Just before the last petal falls @afsaaneh - Tumblr Blog

The Significance of Kitty & Minho Bookending Both Season 1 and Season 2 in XO Kitty

Yes, I'm here again with another analysis because why not?

So previously, I mentioned the term bookending. & I just thought that it would be nice to elaborate on that.

So firstly, what is bookending?

It is a storytelling technique where a narrative begins and ends with the same event, character interaction, setting, or theme. It is a method that is often used to create symmetry, reinforce themes, highlight character growth, or foreshadow key relationships.

Storytelling is rarely accidental—especially in romance-driven narratives like XO Kitty. One of the most deliberate yet overlooked narrative choices in both Season 1 and Season 2 is how Kitty and Minho’s relationship is bookended—they are the first and last people she interacts with in both seasons. This framing technique is often used to subtly highlight a relationship’s significance, and in this case, it strongly suggests that Kitty and Minho’s story was always meant to be a slow-burn romance.

When two characters are both the first and last interaction in a season, it’s rarely coincidental. It is to:

Signify that the relationship is central to the protagonist’s journey.

Showcase how much their dynamic has evolved over time.

Foreshadow their long-term importance to each other.

For Kitty and Minho, the fact that this happens in both seasons is a strong indication that their connection is not just a subplot—it’s one of the core emotional arc of the story.

So let us break it down:

Season 1: The Beginning & End with Minho

First Interaction: The first person Kitty physically bumps into at the airport on her way to Korea (signifying the beginning of her journey) is Minho. This is their very first meeting, setting the tone for their playful, sometimes antagonistic, but always high-energy dynamic.

Last Interaction: The season ends with Minho’s confession—a moment that completely shifts their relationship. And instead of rejecting him outright, Kitty smiles. It’s a small but telling reaction—if she truly felt nothing, there would be no hesitation.

& before people come up to say that the smile was only shown in Season 2 when they re-shot the scene...

This is a screenshot from Season 1 where you can see her slight contemplating smile (with About Love by MARINA playing in the background, mind you).

Why It Matters: The fact that Kitty’s first and last interactions in Season 1 are with Minho shows that he was always meant to be a significant part of her story. The show could have ended the season with anyone—Dae, Yuri, or even a solo moment of self-reflection. But instead, they chose to end with Minho’s confession. That’s not an accident—it’s intentional storytelling, subtly planting the seeds for future development.

Season 2: The Pattern Repeats—Minho Comes First & Last Again

First Love Interest She Sees: In Season 2, the first love interest Kitty locks eyes with is Minho. While Dae is technically present (standing right beside Minho), the camera deliberately focuses on Kitty looking at Minho. This is a classic storytelling technique used to subtly emphasize a character’s importance to the protagonist.

Last Interaction: Once again, the season ends with Minho and Kitty. But this time, things are even more emotionally complicated.

Kitty realizes her feelings for Minho, but she’s too scared to confess. She convinces herself that he has moved on, and the fear of rejection holds her back. Meanwhile, Minho is actively repressing his feelings. After his failed relationship with Stella and seeing Kitty’s complicated emotions regarding Yuri, he convinces himself that moving on is the only option. He even goes so far as to swear off relationships entirely.

Why It Matters: The fact that, once again, the season ends with Minho and Kitty means their story is still unfinished. No matter what happens in the middle, the narrative keeps circling back to them.

The Parallel to K-Drama Romance Structure

In K-dramas, the first person the protagonist meets in a new place often represents fate or destiny—and Kitty’s first physical interaction in Korea was with Minho at the airport.

The “first and last” interaction trope is often used to signal who the true endgame is—the person the protagonist starts and ends their journey with is usually their true match.

By structuring both seasons the same way, the show is subtly preparing the audience for their eventual romance.

The Parallels Between Season 1 & Season 2 (Between Minho & Kitty)

While XO Kitty explores multiple love interests, Minho and Kitty have scenes that directly parallel each other from Season 1 to Season 2. These mirroring moments serve as a way to track their emotional development and reinforce their importance to the story.

Season 1: Minho watches Kitty and Dae at the party → Season 2: Kitty watches Minho and Stella dancing at the ball.

