Do you ever feel that yuri/GL as a genre doesn't take itself seriously enough, especially in Korean webtoons? Usually a GL series consists of a couple schoolgirls living in a blissful, bubbly world where love is love and nobody's ever bothered to worry about the concept of sexual orientation. The characters get into an alternating series of cute and melodramatic moments for our entertainment, a confession in the final chapter wraps up the series, and we all go back to the depressingly-less-cute real world. But Blooming Sequence isn't like that. It's a rare example of a yuri series with adult characters living in a realistic worldwho actually bother to communicate with each other. That's right, no dozens of awkward misunderstandings that could be solved with 2 sentences, no pages and pages of "will they or won't they?" before a rushed finale, no magical world where sexual minorities are just accepted by society. Our main characters Seowoo and Hayoung are intuitive, reasonable human beings, acutely aware of each other and able to reasonably interpret each others' feelings. They are aware of the heterosexist nature of the world around them, they are aware of their own sexual orientation and the consequences of it in their society. To me, that alone makes this series something special.

But realism is not all it has to offer. All characters in this series are deeply flawed, each dealing with their own personal deficits and difficult pasts. The plot itself is about the characters, especially the main couple, overcoming their pasts and growing as individuals and it's handled excellently. Seowoo's lack of self-confidence and inability to push for what she really wants, Hayoung's difficulty opening up to and trusting others, both of these problems play into each other and the resulting character growth leaves us with a beautiful but mature relationship that is engaging to the reader. This coupled with the fact that the art is above average in quality for a webtoon with lovely character designs and style means I definitely recommend it and give it an 8/10.