My ID is Gangnam Beauty (2018)

Best freaking drama ever. Story on point. Well executed. I love the ost. The love story between Kang Mi Rae and Keong Suk was so adorable, I almost cried.
The characters were not annoying. Unlike most dramas, the damsel in distress did have a tongue and could speak for herself. The drama dealt well with mental health issues and also portrayed well the pressure of looking beautiful by the standards of the society.
It is an amazing drama with extremely cute casting and to those people who didn't like Cha Eun Woo's acting, please take a note that the character was MEANT to be aloof and different.
This drama was such a great watch, I don't understand why one won't like it.

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So first of all,
This drama is probably my all time favorite. The story was new, the acting was enjoyable and I personally don’t understand the hate eunwoo got. His acting was on point as for his role. He really improved his acting skills in this drama.

Main Leads :
Their chemistry was brilliant.
A mix of everything. I loved how caring they were towards each other. I can’t express how much I loved seeing them together.
They both developed their characters together throughout the show and that’s what a healthy relationship is about. Helping the one you love and making him/her a better version of themselves they are confident in.

Story:
I never thought I could love a plot as much as in this drama. The story is definitely not your typical romance. But definitely what you are looking for if you look for a drama to distract yourself from reality.
The story deals with topics everyone has dealt with about self love. It’s important that finally a drama has talked about it.

Soundtrack:
Of course some songs were repetitive but not to the point I got annoyed. I hate watching a show and hearing the same song over and over again. But in this show I actually enjoyed it?!

All in all,
I am a person who really gets bored easily by a drama in the first episodes so I stop watching it. But this drama was interesting from the start. I can’t express how terrible I felt if an episode came to the end and i had to wait a whole week before I could watch another one.
Also this is the only drama show I watched 2 TIMES because I missed the characters so much.

Go watch it! You will regret not watching it!!

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I've watched this about a year a ago so this might not be the best review. It's not the most memorable series. It's slow paced with lot's of filler scenes. I personally can watch the types of series but if you can't i'd say on't watch. There was a good bit of character growth which i was glad to see the different sides of the charterers. I was very surprised to see that Soo Ah was living in a small flat with nobody. I personally found the charters a bit irritating especially Kyung Suk at first but over time they became bearable. I like this show but it's not really my time of show to watch anymore. I hope this was helpful to someone.

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I drop this drama and rewatched it since I don’t want to regret not watching it later. Since I drop quiet a few dramas before I go back and find it interesting but for this drama it’s not a regret but more like I just got over my curious of this drama. I didn’t find this drama interesting due to the age gap since since Cha Woo have such a baby face, compare to Im Woo, and Im Woo just doesn’t fit these kind of school roles for me. (My personal thinking) but she is still an amazing character and understand that’s how her role suppose to be. I personally think Park Yoo Na make a good match with Cha Woo I also notice that she also play in another drama with him, love her in both drama. Hoping to see her play FL, otherwise I still find this drama amazing due to Cha Woo role, Not like any other drama where the ML will always be the nice guy(quiet dumb and fall for the scheme) who show sympathy to the support female casting in the love triangle. Love how he picks up Soo Ah tricks and his cold side. But otherwise the chemistry in this drama is pretty dragging

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Lacking in certain places but makes up for 10 times over

So, I'm not going to pretend that this show was just an extremely well done masterpiece with A+ acting and story. The leads are a bit stiff and show could easily fall into the sea of school romances with cute aloof boys and wide-eyed girls. However, My ID is Gangnam Beauty makes up for the overall averageness of the show in three major ways.

1. The message: It was actually so refreshing and mindblowing the way show handled beauty standards, especially ones unique to South Korea. Plastic surgery is everywhere, obviously, but South Korea is on another level. Our protagonist is one such person who decided to undergo the knife, but show never condemns protag for her actions. She is an adult who chose this for herself and, other than certain characters bullying her for it, there's no actual message that what she did was wrong or shameful. What the show does condemn are beauty standards and the pressure for women to attain something that is ultimately unfulfilling, whether you're conventionally attractive or not. That's the true beauty of the show, how it conveys that patriarchal standards of beauty are oppressive to all women, and digs into our psyches enough to evaluate our own worth and value.