In Season 1, Minho was unknowingly affected by seeing Kitty with Dae. In Season 2, Kitty experiences the exact same thing—showing that now she’s the one realizing her feelings.

Season 1: Minho sees Kitty in slow motion, feels attracted to her, then panics when he realizes it's Kitty and screams "NO!" in denial. → Season 2: Kitty sees Minho in slow motion—not once, but twice.

Minho’s slow-motion moment in Season 1 was a comedic way to show his growing attraction, but in Season 2, Kitty has two slow-mo moments of her own—this time, with much more emotional weight, showing her realization.

Season 1: Minho saves Kitty from the fire on her skirt. → Season 2: Kitty saves Minho from his family's reputation being tarnished by Stella's plans.

In Season 1, Minho literally puts out a fire for Kitty, protecting her. In Season 2, Kitty does the same thing metaphorically—protecting Minho from a social firestorm that could have hurt his family. Can I also add that both scenarios happened in similar settings? One is on stage while the other is back stage.

Season 1: Minho confesses, "I think I fell in love with you… a little bit… or a lot." → Season 2: Kitty has an inner monologue, "I have fallen for Minho… a little bit… or a lot."

This is the most important parallel. Minho was the first to confess his feelings in Season 1, but by Season 2, Kitty finally acknowledges her own feelings—mirroring his words exactly. The fact that her confession was internal rather than spoken aloud adds tension for the upcoming Season 3, setting up a major moment where she will have to verbalize it.

The Emotional Progression Between Bookends

Season 1 starts with Minho being dismissive of Kitty → Ends with him realizing his feelings and confessing.

Season 2 starts with Kitty locking eyes with Minho first → Ends with her realizing her own feelings, but being too scared to confess.

Each season follows a clear pattern, showing that their relationship is evolving step by step. The reason it hasn’t happened yet is because both of them have been in denial, not because the connection isn’t there.

Foreshadowing for Season 3

If Season 1 was about Minho realizing his feelings, and Season 2 was about Kitty realizing hers, then Season 3 will likely be about them finally acknowledging their love for each other and acting on it. Their bookended interactions and season-long parallels have been leading toward something bigger, and Season 3 will be the moment they finally break past their fears and come together. I think we can expect a major confession scene from Kitty—one where she has to face her feelings out loud, just like Minho did in Season 1.

In Conclusion

The bookending of their interactions in both seasons, paired with their direct scene parallels, is not a coincidence—it’s a deliberate narrative choice that:

Establishes Minho as a consistent presence in Kitty’s life.

Marks their relationship as a key focus of the series.

Shows their emotional and relational growth.

Foreshadows their eventual romance.

By structuring both seasons the same way—starting and ending with Kitty and Minho—and including multiple mirrored moments between them, the show is subtly telling us that their story isn’t just important, it’s inevitable.

This isn’t a random ship gaining popularity—it was always part of the plan.

moonlightsdream

Mr. Plankton Mr. 플랑크톤 (2024) — Episode. 01

whatsinasong

Sad tragic handsome🥰

Does he smoke in real life? Pls take care of your health, wdh❤️

simply-zhouye

stunning zhou ye is stunning. at weibo night 2023 red carpet backstage arrival

livuvur

Favorite Edwin moment? Either 03 or BH?

Oh god that's a hard one... Considering I love every moment the two of them are on screen together but I will try, (also note I'm not including the most well-known, iconic moments aka gun scene/proposal, etc.) Just to keep the variety a little, I'm gonna focus more on moments that I believe have very high significance to their relationship but simply don't get talked about nearly enough. (Not in particular order)

1. This moment, especially in the manga makes me very very soft, in the page before this one we see ed being all miserable by himself, he goes to call winry (who is also being all miserable by herself) and I really do love the approach of this moment as it is not Ed trying to comfort Winry after Hughes' death nor bringing up the topic at all, since he himself doesn't know what else he could say about it, on top of the fact that he feels responsible for what happened to him, instead, he just tries to make sure winry doesn't go without eating because it would do her no good, and attempts to leave, but then she just takes his hand and leads him into her room and his face as she does so is just so utterly adorable... I love how soft that panel is, and how despite Ed not being one to comfort her she is still non-verbally asking him to stay, because she needs him by her side in those moments, and his presence alone is enough, and then, despite how he had just eaten he still accepts the apple pie Winry made because she put so much of her heart and her effort into it. And once he sees the tears gathering in her eyes he is simply physically incapable of saying no to her.

