True Beauty

I loved this!

True Beauty is now one of my fave K-dramas. I loved the main character Ju-kyung both before and after her make-up transformation. I liked that she was into horror comics and metal and her bedroom decor was too cool and not typically cutesy, imo. I enjoyed the fact that she kept the same interests even after becoming pretty.

This was a series where I was really torn between the two males in the love triangle. I wanted both to be happy! I wanted them to be friends again! In classic K-drama fashion, this friendship rift was caused by a lack of honest communication and wrong assumptions.

I loved all the supporting cast of characters in this show. Her older sister and her school teacher were so fun to watch. It was refreshing to see her older sister as this strong female character who didn't conform to societal norms for a woman. And also Ju-kyung's mother was the same as the head of her household and sole bread winner.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a slightly different take on the classic love triangle drama.

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MORE THAN A ROMANTIC COMEDY!!

Honestly I won't lie, the beginning of this show is a bit boring and makes you think it'll be overly cliche. But honestly it blew me away especially towards the end around ep 10/11. I've watched a decent amount of kdramas and to be honest this is the first to make me cry. Jukyungs struggle with both her academic and school life really made me relate to her on a level I haven't felt in a while. The characters really do grow and mature in a way that is natural and doesn't feel rushed or awkward. Despite its overdramaticness it's still grounded and allows the sadder moments to sit and have its space. I do feel the last episode was a bit unnecessary but it's kinda just there to wrap up everyone's romantic story lines which was so whatever to me. But overall I seriously didn't expect myself to like it so much!

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I stopped expecting dramas that were adapted from manhwas to be 100% the same since Extraordinary You. So, I started watching this one with that mindset. And guess what? I'm not disappointed at all! If anything, I really really enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

True Beauty has a really interesting plot. Even though the last few episodes seemed like a "filler" to me, at least for the first 10+ episodes, I actually enjoyed it and ended up binging the series. The casting, though I doubted it at first, was apparently excellent. Moon Gayoung was funny and cute, Hwang Inyeop was cool and mischievous, and Cha Eunwoo seemed to have had improved so much since I last watched him on "My ID is Gangnam Beauty". The side characters' casting was also excellent, from the parents and siblings, friends, to the teachers and all. The romance scenes are too corny for my taste, typical k-drama clichés where the main girl falls on nothing every 5 seconds and the main guy catches her. But I believe the highlight of this drama is the humor. It's so perfect. I laughed a lot and this drama brought joy to me.

However, for now, I don't feel like giving the drama more than 6 stars. It's just too cliché for me, and while the jokes hit right up my alley, I don't think it was meant to be that way by the production team...? So it's a good romance drama to watch because it gives you a lot of laughs. But it's not good enough of a romance drama because the romance is just meh.

After watching this, I feel like rereading from the first chapter of the manhwa. I'm also excited to see more of Cha Eunwoo and Kang Minah on screen. :)

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Oppa choice disappointment

I heard True Beauty is one of those dramas that a respected k-drama fan needs to see along with Inheritors/Heirs, Gangnam Beauty and Boys over flowers. I've already seen two from this list, Gangnam Beauty one on the waiting list but the last one .... sorry but that is not going to happen 🙈 With all respect to the producers and fans of the drama but I cannot stand Boys' haircuts and clothing styles. I would die from laugh while watching. What is also special about True Beauty and what I found out while collecting pictures, is that the drama is based on WebToon! I heard so much about this platform and it's second time I see its drama and I must admit that both Mystic Pop-Up Bar and True Beauty made a very good impression on me. They have a very nice storyline and they take up serious problems and show it in a refreshing way.

Because I way more prefer Ju-Kyung with Seo-Joon than Soo-Ho. I mean, I understand why she chose him – she can be herself with him, he saw her without make up at first and still felt in love with her, he was the one that lifted her spirit (and she did something similar to him). But I liked her and her behavior more when Seo-Joon was around. There was an obvious chemistry between these two! So many sparkles! Also Hwang In-Yeop’s (Seo-Joon) acting was on way higher level than Cha Eun-Woo’s (Soo-Ho). Even though both were quite natural with their acting, In-Yeop seemed to be in his place while Eun-Woo was sometimes robotic. In the WebToon, Ju-Kyung chooses Soo-Ho so of course the producers couldn't change that …. what a pity 😕

Based on that I wasn’t satisfied with the ending as Seo-Joon didn’t get his happy ending. At this point I share the frustration of other k-drama fans. Producers waited with him being rejected to the last moment and we couldn’t see how is he doing. Maybe if that would happened earlier we could have see him recovering from a heartbreak and would save me from the same feeling.