2. 2nd Female Lead (Antagonist?): I actually dislike the tendency for kdramas to try to put a sloppy resolution by showing the antagonist's trauma and having that speak for their actions. I think it's oftentimes lazy and doesn't work with the story. Plus, just because bad actions are explainable doesn't make them excusable. But I felt like show actually did a successful character arc with Soo Ah. We're first presented with her as this total b*tch who is just a bad person, but slowly we see the cracks in her own facade. We see the different ways that patriarchal beauty standards affects her life. It's revealed Soo Ah is from a very poor family, and so the bitterness she feels toward Mi Rae (in her viewpoint) buying a pretty face, when for Soo Ah it's been a "blessing" and what's gotten her what she wanted in life, is more understandable (not excusable). I think women against women is one of the strongest weapons of the patriarchy and we see it happen in this show. But, even though Mi Rae and Soo Ah will never be close friends, there is a very satisfying resolution to their conflict, with both realizing just how much of a victim they both are to oppressive beauty standards. Soo Ah is a very well written, complex "antagonist" who brings so much depth to the show. Show could have gone down the route of just letting Soo Ah be a catty mean character; instead they showed how even conventionally pretty people are trapped and unhappy when a person's worth is connected to their beauty, even if it seemingly benefits them.

3. Wish fulfillment sans jerks: The reason I could never get into shows like Boys Over Flowers or Playful Kiss was just how much the male leads actually suck as people. Like, objectively. Doesn't mean I don't like the aloof boy trope, but it typically came with the as*hole boy trope. My ID is Gangnam Beauty gives me all my wish fulfillment with cute, smart, aloof male leads but one's that actually aren't complete jerks. The bare minimum is respecting your partner, and show met this standard on both ends of the relationship. Really appreciated how OTP treated one another. Even if the acting was a bit stiff, emotions still got through and was more or less believable. Most importantly, it was all very cute lol.

The above major factors are what made this show top 5 favorite kdramas for me. Outside of the OTP (which, I still very much like and squeal over despite its one note-ness), I think there was a lot of depth in the show with its characters and themes. Not that show didn't have its faults (why is Mi Rae's beauty suddenly validated because she gets a hot boyfriend? The incredibly poor taste diet product ad placement during Soo Ah's eating disorder), but overall I just appreciated immensely how show handled the complexity of self worth through appearance. And I could go way more into it and analyze the nuances of the show and its messages (whether it's promoting plastic surgery, toxic behavior displayed by certain characters, etc), but as a seasoned kdrama viewer, it was an enjoyable college romance that packed a bigger punch than expected. The deeper exploration of the relationship between beauty and worth, and how this creates a violent environment toward women, was just really refreshing to see handled in a romcom-type drama. With shows like True Beauty that touched on similar themes, I just feel like My ID is Gangnam Beauty handled the topic with more depth and complexity (still think True Beauty is cute, just didn't love it). Overall I enjoyed this show a lot and have already rewatched it 5 times over.

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In this drama we get explored into the very common topic in inner Korea,and that is the looks of every persons.If you are pretty or ugly, you get judged by your looks.If people look better they even have an advantage in the job market. So in all that South Korea has the most plastic surgeries per capita on earth. Every girl in Korea gets a plastic surgery as a graduation present,isn`t that crazy? In this very popular drama, we follow the story of the very sensitive and insecure Kang Mi-rae who gets plastic surgery before entering college because of the bullying of her "ugly" face which she has suffered her whole life.Through surgery she becomes very beautiful and throughout the story we see her recovering her self-esteem, getting new friends, overcoming her inner demons and realizing that life is about much more than mere looks, and lastly finding true love in her possessive protector, the very handsome Do Kyung-seok. I adore this couple so much! Do Kyung is seen as a very cold-hearted person,as he is rude to all the people around him and is very straight-faced and blunt.But he becomes very fascinated by Mi-Rae, and without knowing always follows around her like a puppy,so cute! Soon enough he gets smitten by her, and does his best to change for her and the way he tries to woo her is so romantic that i sighed so many times!You should also see his mindblowing smile,it lights up his whole face!"Gangnam Beauty" is a wonderful drama with a very sweet romance and exciting drama.I finished watching it in three days, and being one of the highest rated dramas right now i highly recommend it!

