Lookism

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The story is really great because it has true topics that nobody speaks so openly about them, like the discrimination to other people for their experience, bully abuse, the pressure of the social media nowadays and others. This story has drama, comedy, mystery and some chapters are even wicked.

The characters are developed so good because each one of them have an important role in the story, even the bad ones has a good background story and with the story progress you can understand more about their actions.

The art is pretty good and like in other webtoons it has color.

The updates are every week and ... the chapters are not small.

I’ve had a really good time reading it; I’ve laughed and cried with this, I totally recommended.

The story is about a poor overweight high school guy that gets bullied and judged almost every single time he sees someone. He wants things to change, and much to his delight, he wakes up in a handsome and strong man's body, one day.

Story 4/10
I do not know what the story is supposed to be about at this point, it is so simplistic, unrealistic and lacks originality. In the beginning, you think you'd discover more about the mystery of the body swap, which is an overly used trope, but nope, it's just the main character, Hyung Suk, beating up bullies and protecting "ugly" people ... who remind him of his other body. He has a bunch of followers after him, because of his good looks and his strong punches and kicks, and yet there's always a bunch of idiotic characters that appear out of nowhere to stir some kind of unnecessary drama. Like, are you guys really high school students? They're really wild. And you never know what's happening to Hyung Suk's body in the end. He's just living the life, now that he's handsome and loved. The story seems mostly episodic: you'll have a few chapters about a certain character's unnecessary drama, and then Hyung Suk will beat the bullies with his new friends, or solve the problem with his "handsomeness" (he models at some point in the story). Though, the characters will sometimes have their own focus, and Hyung Suk will not appear or will be a side character, from time to time. The author seems to add a lot of comedy into his story, but honestly, I didn't laugh while reading the story. It's not my kind of comedy, or maybe it's truly bad.
You can tell me that the story gets better later on, but if it takes more than a hundred chapters for it to be "good", I'm not really interested.

Art 6/10
The "good-looking" characters look somewhat decent. The "ugly" ones are seriously... bad-looking, just like how it is in a lot of webtoons. I mean, was it really necessary to draw them THAT ugly? The art seems exaggerated when it comes to ugliness and some facial expressions. Like, when the characters get angry... They end up looking like the "unattractive" characters, which could sort of make sense, I suppose, since some characters that are good-looking have a rotten personality. Still, the art just isn't my type. The colors are nice and vibrant, though, it shows what kind of atmosphere the story should have, and it is somewhat appropriate for when the author tries to add some comic relief.

Characters 4/10
"What is going on with the characters...", is something I asked myself all the time while I was reading the webtoon. Their actions are so dumb and immature, and they don't make any sense, there's no real goal behind them. All the bullies look like they want to end up in jail with their violent tendencies, the "pretty" girls look like they just want to flirt with the "handsome" guys, and vice versa. The characters all seem like they have shallow personalities, and that they only care about good looks, clothes and money. If you're ugly, you are usually poor, and you don't deserve to live, is what this webtoon portrays, but then that's where Hyung Suk and a few persons come in. Of course, Hyung Suk is an exception, because he tries to fight bullies and he is, after all, initially an unattractive-looking person. He tries to help other people with their problems, but that's pretty much it... He's unable to grasp people's intentions and is so naive and optimistic, for someone who has been constantly bullied in the past. I mean, how can someone who wanted to die, be so carefree just because he got a nice new body? I'd be freaking out, not knowing if it's a short moment of happiness that's meant to destroy what little I have left of hope. I'd say, the only character that really matters in the story is his one and only true friend, the blonde dude... who has no eyes, because they're always hidden by his hair. He always helps Hyung Suk out and often shows acts of kindness without anyone noticing that he's doing so, aside from the readers. But the thing is, why is he so nice to Hyung Suk? And who is he, really? He doesn't even talk at all! The only thing we know is that he's super rich, and is probably handsome, from the way he looks. So in the end, none of the characters are really explored at all, we mostly see some drama between bullies and whatever, and then the case is somewhat resolved by beating them up. There's barely any character development: some side characters somewhat stop bullying and are kinder to "ugly" characters, and that's all there is to it. The main character doesn't even change or mature. He just lives his life innocently without even questioning what's going on around him, and he doesn't even seem to think much at all.

