawings when Yumi’s heart was already occupied with someone. The integration of all these animations into the live-action was actually brilliant. I remember the scene where Yumi went into her own Cell Village to calm down her Love Cell and the antenna on her hood actually vibrated at Yumi’s touch, that was animated SO well.
Apart from the genius animations, they also did a really great job at being consistent throughout both seasons, for example with how Yumi’s hair kept growing as time passed and how they kept referring back to people, scenes and events from Season 1 in Season 2. I always love it when they do that, because it shows just how meticulously the writers and creators worked on creating a coherent and sensible story.
Now, without further ado, let’s get into the actual story. The first season focusses on a new romantic relationship that Yumi gets into, with the guy that Woo Gi sets her up on a blind date with. This new love interest is Goo Woong (played by Ahn Bo Hyun). I don’t remember exactly how he and Woo Gi met, but Woong is a self-established game developer with his own tiny studio that he runs with his two friends Louis (played by Joo Jong Hyuk) and Seo Sae Yi (played by Park Ji Hyun). Currently, they’re working on a game called “Bow-Wow Time”, in which you basically have to take care of a pet dog.
Admittedly, Woong isn’t exactly Yumi’s type in terms of appearance: he appears on their blind date in way too casual clothing and Yumi isn’t really fond of his long hair and little beard. She basically fakes her enthusiasm throughout the whole date, and initially gets uncomfortable when he keeps messaging her afterwards. Woong, on the other hand, falls for Yumi at first sight.
What’s immediately interesting is that we also get introduced to Woong’s Cells, who desperately try to guide him through the date when he draws a blank as soon as Yumi introduces herself to him, after which his cringy Humor Sense takes over. Despite her initial ick, Yumi does find herself falling for Woong and his dad jokes when he takes care of her after she collapses one time, and they start dating.
Now that I’ve established the premise of the first season, I’d like to go over the main and most important side characters that are introduced in Season 1 to give a bit more context before I move on to specific points of Yumi and Woong’s relationship.
Let’s start with Yumi and her direct surroundings. As mentioned before, Yumi is a woman in her early thirties who works in finance. We later find out that she’s had the dream of becoming a writer before, but she gave up on that after losing her confidence when applying for a writing contest. With this, her Writer Cell was also buried. Now she works at Daehan Noodles and gets along well with the people she works with, including Section Chief Nam Joo Hyuk (Jung Soon Won) and her co-workers Kang Yi Da (Kim Min Gyung/Mi Ram) and Lee Ruby (Lee Yoo Bi). Ruby is the co-worker that also fancies Woo Gi, a younger and extremely cutesy woman whose specialty lies in flirting and spotting sparks between people. While Ruby starts out as a kind of love rival, Yumi becomes more fond of her throughout the seasons. Yumi, Yi Da and Ruby ultimately become a unit of three that always looks out for each other, which is nice.
Yumi grew up as an only child, and her parents still live in the countryside where her dad runs a hardware store that he named after her. Her parents (Seong Ji Roo and Yoo Yoo Seon) make a couple of appearances, and from those it’s more than clear just how much they adore their daughter – they also always immediately stuff her with food when they see her, lol.
Other than that, Yumi leads a normal life that balances work with social activities. While she’s conservative in some ways and doesn’t particularly wish to stand out in a crowd, she has a very solid personality. She’s confident about herself, knows what she wants and is very honest when it comes to her own feelings.
The Cells really help in creating a solid understanding of Yumi’s character and making her a flawed and therefore very realistic person. As Yumi went back and forth between setting her boundaries and masking her true feelings, I went back and forth between rooting for her and disagreeing with her actions. It added so much to the story that it was told through the eyes of someone who was trying to find her way, someone who made mistakes and learned from them, and who most of all just kept going, no matter what hardships she went through. In the end, I really liked Yumi as a protagonist, because even at times when I couldn’t really relate to her thought process, she always came around to make me understand and respect her in some other way again. She wasn’t trying to be perfect, she was just doing her best to live a happy life, and that in itself made her as admirable as anyone.
Moving onto Woong’s side of the story, I honestly was taken aback by his character at the start. From how he initially presented himself and the way he behaved around his teammates, I didn’t think he’d even be interested in going on blind dates, and I certainly didn’t expect him to fall for Yumi at first sight. It immediately brought out a very unexpected affectionate side in him, which stood in funny contrast to his appearance. He really started out as the most devoted boyfriend Yumi could’ve wished for, from the way he made his way into her heart to how willing he was to always fix their misunderstandings.
We don’t find out a lot about Woong’s past or his family. Apart from Woo Gi, his friends Louis and Sae Yi seem to be the only ones that have stuck by him for a long time and know him best. When he meets Yumi, Woong is still a rookie game developer trying to make his big break, so he isn’t exactly financially independent yet. He does have an apartment, but he spends a lot of time in his studio working. While he and Yumi start out as a very sweet and worryfree couple, the fact that he doesn’t have the financial stability to provide for a substantial relationship – should it develop into that – eventually becomes a major deal for Woong as their relationship progresses.
All in all, I thought Yumi and Woong made a really cute couple. The way things developed between them after that awkward first date was very realistic, and I also liked the transition from Yumi’s initial “ick” to allowing herself to see what a good guy Woong actually was. They initially don’t have that many issues, they’re just enjoying the “honeymoon phase” of their dating journey and we follow them as they get more comfortable and initiate the first signs of intimacy. They both already had at least one relationship before this, so it wasn’t that neither of them knew what they were doing, but they still had to break the ice and this little slowburn was really cute to see. In their happy moments, they really seemed like a very affectionate and solid couple. However, as their relationship progressed and they started learning about the aspects in which they differed, it was as if the communication between them gradually got rusty to the point where more and more misunderstandigs arose that ultimately drove them both to the edge.
In hindsight, Yumi and Woong went through a LOT of misunderstandings. There were a couple of reasons for that, starting first and foremost with Woong’s pride (which ironically was also the first and foremost thing on his priority list). Through their respective Cells, it became clear that while Yumi, having Love as her Prime Cell, always ended up prioritizing her partner in a relationship, Woong always kept himself at #1. It wasn’t even that he was self-absorbed or prideful per se, but he just prioritized holding onto his own values before others’, even in close relationships. While his boastful side did come out more strongly in Season 2 when he actually became the CEO of his own company, in Season 1 he was still just a poor rookie game developer working from a tiny studio that he basically lived in with his two college friends. At the time he met Yumi, he wasn’t yet at the point where he wished he could’ve been, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to see that this was one thing that ended up sabotaging their relationship. It was because of his pride that he started keeping several major events in his life to himself, like selling his apartment to live in his studio in order to save money, and the real reason why he ultimately moved out of Yumi’s place. It felt like he wanted to keep things simple and happy while he sorted things out by himself, seemingly forgetting that he had Yumi to support him through all those decisions.