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Frustratingly slow

Male Lead is plainly smitten right away, but is frustratingly clueless about declaring himself. Again the thing that is the major problem is the very old trope of lack of communication.
I'm going to blame the director for having Cha Eun Woo do most of his emoting with his eyes & clenched fists. You accept it because, well, it's
Cha Eun Woo ! Unfortunately, it quickly gets frustrating to watch. His character is written so broken & emotionally withdrawn & yet we never get a good explanation besides his mother leaving. It really needed to be plainly shown that his father's being emotionally distant/selfish/demanding/uncaring is the cause. It was annoying that Alot of his actions & attractions are simply inexplicable. The series stylist did an unflattering job with Im Soo Hyang. Her look was flat & not as attractive as she really is so it was hard to see her as the super pretty. She also was not given much in the way of direction or something as she too often came across dim witted & dull. The premise was interesting & there were alot of good point about appearance, but the series was also heavy on being preachy about beauty standards & attitudes towards females. I was not fond of the OST. I wanted to like this, but it was a bit of a waste of time because of the pace & the flat characters. would not watch again, even for Cha Eun Woo

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You can't stop!

I am a huge fan of Cha Eun Woo! As I have seen all his dramas and I am curretly watching True Beauty, I slowly slowly discovering he has done a very good acting in this drama!
Here you'll see a ganagam beauty (means one who has fixed hee face or any other body part to beacome beautiful) named Mi Rae! She isn't very preety neither is she average! Since childhood she ks only being bullied for her looks!
But then one day when she meets Do Kyung Seok, she realises what true beauty is! And then their chemistry starts!
If you are a fan of jealousy scenes this drama is best for you!
If you like dramas with little romance go and watch it it has only 1 passionate kiss that too in second last ep!
I really reccomend you to watch it!!! You'll love it for sure!

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« My ID Is Gangnam Beauty » est une comédie romantique, qui en restant tout de même drôle par moment, parle également de sujets sérieux. On y suit Mi Rae qui, même après sa chirurgie, a beaucoup d’épreuves à surmonter, et de traumas qui rendent le chemin de s’accepter elle-même et s’affirmer, difficile pour elle. Avec une romance légère et mignonne, qui se développe peu à peu, mais qui est sérieuse, des amitiés réelles ou non, des sujets importants et parfois difficiles, ce drama était et reste, un de mes dramas favoris (à ma plus grande surprise lors de ma première écoute), que, comme je disais, je n’hésiterai pas à revoir dans le futur !

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Avis Complet:
https://lamagiedeshistoires.wordpress.com/2024/02/08/my-id-is-gangnam-beautyavis/

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First of all the whole idea of the society imposing these beauty ideals on women is a great one. But the story pacing is too slow. I mean too slow. I almost had to fast forward a looot to escape from that slowpace. Coming to the actors the main actress did a okay job but honestly I was so mad at her very slow and low voice dialogue delivery sometimes but overall she's okay. The main lead is just there I guess. I wish they had given him more scenes that can showcase his emotional acting scope. The girl who played soo ah character did a decent job for me I honestly felt so much hate for the character and then a bit sympathy towards the end. The rest of the supporting cast is okay I guess. Personally I've lived in SK as a student so the sets, some aspects of college life seemed realistic and I really liked it. I can't really say which type of audience this show caters to but you can watch a few episodes and decide for yourself!

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I really enjoyed this drama. I especially loved Cha Eun Woo like everyone else. Overall, it was a pretty decent drama and it made me really frustrated with a particular character: Soo ah. I hated her at the start and after watching the latest episode, all my hate faded away. For me, a actor/actress who plays a bad role and then is able to get the audience to like them and sympathise with them, I think they're really talented. Im hoping to see her act in other dramas in the future. Otherwise, somethings I would change about this series, would be i guess an more detailed insight to Mirae's best friends story. I feel like there were many supporting characters, that I would've wanted to know more about. However, the drama was really good and I totally recommend it.

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