And with that, Yumi’s chapter comes to an end.

I just finished the last episode of Yumi’s Cells and it gave me happy tears.

I grew up with Yumi’s Cells webtoon, which at first made me a bit doubtful when they said they’d make it into a series. What if they failed to depict the cells well? What would the format be like? Would there be humans acting as the cells? Would that be SO tacky? But turns out the series completely threw my underestimation away because it went so well: the plot, the cast, and of course, the cells. The cells are exactly what I imagined when I read the webtoon (and even better with the sounds!). Kudos to the animators, voice actors, and everyone in the crew and production team!

I still remember back then I screenshotted the webtoon panels (not to support piracy, but younger me just wanted to keep anything that felt very relatable to me, plus Webtoon was also not as strict as today). I also used to check the comment sections while reading the webtoon because the author made a format where each panel had its own comment section, and I even posted a few comments as well. It suddenly reminded me of how Yumi’s Cells started when I was in uni, and how much I resonated with her because we shared similar brain cells and ways of thinking. And now, the fact that I’m around the same age as Yumi makes me relate to her even more. When I got older and watched the first season of Yumi’s Cells as a working woman, I even got an energy boost to go to work because of watching Yumi’s working life.

One thing I also remember is how my past relationship ended in a very similar way to Yumi’s relationships — I can say it was a combination of Woong & Babi’s stories. I even still vividly remember the key details from Yumi’s Cells and how deeply I resonate with them. The pinata. The cards. The earthquakes. Oh, the earthquakes… Maybe this was also the reason why I skipped watching season 2 of the series, not because the story is bad, but because I still remembered the feelings I had when reading the Yumi-Babi story on the webtoon though it happened long time ago. I hated the mixed feelings I got back then: falling for Yoo Babi’s character — which was so loving, gentle, and everything the perfect male lead has — just to get my expectations crushed at the end. But from Yumi’s story, I also learned that a dreamy relationship may not equal a healthy relationship. I saw some comments on the series where people were still rooting for Yumi-Babi and saying it was a pity that they broke up over a small thing, but I didn’t see a small thing there. It was crystal clear that their relationship was unhealthy: lack of communication, not being transparent with each other, and how Babi couldn’t set boundaries with other woman even if it were “just” subtle actions for some people. Especially if you read the webtoon and saw who Babi ended up with, which wasn’t shown in the series, you’ll know why Babi didn’t deserve Yumi.

When watching season 3, I didn’t clearly remember how the Yumi-Soonrok story went, maybe because when I read the webtoon around 2020 I was already busy with work, unlike when I was a college student (or maybe because the webtoon company had monetized many things, so reading webtoons was no longer as seamless as before). But because of that, the series felt so fresh to me and gave me so many butterfly-in-my-stomach moments. The series really brought the webtoon to life and portrayed Yumi’s happy ending perfectly… I even found myself shrieking and kicking my feet in the air while watching Yumi & Soonrok, something I never do when watching romance dramas no matter how sweet or cute the couple is. And obviously, the cast! Was! Perfect! At first I hesitated whether Jae Won could balance out Go Eun, but turns out he could, and he’s really a perfect fit for Shin Soonrok. I didn’t regret buying a new OTT subscription just to watch the last season of Yumi’s Cells, and given that I had my birthday a few days ago, I can say this is the best birthday gift I gave myself this year.

Watching Yumi happily married to Soonrok, plus the fact that I’ll also get married this year, reassured me that I, too, could find happiness after going through many storms.

“The reason love is always surprising is because no two loves are ever the same. Soonrok is a different person. For a man whose values on love are completely different, what’s the point of applying my own past experiences?” — Kim Yumi, Yumi’s Cells (S3:E8)

The chapter comes to an end. Thanks for being a beautiful part of my youth, Yumi’s Cells!