I think what it came down to in their relationship was that Yumi and Woong got along the best when they weren’t thinking of the future. They were the cutest and sweetest couple when they were just in the moment, enjoying each other’s company and doing fun things together. But the fact that things got tense as soon as they headed for the next level in their relationship was actually the biggest indicator of how incompatible they truly were. I’m not just talking about the fact that their marriage views didn’t align, but also about how they kept clashing whenever a conflict or misunderstanding arose between them.
As much as he doted on Yumi, I think it’s safe to say that Woong was a pretty big people pleaser. He didn’t like tense situations and conversations and tried to avoid them as much as he could to keep the peace. This also caused him to suppress his own feelings and keep quiet about things that were actually important to talk about in a relationship, especially with regards to things that he was actually aware of but kept quiet about since he didn’t want to make a fuss about it. This avoidant attitude of his ultimately pushed Yumi to her limits, as she kept getting hurt by his lack of clear communication.
There were a couple of situations that bothered me, both in relation to the tension between Yumi and Woong and with regards to Sae Yi, who’s up in a minute.
First of all, the diarrhea scene. The very first time that Woong is invited to Yumi’s apartment, he gets bowel problems. The circumstances were also not helping: it was Yumi’s birthday and he just managed to make amends with her about something with a cake and she invited him up to her place to celebrate her birthday together. Right at that crucial moment, Woong’s Bowel Cells suddenly announce an emergency case of NUMBER TWO, which results in an almost sitcom-like situation where Woong not only locks himself up in Yumi’s bathroom, but also ends up clogging her toilet.
While I know how awkward it is to visit someone’s place and not be able to flush something down the toilet, I still found it a little silly of Woong to be so overly self-conscious about this, especially at this stage of their relationship. In hindsight I guess this could also be attributed to Woong’s pride issue, but seriously: he could’ve just told Yumi that he had indigestion and she could’ve helped him out. Screw embarrassment: this could literally happen to anyone, and if you can’t even bring yourself to tell your partner about something like this, I don’t think you’re starting out very well when it comes to building up trust and dependence. To prove my point: Yumi actually ended up putting him to bed at her place and taking care of him by rubbing his belly, without a single shred of judgement about his bowel issues. There was no reason for him to refrain from being honest about something as trivial as this.
Secondly, there was the issue of the full-glass shower hotel room. Yumi and Woong went on their first trip together and Woong asked Yumi to book the hotel room, with specific instructions on which facilities they wanted in the room. Because the availability was limited and she couldn’t double-check with Woong in-between since he was in a meeting, Yumi ultimately ended up booking the only room with a view of the ocean, which included a full see-through window to the shower. This strongly triggered her Conservative/Etiquette Cell, as it was a pretty big deal for her to see straight into the bathroom from the bed. What made it worse was that, as they headed for the hotel, Woong expressed his unfiltered disdain for full-glass showers, which put Yumi on the spot even more when they actually entered the room. This was actually the first time that Woong retaliated against Yumi – he tried to make light of the situation, which made Yumi even more aggravated, and then he pulled the “Okay, so you wanna leave, then?” move, which almost ended up ruining their trip. Luckily, they did eventually see eye to eye and admitted they didn’t mind the full-glass shower that much, after all.
Just like with the diarrhea issue, it bothered me that Yumi was somehow too embarrassed to just communicate to Woong what had happened. Even after his meeting, she could’ve called him saying: “Hey, I tried to book a room but there was nothing available that ticked all of our boxes. I got the only available option with an ocean view, but it has a full-glass shower, which I’m not sure you’re okay with it. What should we do, should we book to something else or just stick with this?” Instead, they created this whole, again quite sitcom-like, situation where Woong went down to the booking office to confirm that Yumi had not agreed with the full-glass shower when booking the room, and Yumi tried to stop him from hearing the phone call she had had with the booking agent and he still ended up hearing it and so on.
Thirdly, there was the lack of trust Yumi had in Woong turning up looking nice enough at her friend’s wedding. I honestly felt like she was treating Woong very unfairly at this point, as she was literally using him to make herself look better to her friends. She just wanted to prove to them that she had a presentable boyfriend, since they didn’t seem to believe her.
Even though she had fully accepted Woong by then, beard and all, this part made it seem like she was still embarrassed about the way he looked, from the way she checked with him whether he’d shaved and put on something formal or not. Even though she knew that Woong had initially declined the wedding invite since he had a very important deadline coming up and he only agreed to stop by briefly because it mattered so much to her, she was literally just stress-apping him to confirm how he looked and what he was wearing and getting anxious about him embarrassing her in front of her friends.
Woong didn’t even know the real reason why she wanted him there. He didn’t know he was stepping away from his important deadline purely to satisy his girlfriend’s super selfish need. Heck, he freaking RAN there when his taxi was too slow, all because it mattered to Yumi that he was there, and still she only cared about whether or not he would be sweating from all the running and show up looking like a mess. This really pissed me off, I’m not gonna lie. It would’ve still been okay if she’d just taken it all back when he arrived looking absolutely fine (of course), but then there was also the thing with her ex that made the situation even more messy.
Besides wanting to show off her boyfriend to her friends, Yumi also wanted to show her ex-boyfriend, who was coming to the wedding too, that she was doing just fine after he broke up with her. It had been four freaking years since they split up, but she still felt like she had to prove to him that she’d moved on. When it turned out her ex just wanted to notify her that he was getting married soon (to the girl he’d abandoned her for), Yumi actually retaliated by lying about how she was getting married as well.
This was a very petty reaction from Sensitivity (who did get rightly punished for it afterwards), but I still found it very inconsiderate of Yumi, all the more because she knew that Woong wasn’t keen on marriage in general. Of course, she didn’t know Woong was standing behind her while she was talking, but she could’ve at least stopped to realize that, as soon as he’d arrive, he’d also have to go along with this lie in front of all these people he didn’t even know. Imagine showing up at a stranger’s wedding just because your partner urgently asked you to come, and then hearing them tell some random guy that you’re getting married. He was the best for playing along with it in the moment, and I’m just glad that Yumi explained the situation to him directly afterwards, but it still really pissed me off. As much as the Cells helped to relativize Yumi’s choices, this one just didn’t sit well with me.
Finally, I’m gonna have to start talking about Sae Yi, one of Woong’s college friends and colleagues who worked with him on “Bow-Wow Time”. Even before Yumi and Woong meet, Sae Yi is introduced as someone who is very confusing to Woong. It’s revealed later on that he used to have a crush on her in college, but they never hooked up. He ended up banning all his feelings for her out because her mixed signals confused him too much and he wanted things to be simple. Now, whenever Sae Yi starts trying to flirt with him or bring up stories of their college years, Woong literally goes into full Defense Mode in order to avoid the conversation. From the way he started acting when he got into a relationship with Yumi and how he even sent Sae Yi away in the end, I think it’s safe to say that he didn’t have any romantic feelings for Sae Yi, but there was definitely some lingering tension between them. She was still a close friend that he couldn’t completely ignore, even after Yumi expressed how uncomfortable Sae Yi made her. Mind you, his connection with Sae Yi was the cause of several fractures in their relationship, and Sae Yi herself definitely did NOT help to clear the air between them.
