Kind of Love is an anthology series by multiple artists on Webtoons
. As the title suggests, it follows many different love stories. While most follow romance, not all of them do. And not all of them are happy love stories.
The episodes have so far come in two seasons.
- Season 1
- The Breakup by Prince Canary (art) and Susan (writing).
- The Best Girl by Alasxe (art) and Quinn Sosna-Spear (writing).
- The Affair by Quincy (art) and Marshiyan (writing).
- Memory by yiingcha (art/writing) and David S. Lee (writing).
- Missing Socks by Rachel Koo (art), Maria Li (art) and Alya Rehman (writing).
- Table for Two by Siobahn (art) and Swangsart (writing).
- Seasons (which is split into four parts) by Jose Garcia.
- Season 2
- Peaches by Leehama.
- Con by Marshiyan (art) and Lio Min (writing). A college student ends up meeting her favorite Youtuber and gets an unexpected requst.
- Bun In the Oven by Islen Milien (art) and Erica Weiland (writing). A restaurant owner worries her cooking won't be enjoyed by her future child.
- The Favor by Elleoser (art) and Alya Rehman (writing).
- Yum Cha by furanc0 (art) and Jane Keranen (writing).
The whole series is available on Webtoon here.
Kind of Love features the following tropes:
- Affair Hair: One of the things that kicks off the plot of The Affair: Lina finds a hair on Nick's undershirt that isn't hers. While he references the fact that there's a jiu jitsu move that could explain it, this particular plot thread isn't resolved.
- Affectionate Nickname: Given these are love stories, these abound.
- "Cons" for Connie in The Breakup. Particularly fitting given she and Mike go to, well, cons together.
- "Ames" for Amy in The Best Girl.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is the girl in Seasons: Ghost of You and Me the protagonist's ex? A figment of his imagination? Dead? It's not clear.
- Amicable Exes: Mike and Connie, eventually.
- Amnesiac Lover: Alice in Memory gets their memory reset. It doesn't stick.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: When Max comes to pick Chris up and Chris is demanding why Chris decided to give an unpleasant guy a chance, Chris suddenly cries that he likes Max.
- Artistic License – Biology: Babies are usually born with blue eyes. Kay Donahue from The Best Girl apparently had brown eyes as a baby. Can be justified to help the audience identify her even when she's an infant.
- Bittersweet Ending: Yum Cha ends in this. Due to the events of the story, the Spirit Court decides to close the portal which would separate Ren and June for good. However, thanks to June using a Loophole Abuse, she convinces them to let Ren visit for a month every year.
- Bland-Name Product: The Breakup zigzags this, with "Guber", "Pokeyman" and "Starducks" appearing alongside "Instagram".
- The protagonist of Memory is a "Woomba" (compared to "roomba"). Their love interest is the A.I. assistant "Alice" (compared to "Alexa").
- Character Development: Max in Table For Two learns to stop avoiding his responsibilities thanks to his crush on Chris.
- Coming-Out Story: "Con" is this. Nicole is a transgender black girl who runs a popular Youtube channel, but she's afraid of telling people who she really is.
- Continuity Nod: Possibly. In The Affair, Lina mentions her friend "Connie" whose boyfriend just broke up with her. This may be a reference to the first episode, The Breakup, which features a protagonist named Connie.
- In Memory, the unnamed human owner of Woomba and Alice gets two emails from Mike and Lina, a nod to the two protagonists of The Affair.
- Another one in Memory, where Woomba gets a new home with an elderly woman with a black cat. There are a few minor differences between this elderly woman and Kay Donahue of the The Best Girl, however.
- Missing Socks has Captain Claw from The Breakup in the background at one point.
- Creator Cameo: Marshiyan drew themselves as the assistant on the TV show in The Affair.
- Cute Kitten: Kay meets one in chapter 2 of The Best Girl.
- Dead Man Writing: Lola discovers a letter from her late mother in Bun in The Oven, which helps her realize how she should cook for her family.
- Dead Sparks: Nick and Lina from The Affair are in a downplayed version of this. Their relationship has recently cooled down, and both start to suspect the other of cheating. Things seem to be going back to normal by the end... though Lina appears to be cheating after all.
- A Dog Named "Dog": "Small Cat" from The Best Girl is...a small cat.
- Fiery Redhead: Amy Whitmore from The Best Girl. She beat up boys who picked on Kay and called a teacher who put her down "Mr. Buttlick!"
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Gabi's mom in Missing Socks at one point refers to her as "Gabriella Garcia-Valdez" after finding her lost in the woods. She instantly knows she's in trouble.
- Happily Married: Lola and Adam Bilsky in Bun in the Oven.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The couple in Seasons: Chances.
- Imagine Spot: Missing Socks is intercut with a few for Gabi, Rina and Neda. For instance, when Socks goes missing, Gabi imagines them as adventurers on a quest in an RPG.
- Love at First Sight: Kay's narrative in The Best Girl mentions that from the first moment she saw Amy, she wanted no one else to lie next to her. It's worth noting they're newborns in the hospital at this point in their lives.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Subverted in The Affair.
- Implied to be part of the reason the couple are fighting in Seasons: Bad Words.
- Meet Cute: Chapter 1 of The Breakup has Mike as Connie's Guber driver who gets scratched by her cat, Navi. The two bond that evening and start a relationship. And then you look at the title.
- The Mourning After: The Best Girl takes place after Amy, the love of Kay's life, has died. Kay's clearly taking it hard.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Chris in Table For Two tends to get close to people. It's not dwelled on.
- One Head Taller: Max is about this much taller than Chris from Table for Two
- Parting-Words Regret: Bun in The Oven Lola had a fight with her mother before she died, something she regrets greatly.
- Picky Eater: The conflict from Bun in The Oven comes from Lola worrying that her baby won't like her cooking, given that kids don't like hers.
- Posthumous Character: Amy from The Best Girl. She's died before the story begins and only really appears in a flashback.
- Pretty Boy: Chris King from Table For Two is a standout.
- Punny Name: An influencer Chris King collaborates with in Table for Two is named "Marshall Law".
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: "Small cat" from The Best Girl has a particularly adorable pair.
- Single-Target Sexuality: In The Best Girl, Kay has only ever had eyes for Amy. Since they were babies. We only see their love story through a short flashback, as Amy's since passed on.
- Shout-Out: Missing Socks Socks features several that the artist goes through in the behind the scenes comic, including to Sailor Moon, Tomb Raider, The Powerpuff Girls, and others.
- Title Drop: Late in Table for Two, Max creates a romantic dinner for Chris and greets him with "I reserved a table for two."
- Through His Stomach: Max cooks a meal for Chris as a grand romantic gesture. It works.
- The interplay between love and food is the uniting theme of Season 2. Thus, this trope comes up sometimes.
- True Companions: Gabi, Neda and Rina from Missing Socks are an elementary-school version of this.
- Workaholic: Chris King from Table for Two. In a variation on the usual trope, he's an influencer, but he's no less committed to his job.
- Lola Bilsky from Bun in the Oven as well. She pushes herself very hard despite being pregnant.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The unnamed love interest in Seasons: Ghost of You and Me.
