We’re back with a new Webtoon feature, and this time we’re reading ‘Seasons of Blossom‘ by HONGDUCK and NEMONE. It’s a slice of life high school drama that’s guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings.
The series is split in ‘seasons’, each focusing on a different main character. The cast are all connected to each other, so it’s more like relay, the spotlight moves to another person but the story continues. The first three stories are completed, and the fourth and final is slowly nearing it’s end as well. All the chapters are available to read for free on Webtoon.
I started reading ‘Seasons of Blossom’ following some marathon bingeing sessions of various isekai and office romance shovelware series, and it served as an exquisite palate cleanser. It reminded me what a truly excellent series is like. After I was done bawling my eyes out, I went through a bit of a mourning period; it’s always hard to follow a great read and jump into the next series.
Seasons of Blossom
Oh, to be young and in love. Oh, to be wild and carefree. The springtime of life is intense, tumultuous, and at times, oh so confusing. Spring, summer, fall and winter — love blossoms in all seasons.
We start off in spring, with ‘Bomi’s Flower’. Bomi is smart, pretty and popular; Things between her and Jaemin seem to be heading in a good direction. The last thing anyone expected, was for Bomi to start dating Jinyeong, the game nerd. What starts as a small white lie, ends up creating quite the mess. For fans of the ‘pretend relationship’ trope, it’s a true gem, perfectly executed.
It’s a mostly lighthearted romance focused storyline, full of butterflies and excitement. And yet, it does hint, even from the first chapter, at the heavier tones the story will take in the following seasons. The seeds for ‘Hamin’s Flower’ are already planted. By the time we move into summer, we know the next story will be nowhere near as light.
The verdict
Despite the serious tonal shift from one story to the next, the writing never gives you whiplash or a feeling of disaconnect. It is done so organically with the writing and the way some central and key elements of the upcoming story are already revealed in the previous. As a result, it feels like it’s always been building, it’s not just dumped on the reader’s lap out of nowhere just for shock value or forced angst.
I loved the main cast so much! Even some minor characters were so insteresting or relatable that they were very memorable. (Looking at the shoujo manga loving friend – relatable AF). All the romances were well-written and precious, but Bomi-Jinyeong is OTP, hands down.
The art is relatively simple, it’s clean and pretty, and the characters are well distinguishable from each other, which honestly, feels like something that should go without saying instead of the rare cause for celebration it feels like lately. I love their use of colours, and the framing of the panels is done perfectly to convey the emotion and draw the reader in.
Seasons 1 and 2 were already adapted into a Web-drama, which was, ehm, underwhelming for the most part. Unfortunate adaptation aside, an animated series seems to also be in the works for 2024, so I am super excited.
In my opinion, ‘Seasons of Blossom’ is a must read. I would maybe recommend reading only up to the completed seasons and waiting a bit until the last season finishes before diving in. Knowing how intense they can get, I’d rather spare myself any cliffhangers, and just read the whole thing at once.