Honestly, while I had hoped that Sae Yi would actually turn out to be cool when she eventually met Yumi face-to-face, she was as bad as she could have possibly been. She made me feel really uncomfortable. While she never clarified her true feelings for Woong, it was like she always kept him on a hook as her final option, and she always kept reminding him of his principles when it came to dating and marriage. As soon as Yumi entered Woong’s life, she seemingly became cautious of her own position and only proved to Yumi that she was right to be concerned, time and time again. When Yumi visited the game studio, Sae Yi was always hovering around Woong, “subtly” touching him and showing off how well she knew him through and through, better than Yumi. She knew Yumi was conscious of her and only kept adding fuel to the fire, all the while feigning ignorance when either Yumi or Woong confronted her with her actions. Her worst action was that she at some point legit went: “You know what? No. I’m not gonna let Yumi take him” and literally moved into Woong’s apartment building overnight. That was WILD. She did all that and still couldn’t even tell Woong clearly to his face that she was interested in him. She just kept both of them grasping at straws as to what her true intentions were, it was VERY aggravating.
Unfortunately, even though it was clear that Woong didn’t have feelings for Sae Yi and he even told her off for butting into his relationship and telling Yumi unsollicited stuff about their past, he still didn’t clear things up when Yumi needed it the most. I honestly thought he handled the situation in a way that was very inconsiderate towards his girlfriend, especially since he was aware of the tension between Yumi and Sae Yi.
Yumi ends up finding out about Sae Yi’s move to Woong’s building in the worst way possible: she bumps into Sae Yi in the elevator on her way to surprise-visit Woong. Even when faced with the awkward situation where Yumi and Sae Yi both turned up at his door and he realized Yumi found out that he didn’t tell her that the girl she’d warned him about had moved into his building, Woong just invited her in as if nothing happened. He chose to act oblivious while knowing what was going on, which was the worst way to deal with the situation. As I’m typing this, I have to admit that this part hits me even harder now since I literally went through a similar situation recently with a friend. Having experienced that, I’m all the more aware of how hurtful it is to be kept in the dark about things I have every right to be worried about – it completely invalidates the excuse of “not wanting to say something to be considerate”, because it only confirms the existing suspicions.
This situation in particular leads to a pretty big fight between Yumi and Woong, in which I again found myself going back and forth between them. As much as I thought Woong was in the wrong for being inconsiderate about the Sae Yi situation, Yumi also didn’t really give him a chance to explain things and put her mind at ease. While I agree that he had enough chances to tell her, and his Cells did keep him from explaining things more clearly, I could understand why it pissed him off to be ordered to apologize without being given the chance to share his side of the story (this also reminds me of the situation I personally went through). I did feel like it was fair for him to finally get angry once, since he was usually the one to fold and apologize and Yumi probably took this for granted.
I think this was one of the conflicts between them where I could actually relate to both sides, which in a way made it even more frustrating to watch since they both refused to relate to each other’s feelings. On the other hand, I can’t say it ruined the story for me, because it was still a very realistic depiction of a miscommunication.
Another example of a miscommunication between Yumi and Woong occurs when Yumi tells him she’s thinking of switching departments at work. After writing something for the marketing department at her company, she’s asked to consider transferring there to develop her writing skills even more, which in turn ignites a new spark to Yumi’s long-buried dream of becoming a writer. After building up her jar of courage through several other friends and colleagues, Yumi faces a disappointment when Woong, of all people, discourages her decision.
I think what happened here was the following: for Yumi, this decision was directly linked to her suppressed passion for writing. She was praised for the piece she wrote for the marketing department, and this awakened a new flame of hope and courage in her. However, I honestly don’t think Woong was aware of how much writing meant to Yumi. I think she only mentioned to him in passing that she used to want to become a writer, but nothing more. As such, Woong gave a much more objective opinion on how hard it was to change departments and take on a new field of work without substantial experience, unaware of the underlying damage this advice did to Yumi’s accumulating courage to pick up writing again. In hindsight, Woong was also talking from his own current position where he decided to sell his apartment to gain more funds for his studio, which he hadn’t told Yumi about either. So basically, they asked for and gave each other advice from their own respective positions in life, without actually being aware of each other’s respective positions in life.
In both abovementioned miscommunications it felt to me like Yumi was usually the one to cut off and walk away from the conversation, even though she also often didn’t clearly communicate her feelings. Woong would get annoyed, sure, but at least he always tried to understand where Yumi’s anger came from and fix things.
All in all, even though Yumi and Woong always found a way to make up, I didn’t really know how to feel about the way they “dealt with” the Sae Yi matter. Honestly, it didn’t feel like they solved it at all – they suddenly were back together without any indication that they’d talked things through. Did they actually come to a compromise regarding the issue or did they just agree to make up? I’m guessing Woong must have apologized in some way, also because he made Sae Yi leave the game team. It did seem like there was still some tension regarding Sae Yi in Woong’s life, and we find out later that he did keep in touch with her without Yumi knowing, although Sae Yi eventually got herself a boyfriend and didn’t pose a threat to their relationship anymore in the end.
As much as I loved Yumi and Woong as a couple during their happy moments, I couldn’t help but feel that their relationship was ultimately doomed to fail, looking at how they “dealt” with everything they went through. The fact that things kept happening that made their trust and dependence on each other waver was a clear enough sign that their relationship wouldn’t hold forever.
Just when things seemed to be promising between them again, and Yumi actually suggested marriage after they’d started living together at her place for a while, which they both seemed to like, Woong ends up walking away because of his pride again. Turns out he was actually very embarrassed about shacking up at his girlfriend’s place as a result of his own poverty. Here again, he wasn’t honest with her and just said he’d move out all of a sudden. After this, Woong started putting in less and less effort, making Yumi less and less motivated to continue.
Seeing as how Woong eventually was the one to break off the relationship, I thought it was quite ironic how panicky he got at first when he sensed Yumi was going to break up with him, and that he actually managed to finally set his pride aside and put Yumi first once he felt like he was going to get dumped. Like, he was able to do it for something like THAT, but not for admitting he had indigestion. 🙄 I guess that just proved how deep-rooted his pride was. I also found it very typical that Woong’s Reason Cell actually lacked the self-awareness to acknowledge what Woong had done wrong – that was very typically “men”.
Honestly, with the way things ended between them, I didn’t even expect Woong to make a comeback in Season 2. Like, I expected they’d refer back to him in flashbacks since Yumi still had to get over him, but I honestly didn’t think they would actually bring him back as a love contestant after how Yumi cut him off when he bought the rice cooker from her. I was honestly surprised when they used that encounter to ignite a whole flashback scene from Woong’s side to show a “what could have been” scenario in which he dreamt how things could’ve developed between them if he hadn’t let his pride get in the way.
