Yumi's Cells 3: The Cells Take a Trip to Busan
Yumi's Cells, adapted from Lee Dong-gun's Naver Webtoon that racked up 3.2 billion cumulative views during its 2015–2020 serialization, returned for a third season four years after Season 2 wrapped. Released as a TVING original and tvN Mon-Tue drama from April 13 to May 5, 2026, this installment follows Kim Yumi (Kim Go-eun), now a successful romance novelist, as she falls for her new editor, Shin Sun-rok (Kim Jae-won). Ahn Bo-hyun, Lee Yu-bi, and Choi Daniel round out the main cast, with idol-actor Minho and Shin Ye-eun appearing in special roles.
What sets the Yumi's Cells franchise apart is its signature blend of live-action performance with CG animation — personifying the emotions inside Yumi's head as tiny "cell" characters who bicker, scheme, and cheer her on. Director Lee Sang-yeop, who also helmed Seasons 1 and 2, returned for the third round alongside writers Song Jae-jung and Kim Gyeong-ran, keeping the show's blend of workplace comedy and interior monologue intact while pushing the visual gag between Yumi's Love Cell, Reason Cell, and Emotion Cell to new extremes.
The numbers back up the buzz. Yumi's Cells 3 topped TVING's weekly paid-subscriber-contribution chart every single week of its run, from premiere to finale, while its tvN broadcast slot led all cable and general programming channels in its timeslot. Industry trackers noted a 226% jump in social buzz compared to Season 1, and the show landed at No. 5 on Good Data Corporation's weekly buzzworthy-drama ranking. Internationally, it held the No. 1 spot on Rakuten Viki for two consecutive weeks across the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania in its second week of release — a clear sign the franchise's global fanbase is still very much alive. That momentum carried into awards season too: at the 5th Blue Dragon Series Awards (2026), Kim Go-eun took home the Grand Prize and Kim Jae-won won Best New Actor.
Behind the Scenes
If Seasons 1 and 2 kept Yumi's daily life firmly rooted in Seoul, the biggest shift in Season 3 is the leap to Busan. To signal that Yumi and Sun-rok's relationship was entering new territory — leaving the familiar rhythms of Seoul behind — the production team booked an actual working luxury resort, Ananti Cove, for the company workshop arc. Its infinity pool and media-art "water house" became the setting for the pivotal sequence where the two leads' feelings begin to shift, with the resort's ocean-view lounge and walking trails captured almost exactly as they exist in real life.
For the Busan old-town scenes, the crew leaned hard into the texture of real, lived-in locations rather than built sets. Bosu-dong Book Street, a secondhand-bookstore alley dating back to the Korean War refugee era, ties naturally into Yumi's own arc as a published novelist — it became the backdrop for a quiet walking scene threading between decades-old bookshops. Not far away, the terraced, pastel-roofed Gamcheon Culture Village, with its maze of hillside alleys, lent a wistful, lyrical mood to a reflective scene where Yumi loses herself in thought while wandering the old town. Critics noted that the crew deliberately played the weathered, textured atmosphere of Busan's original downtown against the candy-colored CG cell characters, sharpening the visual contrast that has always defined the show's split between live-action reality and animated interiority. Despite the season's relatively compact eight-episode run, the production reportedly spent multiple days shooting at the resort alone — evidence of just how much weight each individual location was made to carry on screen.
Travel Guide to Filming Locations
Recommended one-day route: Bosu-dong Book Street → Gamcheon Culture Village → Ananti Cove (best treated as its own half-day trip)
- Bosu-dong Book Street: About a 10-minute walk from Jagalchi Station (Line 1) Exit 3 or Nampo Station Exit 3. It sits right next to Gukje Market, so the two pair naturally, and most bookshops in the alley are open from roughly 9 AM to 9 PM.
- Gamcheon Culture Village: From Toseong Station (Line 1) Exit 6, take village bus Saha1-1 or Seogu2-2 to the Gamcheon Culture Village stop (about a 20-minute walk if you'd rather skip the bus). It's open 9 AM to 6 PM with no general admission fee, though picking up the 2,000-won village map at the information center helps you catch every photo spot without doubling back.
- Ananti Cove: Roughly 40 minutes by car or taxi from Busan Station. By public transit, catch a bus toward Gijang from Haeundae (routes 179 or 100-1) and get off at the Ananti Cove stop, a five-minute walk from the resort. You don't need to be a hotel guest to access certain facilities, including the Water House and the on-site Bookstone bookstore.
The best time to visit is spring (April–May) or fall (September–October), when the sea haze clears and the coastal views are at their sharpest. April in particular — the month filming actually took place — brings canola blossoms and cherry blossoms into bloom near Ananti Cove, echoing the scenery visible on screen. Both Gamcheon Culture Village and Bosu-dong Book Street involve plenty of uphill alleys typical of Busan's old town, so comfortable walking shoes are a must.
Fan Pilgrimage
Within days of Season 3's release, social media lit up with hashtags like #YumisCells3FilmingLocation and #AnantiCove, flooded with photos of the resort's infinity pool and shots taken from the Gamcheon Culture Village lookout point. The ocean-view lounge where Kim Go-eun and Kim Jae-won filmed their workshop scenes has since become an informal photo spot among actual hotel guests — some now jokingly call it "Yumi's spot" — and locals report a noticeable uptick in foreign tourists visiting the Gamcheon lookout since the season aired.
At Bosu-dong Book Street, fans have taken to retracing the exact stretch of alley Yumi walks in the show, sharing their own "Yumi Route" strolls across X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Photos taken among the secondhand bookstores frequently carry captions like "it feels like the live action and the animation are overlapping," and a wave of fan art riffing on the show's signature cell-animation style spread alongside them. International viewers streaming via Rakuten Viki have also posted a steady stream of Busan travel vlogs reacting to the season, with many commentators suggesting that Season 3 has effectively turned Busan into a new pilgrimage destination on the K-drama map.
Nearby Food and Attractions
- Near Bosu-dong Book Street: At the mouth of the alley, Gukje Market serves up Busan staples like ssiat hotteok (seed-filled sweet pancakes) and bibim-dangmyeon (spicy glass noodles), and Jagalchi Market — a five-minute walk away — offers fresh seafood set meals for a heartier stop.
- Near Gamcheon Culture Village: The cluster of café-lined streets at the village entrance is packed with rooftop cafés offering ocean views, letting you revisit the panorama from the lookout point from behind a café window with a coffee in hand. Pair the visit with nearby Molundae or Dadaepo Beach to round out a half-day itinerary.
- Near Ananti Cove: Gijang Market is within walking distance, a good stop for picking up local specialties like Gijang snow crab and seaweed, and Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is about a 15-minute drive away for those looking to extend the trip.
- Where to stay: Booking a room at Ananti Cove lets you experience the exact ocean-view lounge used in filming firsthand. On a tighter budget, guesthouses around Nampo-dong and Jungang-dong in Busan's old downtown put you within easy reach of both Gamcheon Culture Village and Bosu-dong Book Street.