겨울 지나 벚꽃

GYEOUL JINA BEOJKKOCH

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
February 12, 2021
CHAPTERS
153

DESCRIPTION

Once young friends, Hae-Bom and Tae-Seong have grown distant after tragedy brought them under one roof as a family almost 10 years ago. Things get more complicated in their last year of high school as now they're... classmates too?!

Note: The chapter count includes 7 extra chapters and an epilogue.

(Source: Tappytoon, edited)

CAST

Tae-Seong Jo
Hae-Bom Seo
Yong-Hui Jo
Eun-Seon Ha
Ji-A Nam

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

Julyfire
20/100
A BL With Wasted Potential and 2D Characters
CAUTION: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Let me preface this review with a couple of remarks, since I know I'm in the extreme minority here, and this particular webtoon is wildly loved and very popular amongst the BL-reading community. What I'm about to detail below may be wildly contrasting with your own opinions, so please, if you disagree, don't feel compelled to read further, because this is simply just my humble opinion. What I think shouldn't stop you from enjoying what you love.

While I do read quite a lot of BLs, they're not exactly my favorite genre, because it's quickly evolved into a poorly-regulated, mass-produced market for new artists and writers to try to easily make it big by appealing to a rather niche crowd. Me, I read BL mainly for the good-looking guys, because what's better than one good-looking guy? Two good-looking guys who also love each other! Or, the plot. But most BLs don't have good plot, because that's not why they're written in mind for. I'm a greedy person though, so even if they won't give it to me, I still want (and still looking for) a BL that has both great art and a great, compelling story, with fully developed characters. Maybe one day, I'll find it.

So far, I have not.

Just because something is niche, doesn't mean you must sacrifice quality. However, most BL webtoon artists prefer quantity over quality to appease the BL fans that are always hungry for more, more, more! This results in a lot of bland, smut-based BLs where the characters just have sex every chapter. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but it gets stale and boring after a while. There's only so many ways you can draw a 18+ scene, and only so much that can happen during one. It's not going to advance the plot (although I'd love to see that happen), and there's not going to be much talking. Perhaps that's why the artists do it so often, since it's less work on their part, and it keeps the fans happy. But I'm not happy.

I'm a very nit-picky person, even when it comes to a genre where not much is expected of it. Why can't I have my cake and eat it too? It's definitely possible to write a well-balanced BL that has a slow-building realistic romance, with occasional intimate scenes, as well as some semblance of plot. I thought this one could be one of those rare higher quality BLs that exist out there, but sadly, it's not.

This BL webtoon was only good for maybe the first 20ish chapters. After that, it went downhill really quickly. It was more of a pure boy's love in the very beginning, and then degraded into shameless smut starting from Season 3. I actually had a much higher rating for this until Season 3 hit, when the author just went with sex nearly every chapter. The only reason why I liked this initially was that I appreciated it taking its time to build the main characters' somewhat boring romance, instead of jumping straight to hardcore sexy times like all the other BLs out there, but nope. It appears the author was simply on a leash (her editor's, I believe) for the first two seasons, and now she's raging free without restraints anymore. The series went into the most disgraceful swan's dive I've seen. A lot of hard work and potential went down the drain. Basically, this devolved into the generic mass of BL webtoons that are plentiful and absolutely un-unique out there. Shame.

However, even before the Season 3 fiasco, the main glaring problem of this webtoon is that the male lead and his love interest have barely any issues or conflicts at all. Nothing much happens once the two of them get together. Everyone is miraculously supportive of them and they don't ever get challenged or encounter any obstacles in their path to finding love. It's so boring. Also, note that a lot of the pretend obstacles that were set up get quickly knocked down in the most unsatisfying and anticlimactic manner, which made it so pointless to read. An absolute waste of panels. An example of this would be the stalker guy who magically disappeared after having the tables reversed on him. A convenient pretend girlfriend to stand in for the handsome male love interest when asked about his relationship status. The wealthy CEO father who seems to oppose their relationship, but relents when talked to by the mother after a single conversation. And now there's a creepy supervisor at work that's oogling the both of them, but he gets shut down quick by the handsome love interest and his father in a double slam, failing to do anything to even remotely threaten their relationship, despite how the author's been building it up for so many chapters now. It's just so dissatisfying to read. It's boring because you know the author isn't going to shake things up. There will be some perceived threat presenting itself, then it will be eliminated without much fuss, and then rinse and repeat all over again.

I don't come to care for either of the main characters because they have no growth at all. The male lead is whiny and always worrying about EVERYTHING, while his love interest is super perfect and rich. They completely lack depth, and the story could have gone in a better direction to demonstrate their growth and maturity as they become adults. Instead, they're basically the same characters from Season 1, except now they're finally together and not avoiding each other (as much). They still don't FREAKING communicate, which is a source of all their superficial problems, since they have no real major problems other than that, courtesy of the author. I think it's because all they do when they're together is have sex. They don't even date. I haven't seen them go on a proper date since they've started working at the same company together. You can't even call this a sweet romance anymore, because it's all rotten inside from pointless panels of boring, repetitive smut.