I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about his comeback in the second season. At first I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him, probably because we saw a whole season of Yumi and Woong as a couple, even though I fully respected that Yumi was so direct in setting her boundaries with him after she started dating someone new. But when he came back in Season 2 and started revealing that he always regretted walking away from Yumi’s proposal, and that it was all because he hadn’t felt secure enough about his financial situation at the time, it still felt very “too little, too late” and I couldn’t really get behind the idea of them getting back together again. As Sensitivity and Anxiety also confirmed, the only reason Yumi couldn’t completely shut Woong out of her heart was that she still felt both sorry and thankful towards him. It’s kind of ironic that Woong ended up not being able to fully move on from Yumi after all that time, and I found his newly acquired confidence to pursue her again a bit awkward, since Yumi clearly had no intention of getting back together with him whatsoever.
By the way, can I just say how badly I felt for poor Louis? This guy literally got caught in the crossfire between Yumi, Woong and Sae Yi, and he had to watch his team fall apart. He just wanted to have a good time making games with his good friends. I did like how he stuck by Woong all the way to the company he eventually built and remained a recurring character throughout the seasons, but that part in Season 1 must have been quite painful for him to live through. #PoorLouis
Before I move on to my discussion of Season 2, I just want to comment on the transition between the two seasons. I was initially debating to make this review into two separate ones, one for each season. But as I mentioned in my introduction, I decided not to because the two seasons tied together so intricately that they basically made one single story. Season 2 picked up immediately where Season 1 left off, and even covered both seasons in its final ending credits as well. I thought it was really smooth how Season 1 already set up the plot for Season 2 and made the story continue seamlessly, including the time it took Yumi to get over her break-up with Woong.
Admittedly, even though I knew from the poster that Yumi would be dating someone else in the second season, I had not expected this person to already be introduced halfway through the first season. Apart from this, they also already spoiled that Yumi and Woong weren’t endgame quite early on in Season 1, when the Library Cell in the Yumi Library referred to Woong as “Yumi’s boyfriend at the time” and they didn’t reveal Yumi’s wedding picture. Speaking of which, the same went for Season 2. It was already revealed that Yumi would get yet another new love interest in Season 3, so I can’t deny that watching her relationships in these first two seasons unfold while knowing that they both wouldn’t last did take away from the effect of the break-ups. Still, I did enjoy watching Yumi go through both relationships, because they were very important experiences for her and contributed significantly to her character development. Also, I never pass up on a cute romantic storyline, no matter how it ends.
Yumi initially meets Yoo Ba Bi (played by GOT7’s Park Jin Young) when he helps her find her lost umbrella. He works at the same company as her, Daehan Noodles, but in the marketing department. Yumi initially only sees Ba Bi as a bland, featureless stick figure drawing; the way men appear to her when she’s not looking for one. But this changes when they keep bumping into each other and find an unspoken comfort in each other’s company. It just so happens that when they get to know each other, they’re both in a relationship that isn’t really working out that well anymore. Woong is incredibly busy finishing up the prototype version of his game, and Ba Bi’s girlfriend is a lawyer who can barely make time to meet up with him. By the time both of their relationships end in Season 1, they’ve already established a close enough friendly relationship with each other in the meantime, and it doesn’t take long for Ba Bi to suggest they start dating. Yumi is initially hesitant since she didn’t see this intention of his coming, but gradually opens herself up to the possibility of a new relationship again.
One thing that immediately jumped out to me was how different her relationships with Woong and Ba Bi started. They kept comparing the two, but in a way which clearly reflected how much Yumi had learned from her relationship with Woong, and how she now wanted to do better with Ba Bi. I loved the different ways they respectively made their way into Yumi’s heart, Woong’s Love Cell in the disguise of a frog symbolic of the sweater he gave her, and Ba Bi like a freaking wrecking ball. It was interesting to see the variety in how Yumi’s feelings for them developed as well. With Woong, it was mostly her Love Cell that took the lead as she fell for him gradually, but in Ba Bi’s case it was more Sensitivity and the other Cells that kept recognizing green flags in him while Love was still unable to fully take the lead after the break-up with Woong. I feel like Woong actually managed to win Yumi’s heart through unexpected gestures, while with Ba Bi her feelings developed more slowly since they started out as friends and she had to make that transition first.
From the moment we meet Ba Bi, it’s clear that he’s an incredibly sincere and stand-up person. He has a sweet way with words that immediately flusters Yumi, but he is also very respectful not to cross her boundaries. He is very straightforward and doesn’t beat around the bush with people he’s interested in. Ba Bi becomes an incredibly important person to Yumi, not just as a love interest but also in her journey to revive her writing dream. He is actually the first person to acknowledge her writing and suggests she should write something for the marketing department, which eventually leads to her transferring there. After Yumi quits her job to pursue writing as an occupation, he is the most supportive partner ever. As was mentioned at the end of the second season, Writer Cell owed her revival to Ba Bi, since he was the one who nudged Yumi back into the “write” (👀) direction.
In contrast to Woong, Ba Bi is the most understanding and considerate boyfriend ever. He immediately notices it when something is wrong and is always mature and empathic, even in conflicts. He calls Yumi every day, trusts her completely and never makes her worry, which occasionally makes Yumi wonder how the heck she managed to find such a perfect guy. He is handsome, smart, sweet, considerate and funny, and they compliment each other perfectly.
Ba Bi also happens to the heir to a tteokbokki restaurant, which is Yumi’s favorite food. Coincidentally, this restaurant is named after him, just like Yumi’s father’s hardware store is named after her. At some point later on (after the marriage proposal), Ba Bi takes Yumi to the tteokbokki place to introduce her to his father (Jeon Noh Min). I really loved this scene, where she basically melted his father’s heart by devouring an entire plate of tteokbokki by herself. The way his dad started out so cold and ended up coming after them to give Yumi some pocket money was really cute. He was a precious man. It would’ve been even cuter if we didn’t already know that they weren’t going to last.
I really loved Yumi and Ba Bi as a couple. Not just because of the perfect conditions, but also because they were so naturally drawn to each other from the start. It honestly felt like Ba Bi already developed feelings for Yumi before they both broke up with their exes. They found this lovely sense of calm and comfort in each other that they both missed in their relationships at the time, which clearly foreshadowed them getting together.
I can’t deny that, as much as I loved the intimate scenes between Yumi and Woong in Season 1, the ones with Ba Bi were on a different level. The scene where they started making out on Yumi’s couch and there was this whole Moon Landing sequence in which the Cells had to guide Yumi’s hand to Planet H2, aka Ba Bi’s butt. 😂😂 I also couldn’t with the visualization of their Tongue Cells. Where were these during her kissing scenes with Woong?! The fact that their caps were literally tongues and they actually “visited” each other’s house to have tea and “dance” together…😳 That was a really funny take on an intimate scene, and although it did kind of take away the spicy element (except for the Naughty Cell of course), it made it very entertaining to watch. 😂👌🏻
But of course, as we already knew, Yumi and Ba Bi ultimately wouldn’t last. I was actually curious how they were going to make them break up, because they seemed so perfect and happy together. I’m not gonna lie, starting from episode 8 onwards, things took a turn that I honestly didn’t really like.
