Junghyun has the tendency to act before thinking, and recently landed a talent manager role for actress Heera whom she promptly falls in love with. Now she has to battle with herself to not confess! Meanwhile Heera seems to be catching feelings too. Now what?!
Relationship Context
💥 Couple Dynamic
Junghyun & Heera – Working Couple
Junghyun tries her utmost best to not fall in love further! Heera realises that Junghyun’s genuine positivity is brightening her life in many ways.
❤️ Junghyun Lee – Stubborn Softie
- Super energetic and straightforward
- Has a strong sense for justice, leading to embarrassment and losing multiple jobs
- Decides not to confess again due to her poor confession’s track records
🩶 Heera Joo – Wounded Soul
- Cool and wary after a damning past work experience
- Resistant to new folks but affectionate to those few she cares for
- Realises that her new pillar of strength is someone she wants to protect too
| Title | Don’t Fall In Love! / 반하면 안 돼! |
| Author | Song Ha 송하 |
| Status | Completed, 2021 |
| Genre | Modern Yuri |
| Tags | Drama, Comedy, Slow burn, Adult Life, Showbiz |
Review
| Category | Rating (0-3) |
|---|---|
| Romance | 🌸🌸 Heartwarming attempts |
| Intimacy | 🔥 Few and demure only at the end |
| Story | 📝📝 Simple and drama-free |
| Pacing | 🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️ Easy to follow |
| Emotional damage | 🥺 A little here and there |
| Fluff | ☁️☁️ Quite warm and cuddly |
Story Overview
Don’t Fall in Love! is a funny and light romcom story about:
– Panicking bisexual with strong fall-in-love-at-first-sight tendencies
– Baggage carrying actress being reminded of why she started this acting journey
– How confessing your love is easy when you have decided who to protect
Key Themes
Golden retriever and black cat dynamics:
Junghyun is super active, speaks her mind, plays scenarios in her head to prevent reactive actions, and acts out protectively for those she cares for. With shiny eyes and an overwhelming presence at times, she embodies the golden retriever persona in this story.
Heera on the other hand projects a wary and collected self, due to her work as an actress and negative past experience. She is uncomfortable to open up about herself until she trusts the other party which she only consciously realises way after. The black cat persona suits her here.
I find it cute that the hyperactive character has a muted look of a strong body donning black short hair, and is shorter than the wary character with an eye-catching hair colour and conventionially great looks. Totally get why Junghyun was often caught staring adoringly at Heera’s various fits.
White lilies bloom in the face of romance:
Don’t Fall in Love! is a multi coloured yuri work. Even then we can see the iconic way of drawing the lovestruck moment, which is when white lilies bloom in Heera’s eyes when she sees Junghyun in a new light.
This flower blooming expression is common be it in black and white or multi-coloured media. Lilies are indisputably associated with women loving women (wlw) works in East Asian cultures, with white lilies in particular as the symbol of wlw love which we see here.
Supportive shipper character:
Side character Kyung is a younger colleague of Heera. Affectionate and close to Heera as she was protected by her in the past, she discovers there is more to Junghyun’s overprotectiveness than what meets the eye.
Cheerfully supporting both Junghyun and Heera in her notable helpful yet chaotic ways, she is the shipper character that readers can relate to and I am super thankful to see in this story!
Personal Review
This story captures the moment when Junghyun and Heera get to meet and work with each other for the first time, and learn of their chemistry at the end. There is no long drawn back story or future look of their lives together shown.
Both their realisation of their own feelings, and how they acted on it feel realistic and relatable. I really enjoy reading this snapshot of their budding relationship that feels genuine, unhurried, and warm.
Final Thought
Don’t Fall in Love! brings me some much warm and fuzzy feelings whenever I read it. This story is drawn and written so beautifully, and is so easy to read again and again especially when I am looking for a warm and funny romantic read. This underrated yuri manga really deserves more attention and love!
My Rating: 10/10 highly recommended!
When was your first lovestruck moment?
Note: All images here are used as snapshots for a self initiated review only. Theses images belong to the original author or artist, and the respective publisher(s) carrying their works. Support them within your means!