Is True Beauty worth watching despite Oppa choice? Of course! 😁 It is an amazing drama that I will definately one day comeback to. There are many memorable scenes, catchy music, the cast that in majority has a great and deep development. It is definately fair to say that it was one of the cutes dramas I saw this year with a oryginal script that I purely enjoyed!

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I decided to watch this after seeing a lot of the reels from different moments of the show. I grew attached to the characters after seeing them in those little snippets so many times and wanted to watch the show. Unfortunately it felt like the reels that I saw were the best moments of the show. This just did not live up to the hype for me. It was enjoyable enough but missed the mark in other ways.

Story: the basis of the story and the title is about how the main female lead Joo Gyung was always called ugly for having an acne filled red face, big glasses, and large eyebrows. She was maliciously bullied in school for her appearance until one day when she was able to transfer schools. At the new school she had learned how to apply makeup and wear contacts which changed her appearance so much that she was then considered a real beauty. Life was dramatically different for her because of the makeup and she was always worried that her true face would be revealed. Of course she meets someone that finds out about her secret and he ends up falling for her and not caring what she looks like with or without makeup. This concept last until about the halfway mark. Then the second half of the drama focuses more on the love triangle of the 3 leads where the 2 male leads are best friends and an unexpected event separates the main couple for years but the secondary lead stays by her side.

In terms of story it has a very simple concept that has been seen many times. My gripe with the concept however is that while makeup can completely transform your face, it can't change the texture so often when they show her without makeup and she has acne but somehow has perfect skin with makeup I tend to roll my eyes. Also when her secret finally gets revealed its like all of a sudden her 'ugly' no makeup appearance is not that different from with makeup. She adds a pair of glasses and her skin is slightly pink but that is it so calling her ugly for that seems offensive. While her new skin care routine would have helped improve her it was still annoying to watch everyone around her act like she was so dramatically different without makeup.

The love triangle. This is one of the shows where I fell hard into second male lead syndrome. While the main male was fine and everything, I still felt myself leaning far more heavily into the second. His character was so endearing and relatable that it is impossible not to like him. And while you understand the ending I actually found that I did not like it very much because it felt like the female lead did not care about his feelings at all. It felt callous since he has stayed beside her for 2 years and they had gotten so close that even all their friends expected him to care for her when she was drunk. But her care of his affection was not handled well at all. While she did not need to return his affection she could have handled it so much better. It left me mostly just feeling sorry for the second male lead all the way up until the end.

Acting: as far as acting goes it was acted fairly well. I was especially drawn to and impressed by Seo Jun. He was by far my favorite character throughout the entire series. The actor portrayed him so well and he was so entertaining to watch in all of his scenes. Su Ho was also acted well and the actor did a good job of transitioning the character from arrogant jerk with a chip on his shoulder to shy and nervous teenager in love for the first time to the more grown up version. The side characters also all held their own and did great. Joo Gyung was the one that got on my nerves the most. The actress often used this baby sounding voice that I really did not like but other than the voice she did act the part well. I also had a very hard time liking the character very much pretty frequently.

This series had several fun and memorable moments but the writing really let the show down. Joo Gyung was a very hard character to truly like for me so this show holds little rewatchability for me.

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BEST KDRAMA

I love True Beauty so much. I have rewatched it 5 times and i still havent gotten bored. Seojun deserved better but in the end he became an idol soo.. Honestly what Soojin did was NOT okay, But still lover her! The story and plot was literally so good. Acting was also great but my girl can be little cringe sometimes.. OST is still so good. Starlight and Love so fine are my favs for sure. Tae Hoon and Soo Ah on top for sure. Team Soo Ho and Team SeoJun because they were both so good for her but i literally cry everytime i watch episode 16. I dont get why people hate True Beauty, like just say you hate fun cutesy dramas 🙄

Cha Eunwoo so fine 😍

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The best

This is my favorite life drama of 21 that I've watched so far. In True Beauty, you have all possible emotions. You laugh, you cry, you are angry, you are angry, you are happy, you are apprehensive, you are shocked. Everything.
I love Jukyung's overcoming story with her looks and the standard of beauty imposed by society. I love that Suho loved Jukyung because she is who she is and not what she looks like. This couple's story is completely perfect. Only those who watched know that their story was fate.

The grapefruit couple, more hilarious impossible.

Hee Gyung, an empowered woman who does what she wants and not what they say.

If Yeon, Suho and Seojun: a perfect friendship, of pure companionship that unfortunately ended in tragedy. But it was amazing to see what this friendship with Se Yeon was like before the fatality happened.

Everything was perfect. Only point to be desired was that I thought they could have shown an out-of-date Seojun with a girlfriend with reciprocal feelings.

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