Webtoon Review: Surviving Romance

BY HYONSAN KIM

*Spoilers ahead*

I read this webtoon a while back during the summer break after hearing some really positive reviews about it on the @webtoonopinions instagram account I was not disappointed after reading it In this article I will briefly go over the themes and messages of the story that the author is trying to convey, as well as my personal opinions on the story overall.

The first season begins with our protagonist waking up in the body of the female lead, Eun Chaerin, of her favorite romance novel Initially, she believes that the story will go just as it had when she was reading it: she and the male lead fall in love with each other, but their relationship is interrupted by Chaerin’s bullies and the second male lead, before they can fully be with each other. A rather common plot for a lot of romance novels In this world, Chaerin realizes she only sees everybody except the other male character of the romance novel as black humanoid forms, and that a zombie apocalypse always starts at around lunchtime This added with the continuous time loop of the story starting itself again whenever she dies, takes a huge psychological toll on her and she soon spirals to the point where she just waits for death whenever the zombie apocalypse starts. That is until she is saved by an unknown extra character and she begins to hope for a new story for herself and becomes determined to find this girl who saved her

The story depicts the theme of how much friendship can grow even in times of pain and conflict, as Chaerin and her class struggle to survive the zombie apocalypse, and she attempts to find out why zombies are present on earth there are suddenly zombies in this very typical romance novel. I really enjoyed how much Chaerin learns to open up to the other characters and how they also open up to her, even though initially they are distant and don't trust her completely, because of her history of seemingly only caring about the male lead character, and nobody else The story itself is intense and engaging through the way the story slowly reveals what's really going on in this world, through the creative ways the characters learn to survive, and their bonding, as well as disagreements with one another. The story is quite fast-paced, but doesn’t feel rushed, and has room for peaceful, touching moments where the characters get to know more about each other, and can take a break from all the action and chaos The intriguing mystery of why a zombie apocalypse is happening in a very typical romance novel and the choices that Chaerin and her friends make, draws the reader in and makes them want to read even further to find what will happen next.

The author Lee Yone has been known to use her stories to criticize aspects of society and this webtoon is definitely one of them It’s more subtle than in her previous webtoon, The Makeup Remover, but everything from Chaerin’s backstory to why she fell into the story in the first place come together perfectly to show the stress and depression that Korean college students often face and the consequences that might come as a result. Intertwined in this social critique is also the theme of how free will also comes at the cost of responsibility Free will means you have to decide how to respond to life’s daily hardships no matter how difficult they get The novel explores Chaerin’ s conflict with this concept as in the first season finale, Chaerin is given a choice to give up her free will to the novel’s Cinderella-esque story where she will be able to effortlessly reach a “happy ending”.

The art style of this webtoon stands in stark contrast against the darker and more serious themes like suicide and the dark side of having a free will that the story explores through the characters' individual struggles. It's cute and full of vibrant pinks, violets, and greens. It provides a calm, fun atmosphere that misleads you into believing that this is a romance or slice of life webtoon I loved how the author uses patterns of darker, more saturated colors or glitches to express when something really bad is happening They provide a sense of confusion and you can tell that something isn’t right through a character’s static-filled figure

Overall, I think people who are fans of the hit TV show “All of Us are Dead” will enjoy this series a lot, as they both have a similar premise, but “``Surviving Romance” ``has a much lighter visual tone with the added mystery of what’s really going on added to it It’s a webtoon that I think students, especially highschool or college students, can really relate to and enjoy.