It’s been a year or two since I started reading True Beauty on WEBTOON and quite a bit has happened since, both irl and in the manhua. Between school and being busy with my personal avocations I didn’t have much time to sit down and write a review here like how I planned to but finally I had enough of a break to gather my thoughts and pen them. I would like to leave a few disclaimers however, before I get started, and sort of give a quick rundown (and another even quicker one) of what this review will cover (the TL;DR for all you lazy shmucks).

I would like to address that all of the commentary written here is my own opinion. I am perfectly fine with people disagreeing with my sentiments, and fully expect it to some degree. However, I will not tolerate slander or any sort of degradation of myself on this site. This is meant to be a fun review/discussion not an attack on one’s preferences, beliefs, or viewpoints. If there is a problem, please message me directly and I will be more than happy to discuss and, if necessary, remedy the issue. Should the problem escalate beyond my capacity, I will make sure to take appropriate action as needed. Thank you for understanding.

Lastly, before I actually get into writing the review, because I know a lot of people don’t fancy reading long-ass essays like this, I have opted to provide a nice TL;DR below. But, fair warning, it’s not that short either tbh. If you REALLY don’t want to read a lot, then check the RTFL;DETAR (Really Too F*cking Long; Didn’t Even Think About Reading) further below.

TL;DR

Main Characters - Jugyeong (Female MC) is more than a bit too naive for this world and honestly pretty dumb. At times it’s annoying, other times really endearing. When she surprises you with her moments of empathy, they seem to really hit home and make her feel much more genuine and down-to-earth as a character. Suho (Male MC) starts off as the cold, “I’m better than everyone” character and he’s not that likable. Yes, he has a few moments with Jugyeong early on, but after looking back I realized overall, he was kind of an ass to her to start. As their relationship progresses up to midpoint, it, and he get much much better though. A lot more nuance to his character is shown and it helps build him as that typical tsundere character. Seojun (Second Male MC) is someone who tries to act cool and be a “bad boy” but he’s actually soft as shit and it makes for both great comedic and emotional parts of the manhua.

Overall, the story that drives this manhua isn’t anything special. Super stereotypical. I don’t need to read the rest of the manhua to know how it pans out. Even without reading the manhua you know exactly where this is going. Every high school cliche you can think of. It’s all there. Despite these overdone cliches and boring plotline, the writing itself is fair. I'm not really into romance kind of stuff, I admit it did take a bit to get used to the tone, but after I did, I found myself liking it. It’s worth the read imo. Definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like the characters. If anything, the best takeaway is that both male ones are likable.

RTFL;DETAR

Still better than My Deepest Secret (read if you haven't), which the genre is what I usually prefer to read/watch. You'll sure love True Beauty if you're into romance/drama type of stuff.

Character: 7

Character-wise I’ll be looking at primarily the three main characters, with short breakdowns of some ancillary ones in an “Other Characters” section. For each of the main leads, I’ll discuss what I liked and didn’t like about each, things I think could be improved, and any other commentary I might have. I will do my best to keep it as succinct as possible, but knowing how I write, my definition of succinct isn’t necessarily that short. Apologies in advance.

Jugyeong Lim (임주경) - Starting out, jugyeong has been ridiculed, bullied, reprimanded. Not even her own family defended or really in any way helped her, her brother just adds as one of her bullies. I get why they needed to pin her character as the unfortunate “loser-in-every-way”, but I think they could’ve gotten that point across much better than simply shoving it down our throats. Luckily it didn’t last long and I was able to move on from it quickly. Although I wish her make-up transformation would’ve taken a bit longer to complete, I understand that the artist probably wanted her to have as much of a 0-100 makeover as possible. Something I think they should do, if they aren’t already (we’ll see by the end of the manhua), is to show her skin gradually getting healthier or better over time naturally, it could serve as sort of a visual representation of her own growth and development as a person/character. Perhaps at the low point in the manhua. Personality-wise, I think her character is well-defined, albeit pretty cliche. Between her naive, child-like nature and generally awkward shyness, she ends up being about as much of a stereotypical female MC as you can get. She’s the girl-next-door who needs protection from the big bad world and only the most handsome guy (or guys in this case) can save her. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it’s not a really good thing either. Sure it works, but it’s nothing special.

