See You in My 19th Life Volume 5 Review

Spoilers ahead…read at your own risk!

We left Volume 4 with quite a few romantic developments in the relationships between Seoha and Jieum, and Doyun and Chowon, and Volume 5 gives the main characters a further revelation (aka headache) to deal with.

Although Seoha has admitted he feels something for Jieum, the two aren’t dating nor a couple. He still cannot forget about Juwon and whenever he’s with Jieum he cannot help but think of both women at the same time. He’s trying to do the right thing by waiting until he can stop thinking about Juwon and only concentrate on Jieum, but it’s not easy. The trauma of the accident is still present in his psyche, and a few hints dropped by the author in the volumes so far indicate that it wasn’t just a simple ‘car accident’.

Jieum on the other hand is not too upset about the lack of a label in their relationship. She understands his trauma and is happy (kind of) to wait for him to overcome it, while still staying by his side. She cannot come clean about her secret to Seoha, but when Chowon realises the truth about who she really is, she cannot lie about it anymore, at least to her. It comes as a shock to both sisters, especially when they also realise that they weren’t as discreet as they’d thought when they talked about it, and now Doyun is unwillingly in the loop as well.

Jieum’s own rules about how to act when she remembers her past lives are going out the window, as for the first time in 19 lives, more people than usual know her secret and she willingly revealed it to people related to her previous life, although Seoha is still clueless. A lot of things are changing, and although there are still a few hurdles that the main characters need to overcome, I don’t think it will be too long before we can expect their happy ever after… even if the author left the readers with a big cliffhanger for this volume!

While I’m usually more relaxed when reading shojo-style manhwa compared to the action-packed shonen genre, I couldn’t help the drive to finish the volume as soon as possible as it was full of angst from start to end… I needed to know what was happening FAST! While the previous volumes focused on Seoha’s trauma and how Jieum is trying to get close to him, this volume goes into more depth about Jieum’s feelings and how she has to start anew every time she is reincarnated. With Chowon realising that Jieum is her sister who has been reincarnated, we might think that Jieum could get a happy ever after, not only with her love interest but also with her previous family… well, that’s pushing it a little bit too much. Chowon knowing the truth about Jieum is one thing, but she cannot get closer to the rest of her family as that would give her too much to hope for, especially wondering whether people will really believe she’s Juwon. The readers can finally delve deep into Jieum’s trauma caused by 19 reincarnations, which I think Jieum’s doesn’t always realise how it’s impacting her life and her relationships.

Chowon and Doyun were introduced previously as secondary characters, but the more the series progresses, the more their roles expand and become prominent. Chowon is linked to both Seoha and Jieum and she’s a crucial person in helping them overcome their worries and traumas. Without her, I don’t believe Seoha would have made enough progress to admit his feelings for Jieum, and Jieum as well would have been more closed off toward the people surrounding her. Doyun instead has been by Seoha’s side for years, and he’s there to push him forward, whether Seoha likes it or not. While I was rooting for Chowon to find out about Jieum  being Juwon, I wasn’t expecting Doyun to get involved in this as well. I wasn’t sure how he’d react and what he’d do, but so far he seems to have accepted it pretty well.

Chowon and Doyun are carrying a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders to protect and push forward their friends, but at the same time they are dealing with their own pasts. It’s been clear that Chowon has a crush on Doyun, but for some reasons he won’t accept it, even if it looks like he reciprocates her feelings. There is more going on with him than he lets on, and getting to know them makes the readers hope they too can find happiness.

The characters continue to have difficulties that are relatable to many readers (of course I’m not referencing the reincarnation part). Their lives can almost seem real, and so do their relationships. The intricacies that the author created and introduced for them define them as 3D characters, with a sort of realism that it’s not often found with series in this genre.

See You in My 19th Life is written by Lee Hye. It started as a webcomic on Webtoon, before being adapted into the print edition published by Ize Press and as a K-drama available on Netflix. Volume 6 is already out.

Our review copy was supplied by Ize Press.