Reviews,  Webtoon Reviews

Some Thoughts On Touch Your Heart

In a genre where romances between bosses and their secretaries have saturated the market, Touch Your Heart puts a unique spin on a common storyline by having a renowned actress work as a secretary under a seemingly ruthless lawyer, resulting in a lighthearted tale between polar opposites.

Based on a web novel of the same name, Touch Your Heart is better known among global audiences for its drama adaptation, which stars Yoo Inna and Lee Dongwook—a pair that stole the spotlight from the main leads of Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016).

Webtoons have always been my forte, though, and if you’d like to see what the fuss is all about, I’d recommend reading it on Tapas (as of October 2024, it is free to read!). That said, the critic in me has some thoughts on Touch Your Heart, so let’s move on.

Review

Decorative text of the male lead holding the female lead's hand to stop her from making a call. Beneath this image is a ratings screen, which reads as follows: Art has been rated 4 of 5 stars. Plot has been rated 2.5 of 5 stars. Characters have been rated 3 of 5 stars. Overall rating is 3.5 of 5 stars.

Overall rating: 3.5 / 5.0 stars

Although my rating may suggest otherwise, I actually enjoyed Touch Your Heart immensely, and it’s definitely earned its place among my favorite contemporary romances. That being said, there were several aspects of the webtoon adaptation that I liked and disliked, so let’s start with the good.

(+) The Leads

Opposites attract, and the grumpy/sunshine trope is a favorite among most romance enthusiasts (including myself). Oh Jinshim and Kwon Jungrok’s relationship starts off the wrong foot with Jinshim failing to leave behind a good impression and Jungrok being too harsh in critiquing her. Though, as they work together, they slowly realize that first impressions can be deceiving.

It’s a rough start with Jinshim, who comes off as a conceited female lead (FL). You struggle to empathize with her circumstances because of this, but as time passes, you come to understand that self-confidence is Jinshim’s charm. She’s awkward, silly, and lost in her fantasies, but she’s also very sincere, kind and very hard-working. Her determination to succeed, her willingness to help, and her empathy are her biggest strengths.

Jungrok is very different. Both cold and detached, he’s rude to Jinshim because he sees her as this incompetent, bumbling actress who doesn’t take her job seriously. You can’t exactly blame him for it either, because he’s a busy man and he doesn’t have time to babysit the new recruit. But as his interest in Jinshim grows, so does his character—revealing a devoted and soft-hearted male lead (ML).

Honestly, their character development is nothing to write home about, but it’s certainly there. Gone is Jinshim’s uncaring attitude toward acting, and in its place is this determination to succeed—so much so that she becomes invested in her job as a secretary. Similarly, Jungrok learns to let loose with Jinshim, and she paints his dull canvas in vibrant shades, allowing him to experience happiness by her side.

(+) The Art

AntStudio did a phenomenal job with the art for this series, so let me take this opportunity to gush about that for a bit.

The average webtoon episode is published either weekly or once in 10 days, and with so little time to spare, it’s become a norm for most artists to rely on 3D assets nowadays. Some artists use the right tools so that those assets don’t look out of place, but others aren’t as fortunate. That said, Touch Your Heart surprised me in its minimal use of 3D assets. The only time it was noticeable was with Jinshim’s jewellery.

The characters’ outfits would also change with each episode, and this, in turn, did a fantastic job at indicating the passage of time. If Jinshim and Jungrok were to show up in the same outfits for every episode, you would feel as though very little time has passed, but since they change their outfits so often, you never feel that way.

Is the visual storytelling profound? Not particularly. To my knowledge, the story is devoid of symbolism, but it doesn’t need any of that to be entertaining or to resonate with younger audiences. In fact, the art excels where humor is concerned, and it’s easy to find yourself laughing along, making this an excellent read if you’re in the mood for something light.

Panel from the Touch Your Heart webtoon. The female lead, Jinshim, sports a terrifying look on her face as she asked the male lead "I'm not interrupting you in the middle of that important meeting, am I?" Meanwhile, the male lead is visibly sweating.
It was at this moment that Jungrok's life flashed before his eyes, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.

There are other aspects of the story that I really enjoyed. I liked how the side characters were supportive of Jinshim and Jungrok in their own ways, especially Jinshim’s boss and manager, who clearly viewed the actress as their daughter. I was also grateful that the villain wasn’t a woman but a man, and that the story briefly touched on how women suffer because of men in power.

That said, there were a few things that I disliked. More on that below!