2. I think I've talked about these panels before on here, something very interesting to me is how the first panel shows ed admitting he always saw Winry as someone so upbeat and cheerful, to the point it is easy for him to forget how much pain she's actually been internalizing the whole time, and then scolding himself for not understanding her feelings at all. And then you have Winry seeing right through Ed, saying she knows he is just trying hard to be tough (and that he is an idiot, *cough*). The thing is, Winry has seen Ed at his worst, she was there taking care of both him and Al when they had lost everything and Ed was struggling under the weight of his guilt and pain, she saw him crying and sobbing everyday, she even mentions that at nights he just couldn't stop moaning from the pain and fever automail caused him. And on the other hand, Ed had been thinking quite the opposite about Winry, because she was always there being a rock for both him and Al even after having lost her family herself, she was there, always smiling for them and supporting his every step with such strenght he couldn't even imagine she was simultaneously grieving as well. Ed always saw Winry's strenght, but she always knew his weakness all too well.

3. Self-explanatory, I'm a sucker for edwin parallels: she thinks of him while she's dying, he thinks of her while he is fighting to stay alive. They are obsessed with each other, next one.

4. THIS MOMENT, GOD. “seeing it made me realize I couldn't go home”, “I want to be able to help you, so your road's not so hard” this whole scene is just so overlooked it hurts, cause it just goes to show Winry's love and dedication to Ed, and how his determination and resolve inspire her own, she is always looking to improve in any ways she can to help him, Ed literally is able to walk and to continue his journey because of her, (and he reminds it to her in one of her darkest moments) and I just think it's amazing how they're both always challenging each other under different circumstances, this is just one of them, with Winry declaring she is gonna push herself to be the fucking best she can so she can be there for him. (Also his sudden self-awareness and blush when he realizes he is staring at her smile... *blows them up with dynamite*)

5. Again, self-explanatory. Absolutely fucking love some good male rage when his boo is threatened, Bradley didn't even have to lay a finger on her and this guy was ready to strangle him right there. (Also Olivier's entire speech in BH saying Ed's eyes were “desperate” and of “a boy who would do anything to protect the things he loves” when he refused to tell her anything about the homunculi because Winry was a hostage, even tho he knew Olivier could have chopped him in little pieces just because of that. <3

Damn apparently I can't add more images lmao but basically this whole thing they unspokenly have going on where they give each other an item that belongs to the other so they keep it as a reassurance/promise they will see each other again: Ed giving winry his red coat after the gun scene, Winry giving Ed her earrings and asking him to keep them safe for her, and even in their very last scene, Winry keeping Ed's white hoodie, the one he wore when he came back home to her. Just. They are so. Yeah.

Believe me I have many more I could go on for hours, I wanted to include some 03 moments too, but it's 1 am and I need sleep so yeah (also forgive any grammar/spelling mistakes on this I really do need to 💤)

thank you for the ask !

modernchillthings

I wanna talk about Weak Hero Class because I saw this on twt where Hyunwook talks about Sooho's relationship w Sieun and it's making me cry.

So basically I wanna talk about Sooho and how, for the whole show, he always emphasizes not crossing the line. From his first introduction of his fight with the baseball team, he told the dude that he crossed the line so he punched him. But before that he was mostly fighting in self defense and his attacks weren't too harmful (playful smack with a book for example). I think for Sooho, 'crossing the line' means harming someone severely and with malicious intent. Like those baseball dudes had intent to harm, sure, but Sooho never saw it that way and was even being playful. But the moment the baseball dude acted with the intent to really harm Sooho with the bat, thats when it was 'crossing the line'

The next instance was at the end of ep1 when Sieun was about curb stomp the shit out of Youngbin but he stopped him. Idk why he didn't stop him before that (if he was asleep through that then wtf..how??) but let's assume he woke up during the fight. He probably let Sieun handle it for a bit because he might have recognized how Youngbin deserved that but knew that if Sieun went any further, he would've been severely hurt. (Yeah he got a broken nose but he looked fine by ep 5 or 6 and STILL didn't learn his lesson so...if Sieun kept going, he would not have been walking around and shit)

Even when he was training Sieun, Sooho told him to run instead of 'finishing off' the opponent (which Sieun ignored obviously)

Every fight scene with Sooho before ep 7 have been either in self defense or defense of others and to me, I never saw it as him fighting just to fight or hurt but more to assist or defend. He's never sought out violence or harmed others maliciously...until Sieun got hurt.