Suho Lee (이수호) and Seojun Han (한서준) - These two might get a bit dicey because I’m going to do a good amount of comparing between Suho and Nam Do San from Start-Up (a K-Drama Series), as well as Seojun and Han Ji Pyeong. Bear with me as I go over as much as I can before I shoot myself for talking about the disappointment that was Start-Up again.
Right off the bat, I want to clarify why True Beauty does the double male lead approach better than Start-Up. Unlike the latter, True Beauty introduces the main lead first, and gives him a genuine connection with the female lead. True Beauty introduces the main lead first, and gives him a genuine connection with the female lead. While it’s debatable on who the better guy in terms of personality is for Jugyeong between Suho and Seojun, Suho at least was there when it all began. This is extremely important plot-wise for Suho because it makes it his game to lose. Meaning it was less of his job to win her over, and more so to keep her by his side. Seojun’s role is to pull and tug as much as possible in order to try and wrench her free. For the sake of the argument, I’m going to ignore the slightly misogynistic concept that Jugyeong has to belong to one of these two dudes (which in and of itself is a whole essay worth writing about), and focus just on how it plays out. With Suho, Jugyeong’s heart was his from the get go. On the contrary, Do San should have been in Seojun’s situation at the beginning, where he needed to win Dal Mi over, but by taking advantage of feelings that weren’t meant for him he essentially cheated his way to winning. Ji Pyeong’s inaction is to blame for part of this, yes, but remember that when he wanted to reveal the truth, Do San wouldn’t let him. In doing so, Do San gives us the first look at sort of an ugly selfish possessiveness trait of his that comes around more than once. To clarify, this is NOT because of his choice to pursue Dal Mi, but to do so by lying to her to “win her over” (in the beginning stages of their relationship) instead of fighting the battle openly like Seo Jun does (which makes his character MORE likeable). In this way, True Beauty is sort of a reverse Start-Up. So if we imagine Su Ho as Ji Pyeong, since both were the leads who “had the girl” (again, for the sake of argument, ignore the misogyny of this whole situation) and Seo Jun as Do San (the leads fighting for the girl), I guarantee people would not be nearly as supportive of Seojun had he faked his way to Jugyeong’s heart, then told her the truth. It just doesn’t work like that. Obviously in real life it’s completely possible, but then again things like incest are possible too but we don’t see that portrayed in manhuas all the time now do we? At least for me, when I read a manhua like True Beauty or watch a K-Drama like Start-Up, I have certain expectations for how characters behave and how the story unfolds. Plot choices have to be justified and I made it extremely clear in my first essay that the decisions in Start-Up were not justified at all. And perhaps because I was so jaded with that show that True Beauty seems like a masterpiece all of a sudden, but I am extremely appreciative of the fact that both Suho and Seojun are likable characters. Yes, each of them have their flaws, but thank God neither has an inferiority complex like Do San. Although Suho’s stalkerish habits are a bit concerning, I get that it’s because he’s trying to protect Jugyeong. Seojun too is a great second lead, with the right blend of “bad boy” and “soft boi”. He’s arguably my (and probably a lot of people’s) favorite character and so many of the other details about him serve to make him that much better (his sister, his mother, Se Yeon, his motley gang, and even Jugyeong). Every interaction brings out a new dimension to his character and he keeps getting better. His newfound love motivates him to break out of his shell and discover things he didn’t even know about himself. Sound like someone else? So do I think Seojun is better than Suho? Yes. Absolutely. But, unlike Start-Up, I am okay with him losing. Because I still like Suho too. He didn’t cheat or do anything wrong, he’s not selfish or self-centered, he doesn’t harbor any resentments to Seojun (except when they’re fighting over Jugyeong, but that’s to be expected), and he genuinely cares about Jugyeong (whether or not she has make-up on). They also had a past together (comic store) and he’s the first person she shared her secret and all of that with. So as much as I would have liked for Seojun to win, I am okay in knowing he’s probably going to lose because, unlike Do San, Suho’s actions show that he actually means well.

Other Characters - The rest of these will be pretty quick, the meat of this section was definitely those two. I’ll do my best to just pump these ones out.

Sujin Kang (강수진) - Great character, like the tension she adds to the Jugyeong - Suho relationship. Her own issues and backstory are interesting as well and I want to see where that goes.