Enjoyment 5/10
The webtoon drags on and on, with its episodic chapters and its annoying characters. They really do get on your nerves. I ended up reading quite a lot of chapters, because I wanted to find out more about the body swap and the blonde friend, but I've reached my limit. The webtoon also has a bunch of random filler chapters, there was one about dogs... Anyway, I believe it's really not worth anyone's time and I wonder why it has so many chapters, but some people seem to still appreciate it nonetheless, so really, it all depends on what kind of tastes and how much free time you have. It can sometimes be a little entertaining to read.
This webtoon seems so superficial and tries to make it look like it's about not judging people by their appearance, but I think it really fails at delivering the message, since it's just a bunch of immature students that think they're better than elders and everyone else.

Overall 5/10

"Don't judge a book by its cover," is what everybody says.

This story is about how unattractive people in the world survive and deal with bullying and criticism every day.

Please take note that there are 2 versions of this, and the names are different in both. For example, HyungSuk=Daniel
HaNeul=Zoe
MiJin=Mira

Story:
I haven't read anything quite like Lookism, so I was instantly hooked by the unique storyline. Daniel is a fat, unattractive guy and is bullied every day. Therefore he transfers to another school to avoid the bullies. One day before he starts school, he wakes up to be extremely handsome, fit, strong, everything a man wants to be, ... and everything a woman wants in a man.

Art:
I'll be honest, I hated the art at the beginning. It wasn't like the normal big-eyes characters in normal manhwa/ manga that I was used to, therefore I did not like it much. It was a cross between realistic art and comic art. However as the story progresses on, I found myself loving the art style.

Characters:
Here are the characters I am proud of

Daniel:
The main character, Daniel, is bullied every day and is ungrateful to his mother.
He was a sheep in front of the bullies but an asshole towards his mother. Therefore I was extremely annoyed with him and did not like him much.
I thought that, since he turned attractive, he would turn into an even bigger asshole, but no.
Daniel started to change for the better.
He helped people, he started to be nice and he began to inspire people to be better people themselves.
He started to appreciate his mother more.
He got a part-time job, earned money and provided for his mother.

Zoe:
A girl infatuated with Daniel (after he turned handsome)
When she sees the previous Daniel, she is disgusted, not knowing that they're the same person.
But after getting saved by ugly Daniel, she starts to like him romantically, instead of handsome Daniel. At first, she was in denial, but she accepts that Ugly Daniel is a great guy and continues to like him. She starts to treat other people better.

The characters I love:

Vasco
My sweet, innocent child, Vasco.
Bullied when he was younger, he now strives to be stronger in order to protect the weak. He becomes close friends with Ugly Daniel when Ugly Daniel told him that he wants to be stronger and starts exercising with him

Jay
Quiet and gentle, he has helped Handsome Daniel infinite times without him even knowing it.

Duke
Unattractive and fat like Ugly Daniel. However, he does not let this drag him down. He aspires to be a rapper and works extremely hard towards his goal. Even though he gets bullied every day, he never gave up even once.

Mira and Zack
Holy cow, do I ship them. They are childhood friends and Zack has had a crush on her since forever.

To be honest, I love everyone in this webtoon. Their growth and development throughout the webtoon have made me so proud of them all.

Enjoyment:

I love, love, LOVE lookism, because it shows how life is in reality. (Besides the fact that Daniel just woke up one day being the most handsome guy on earth)
It does not sugarcoat anything.
It shows how no matter what you do, if you're unattractive, you're going to have difficulty, especially in school.

Overall:
It's amazing. I really don't know what else to say.

Lookism was great, but all I remember now is its wasted potential. TL;DR at bottom

I used to love Lookism, so much so that I would recommend it to all of my friends who liked Webtoons. It had a unique concept, and it acted as a form of social commentary on "lookism," or discrimination on the basis of looks, while still being an entertaining series with a colourful cast of mostly likable characters. If my score was based on my original opinion, I would've easily given the series at least an 8/10, so why do I give it a 5?

The story. I started reading Lookism because ... it was an interesting drama with well-placed humour and interesting social commentary. As I kept reading, I began to like it less and less but was convinced that there was to be a semblance of the original series I adored. There wasn't. By the time I dropped it at the end of 2019, at chapter 260, there was no trace of the story I had loved. I was utterly perplexed by what was going on (I believe it had something to do with a gang war or something), and too many new (and useless) characters had been added that it was too confusing to follow.

I don't know exactly when I began to dislike Lookism, but I know that I am very disappointed in the direction the story was heading. If you're curious as to why I originally liked the series, read it for yourself. But don't hesitate to drop it as soon as you start to dislike it.