(I would analyze all of Sooho's fight scenes but I don't have the words to articulate it and this post is getting too long)

We can also argue that he was defending Sieun when he lined up all the bullies and punched them in the gut one by one but Sieun wasn't there to witness this and I don't think he ever found out. Like this Sooho wanted to HURT those dudes. He wanted them to feel the pain that Sieun felt. Still, the Sooho in ep 7 was a vengeful one. The moment he saw Sieun and was hiding his cast from him, Sooho was on a path of revenge.

Then he sought out Yeongbin and broke his fingers and arm and was sending really threatening texts towards Bumseok. If I watched that scene out of context and without subtitles, I would assume Sooho was the bad guy. And then when he hit Bumseok, he probably would have kept going if it weren't for that other ufc dude interrupting. And tbh, I feel like the only fight that didn't cross the line was w that dude bc it did kinda feel like a spar for Sooho, like they both even wore the gloves. Like I don't think Sooho came in there wanting to hurt that dude, only Bumseok, and it was more like a sidequest for him. If the other bullies didn't get in the way, Sooho deffo would have won then he probably would've reverted his attention back to Bumseok.

But the moment he crossed that line, Bumseok decided to cross that line as well and then in ep 8, so did Sieun (until he faced Bumseok in the end and held back but that's another thing)

Idk what I'm really getting at here, just know that Sooho's fights in ep 7 were to HARM others intentionally whereas the fights before were not and maybe you could say it cost him his life (I know he's not dead but....yknow..)

shim-changmin

Woojin's worry and alarm over Gunwoo drinking copious amounts of alcohol - requested by @gingersnapwolves

sandushengshou

BLOODHOUNDS | Episode 7

imperialscholar

"I can't believe this. I'm playing music with my dad. My dad is listening to me play."

qinduang

Nothing is impossible with Yi Chan when he's in love.

Se Gyeong wants him to start a band from scratch and participate in the music festival despite having no musical background? He made it happen!

The moment he started learning a new language for Chung Ah should have been the sign that he's in it deep.

He's my favorite lover.

seawherethesunsets

I’m deaf. I know. I can’t hear anything. I know. Why did you invite me then? To mock me? To make me a spectacle? Because you pitied me? To show that you have a friend with disabilities and look nice?

[Bonus] Yi Chan referring to his sign language book

mostlyfate

TWINKLING WATERMELON 반짝이는 워터멜론 (2023) — "Viva la Vida." What does this mean? "Long live life." The other way around? I see. Like this? Sorry.

seawherethesunsets

I called Ma Joo and told him we couldn’t make it. Happy now? Are you satisfied?

There’s an unfortunate event I want to prevent. I didn’t know how I could prevent it. But now, I think I see a way. So I must seize the opportunity and do whatever I can to prevent it.

TWINKLING WATERMELON (2023)

leedongwook

"Thank you. For keeping the promise."

Twinkling Watermelon 반짝이는 워터멜론 // Episode 16

stories-that-feed-our-souls

They really gave us a happy Ha Yichan having some domestic moments with his cute girlfriend, an adorable Ha Yichan kicking his feet because grandmother said to him he is her most adored person, a loyal Ha Yichan finally listening to his friend/future son, a vulnerable Ha Yichan recording his thanks for Ha Eungyeol...

...

... just to have an unconscious and injured Ha Yichan in the final minute of the episode hugged by a destroyed Eungyeol 💔

thebookofanne

A message from an 18-year-old father to his 18-year-old son.

But you know what? For some reason, I felt as though you were like my father. Even though I have never experienced a father’s love, I got to experience something similar thanks to you.

아들, 고맙다.

다음 생엔 내가 니 아버지로 태어나줄께.

2023년 11월 14일, 0244hrs.