It all started when Ba Bi temporarily moved to Jeju Island for work and Yumi found out about Da Eun. In episode 8, there was a subchapter called “Ba Bi’s Secret”. I’m assuming this referred to his inability to answer Yumi’s question of when he started liking her. For some reason I still don’t understand, Ba Bi’s Cells stopped him from answering honestly. He did end up answering her later, but not before two of his Cells (I don’t even remember which ones) burned the scroll with his honest answer on it. Why did they interfere with that to the extent of knocking Ba Bi’s Love Cell out and stealing that scroll? This was the first time Ba Bi started acting out of character. He was always super communicative and considerate, so it didn’t really make sense for his Cells to suddenly rebel against that for no clear reason. Also, it wasn’t really clear to me until the end what exactly the “Secret” was that the subchapter referred to.
In any case, this is when Yumi starts getting weird vibes from Ba Bi, and that feeling is only strengthened when she finds out about Yoo Da Eun (played by Shin Ye Eun), Ba Bi’s young and pretty intern that he hasn’t told her about. Although Yumi is naturally suspicious of other attractive women around her boyfriend, Da Eun appears to be the complete opposite of Sae Yi. She is not trying to stir things up between them, she’s just super bubbly and also acts very respectfully towards Yumi. After talking to her a couple of times, even Yumi is able to convince herself that Da Eun doesn’t pose any threat – she’s just very young and innocent.
However, this didn’t change the fact that Da Eun actually had a crush on Ba Bi. Before she transferred to Busan, she decided to tell Ba Bi about her feelings for him – to get it off her chest, not to actually make him choose her – and for some reason this kept bothering Ba Bi. In the end, he kind of pulled a Woong-like move, selling his house in Jeju and moving closer to the company without telling Yumi about it. It’s ultimately revealed that he did this to create more distance between him and Da Eun, because he was swayed by her, even if just for a moment.
I admired Yumi for immediately setting her boundaries and sticking to her principle of ending things as soon as her boyfriend was swayed by another woman. If that’s a rule she made for herself, then I respect that she stuck with that. I also didn’t blame Da Eun for anything, by the way. She was happy admiring Ba Bi from afar and backed off as soon as she found out he was taken. She never had the intention of getting between Ba Bi and Yumi. I’m even positive that she felt guilty about being part of the reason they broke up. She never wanted to steal Ba Bi away, she just needed to share how she felt before taking her distance from him, and I thought that was respectable as well.
Still, I hated the break-up. As I said, props to Yumi for standing up for her own values and drawing the line, but the whole thing was so rushed and out of the blue. There was barely any build-up in Ba Bi’s feelings for Da Eun, and it wasn’t like something happened between them while Yumi was away either. Then again, he did get swayed by Da Eun multiple times, he kept thinking about her, all the more after she’d confessed how she felt about him. I just didn’t get why, all of a sudden, Ba Bi went from being Mr. Perfect and Considerate to being so easily swayed and they had to break up so suddenly because of that. I really thought they were solid, Ba Bi had been such a dependable guy, and then suddenly he wasn’t. It just seemed very out of character for him.
Now that we’re on this weird part, episode 8 was actually the first episode where I found myself very confused about things developing in certain ways. Besides Ba Bi’s sudden out-of-character behavior, the show also started introducing some new characters and relationships that felt a bit random to me.
For starters, Ahn Dae Yong (played by Jeon Seok Ho). He was the publisher that acknowledged Yumi’s writing skills after reading the story she submitted for a contest and who provided her with the chance to debut as a writer. He also turned out to be a former college senior of Yumi’s who’d had a major crush on her back then, and who got completely delusional when meeting Yumi again through this opportunity. Honestly, when they suddenly inserted this chapter about Ahn Dae Yong, it felt super random to me. It almost seemed like they introduced him as some sort of new love rival, while in fact he just convinced himself that he was pulling all these strategies to make Yumi fall for him. Meanwhile, Yumi was actually annoyed by the way he went hot and cold, first demanding she change literally everything about her story and then suddenly sending her donuts in the mail and offering to take her out to dinner. Like, I didn’t even have time to sympathize with his character because he started acting so outrageously from the moment he was introduced. 😅 At least it was good that he backed off as soon as he found out Yumi had a boyfriend and he ultimately ended up marrying her friend Yi Da, which was also kind of random but cute, I guess.
In any case, the random introduction of Ahn Dae Yong and Ba Bi’s sudden turn towards Da Eun without anything substantial leading up to it really came out of nowhere for me, and I had trouble accepting how things developed after that.
Speaking of random new relationships, I still can’t believe they actually pushed Control Z and Ruby together. Control Z (played by BLOCK B’s P.O/Pyo Ji Hoon) was selected as the illustrator for Yumi’s debut novel. He was an odd fellow, and he and Yumi clashed from the moment they met, although he did seem to have a very playful side to him as well from the way he followed her on social media and kept teasing her. For some reason, the writers decided to label both him and Ruby as “(self-proclaimed) dating experts” and made them start dating each other almost immediately after meeting. Like, cute and all, but it was so random? 😂 I didn’t get any kind of dating vibes from Control Z – the only thing that suggested he saw himself as a dating expert was that he criticized the relationship in Yumi’s story as unrealistic. From the way he presented himself I honestly thought he was supposed to be kind of anti-social, and he didn’t seem like Ruby’s type at all to me. After all the efforts Ruby had gone through to pursue Woo Gi throughout the seasons, I found it kind of hard to believe when she was suddenly like “Ruby doesn’t play around the bush” and just agreed to date Control Z within one week of their first meeting. I don’t know man, maybe they just wanted to surround Yumi with more relationships to take inspiration from, but I didn’t really feel what was going on between these two. 😅
Just as I was about to make my peace with Yumi’s decision to break up with Ba Bi – since she made it with newly acquired self-awareness and strength and I was proud of her for coming such a long way – they suddenly got back together again. Even after that wholesome scene where Yumi entered her Cell Village and urged Love to give up the Prime Cell position because she didn’t need love as her prior drive anymore and knew now that being in a relationship didn’t guarantee her happiness. I did not see that coming. I knew there had to be more to come since there were still a lot of episodes to go, but I wasn’t ready for their relationship to suddenly take that turn.