TL;DR
used to love Lookism but story got bad
Story: 4
Art: 8
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 5

This Manhwa (korean comics) is amazing and i recommend everyone to check it out. (Im also gonna be using the English version of there names so it wont be as complicated)

Story: 9/10
The main character Daniel is basically this fat teen that nobody really likes. he was basically bullied most of his life and his mom is the only person that looks out for him. His family is poor so they live in a shabby house with low quality food. his mom is the only person that helped him in life but he said harsh things towards her, even tho shes his only ally in ... life. He transfers schools because of all the bullying. and on the first day of school he became this hunk of a guy, he was fit handsome and was so confused as to what was going on. then he realized he basically had 2 bodies. his normal body and this one. he gets good friends later and basically has a pretty good life. The story is sort of a drama, slice of life, romance, mystery, action sort of manhwa. the story slows down often but then it gets good again after slowing down so i give it a 9/10

Art: 10/10
Lets take into consideration that this manga is in FULL COLOR! that takes so much time and effort. the art itself is also so amazing its one of the more simpler but amazing art styles.

Characters: 9.5/10
The characters in this story are amazing but some of them seem a bit bland. take his mom for example she is an amazingly nice character, however daniel was often an asshole to her. later in the story daniel becomes a better person and so on. there is also alot of amazing characters in this manhwa.

Enjoyment:10/10
This manga is so enjoyable i recommend it to everyone. it gives u the feels, the laughs, and everything else u could ever want in a story.

Overall 9.6/10:
Thats basically it, so go check out this manhwa i guarantee you will love it (most likely).

https://discord.gg/UbsGXHN to join my animu discord xD

Lookism is a South Korean manhwa (comic) series written and illustrated by Park Tae-jun. The story is about a high school student named Park Hyung-suk who is bullied for being overweight. One day, Daniel Park, a visionary student and athlete, wakes up and the story follows his journey as he navigates two different worlds in his old and new body.

The artwork in Lookism is amazing, the design of each character is unique and memorable. The author does a great job of conveying emotions through facial expressions and body language, making the characters feel real and relatable.

One of the strengths of Lookism is how to deal ... with various social problems, including bullying, discrimination, body shaming and mental health. The story is not afraid to dig deep into this sensitive subject and portray it in a realistic and empathetic way.

Character development in Lookism is also notable. The character's growth and changes throughout feel natural and rewarding, making it easy to root for and invest in their journey.

One downside of Lookism is the heavy use of Korean language and cultural references that may be difficult for non-Korean readers to fully understand. However, the official online translation does a good job of explaining and providing context for these elements.

Overall, Lookism is a great manga series to read. Engaging stories, beautiful artwork, and thoughtful studies of social issues set him apart in the genre.

Note: [Spoilers]
It's been a few weeks since I caught up with this manhwa but it is certainly very addictive, I also didn't know it had a MAL page so I'm going to add my thoughts of it here~~~

Story:
The story behind Lookism isn't fully articulated until the high school transfer but I feel that the approach of having a character that is obese being bullied on the lower end of the social spectrum also getting a chance to experience life on the upper echelon of the spectrum makes for an entertaining but educational narrative. The Story follows Danial Park, a bullied high school student ... living a miserable life serving a powerful bully which then forces him to transfer to another school where life as he knows it changes as he receives the ability to possess a physically superior, visually superior, height superior etc. body while also maintaining his original body. He learns to coexist with both bodies (while one body works and studies in the night at a convenient store, the other attends the newly transferred school) Daniel Park in his superior form supports other individuals who suffer similar to him as much as he can while also transforming the characters in his new school to help with his endeavor of minimizing bullying (or subconsciously so) Reading this series in webtoon form was 'dog god' tier since it was very easy to adapt to, character wise also. (I also enjoyed the JoJo References during the Family Gathering Arc where Daniel Park meets his cousins hehe...) 10/10 -

Art:
The art felt more on the less refined spectrum but the quality of the art is comparable to that of Solo Levelling. The shading, colors and even use of negative space made it easy to flow with the story; thus fuelling by addiction for webtoon style comics. The fighting scenes are my favorite by far and especially with Rohan's god dog facing off with Daniel Park's central crew teaming up together; all the art during that arc were masterpieces. 10/10 -