(-) The Pacing

Unfortunately, Touch Your Heart suffers from poor pacing. There may have been external circumstances that contributed to this (e.g., the number of episodes were predetermined, thus preventing the adaptation from exploring certain arcs in depth, etc.), but it goes without saying that the webtoon was a little too fast-paced for my liking. Certain arcs were sped through in a way that left readers feeling confused.

Spoiler alert: A prime example of the webtoon’s poor pacing crops up in an arc where Jinshim and a little boy are abducted by the latter’s father. Episode 34 concludes with the boy in question running to a convenience store for help, and the next episode begins with Jinshim complaining about staying in the hospital.

It was at this point that I had to check the raws on Kakao to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything. As I kept reading, though, I soon realized that the webtoon had used a time skip, but its execution left much to be desired. This was one of the many instances where I felt as though the story would’ve benefited from better directing.  

It bothers me that the image on the left is how Episode 34 ends,
while the image on the right is how Episode 35 begins.
(-) The Ending

Although I enjoyed the ending of Touch Your Heart, I’ll be the first to admit that its execution left me with mixed feelings. Each arc had its fair share of drama, but certain topics were glossed over in a way that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

This might be me nitpicking, but I felt as though considerable emphasis was placed on Jinshim’s fellow actress at the start. We have no understanding of why Jinshim dislikes her (or whether her rivalry is one-sided), but I assumed that she’d pop up eventually and pose a problem to the leads. I was pleasantly surprised and disappointed to find that she didn’t make an appearance at all, even though the set-up clearly suggested otherwise.

Spoiler alert: I was also disappointed by how Jungrok’s family situation was addressed. Jinshim meets his mother, who clearly disapproves of their relationship, but that serious confrontation is played for laughs when Jungrok’s grandfather shows up. It’s a quick resolution to what ought to have been a significant hurdle in the leads’ relationship, and a part of me even wondered if it’d been thrown in at the last minute.

What’s worse is that it creates an opening for another issue that Jinshim refuses to elaborate on. With everything that they’ve been through, you’d think that she would’ve learnt to communicate by now, but she’s frustratingly vague and it leaves Jungrok feeling utterly confused as he struggles to figure out how he’s upset her.

A chibi-fied version of the leads (where they are drawn with bigger heads and smaller bodies). The female lead, Jinshim, is seated on a bench with her lover's coat over her shoulders. Meanwhile, the male lead, Jungrok, is kneeling before her to warm her feet with a hot pack in the cold weather.
Despite my frustration with Jinshim's attitude in the last few chapters, I have to admit that
this scene of Jungrok warming her feet with hot packs was adorable.

My grievances don’t end there, unfortunately. The final episodes suffered the most from Touch Your Heart’s poor pacing, and this, in turn, dampened my enthusiasm when I reached the end.

Spoiler alert: Episodes 54 to 56 speed through Jungrok’s proposal and their wedding, but the real kicker comes when you find out that Jinshim is actually pregnant. This isn’t hinted in any of the previous episodes, and I actually skimmed through all of them to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything. Another user in the Tapas reviews section pointed out that the pregnancy wasn’t mentioned beforehand, though, so I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who was taken aback by this.

Final Thoughts

Despite its shortcomings, Touch Your Heart puts a unique spin on the contemporary romance genre by deviating from serious plot lines involving CEOs and their secretaries (as well as sponsors and actresses) to focus on a lighthearted romance between polar opposites. While Jinshim and Jungrok’s relationship starts out as an office romance, it departs from this with Jinshim’s return to the entertainment industry.

It would’ve been an interesting twist if Jinshim realized that she enjoyed her work as a secretary and retired from showbiz altogether. She excelled at her job, and her dedication in memorizing the civil code made me think that the story would take this uncommon route, especially since her manager points out that she’s become too invested in her role as a secretary.

At the same time, I believe it was necessary for Jinshim to make her comeback, especially since her hiatus was not of her own volition. As wrongs are made right and perpetrators are punished for their wrongdoings, Jinshim and Jungrok become a power couple, and readers get the sense that justice will prevail.

I wouldn’t call Touch Your Heart a revolutionary read, but I will say that it’ll leave you craving more while piquing your curiosity in the world of webtoons. Whether it succeeds in touching the heart, though, is something that I’ll leave for you to decide.

Image from the final chapter of Touch Your Heart. Jungrok, the male lead, is wearing a suit and is gazing lovingly at Jinshin, who smiles back at him and returns his loving gaze in her wedding gown.
All's well that end's well, and these two will have each other to rely on for the rest of their lives,
and so, their story comes to an end.

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