A Korean webtoon which is now being produced as a 16-episode miniseries, Cheese in the Trap is the story of university student Hong Seol and her struggle to get through school, maintain friendships, sort out family troubles, and navigate her complicated relationship with upperclassman Yoo Jung. (I say "complicated relationship" because, for something like the first two-thirds of the series, the fanbase was largely divided on whether it was supposed to be a slice-of-life drama, a romantic comedy, or a psychological thriller.) The webtoon! The author is Soonkki, and I think it's her first webtoon...? She's got an excellent grasp of pacing things, so it's not too hard to keep things straight, even though a significant portion of the story is told through flashbacks. And there's something likable about her characters, especially Seol, who tells herself she overthinks things, and struggles to communicate with her friends and figure out the appropriate course of action in complicated social situations. The link is to the official English translation, which FYI can be a little ... wonky. (어빠 does not translate to "daddy". Especially not in a situation where a young man is telling a younger woman how she can address him. Edit: unless they were trying to communicate that he was being creepily over-familiar and way, way, way underestimated the creep factor of a guy telling a girl she can call him "daddy" the second time they meet.) The drama! The director is Lee Yoon Jung - she directed Coffee Prince (if you're not into kdrama, it came out in 2007 and was/is wildly popular) and they somehow managed to cast Kim Go Eun as Seol. I'd never seen her in anything prior to hearing the casting announcement, but I watched Monster and Coin Locker Girl right away and it turns out she's fantastic. Having watched the first three episodes of the drama, I can say that she's also fantastic as Seol. Also, Park Hae Jin is making an excellent Jung so far. They're not sticking with the webtoon 100%, but so far the changes they're making haven't turned anything on its head or involved OOC behaviour, so I'm pretty satisfied with it so far. Here's a helpful character guide! (Source | Translation) Dunno if there's anyone who already watches/reads CiiT on here, but I like it a lot and want to share. Enjoy!
