Namsoo, Cover Art, Romance 101, Webtoon.
Romance 101 – Information
Author of Story: Namsoo
Chapter Count: 152 + 6 spin-off chapters
Status: Completed!
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- None to report!
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
Romance 101 – Plot Summary
I can say without hesitation that Romance 101 is one of my absolute favorite webcomics ever! The art style is adorable, the characters are all gorgeous and well-written, and the story overall is very enjoyable. This story follows a group of university students as they work diligently through an important chapter of their lives.
The main character, Bareum Jeong, is a very hardworking and determined character. She has a plan for everything, and is determined to live her life to the fullest. However, she feels she is missing out on an important aspect of life, and therefore begins to put more effort towards her love life.
In this webtoon, you’ll follow along as Bareum and her friends (and love interests) overcome many challenges; both academic-wise and relationship-wise.
Why I Enjoyed Romance 101
One of the biggest perks of this webtoon is that the art style is just gorgeous. I love the design of all the characters, and how each person has a defined personality. The storyline and characters are very realistic, and
I truly enjoyed seeing the characters work to better understand each other and pull through hardships. There is no actual antagonist or villain in Romance 101, other than the difficulties every person experiences in their own lives with relationships, careers, and, well, life in general.
I think this aspect of Romance 101 is what makes readers connect so well with it. It’s very relatable, and you want to root for Bareum to succeed in her love life and academic goals. You can even understand perspectives of the other characters, too, as the author does a fantastic job of portraying their struggles throughout the story, too.
For example, Bareum’s struggle (besides finding a boyfriend) is balancing her life in a fulfilling way. She loves to plan everything out, but when things don’t work out as she planned, she has to learn how to handle it.
Namsoo, Manhwa Volume 2 Cover Art, Romance 101, Young Com.
We get to see characters like Jaehyeon Shin, one of the love interests, struggle with having a lot on his plate during his college years, as well as both familial and friendship challenges. Lastly, the other love interest Yuyeon Na, struggles with choosing a suitable career and balancing personal interests and friendships.
Each of the struggles or challenges we see the main characters experience are very relatable and easy to connect to the struggles we experience in our own lives.
Romance 101 also gives a really great message about friendship, understanding others, and enjoying life as it comes to you (even with variables and surprises along the way). It does a great job of portraying healthy relationships and communication!
And, the romance aspects are so heart-warming and sweet. I loved cheering on Bareum and her love interests, and truly enjoyed this fulfilling story.
Each and every chapter had me hooked. I would read updates immediately, excited to see how much closer Bareum was to her fulfilling her love-related goal. I was so surprised when I learned Romance 101 was Namsoo’s (the author’s) first work, or her “debut webtoon”. It is incredibly well-written, and gives off a very different vibe from other webtoons.
There’s no dramatic, stressful twists or crazy characters; it’s just a very relatable and enjoyable story about college students pursuing their goals (although it’ll definitely make you tear up during some parts).
Namsoo does a fantastic job of portraying the character’s feelings and thoughts as they experience new challenges, and her writing style really pulls at your heart! This story is such a gem, and I’d recommend it to new readers and experienced readers alike.
More In-Depth Review (Warning: Spoilers!)
As mentioned before, one of the aspects I really enjoy in this series is the portrayal of realistic relationships for many of the characters; so let’s dig deeper into it!
Even though the main character, Bareum, eventually meets her romantic match, she still experiences heartbreak or disappointment earlier in the webtoon.
However, this is partially because her original love interest, Jaehyeon Shin, is prioritizing his current life situation, family troubles, and other important needs over having a relationship.
This is such a mature and realistic representation of real world relationship situations! Relationships are more than just having romantic feelings. After all, falling in love doesn’t magically make all your problems disappear.
Another great representation of real-word relationship troubles we see is between Ahreum Gu and Minseok Kim. Their relationship is realistic for young, college-aged working individuals, because they could not find a compromise in their incredibly busy lives to make room for romance.
Even Bareum’s close friend Doeun Kang was having relationship troubles, due to it being a long-distance relationship that was draining both parties. After this relationship ends, we see Doeun dedicate more time to loving herself, which is really important and nice to see portrayed in a love story.
And lastly, we see poor sweet Hanam Park (I was really rooting for him), who unfortunately experiences unrequited love. I feel like many romance mangas or manhwas sort of sugar-coat how relationships work in the real world by always making things end positively for all the characters, or throw in some crazy love triangles or personalities that don’t always seem realistic.
These can be fun too, of course, for our reading entertainment; but Namsoo’s Romance 101 was such a refresher.
Even though I really liked Hanam’s character, us readers could see that Doeun was just not ready to put her energy into a relationship again yet, and wanted to spend time with and for herself; which is totally respectable.
Even though these unfulfilled relationships all may seem a bit sad (as many of these characters don’t really end up dating canonically), it doesn’t necessarily need to be considered in that way. Many of the characters grow from their experiences, and you can see how happy many of them are even towards the end of the story.
I know this is sort of funny to say as someone who reviews and recommends romantic comics, but I like that Romance 101 shows how romantic love isn’t the only form of happiness!
And not all is lost, because we get to see love grow stronger in the bonds of friendship, too! I really enjoyed seeing both the Bareum/Doeun, Yuyeon/Jaehyeon, and even Jaehyeon/Ahreum friendships restore or strengthen during this story. It warms my heart that these friendships were just as important as the romantic relationships!
Final Thoughts
If it wasn’t obvious already, I highly recommend this story. The plot and writing is fantastic. I especially love the type of conflict where there isn’t an antagonist.
All of the relationships within Romance 101 were believable and realistic; as none of the characters necessarily wanted to cause tension or problems between each other…it’s just that life happens. Misunderstandings happen. It’s normal, but how you choose to approach those problems is what matters.
It’s pretty rare that I end a webtoon feeling like I learned a life lesson haha! But, I’d like to say that Romance 101 has left me with a great message about enjoying life, embracing uncertainties, and trying to understand others. It’s important to value communication and maybe even being vulnerable with those who care for you.
I hope you enjoy Romance 101 as much as I did!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist, author, or Webtoon.
Images Credit: Namsoo. Romance 101. Webtoon, 2021. https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/romance-101/list?title_no=2406. A Guide to Proper Dating. Naver, 2018. https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=703852. Young Com, 2019.