Character:
This webtoon has mastered the conditioning of character development, it manages the immediate character palette fairly nicely by constantly going back and using each character at least in every chapter and their quirky interaction. Similar to Jin Sung Lee and his 'gf' (forgot her name) when he ends up acting like an obedient dog to her when he intends to act dominant as an example to other characters needing relationship advice. Also, when Daniel Park's original body saves Ha Neul (can't remember her name) from the stalker fan, Ha Neul begins to favor him over his superior form. Overall amazing character development and there are a lot of promising characters. 9/10 -

Enjoyment:
easily 10/10, the author knows how to entertain their readers by not being too serious with content and even adding in other references besides JoJo's (I could only notice JoJo but there were many different random changes in art styles)

Story 8/10
A lot of people seems to dislike this manhwa because of the bad storyline. It does, in the first half of the beginning. But the story is getting better and better over the time. I read this manhwa until 300++ chapters and I dare to say that it's worth it! This manhwa contains information about the martial art techniques, origin, etc and it made me became more interested to learn them. The comedy might annoy some people but its actually work for me. At first, the story only focused to school-bully and body shaming dramas but as time goes on the story turns into ... juvenile crime and mafia/? There are also lots of unexpected plot twists.

Art 8/10
Just as the storyline, the art is also develop to the better. If you compare the first chapters and the latests, you will notice it. Also PHS real body's art changed dramatically!

Character 8/10
I love that it's not too focused to the main character (Park Hyungseok/Daniel) and honestly, the side character's stories are sometimes more interesting to read! My favorites are Lee Euntae/Vasco and Seong Yohan/Johan. Each character has a variety of appearance, background, personalities and their own unique stories that make it easier to tell them apart even though the characters is around 50++ in amount (or almost 100 i think?). The only parts I disappointed about is the unconsistent names of some characters.

Enjoyment 10/10
I really enjoyed this manhwa that I sometimes re-read it while waiting for new chapters. I even followed all of Park Taejoon universe (the author) series such as Viral Hit, Diary of Desire and Loser Life and I really recommend them too! Fun fact: every stories has a little bit of connection that doesn't really affect the storyline if you didn't read one of them, but still fun to find. There are actually more manhwas by PTJ like Manager Kim and Quest Supremacy that I plan to read soon.

Overall 8/10
Please consider to read it because I highly recommend it for those who like to learn martial arts, comedy and like to read many short stories in just one story. There are also tons of epic moments in this manhwa that is unforgettable and even made me cry. Lastly, I apologize if there is some gramatical errors since I'm not a native.

The first 200 chapters or so are amazing with great character building, story, etc. This series has made me laugh, cry and alomost jump out of my seat in fear. But then it just goes downhill with infinite power scaling, overload of poilitics and non-stop fight scenes that goes on for 10 - 20 chapters straight. Half of the characters you learn to love in the beginning haven't been seen for more than 100 chapters and there's barely no story besides the fighting. It's all about what new cool martial art the author have found or what new fighting skill the characters unlock.
All in all ... - the series went from a solid 9 to a 5 in my book. If you're into fight scenes, give it a go. If not, I wouldn't recommend it.

I really enjoyed Lookism when I first picked it up, which is what makes its current state more disappointing for me.

The first 100 or so chapters are pretty solid and introduce a very interesting body-swap scenario. The main character, who was bullied for his weight in previous years, wakes up in a completely different body, with his normal body sound asleep. Basically, people start to pay attention to him and treat him with respect because he's conventionally attractive. The manhwa covers how he makes new friends while hiding the fact that he has two bodies. It was a unique sort of slice-of-life series with its ... supernatural twists. Keep in mind, this whole premise is what the manhwa introduces itself as. (Even the webtoon summary still promotes this concept.)

It does stick with the original body-swapping plot for a while, but later on the chapters seem to completely change in genre. The body-swapping is barely mentioned and the main character has become some amazing fighter who spends all his time beating up gang members.

...What?

It would have been fine if this only happened for one arc. An odd twist for sure, but the manhwa was very enjoyable before, so it'll probably pick up again... It did not. I could not continue reading Lookism because it just became battle after battle after battle. I appreciate that the series is tackling darker and less discussed topics about the modern world, but the drastic change in tone made me pretty disappointed. If you're a fan of action manhwa, then the current Lookism could be for you. Unfortunately, it is not for me, as what I really loved about this manhwa is now long gone.

I almost didn't read this because the (extremely short) synopsis of the story really turned me off. "Oh great, a story about how an unattractive and unpopular guy magically turns into a hot guy and gets all of the girls and his life is great - what a great message....NOT". I am glad that I gave into the high reviews and gave the story a shot, though, because my initial impression could not have been any more wrong.