Additionally, the last point I have to say, the art is lackluster and dull. It's not offensive to the eyes, but it's very plain Jane in terms of art style and presence. Not memorable in any way. There is not much variation in terms of backgrounds or character designs, and the color palette remains the same as time passes. That's also unfortunate, since it's clear the author was drawing this with the passage of time in mind, but failed to implement it in a creative way.

Now they're just milking this series for as long as they can to bring in the dough. I'd rather see them put this series out of its misery, and come back with a more carefully planned, fully realized romantic BL work in the future. But that's just me.

Overall Breakdown:
Characters: 3/10
Story: 2/10
Art: 3/10
Lore/Worldbuilding: 0/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
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djunered
55/100
A BL About Understanding That You Are Not a Burden That Suffers From Serialisation and the Conventions of the Genre.
🌸🌸🌸 _A Cute If Melodramatic BL About Understanding That You Are Not a Burden That Suffers Under the Conventions of the Genre and the Nature of Serialisation._ -
Spoiler Free

(there’s some description of character + plot elements but nothing more than a basic summary. but really, it’s a yaoi, we all know the basic structure of a yaoi, let’s not kid ourselves.)

Cherry Blossoms After Winter is a Korean BL webtoon about the relationship between childhood friends Seo Haebom and Jo Taesung. Haebom, the protagonist, was orphaned at an early age and adopted by his mother’s friend, Ha Eunseon, Jo Taesung’s mother. Taesung and Haebom grew up together, though distant, and their relationship strengthens and grows through the (as of June 2021) 4 seasons of around ~30 chapters each. Other characters include Eunseon’s ex-husband and Taesung’s father, Jo Seunghu and high school classmates in season 1, college classmates in season 2 and co-workers in seasons 3 and 4.

The characters and their relationships and flat and lack depth. Side characters are props for the story and drama and are entirely replaceable and interchangeable.

Haebom and his adoptive mother, Eunseon, are the most interesting and well-rounded characters. Haebom’s character growth, though basic, is genuinely cathartic. Eunseon’s struggle with motherhood, especially concerning her biological son, is nuanced and engaging. Filial piety is an important theme in the story, and its strongest.

The love interest, Taesung, has little life besides his relationship with Eunseon and Haebom. Taesung’s motivations are entirely his all-consuming love for Haebom. Everything he does is at least partly connected to Haebom. This could be romantic, but for me it is weak characterisation.

I feel like that’s the criticism that people won’t like the most, that Taesung is poorly written. It’s just that he doesn’t exist outside of Haebom! Everything he does is for Haebom. He doesn’t particularly seem to like his friends, his one goal/ambition we see him have is entirely based around Haebom, everything he does is for Haebom or to Haebom. He is written entirely for the audience’s desire; a cardboard cutout for us to drool over. The only time I can concede that he has any selfish desire is on the occasions when his character falls into gross yaoi seme sex tropes, and even then this is entirely to titilate the viewer. He exists only as an object. A nice looking object, one that sets a high standard for romantic partners, but an object nonetheless.

Sorry. I don’t even hate him, I like him. He’s fine for what he’s there to do. He’s a very nice sexy lamp.

It is at its absolute worst when it chooses external melodrama over interpersonal relationships. The stalker and the classmate dramas in the season 2 college arc were painful. Taesung’s season 3 job arc (again, linked entirely to his all-consuming love for Haebom) is boring. The season 4 office drama arc is exhausting.

It is at its best when it addresses the actual relationships between Taesung, Haebom, Eunseon and Seungho. Taesung’s relationships with his parents are the only interesting aspects of his character.

Watching Haebom and Taesung’s relatioship grow and deepen may be fluffy and emotionally fulfilling, it’s also empty and flat. I’m trying to think of a metaphor and I can only think of carbohydrates. It follows audience expectations to the T. It can do nothing truly exceptional. It can only drag along and bait for the next chapter.

The art is cute. It is serviceable and evolves and shifts across the ~120 so chapters. The proportions can be a bit wonky, notably during the third, but it’s mostly adorable. It’s not especially noteworthy and it wasn’t always my thing, but it’s not awful or intolerable.

Honestly, I feel really bad judging it, because from the short extras we get from the author they seem very kind and sweet and it’s clear they want to write something that fans can fall in love with. I really respect that.

Above all and despite everything I said against it, Cherry Blossoms After Winter is incredibly endearing. The art style’s really cute! It’s honestly quite funny at times I enjoyed reading it, it was serviceable and does what it sets out to do. It’s not trying to be some great epic or even a character study and even though I strongly disagree I can understand why it’s got like 10 stars on [VERY LEGAL SITE NAME REDACTED] and why its so highly rated on here. It’s a lot better than the average yaoi. Maybe I just have low expectations.

If you want to read an above average BL that can get pretty dramatic but has a complete story about growth and agency, the first 2 seasons of Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Ch. 1-62.3) are for you. If you find you’re attached to the characters, then keep reading. You’ll really enjoy it 🌸

(though, side note, it’s very horny after s2. not so much more than any other BL with sex scenes but i’m pretty asexual so mostly i was bemused. like if you’re into that you’ll probably love it but personally it was just kind of funny. falls into some gross yaoi sex tropes, but overall better than some i could mention.)

TL;DR I’m a Eunseon stanning MILFhunter.

EDIT: originally 60, has been adjusted to 55.

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