After being so determined in her decision to walk away from Ba Bi, maybe because Sensitivity took over after Love spiralled and turned into freaking Smaug, Yumi suddenly revoked her principles and got back with her ex for the first time in her life. But even after they got back together, things just weren’t the same anymore. Love was absent, and Yumi was purely living on Sensitivity, who enabled her to go along with Ba Bi’s soothing apologies way more easily. What made things even more messy was that at this point, they also reintroduced Woong into the picture and worse, they made him determined to win Yumi back now that he had made something of himself.
I can’t stress enough how much I DREADED the Battle of the Exes. Like, I get that Woong was being petty about the fact that Yumi chose to get back together with Ba Bi and not him, but it really wasn’t his place to provoke Ba Bi like that. He could’ve just said: “Don’t worry about the fact that Yumi took care of me, she’s not the kind of person who gets swayed” without including the: “Unlike someone 😏” part, since that would’ve at least attributed some respect to Yumi as a partner. The way he said it could’ve caused Ba Bi to think that Yumi talked to Woong about their break-up and badmouthed him, even though Woong actually found out and made assumptions about their break-up all by himself. Honestly, Woong’s whole boasting monologue in this confrontational scene was painful to watch and I agreed with Ba Bi that he was being very childish. He basically started waving his success in Ba Bi’s face, even though Ba Bi was perfectly content with his life and it didn’t even have anything to do with their conflict regarding Yumi.
Anyways, even after they got back together, there was just a lot of anxiety left between Yumi and Ba Bi, which ultimately led to Ba Bi not telling her about the fact that he broke his leg in an accident on his way to the airport and never arrived in the U.S. for his business trip. Maybe the excuse “I thought you’d be too busy” is just triggering for me at the moment due to my own experience, but I really couldn’t fathom why Ba Bi thought it was better to lie to Yumi about being in the freaking hospital “because he didn’t want her to worry”. She’s your girlfriend! She has the right to worry! Didn’t you get back together to prove that your relationship was strong enough to withstand misunderstandings? What the heck are you doing? That scene did NOT pan out the way I expected, especially with the sudden marriage proposal after Yumi found him at his apartment with his leg in a cast. When Ba Bi popped the question, my instant reaction was actually “OH GOD NO” because it just didn’t feel right. Not only because I already knew they were going to break up anyway, but also because things had already gotten so messed up between them.
Seriously, why did all of Yumi’s relationships have to end right at the point of becoming final (living together/getting married)?! I can’t imagine how draining it must be to constantly build up to that point and then losing it at the last minute and having to start all over again. 😭 I think this may be one of the reasons why Yumi started growing on me more and more throughout Season 2. She may have been a bit petty and temperamental in Season 1, but she really grew through her experiences and ended up properly prioritizing her own wants and needs, even excepting that Love might not be suited as her Prime Cell after all.
Season 2 ends with an eight-month time jump to after Yumi broke off her engagement with Ba Bi. After spotting a phone call from Da Eun on his phone, she suddenly realized that she didn’t even feel jealous or anxious anymore, which was the biggest indicator that her love for Ba Bi was gone. She even started seeing him as the bland stick figure from before. It was interesting how they emphasized that, ever since the initial break-up, Yumi’s Love Cell had been absent, even through her reunion with Woong and getting back together with and receiving a marriage proposal from Ba Bi. In finding a new acceptance for being single, Yumi is able to finally let go of her desire to be in love and starts focussing on her new journey of becoming an established writer. The season ends with the name-only introduction of her new editor-in-chief, a guy called Shin Sun Rok, who is confirmed to become Yumi’s new love interest in Season 3.
While I may have mostly shared confrontational and frustrating parts in this review, I want to emphasize that I thoroughly enjoyed watching both seasons. I loved how the series showed Yumi’s growth through these specific chapters in her life. It was so satisfying to see how she matured as a person, how she took the lessons from her relationship with Woong into her relationship with Ba Bi and learned from her past mistakes. I’m honestly starting to feel like each season symbolizes a defining chapter of Yumi’s life: in Season 1, she didn’t realize where her heart truly lay and Woong didn’t fully support her in giving writing another shot. In Season 2, Ba Bi helped her rediscover her passion for writing and supported her from the sidelines. And in Season 3, her love interest will be her editor-in-chief, someone who works with her closely and will probably help her firsthand to establish her desired dream of becoming a full-fledged writer. I also loved how she made the transition from just being a girl yearning for romance to a woman realizing her full potential. The transition of her Prime Cell from Love to Writer was also very essential in this, since it symbolized how she literally changed both her career path and her brain chemistry to prioritize her dream of writing over her love for being in love.
When I started watching this show, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. I guess I thought it would be some sort of sitcom or silly romantic comedy, but I love that it turned out to be such a powerful story about someone navigating through love and life and ultimately reaching her true self. The consistency between the two seasons and the genius of the Cells’ visualizations of her emotions and principles was very satisfying. This series frequently had me laughing out loud, and the more emotional and serious scenes hit just right as well. I loved how this show portrayed human communication so well, there were so many relatable situations and feelings in there that I couldn’t help but relate to. It was a very nice balance of comedy, romance and drama, and I had a really good time watching it. As I said, I feel like this show found me at just the right timing, and it definitely helped me become more content with myself as well, so that’s a huge plus.
Now that I’ve covered the main story and characters, I can’t end this review without elaborating a little more on the Cells, as they deserve to be credited just as much as the live-action characters. Again, I was really impressed with how incredibly relatable they made every single Cell, and how natural the interplay between them was. The writers did a great job at constructing the conversations between the Cells, from who could say what at which moment to how they all related to one another.
Let’s start with the titular Yumi’s Cells. Yumi’s Cells are depicted as chibi-like figures that all wear a variation of the same sky-blue bodysuit. Each Cell is characterized by an individual trait such as a specific hairstyle of accessory. The Prime Cell is distinguished by a different color outfit. Yumi’s Love Cell has a pink bodysuit with a cape, including an antenna with a little heart on the hood and they are able to fly, unlike the other Cells. After Writer takes their place as Prime Cell, Love is shown in the same blue outfit as the others, without a cape. Interesting to note is that several of Yumi’s Cells, including Love, Anxiety and Hair, are depicted with blonde hair, while most of the others are shown with either black hair or no hair at all as it’s covered under their hoods. Apparently, this is because in the original webtoon and animated movie, Yumi is actually blonde-haired. I just thought that was a nice detail to refer back to the original work it was based off on, since they didn’t dye Yumi’s hair blonde in the drama version.
Reason and Sensitivity are both black-haired. Reason is depicted with one lock of hair peeking out on the front of their hood, while Sensitivity is depicted with two long pigtails. I think it’s safe to say that these two were the main active Cells in Yumi’s Cell Village, and it was just so symbolic of the clash between mind and heart. Reason was always running around trying to get other Cells to calm down and remain rational, while Sensitivity often caused trouble by making Yumi says things without thinking and regretting it later. I really liked their dynamic, since despite their bantering they also seemed to be best buds at the same time.