Instead of a wish-fulfillment story about someone whose life sucked but suddenly gets better because of a change in appearance, this manhwa is a story that explores ... in great depth the prejudice that people subconsciously have based on the appearance of others, as well as many of the unhealthy and misguided aspects of modern Korean society. The change in Daniel's appearance becomes a tool for the author to expose how the way we treat people is often influenced by their appearance (and, it explores how having an overly perfect appearance can *also* lead others to form a poor impression of someone).

The characters are great. There is a large, well-developed cast of secondary characters to support Daniel (and honestly, I liked some of the secondary characters even more than the main characters). These characters frequently get story arcs of their own, which allows to author to show their background and explains what their motives as and why they act the way they do. I liked some of these side stories more than others, but overall I really appreciated how well developed the characters were because of that. I see that some reviewers do not think that Daniel develops as a character, but I have to disagree. It does take a long time (this is a very long manhwa, after all), but he does slowly begin to change, especially as he is encouraged by seeing other people like Duke and Crystal overcoming obstacles despite being in the same situation as he originally was.

I will definitely say that the author often set up situations for the characters that were not entirely realistic. I mean, honestly, how many bad-a** mofo's can you have in one high school? This manhwa makes it seem like Korea is full of hot young guys who all have superb fighting abilities. That being said, the set-ups that the author created in the plot did not bother me - to me this story is almost more like a parable or a fable used by the author to make a point and explore the darker side of Korean society rather than a story that is meant to be realistic or purely for enjoyment. In addition to the overall themes of bullying and "lookism" (prejudice based on appearance), the author also uses the subplots and characters to delve into the issues of gambling, addition, overuse of social media, etc. The author clearly has a point to make, and does a good job at making the readers reflect on what their own personal bias may be.

As far as the art goes, I wouldn't say that it is....attractive.....but it has a very distinct, well-drawn style. I don't read a whole lot of shounen manga so it is different than what I am used to, but I did like it, and I felt like it was well-suited to the subject matter. If you are trying to expose the dark underbelly of society, you don't want everything to look all shiny and perfect, do you?

*MINOR SPOILER AHEAD*


(This is my first review I've ever written, so bear with me when my words aren't the most elaborate. I am open to suggestions and advice, so please feel free to criticize me in a constructive manner. Note that this was also slovenly written)

Reading the first 4 chapters of Lookism, I was elated to continue reading. The joy and satisfaction of a student being bullied excessively and judged for his ugly looks finally getting a good life was overwhelming. So overwhelming that I overlooked the minor problems it had. Alas, that opinion slowly degraded and in recent chapters I was utterly disappointed how ... it turned out. Here are a list of reasons why:

1.The sheer amount of prejudice from superficial assholes is gaudy and suffocating to read. Not in the way the author intended, but in a way where I'm starting to be sick of the manga.

2.The antagonists are facsimiles of the preceding ones. Superiority complex? Check. Good looks? Check. Allures women with their handsome looks? Check. Hates ugly people? Check. For fuck's sake, when is the author going to change the formula?

3) Oh how I detest the protagonist's current way of thinking. It is unbearably naive and quick to change. An opinion he once had is diverted by one simple occurrence. For example, when Daniel encounters a female student, who too shares the same ability to switch from one unappealing body to a gorgeous one, he dislikes her immediately after she delivers an insult to someone who well deserved such treatment. Before, he admired her kindness when she met him occasionally in convenience stores. Now, he hates her. Isn't that the same kind of attitude Zach gives to others? He throws insults at others, yet Daniel continues to converse and be friendly with him? What the hell?

4) Daniel vows to change and become like others, but is never shown making any sort of progress. After a repeating influx of flashbacks and heart-wrenching images of Daniel's mother working tirelessly are presented to us, and Daniel talks about whatever negative emotion he holds towards himself, Daniel seems completely forget what he's been crying over about. It's frustrating to read. This happens with every single encounter. It is a circular path of recognizing faults and neglecting to change.

5) My lord, the fight cannot be any more repetitive. Character encounters an antagonist who is stronger than them, overcomes them from reflecting on past experiences or by strong emotion. They hold no merit and It screams "BORING BORING BORING."

Lookism is fun, has a great plot, with superb world building and nice lessons to teach you... for the first 200 or so chapters, that is.

