In 2016, Korean animator Puuung
created a series of shorts called Love Is on her YouTube channel, about a couple living in Paris and doing cute, couple-ish things. Each one was only around 20-30 seconds, with simple artwork and animation, and featured little more than daily mundanities focusing on the lead characters.
Love Is In the Small Things is a Soft Reboot, telling the story of how the lovebirds first met, how their relationship progressed, and how they meet the various challenges of being in love. The shorts are a good deal longer, and while they still focus on regular Slice of Life fluff, they form actual story arcs. The animation quality also improves tremendously over time. The shorts feature no spoken dialogue, relying on intertitles to get information across. However, much of the story is told entirely through action, with no dialogue required at all. None of the characters even have names; the guy is referred to as "D", while the girl is "M".
Puuung made a convenient compilation of the series here, and a second one here. She's published multiple books based on the series, which can be found here, one of which was actually featured in a scene from the Korean drama W.
Love Is In The Small Things provides examples of:
- Beach Episode: The couple decide to take a day trip to the beach in episode 23. It's notable as it's the first time the couple declares they love each other.
- Big Damn Kiss: This was actually the very first short Puuung ever uploaded, at the beginning of Love Is. In the series proper, it happens in episode 13.
- Cats Are Superior: Garfield, the couple's pet cat, certainly thinks so. He apparently considers his owners to be his butlers.
- Cliffhanger: The first season compilation ends with the girl going away on a long business trip in a far-off country, with her boyfriend unsure how he's going to deal without her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She doesn't show it often since there are hardly any other female characters (or characters in general for that matter) but the girl gets a little miffed when her boyfriend shows her an old photo album that has a picture of a girl kissing him on the cheek when he was five.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Shockingly averted. For a series set in Paris, the Eiffel Tower is completely absent. The only indicator at all that this is Paris is the Notre Dame cathedral, seen in episode 13.
- The Glomp: The girl has a tendency to do this to her boyfriend.
- Long-Distance Relationship: The first season compilation ends with the couple agreeing to one, while the girl goes off on a long business trip. It goes well.
- Meet Cute: The very first scene is of the girl struggling to reach a library book, and the guy helpfully grabbing it for her. From there, it's pretty much Love at First Sight.
- Meet the In-Laws: The couple takes a trip to the guy's hometown, so he can introduce his girlfriend to his sister. The two hit it off immediately.
- Nerd Glasses: The guy wears glasses and certainly qualifies as a nerd; he works at a laboratory as a physicist, spends most of his time reading, and is exceptionally good at cooking.
- Romantic Rain: The couple gets caught out on their first date, and have to huddle under a large coat until they can get inside.
- Scenery Porn: The animation is very simplistic, but the artwork is incredibly colorful and expressive. The backgrounds are rendered in loving detail, and many shots linger heavily on them.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The girl is not shy about talking up her boyfriend's Nice Guy qualities to anyone who will listen.
