Yumi's Cells

So, by moving one of the repeater things out to the conservatory, I was able to get WiFi to the shed! The bad thing about that is it won't encourage me to go to the gym (where I can do weight machines) but the good thing is I can now watch Viki shows out in the shed when I exercise on the elliptical. Anyway, I realised (as I caught up on all the released shows for Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) that everything else I have in progress is...kinda depressing. I mean, yes, some of those shows are going to end up happy by the end, but I mean they are generally darker in tone. Suicide/Murder, Trauma Cleaning, Family Drama. And I've been feeling a bit down. We've been sick. Little dude has been super negative and grumpy. Just, you know. The blahs. They are here.

So I thought I'd try a new show that looks super cute: Yumi's Cells. 

What was that cartoon movie a number of years back? The one where about the pre-teen girl and the emotions in her head? This definitely harkens back to that. Whatever it was called. I'm too lazy to look it up. Anyway, Yumi (played by Kim Go-Eun) is 30 something and about 3 years ago very unlucky in love. Since that horrible experience, she's dedicated herself to her work. She's a bit awkward and lives in her head a lot (and we get an up close glimpse of that with the animated "cells" that are avatars of things like Love, Sincerity, Reason, Hunger, etc. So more than the 4 or 5 or whatever it was in that movie. This is a whole village. It takes a village to raise a child, right?

Anyway, she mis-reads the cues of a younger handsome guy at work over the first couple of episodes (spoiler: he's not interested in girls, either her OR Ruby, one of those chirpy sickly sweet types that also works at the office who's very interested in him). This kind of drops her back into depression, obsessing over past traumas. But Wu Gi (played by Minho from SHINee and from To the Beautiful You), the guy she had a bit of a thing for, wanted to get close to her to set her up on a date with another friend of his: Gu Woong (played by Ahn Bo-Hyun, who looks VERY different with long hair! I like it!). 

Their blind date, which she's not even sure why she agreed to go to, starts off rather tragically (Wong is basically blindsided by the sight of her and can hardly get a word out), but by the end, things are looking pretty good. But then Yumi's "Hysteria" cell takes over (Love, at this point, is stranded on an island after being swept out to sea in a flood of tears and Reason, Emotion, Fashion and Anxiety are tying to hold down the fort). But Gu Woong isn't your typical guy and isn't ready to give up.

I've already watched three episodes and it's just charming. Bright, colourful. Yes, there's some pain, but the overall tone of the show is very light. It's actually the first show in quite a long time that I didn't get tempted to click to see how much of the episode was left to go. 60 minutes blinked by. In fact, (eep), I watched episode 2 this morning while exercising and then took a long lunch and watched episode 3 while I ate. Which I would not have done if I'd realised that all the episodes aren't out yet! AGHHHHH. So I think I've only got one more to go before I'm caught up on that one too. Dammit, Janet. 

So that means I'll probably be adding one more cheerful show to the list because the next Hometown won't be for a while either. Sigh. 

Though I do wish I hadn't read the comments on AsianWiki about this one. It's based on a WebToon and it looks like she ends up with another character called Ba-bi (?) in that BUT there's a good chance based on a) all the promo materials that just show Gu Woong and b) the cast listing where that character isn't even mentioned in the main listing, but instead in the "Other Characters" list. I hope so. Woong is charming and I like him a lot. Or, maybe, she doesn't end up with the Ba-bi guy either? Very confused by all the comments. It looks like it's another of those WebToons that's still ongoing, so who knows. 

I confess I rather like just a single season. I don't really want to get invested in one relationship and then have OOPs! Here's another season and a whole other character! 

But, anyway. Enjoying the show.

Edit: I'm up through episode 8 now and I gotta say that this one is really well done. It's so realistic in the not-always-ideal reactions of the main characters -- like, Woong gets salty after Yumi gets embarrassed (& embarrasses him) so they both nearly ruin their weekend getaway. And they're running into some trouble where he didn't mention that Sae-yi, the woman he works with (who likes him, even though she's never done anything about it, but now that Yumi's around, she's meddling) moved into his building. And you can see that he didn't mention it because a) he knew Yumi wouldn't like it but he didn't want to get in a fight about it and b) he doesn't like her (now) in that way BUT then you can exactly see why Yumi, who broke up with the last guy after dating him for 7 years (!) after he cheated on her, immediately is stormy over it. Because she's craving trust over all else, after hers was broken. 

They've also introduced the Babi character (who has a girlfriend but she, like Woong, is often busy with work and ditching him). He's confusing Yumi as he's sort of low key flirty but also could just be genuinely friendly. So, eh, dunno where this one is going to go. I do really like Woong, but however it winds up, I gotta admit that they're being very true to the characters and their motivations.

Edit: Eh, ok, finished it. And apparently there's going to be a second season AND it really follows the webtoon (?) so at the end of the first season, she and Woong have broken up. So. A little disappointing on one hand BUT it's all really well done and very believable so I can't really complain. I imagine I'll watch the next season when it comes out too, though I don't feel like there's much chemistry going on between Yumi and Ba-bi, so it's hard to see. 

But. Am I glad I watched it? Yes.