The series has went seriously downhill ever since the author changed his art style and began to focus on fighting. Fighting, fighting and fighting is everything the webtoon is about now. Not to mention the ridiculous portrayal of all highschoolers being strong enough to beat the strongest man on earth, its almost feels like the author has lost inspiration on what he initially set out, a fat and insecure dude who suddenly gained a new handsome body and how ... he deals with the hypocrisy of the judgemental society on appearances.

Now the hundred plus chapters so far has all been focused on mindless fighting, in his new body ofcourse. I refuse to continue the story as it is now as I don't want to ruin the pleasant image I had of this manhwa in its initial 200 chapters. Anyways, if you're into mindless fighting and action, this one's definitely for you, but just bear with the first few chapters.

I think most people who read under 200 chapters give bad reviews, and people who read over 200 chapters mostly give good reviews(?)

.

[Spoiler]
#I will give an outline of the life journey of the main character, from chapter 1 to 442
=
1. park hyungseok original(daniel) will become a popular streamer on Twitch, he earns a lot of money and sends it to his mother.
2. He will succeed in overcoming his fear of the "jujitsu black belt" owner who bullies him (Taelee/Logan).
3. he finally has many friends, there are even 2 women who sincerely love him as he is.
4. he will practice martial arts ... very hard, have 2 teachers, until finally he becomes thin+tall+handsome+strong.
5. He made his mother and family extremely proud.
6. He became the leader of the gang, which has 6 great people. which aims to fight against a large-scale criminal organization called ilhae/workers. (while saving his second body hidden by ilhae).
7. In the newest chapter, he will meet again with the person who bullied him before(logan). which turns out, logan already has a high position in ilhae.

+and lastly, daniel will meet someone who knows about the secrets of the 2 bodies (which is most likely that person is daniel's real biological father)

.

I have a lot of feelings when I read lookism..
happy, annoyed, sad, bored, interested, angry, lazy, satisfied, disgusted, curious, surprised, happy, hopeful, smiling, theorizing, waiting.. every chapter gives a different reaction and feeling different.

.

I like lookism, when the genre is 90% drama
and
I like it even more when the genre changes to 90% action.
the story line is complicated,
if we can understand it properly, we can feel that lookism is an amazing story.

My biggest problem with this series is that the characters have almost become caricatures of themselves. Despite the stereotypical drama everyone starts off with, it really does bring you in to care about the characters. As the plot goes on, they start to lose the feel of who they are ever so slightly like a small itch that doesn't go away.

Despite this I still gave the series a 9 because I enjoy it so much. Overall it does a good job of investing you into the characters and the action is amazing, along with an interesting plot. Is it anything new? No. But it's just ... fun.

*I will be using English versions of the names*

Lookism. Out of the two manhwas I've read this one far surpasses the first. On the surface it seems like a simple story about Daniel Park who gets bullied for being overweight. And when he decides to transfer to another school he finds himself in mysterious yet perfect body.

Story:
Reading Lookism is like going down a rabbit hole. After I crossed the chapters that are already animated (I first watched the animation) it only got more interesting. The whole story is relatively complex and every little action is part of a much bigger picture. In the later chapters ... it can feel like it drifted away from it's original premise but when you think about it it all makes sense. While reading I had to be fully conscious all the time otherwise I could easily lose track of the story.

Art:
At the very beginning the art is way more ocmical and just points out the funniest aspects of the characters. However as the story goes on the art becomes more realistic and that kinda adds to the darker tone of the series. Whether it was intentional or not it really makes the stroy even more enjoyable.
However, there can come moments where some characters can look very similar which can cause me to be confused sometimes.

Characters:
Where to even start with them? Let's get bad things out of the way. There for sure is a lot of characters. A LOT. Remembering all of them is a pain in the ass and when the desings change (sometimes, a little) I needa see their name to remember who they are.
But despite certain flaws most of the characters eventually become very lovable (either because of personality or simply good looks). Some backstories go very deep which adds to the reasoning in the chracters' actions.
There are a lot of good character developments and arcs which make all the amazing characters even more amazing.

So overall this is for sure my favourite series I've ever read/watched. I look forward to future updates which I wish could come sooner.
If you gonna judge it I recommend you first finish it before judging since it gets better as it goes in.

Lookism is a story which had incredible potential to be a fantastic read covering sensible topics and real-world dilemmas in a high school setting, with elements of mystery, drama, comedy, supernatural and action. It could have had it all.