Heegyeong Lim (임희경) - Ju Gyeong’s older sis is wild. She is on a completely different level. 10/10. I aspire to have her levels of confidence.

Story: 6

I doubt this section will be as lengthy as the previous, but it will follow a similar format where I discuss likes, dislikes, what I think could improve, and any other commentary I might have.

Unfortunately, I find the overarching plot of the manhua to be a bit lackluster if I’m being perfectly honest. It’s really just another high school love story. The plot is definitely not a reason people should read this unless they’re die hard fans of romance or any of the gazillion other stuff that is similar to this manhua. Now I’m not saying there are big plot holes or issues I have with it. No useless 3 year time-gaps this time. BUT, it’s just not that interesting. I already know who Jugyeong will end up with and that everything will be more or less resolved and happy by the end. True Beauty’s plot is rather transparent and while there is charm to the B and C stories that go on throughout the first eight episodes, no big twists or changes lead me to believe this manhua will pan out exactly as expected. With this being said, I think that, at least in this case, having an okay plot is still better than having okay characters or okay writing. Because the rest of True Beauty is actually very well done, it somewhat covers up for the plot. I come back to read the manhua each week not because I want to see what happens, but because I want to see how the characters develop.

If I were to change anything in the plot, I think I would have actually given Seojun more of an opportunity. Similar to my critique of Start-Up, if Jugyeong got together with Seojun first, it would give Suho more motivation to fight for her. Only here it’s to win her back rather than prove himself like in Start-Up. Which I think works even better for this manhua because it not only provides Suho insight into his own fallibility, but also pushes him to grow and fix those problems to succeed in winning Jugyeong back, making it a more earned victory. How the dynamic might change because of this, especially between Seojun and Suho, but if I could find a way to make it work I would 100% go for it. Something along the lines of Seojun having one-sided affection and Jugyeong accidentally being swept up in the moment but never REALLY REALLY falling for him. Which is somewhat what the artist did. I would’ve just taken it one step further. Besides that change, it’s pretty hard to see any other edits that wouldn’t completely throw off the manhua as a whole from what it is/intents to be. I’m curious to see if others have more ideas or thoughts about what they would change plot-wise if they could, but that’s the only one big thing I could think of. A lot of them are still cliches in their own right, but at least the artist had a bit more freedom with how these were done and wrote them in a way that at least I hadn’t really read before.

Overall, I’ll just reiterate that while the plot has thus far been mediocre, I think the strength of the characters and their individual growth arcs are much more compelling, making the plot better as a result and worth the read.

Art: 8

Lastly on this lengthy (not really) review, I'll be stating how I visually perceive the artist's work. This one’s a bit complicated since I’m not sure if I really like the artstyle or not. For the sake of simplicity, I will treat this manhua as a whole as if I am not an artist myself. Most of this review is going to be praising it anyway so it shouldn’t matter too much.

Within the constraints of the somewhat limiting plot, I am rather impressed by the overall quality of the art and writing of the manhua. In terms of dialogue, timing and spacing, and consistency, it’s pretty well done. I never felt like the transitions were dragging on too long, which is something that often happens when I read mangas that are overwritten. There’s very little unnecessary “fluff”, which is good, as this means most of the dialogue serves one of two purposes: driving the story or adding depth to character. These are the two main indicators (among others) of good art. Every line of dialogue (or lack thereof) should be written for a reason.

Fr I love how the artist make the characters really attractive like wtf LOL they're literally supa hawt XD

Overall: 7

In short, after having finished the first not less than a hundred chapters of True Beauty, I (as much as it surprises me) can say that I am looking forward to remainder of the manhua, if not for the arguably stereotypical premise, but at least to see how the characters in the drama continue to grow and learn about themselves. For what it is, the writing is good, the side characters are diverse enough, and most importantly, it does justice to the two-male leads. I know I’ve probably bagged on it enough already, and the potential for it to have polarized my viewpoint of this manhua is entirely possible, but I’ve said it multiple times now and will say it again. In my own, genuine, honest, PERSONAL opinion, True Beauty is a great manhua to read if you're into Romance/Drama.

That is all.

PS This is the first review that I have ever written on MAL, I hope I followed the guidelines specially with how I use punctuations because I'm lowkey bad at it.

Best of luck!