written by
Yaongyi
rated
4 / 10
updates
Wednesdays
genre
Romance
link
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A girl, constantly bullied for her appearance in a school where people are judged by their looks.
Two hot boys, fighting for the girl, who undergoes a transformation after learning how to use makeup.
It’s not a terrible plot or concept, but it isn’t the most creative. The blurb of this webtoon sounds like any other Korean drama; it’s centered on stereotypical good looks, its effect on normal people, and of course, romance. A lot of romance. But nonetheless, it’s rather hooking, because I’m sure that everybody has experienced insecurity about their appearance just like the female lead, Jugyeong. It’s a relatable story that many can connect to, what with the high school crushes and pretty, popular girls.
I rather enjoyed this webtoon in the beginning, seeing Jugyeong’s transformation and the pros and cons that came along with it. It was original enough, but not weird. The romance was also manageable at first.
But I’ve never been much of a fan of stories and plots that focus entirely and mainly on romance. Personally, I enjoy books or webtoons that are of another genre but have romance on the side as an addition. When it’s only romance, it often becomes too sappy and a little dull unless executed very well, or unless it has a nice twist to the love. Unfortunately, as True Beauty progresses, it gets more and more centered on romance. Since the story itself is situated in a very realistic world and the romance is the classic love triangle, there’s nothing special at all about it. The plot quickly deteriorates to a matter of whether Jugyeong will pick Seojun or Suho. Nothing interesting happens; it seems like everything is centered around the love triangle. Everything is so predictable that even an amateur writer, maybe even me, could come up with a romance like that, which is why the webtoon is a little overrated for me.
What’s more is the character development. Once again, the characters were great in the beginning. As the story continued, Suho and Seojun remained alright. But Jugyeong? She barely developed. In fact, she seemed to go backward and become nothing but a shallow girl and a childish model for Instagram. There was so much potential in store for her and her love interests, but it was wasted away. It was such a brilliant beginning!
Nonetheless, I still respect True Beauty for its nice concept and well-crafted beginning no matter how boring and irritating it gets in the later episodes. It doesn’t have an intricate or well-planned plot. It continues to use repetitive tropes over and over again. If you’re tired of the excitement and action and just yearning for a nice, simple, addicting, high school story, this might be the right webtoon for you. But if not, I wouldn’t recommend it. Most of the time, it’s not going to be worth your time.
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