However Lookism as a manhwa has aged like milk. The weekly updates continue to pile onto a story that is now ultimately boring.


STORY
The initial hundred or so chapters are not bad by any means. The art isn't great per se but it's not detrimental to the overall read. You get introduced to the main cast with their varying personalities and quirks, you learn to hate them ... and love them, sometimes both, comfortably settle into the story and prepare yourself for the joy of the coming chapters that will tie up all the loose ends, fill you with all sorts of emotions and finish the manhwa in beautiful fashion. Right?

It is here that the story starts deviating from its original plot points and into gang war sludge. Interesting characters are shelved to instead make way for brutes and gangs. How should we stop the prejudice against ugly people? With our fists!! Daniel Park says as he goes out of his way to beat up the local gangs because they were threatening this one character we'd almost all forgotten about. It's in this very manner that the story turns into one big dogpile of bloodied thugs and illegal business activities: pulled into a rinse-and-repeat cycle of 20 chapters of fighting, then one or two chapters of 'peace' to cushion the fall, then a further plunge with 20 chapters of violence and so on and so forth.

The fights are barely discernable in and of themselves as they all follow the same structuring in typical Tae-jun Park fashion; A and B fight, A gets knocked down, scene plays in which a side character reminisces about how A is special / has a hidden ability / trained a lot in secret, A gets an "unexpected" power boost, gets back up and beats B. It is predictable and frustrating, these fights and power boosts seeming nonsensical at times and making the characters completely unrealistic and superhuman.

The story built itself up well, but failed to deliver when it most mattered and instead left a hot mess in its wake, a mess which makes for a dreadfully boring read.


CHARACTERS
Unlike Viral Hit in which the fights complement the story and with a clear end goal in sight, Lookism's story seems to drift further and further from what it initially represented. The holes in the story remain open, and Tae-jun Park continues to pierce new holes into Lookism with each new chapter, with most of these revolving around our beloved main cast.

The author keeps drawing our attention away from them to instead serve us a 15 chapter arc on the backstory of a side character. Paired with the aforementioned troubled progression of the story, this leads to moments in which when we finally do see one of our main characters, it's usually for a couple of panels before another side story.

The characters' individual contributions to the story are usually minimal. Some may stand out every now and then but there are so many characters who get built up to be this important figure in the story and then almost never show up again.


OVERALL
TO CONCLUDE, Lookism feels like a project rather than a product. A brilliant idea which started out well enough, but ended up being tweaked and fiddled with to an unrecognisable point, and left to rot. It failed in its delivery and dug its grave further instead of fixing its pressing issues.

It is 2 stories in 1.
If you are interested in the fundamental story then don't bother as you will probably never receive a fulfilling conclusion.
If you are interested in gang wars and fights upon fights then start reading from chapter 150

Something I've noticed is that for a lot of the positive reviews they read up until around 150 (not strictly but around 120-180) where it starts to worsen, and I really thought the same, which is why I feel as though it's such a shame it went the way it did.

I personally didn't enjoy it but my best friend did and maybe you will too. He still reads the weekly updates and likes them. To each their own, and this manhwa is very much an example of that.

Lookism is a masterpiece of the action manhwa genre of all time.

Story 10/10 (minor spoiler here)
This comic starts with the story of a fat dude that gets bullied a lot. The storyline is really confusing about where to go in the first chapters, it really makes the reader discontinue reading the comic.
The story just tells "-oh shit another bully bad guy and this protagonist has to overcome his fears, boom the bad guy is punished, and then-". At this point, most of the readers are discouraged by this kind of naive story and at some point, the author snapped the fuck out and ... just changes the whole story into a twisted wicked evil mafia. Drugs, Night Clubs, Government Involvement, Prison Life, Gang War, Generation Fight War shit like bruh they're only 18. Anyway, its really the best decision how he changed the genre of the comic, making the readers interested in what will happen to the next character. The author really knows how to make a perfect cliffhanger and not overused it.

Character 10/10
It's just straight-up perfection, he makes us really cling to every fucking character that exists. Interesting backstory on all the characters, making us the readers show sympathy to them. He is overusing the backstory too much but, somehow it just works perfectly fine. This may be caused by the unique character he makes. Romanticism, Goofy Silly, Heroic, Intelligent, and more. Every Character made didn't look or have the same trait, he successfully use every character to entice the story. All of the Character has a fully ripened character development. And most importantly, the drip of every character I MEAN LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE SO HOT HOW CAN THE READER DIDNT BORED?

