[Manhwa Review] Cherry Blossoms After Winter

★★★★

What’s it about?

I’m 120 chapters in and here goes my best summary for it.

Miss Ha adopted her best friend’s son, Seo Haebom, after her bestfriend and her bestfriend’s husband died. Haebom and Jo Taesung, Miss Ha’s son, lived in one roof since then. However, they never formed a friendship until they reached high school. Haebom was a wallflower a cinnamon roll who got bullied a lot in school. Taesung got him out of the situation. They became friends and Haebom got into Taesung’s friend circle. Gradually, this friendship developed to a romantic relationship hidden from everyone.

Their relationship progressed from highschool to university to the office. This is still ongoing.

Is it good?

Yes and no.

If you want a feel good, light read with a little bit of sex scenes here and there, take this one. This is a slice of life about two young men who became lovers from highschool and continued that affair as employees. They have the intention of getting married.

As mentioned in my previous posts, being openly gay is still widely unaccepted to the conservative society of Korea. This comes with a string of problems — family and friends’ acceptance, threat to the work environment norms, keeping your relationship under wraps, possibility of social circle’s rejection.

If you are looking for something more complicated than that, look elsewhere.

What did I not like about it?

It gets boring sometimes. It’s a slice of life but don’t expect wild drama out of this one. It does give you some warmth but this didn’t really give a complex plot.

How are the characters?

Seo Haebom

Haebom is cute. He’s a little too much of a damsel-in-distress in some scenarios. It is understandable that he’s been an easy target of bullies and creepy people. Taesung is always there to rescue him. It’s sweet, really.

The moment Taesung entered his life and his goals revolved around him. He stood up to Taesung’s parents. He didn’t even do that for himself. This is a good character development. As much as I find him adorable, I want him to have his own identity outside Taesung. It happened around university days but when they started working, it became a little bit of a co-dependent relationship again. There’s a room for character arc on this one. Hopefully, it happens soon.

Jo Taesung

Taesung is your textbook cool guy. He is loyal and blunt. His strong personality balances and improves Haebom’s weak points.

Taesung is a well-rounded character because he has exposed his vulnerabilities and strength throughout those 120 chapters.

Overall thoughts

The story progressed from ignoring each other and living together until high school to becoming friends to being lovers. It did become boring sometimes. However, I still appreciate the time jumps. I don’t think I would be able to like it if they’re stuck in high school or university throughout 120 chapters.

I like the growth of their relationship shown in different stages. Their problems changed in between those stages. The characters and their relationship gradually matured over time. I also like that it didn’t take forever for the Haebom x Taesung relationship to be accepted by Taesung’s parents. I’m worried about the grandfather, though. It was briefly mentioned in one of the chapters and I think that might be the couple’s biggest hurdle sooner or later.

I enjoyed this manhwa as a light read. It’s a long one but it’s something you can read without thinking too much.

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