Anxiety was depicted with wavy blonde hair coming out of their hood that had two bunny ears on top. I loved how they personified Anxiety so well by literally making them the Cell that was always lurking in the back going: “Are we sure this is a good idea, though? I feel anxious…” It was also very typical that Anxiety was always attached the closest to the Prime Cell, because “the higher you rose, the more you’d have to lose”. There were so many clever references in the design and the execution of these Cells, I loved connecting the dots and going like “Omg that’s SO true”, also for example how Anxiety was ALWAYS one of the Cells that Lullaby had to chase away for interfering with Yumi’s sleep (we all know the unwelcome 3 A.M. anxiety thoughts).
Writer wears a little barret over their hood. I thought it was really clever that Yumi’s Writer Cell didn’t only embody her passion for writing, but also her tendency to get over-confident or discouraged when things didn’t turn out the way she planned. The fact that Writer ultimately became the Prime Cell didn’t mean in any way that Yumi stopped struggling with writing altogether. On the contrary, Writer ultimately couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and jumped off the castle they resided in. I just loved how every Cell also retained a human element, such as not being able to handle stress or failing in with they were suppose to support Yumi in.
When something started becoming a big issue to Yumi, the corresponding Cells would also automatically grow bigger. The only Cell that was bigger than all the others throughout the entire series was Appetite. They were very big and always hungry, with a little tteokbokki on top of their head, since that was Yumi’s favorite food.
Lastly I just want to mention Naughty, because they were probably one of my favorites. Naughty basically symbolized Yumi’s horny side, and always came out when things were about to get spicy with her boyfriend. Honestly, Naughty was a menace. 😂 I couldn’t with the way they were constantly wiggling their little butt while making moaning noises. I would think this would normally get censored or something, but I gotta admit this show had some seriously suggestive parts that they didn’t even try to mask.
I honestly really like that they also featured the Cells from other characters except Yumi’s, this really helped in gaining more understanding from multiple sides.
Woong’s Cells were quite similar to Yumi’s except they were dressed in a darker shade of blue. His Reason Cell wore round glasses, while his Love Cell also had a little heart antenna on his hood and we also later on meet his Sensitivity Cell, who is wrapped in a blanket. My biggest lol about Woong’s Cells was that his Naughty was literally a horny dinosaur. 😂🦖 It was so funny when Yumi and Woong were getting it on for the first time and their two Naughty Cells both completely lost it.
Ba Bi’s Cells are dressed in dark green, and have more pointy hats than Yumi’s. I couldn’t find too many differences between them, but they were all a very friendly and festive bunch (the mariachi musicians cracked me up).
Lastly, and also most randomly, we also get a glimpse at Ahn Dae Yong’s Cells who, unlike any of the others we see, are actually shaped like super muscular men in tight grey bodysuits. I did find it funny that his Love Cell was so emotional and always immediately carved the name of his love interest into a mountain as soon as he got infatuated with someone.
All in all, I really loved the addition of the Cells and how they each had their own distinctive personality and role to play. So much thought must have gone into how these Cells ran the Village and kept things going. It brought a very unique and entertaining element to the series and made it all the more enjoyable to watch.
I’ve mentioned the movie before, but I’ll just elaborate a little bit more on it before moving on to my cast comments. Yumi’s Cells: The Movie is a fully animated movie that’s directly based on the original webtoon, and is not linked to the drama series. It basically retells the second season of the drama, from the moment Yumi starts dating Ba Bi to the moment they break up, with some slight plot adjustments (Yumi quits her job because Section Chief Nam keeps stealing her ideas, Ba Bi has his own dream of starting a tteokbokki diner instead of being the heir to one who doesn’t want to take over, Da Eun is his part-timer instead of his intern, that sort of thing). It also introduces a couple of new Cells inside the Village that don’t appear in the drama, such as Schedule, Jinx and Depression. Other than that, it focusses just a little more on Yumi’s writing dream and doesn’t end with her encountering Love Interest #3.
Time for the cast comments!
I love that Kim Go Eun is doing more dramas these days. So far, I’ve seen her in Cheese in the Trap, Goblin and The King: Eternal Monarch (still my fave of all time). I’ve also seen her in the movie Tune in for Love, and there’s a couple more dramas and movies with her on my to-watch list. What can I say, Kim Go Eun is the GOAT. She always delivers and always manages to surprise me with her versatility. Apart from Cheese in the Trap I haven’t actually seen her in a romantic comedy before, but even this she pulled off with so much ease. I really enjoyed how she portrayed Yumi, and especially how she made the character’s transition so natural and relatable. It wasn’t weird at all seeing her switch boyfriends because she had great chemistry with both her co-stars and she did a great job at performing Yumi’s fluctuating emotions. I loved seeing her portray so many different moods in this show, from giddy and smiley to numb and heartbroken. I’m really curious to see her bring back Yumi in Season 3, and to see her in the remaining shows I still plan on watching.
It was really cool seeing Ahn Bo Hyun in this series since I’d yet to see him in a romantic show. So far I’ve seen him in Descendants of the Sun, Her Private Life and Itaewon Class. I’m really excited to see See You in My 19th Life, as well. I thought he did a really great job as Woong, especially since I feel like he must have been quite a complex character to play. There was something so natural about how he pulled off the look and the attitude that Woong had in Season 1, and it was great to see this new side of him as an actor. I’m not gonna lie, I actually liked the authentic long hair and little beard better than his hair in Season 2, it kind of took away his uniqueness. In his portrayal of Woong, I thought he was able to express a very distinct softness combined with a goofiness that I hadn’t seem him portray before, which was really nice. His chemistry with Kim Go Eun was also very good – their kissing scenes were absolute fire 🔥 I’m very curious to see him in more things now!
Not gonna lie, I nearly choked when the series started with Yumi’s dream about waking up next to Woo Gi aka Min Ho from SHINee. 😂 I’ve seen him before in To The Beautiful You, Hwarang, Somehow 18 and Lovestruck in the City. I had no idea he was in this! I kind of wished he’d appeared more, but he seemed to kind of disappear more and more after setting Yumi and Woong up. I would’ve loved it if he’d made another appearance at the end, since it basically all started with him. It would’ve been a nice full-circle moment if he could come back at least once before the official end, so I hope he can come back in the third season, even if it’s just for a guest appearance. I really liked his character, he was really kind and genuinely cared for Yumi as a friend. I really hope things worked out with the male co-worker he had a crush on. 🥹 Petition to bring Woo Gi back for Season 3, anyone? Chae Woo Gi, that is, not Yumi’s ex Woo Gi (the fact that they shared a name was a pretty awkward coincidence, lol).