Art 10/10
Not gonna lie. the art is just bad at the start, but this manhwa aged like a fine wine. The art got better by 300%. The unique-ness of the choreography/pose of the fighting, it didn't just use a normal punch or a generic fighting boxing stance, it covers taekwondo, capoeira, systema, freestyle street fighting, karate, muay thai, kali. They all use a very unique kicking, punching, and dodging style, that really elevates the storytelling style of the story.

Music 8/10
You hear it right, they use soundtracks while you are reading. This music feature is recently added lately so you are not going to find
any music in the earlier episodes (some of the end of the arc episode have them). There is not really much memorable music as you read but it really adds the climax feel in every episode. However, you're reading speed may not match the sound causing it to ruin your experience, its still good in my opinion anyway

Overall 10/10
I will definitely recommend this to a reader that can read a whole lot of lore their mind can comprehend, has a lot of patience to wait until the gang-fighting arc, and needs a good action story. I advise reading it fast in the earlier episodes because it really didn't matter until the later episode, then you may have to read slow to know the context what's going on on the panel.

This is my first review, so I decided to do it for my favorite manhwa.

Summary of my review:
The story evolved around a guy named Daniel Park. He got blessed to have 2 bodies, which each bodies have a very separate trait. One is typical coolest handsome guy with OP moves and other body is fat lame guy who always got bullied. Daniel's adventure start in his high school after he moved from different school cause kept getting bullied, he meet different kinds of people and friends. The story focused on moral issue towards looks of people so much, then adding some "Crow" gang fights that ... when you keep reading it's just getting more interesting.


Story - 7
I am a person who likes the shonen gangster fights. It starts slow cause it's school theme-wise but after a while, the plot starts to deepen, and that's how things started making a lot of sense, and soon I wasn't expecting some interesting plot twists between the fights, the more you read the more you curious what will happened and the most interesting mystery until now is how come Daniel got his second body?

Art - 9
It's the normal manhwa art. Full colored etc. It's really nothing special, but the way the author created the character design (clothes, eyes etc) was amazing. It truly fit the character's personalities. And some fights truly have amazing effects in it, it just look like I can feel the fights just by reading it.

Character - 9
Characters were beautifully designed and drawn, as stated above. I really love all of them (so far) except for some villains (some betrayal happened and some protagonist friend switched side and became villains). The characters I thought I'd hate, I began to love. And the characters I thought had potential, I began to hate. Names are a tiny bit difficult to remember but it gets easier as you go on.

Enjoyment - 8
Let's just say I read all 290 chapters non-stop. It was a binge fest.
I regret it now though because I realised that there's a whole whopping 40 CHAPTERS NOT TRANSLATED I BEG Of YOU, TRANSLATORS, PLEASE, I NEED MORE.

This manhwa made me intrigued so much. I keep thinking like: "How?" "How" and "How?"
All in all, it was a blast. And the fights also epic.

Overall- 8
I highly recommend this manhwa.
THIS MAY BE A NEW CROWS KOREAN VERSION
The story is just keep getting better.

Lookism is a manhwa that is confused about its own identity. But I can't really say I hate it, in fact I've grown to like it after a few hundred chapters.

The story starts with a high school boy named Park Hyung-Suk who's not attractive and bullied and suddenly has a second body that's athletic and very good looking. The early chapters focuses on the struggles of the students who are not good looking and how it affects how people treats them. The story tells different perspectives on the good looking and the ugly people and how they are treated and it's pretty interesting to ... see. The manhwa really shows the social hierarchy really well and it really shows the discrimination of ugly people in Lookism. But after a few hundred chapters and the introduction of Jong-Gun and The 4 Crew, the story takes a different turn to an action story which strays further away from social discrimination. The newer chapters focuses more on gangs, violence and drugs. Even the secret of Hyung-Suk's body is barely relevant anymore because how big the story got. Personally, I don't hate how the story got more into action but it changes a lot from how its about social discrimination to action shounen-esque manhwa which is weird for me.

The characters are well written and interesting. They all have their fair share of spotlight and flashback so we can relate more the them. But as we got further, the characters that are introduced became too much, and I find it hard to remember each one of them.

The art starts of as messy and cartoonish at the beginning, but as the story progresses, the art became much more cleaner and better. Although some of the character faces, especially the good looking ones, tend to look the same.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Lookism, even though it strays from its main story about social discrimination and more to action. The characters are interesting, the current story is also pretty good. Thanks for reading