Siru is a delightful protagonist: she's funny, amiable, not too smart to be challenged and not so stupid she's infuriating. She's open with her feelings and just a smidge oblivious to the feelings of others, which is an entertaining combination.
Gibaek is extremely frustrating. I understand that many a young adult may act the way he does, and at the same time I don't get the sense that his behavior was concordant with how Siru and her other friends understood Gibaek or how they befriended him. I'm not convinced that the writing is strong enough to make his actions believable or make sense.
Nonetheless, he's only even really around for season 1. Thereafter he becomes (to date) completely irrelevant, so I'm not too excited about the summary and thumbnail art on Webtoon featuring him so prominently. That suggests to me that the story was drafted only up until the point that Gibaek was involved, and we are now flying by the seat of our pants, which never goes well.
Cheol is delightful. He's taciturn but honest, hard to read but funny, and stalwart in the face of all the drama that happens around him. I know this is primarily a drama so it's silly of me to be put off by how dramatic his "backstory" is, and yet somehow I still am. Cheol's interpersonal conflicts seem to serve no purpose other than to make him perpetually unavailable both emotionally and as a friend to Siru. Maybe this is on purpose because the authors don't want to reveal too much yet to heighten the emotional turmoil, but all I end up feeling is perplexed and frustrated by the implausible extremes that seem to be on display here, never curious.
Independent of the main characters themselves, why are writers so obsessed with pitting women against each other for the purpose of pursuing men? The year is 2025, please let us have women who hate each other/compete with each other/don't see eye to eye for any reason other than a man. Especially when it is just one after another throwing themselves after Cheol while he stands there, impassive and traumatized, while Siru stands next to him, picking her nose and unbothered. There are other ways to write women than desperate, hateful, vapid little harpies whose only functions are to flirt, bully, and beguile. A woman should not have to be the main character to have redeeming factors or more to contribute to a narrative.
The art is very pleasant and clean. I do think that sometimes the eyes, especially Cheol's, are a little too heavily stylized for my taste, but then I remind myself that this is (essentially) the medium of Tanemura Arina and I can go stuff my opinions.
All in all, an enjoyable, attractive read. The writing is the weakest link by far, particularly where it sacrifices coherence for dramatics when the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Is it original? No. Is it particularly well done? Also no. But the protagonists are pleasant and entertaining, and that's something.
(-8)
(+76)
