After School Lessons for Unripe Apples

Spoiler free:
This is about Mi-ae's school life adventures, while trying her hardest to be friends with the new scary deskmate (who of course is a softie inside), only trying his darnest to be inconspicuous at school, and failing miserably at ignoring her lol.

A very very slow burn, slice of life kind of feel at the start, a lot of studying involved, but once it gets going, I finished 3 years worth of content in a daze in 2 days! I'm kind of weak for the energizer bunny girl chasing after the grumpy broody guy trope, so this is right up my alley.

Mi-ae is just a ball of positivity. She can be sad of stuff, but not for long. Cheol who only wants to be on the down low, and wants nothing to do with such a quirky chaotic girl, but of course he can't help himself. He's just so protective of those he perceived to be picked upon. And seeing closed up Cheol gradually opening up because of Mi-ae's exuberance is a joy to watch.

Following Cheol and Mi-ae growing up together, traversing school, friendship, and sorting out their inexplicable confusing feelings (squeeee). The whole series is such a happy pill! Can't wait to see more after school group hijinks, and the growth of all the characters and their relationships.

Note: there is some triggering content like school corporal punishment, bullying, but nothing too detailed on page.

All in all I like it but the story is pretty repetitive and feels like it is dragged around forever. It's an ok story. I also don't like the unnecessary drama, misunderstandings and how immature the characters are. I mean I get that they are teens and feel awkward but still kinda unrealistic for me.

highly anticipated in Webtoon every Sunday. This webtoon never fails to get me a good reaction every time I read it. The 90's settings makes it more lovable and interesting as to how they lived during that time. I love how their friendship slowly progresses... ehem slow burn. Can't wait to read more until they grow up.

Another great work from Soonkki.

JINSEOP HANDS DOWN BEST CHARACTER HAHAHA I LOVE HIM

As of April 2023, I've caught up with Chap 95, their cram school friendships are so cute. HAHA

soonkki made a grand comeback with a lot of new stuff. Noticeable change in art style is super refreshing, although I also like her old style. After School Lessons for Unripe Apples has a clean, simple, straightforward manner in telling two people with different personalities from each other. All the complexities that exist in CIT seem to be completely lost but you are still fascinated by the strong personalities of the characters. I'm not going to deeply analyzing on the setting because it's unnecessary. I'm not familiar with the SK environment years ago even in the 90's, although some I find it looks modern (somehow?), but not a big problem at all.

If the ball of sunshine ever a human, it must be Mi-Ae, a super weird girl with explosive spirit. She attracts attention with her endless antics. She's the polar opposite of her gloomy deskmate and childhood friend, Cheol. Well, Cheol doesn’t speak too much. My introverted side feels like I can sympathize with his difficulty blending in. They don't have a history of dramatic or even valuable friendships, because until they meet again after all this time, the sense of distance is still there. It's a snail move compared to CIT which has packed so many issues in a short amount of time, but I feel like no space is wasted and it actually makes the approach more natural. If you are curious how much, up to these 57 chapters (official translation), we still at the stage where the FL trying to relax the ML about the "friendship" idea. He's so mean but he's a good kid inside. I can't hate him, he's the same case with Inho Baek. He needs someone beside her, and that someone is the FL. I prefer not to stress too much that this is something to be taken seriously. The FL approaches the ML in her own way, and while it's pretty sad, it's different from the most cold fictional fake ML.

It's different case if you the type to prefer aggressive sweet romance. I have recommend CIT to a friend many times but they don't like it. This same goes to ASLFUA with odd environment. I don't think I will try to persuade you if you don't like it. I just feel that it's a pity to miss this gem because we don't need fancy art to make it great. I love that the author doesn't spoon feed me with too dreamy imaginations about long time crush osananajimi trope. It's realistic when you don't see a friend you've known for a long time as a love interest so easily. This is definitely going to take some time. But you don't have to worry about layers of twists because the author tries to be open about their feelings. It's a bit of a back and forth but I can understand their point of view quickly.

I wonder if we'll get an arc where they go up one grade, graduate, and enter High School. Or will they stuck forever in Middle School? We also still haven't got an answer as to what really happened to the ML at his old school. Narcissist Jinseop—who is always around the ML—seems to have a certain purpose in approaching him. But he's not life-threatening anymore tho, seeing he clowns himself more into the butt of the FL's jokes. Seriously, there isn't a chapter that doesn't make me laugh out loud. I didn't expect this to come from the person who made a story that once made me constantly nervous with its scary and hella sus ML. Haha the protagonists in here are bunch of teenagers who enjoy and live their youth. It's super fun. I like how they handle problems like kids their age.

That’s all I can say so far. I believe in the author to create satisfying reading experience. It puts me at ease knowing her ability, so I want you to enjoy it the same way I do.

Started this off with very low expectations but it was way better than I thought it would be. The slow burn romance is so fun to read, and not frustrating like it can be in other series. Both the main characters have such opposing personalities it’s really interesting waiting every week to see their development. the setting of the webtoon is in late 90’s Korea so it’s really refreshing to have a slightly older setting. Honestly soonki never misses in making her characters personalities seem so 3d.

Another great story by Soonki (Cheese in the Trap).
Youll ger to know the characters, and how they slowly start befriending each other. Miae is cute, and Cheol is a really nice boy.