45 Seconds - Reviews

Its cute! There aren't really deeper themes, good or bad. Its a short and sweet love story. 

I suppose I could sit here and wail about lack of character depth and development and plot intricacies, but honestly nobody walks into a six chapter manga expecting any of those things. It did well with what it had and wrapped everything up nicely. 

45 Seconds is one of those romances that has no pretentions beyond telling a simple love story based on a misunderstanding in high school. You know, that good old trope where we, the gays, get together with our teen crush as adults after a long time spent apart. I'd say it sticks the landing, but it's also not really doing much to stand out from the crowd either, and if you want anything other than a cookie cutter gay reunion story, you're going to be quite bored. Idk why the other reviews are talking about it having six chapters; the version I read had ten, with an extra where they go on a date and have sex. Those not feeling up for smut can comfortably skip said extra - you know where this story goes already, most likely, from having read similarly tropey stories before.

Speaking of those ten chapters, though, I can honestly say I disagree with the idea that you can't tell a story with deep themes or strongly developed characters in six. I just got done reading My Influencer Boyfriend last night, another ten chapter story, and while that was also solidly in the 7/10 range, its characters were so much more charming than those in 45 Seconds, just based on the things they said and did in a similar timeframe. To the point where I felt like My Influencer Boyfriend could probably have been two chapters shorter if they cut some of the fat. If I'm honest, I felt like 45 Seconds spent way too much time dragging out the process of mechanically doing its tropes with the friend group at school, when it could have spent that time showing more unique character moments and giving me a better idea of who Siyeon and Eunha were as people. As it was, they were bland... but I'd argue not because it's a short series, just that the author could've prioritized better with what they choose to show us, and spent some of that time on covering the story's bare mechanics up with more memorable and flavorful character moments.

The translation was fine. A bit clunky in places, never anything less than 'I think I understood what they meant', which is to say... average for the webtoon industry, but hardly a charming effort. All in all, I'd say I felt 45 Seconds was respectable but bland, and certainly nothing to go crazy over. If you want a popcorn romance that isn't gonna make you think too hard, go for it.

So 45 seconds is about a girl Siyeon coming back from studying abroad in England and joins a “Winery” course where she meets her high school classmate Eunha. Unfortunately I was able to get 6 chapters online but this shoujo ai story is really nice to read!