I’ve seen Lee Yoo Bi before in Pinocchio, Uncontrollably Fond and Somehow 18. From the credits on MyDramaList I see she’s also gonna return as Ruby for Season 3, which is cool. As the main reference I have of her is her role in Somehow 18, seeing her as Ruby was a very big transition, lol. I loved how she embraced the cutesyness of the character and ticked every single box of the stereotypically girly flirt, lol. I do like that they made her more relatable and likeable throughout the seasons, because at first I was just rolling my eyes at her along with Yumi, haha. It would be really funny to get a glimpse at Ruby’s Cells, now that I think of it. I’m so curious to see how her Inner Feelings would react to things. From the way she presented herself, I was inclined to think that literally everything would be done through one of those Reserve/Masking Puppets that Yumi’s Sensitivity also occasionally used. In any case, Ruby was a very entertaining character and she definitely grew on me. I gotta say, as a fellow Ruby myself, I can’t deny that hearing my own name get pronounced in Korean by several famous actors took some getting used to. At least now I know what it sounds like when Kim Go Eun says my name. 😂 #proudofbeingaRuby.
It was a very nice surprise to see Park Ji Hyun’s portrayal of Sae Yi as well. I realize I’ve only seen her in historical dramas before, in The King Loves and Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, so it was a switch to suddenly see her in a modern-day setting. Honestly, she killed it as Sae Yi. She actually made me genuinely dislike her, which means she did her job right. It was really cool to see her play a toxic character for a change, and it definitely made me curious to see more sides of her acting. Honestly, I also would’ve liked to see her Cells, because I don’t think we saw anything apart from that one wall that showed the note expressing her wish to marry Woong as her final option. I would’ve liked to see what was going on inside her head, and if she actually had a Reason Cell that tried to tell her she wasn’t being nice, lol. In any case, she was one of those actors that I didn’t know was in this but definitely played her part very well.
I kept wondering where I knew Joo Jong Hyuk from, but then I realized he was the cocky lawyer from Extraordinary Attorney Woo, lol. I haven’t seen him in anything else yet, and I don’t think he’s going to be in Season 3 since he’s not credited on MDL – which probably means Woong isn’t going to be in it, either. As I mentioned before, I kind of felt sorry for Louis since he basically had to sit through the “break-up” between Woong and Sae Yi. I’ve personally been in a situation where I broke with one friend from a group of three and the other person got caught in the middle of that, which was awful. It was nice that he got to come back as a Director at Woong’s company though, he also became a much more accomplished person. It’s still weird to see him as a chill and friendly person in contrast to his character in EAW, lol. I liked his character here, and I hope I get to see more different sides of him in the future!
I’d only seen Park Jin Young in a lead role before in He is Psychometric, and it was nice to see him as a much more romantic and mature character in this show. Honestly, I almost fell for him a little myself, lol. He pulled off Mr. Perfect so naturally it was almost scary. 😂 Although in reality he is four years younger than Kim Go Eun, I had no qualms about her calling him “oppa” because he actually managed to come across as older than Yumi, which was cool. I really enjoyed his chemistry with Kim Go Eun, they seemed really natural together. I also liked getting to see him act out a variety of emotions, especially later on when things got a bit emotional between Ba Bi and Yumi. I thought he did a great job at portraying Ba Bi’s inner conflict when it came to his feelings for Da Eun, and the scene where he asked Yumi to marry him with tears in his eyes was really impactful. I could really feel how much he loved and adored Yumi, and I also liked that they remained on good terms in the end. He actually made me get attached to Ba Bi, which made it even harder when he suddenly started acting so out of character. He did great!
It was also nice to see Shin Ye Eun again. I’ve only seen her before in He is Psychometric, in which her role was a lot more serious than here, but I honestly really liked her performance of Da Eun. She seemed like a genuinely nice girl, and it suited her that she had no malicious intent towards Yumi like Sae Yi did. I think Shin Ye Eun did a great job at portraying Da Eun’s own conflicted feelings, and how genuinely hurt she seemed after finding out she’d caused them to break up. The way she was like “Team Leader, I’m so sorry, I think I made a mistake” actually touched me, and I couldn’t even blame her for drunk-dialing Ba Bi one time because she didn’t even care that much that he didn’t pick up. I think the most important thing to know about her was that she had no bad intentions. She was just a girl trying to get over a one-sided crush without causing trouble for her crush and his partner. I’m glad that in the end, it wasn’t even that Yumi broke up with Ba Bi because of Da Eun, but more that Da Eun made her realize that her feelings for Ba Bi had changed. Again, I don’t blame Da Eun for anything, and Shin Ye Eun did a really good job at portraying Da Eun’s genuinity and innocence. It was nice seeing her in this!
Lastly, I just wanted to mention P.O/Pyo Ji Hoon because he always makes me smile whenever he appears in a drama. I’ve seen him before in Temperature of Love, Encounter and Hotel Del Luna. I love the way he always brings a whimsical side to whatever character he plays. He cracked me up with his “ZZZZZZZZ”, lol. It was a really nice surprise seeing him in this, it felt like I hadn’t seen him in a very long time. Hopefully I’ll get to see him in more soon!
I just realized this, but this series actually reunited two actor couples from different shows! Choi Min Ho and Lee Yoo Bi (Woo Gi and Ruby) played the main leads in Somehow 18 and Park Jin Young and Shin Ye Eun (Ba Bi and Da Eun) in He is Psychometric. It suddenly occurred to me when seeing them play characters in this show that also showed romantic interest in each other, albeit one-sided.
Last but definitely not least, I want to give a huge shoutout to the amazing voice cast that contributed to this video. They may not have appeared physically, but their voices gave life to all the different Cells, which made them as much a part of the cast as the live-action actors. From what I can find on MDL, there was Ahn So Yi (Love, Stingy), Shim Kyu Hyuk (Reason), Ahn Young Mi (Naughty), Kim Yeon Woo (Fashion), Sa Moon Yeong (Anxiety), Park Ji Yoon (Sensitivity), Lee Jang Won (Appetite), Jeong Jae Hyeon (Deduction, Rampage, Lullaby) and Eom Sang Hyeon (Hysteria). I believe the voices for the Cells were the same as in the animated movie as well, so they did a LOT of work. A big round of applause for these amazing voice actors!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I knew this was going to be a lengthy review, and I honestly wanted to get it over with as soon as possible since it already took me so long to finish this show and I can’t wait to continue on with the next one. Still, that isn’t to say that I wanted to get this show over with because I got tired of it. I genuinely enjoyed watching it, and I’m glad I got to in this specific time of my life when I could relate to it the most.
The mix of live-action and animation was amazing and the way they visualized all these complex yet relatable emotions and situations was absolutely genius. I loved the realistic portrayal of Yumi’s relationships and how it all built up towards her final one. At least, I assume Season 3 will be the last season since it took a while to come out while Season 1 and 2 basically made one continuous story together. I’m honestly very excited to see what Season 3 will bring to the table and if they manage to bring back the same originality and creativity from the first two seasons.
Please find the link to my review of Season 3 here.
And with that, I would like to finally conclude my monster review of the first two seasons of Yumi’s Cells. I’m very excited to move on with my list, and I hope I’ll get to share another review soon.
Until then, bye-bee! x
