True Beauty (2020)

Noia per 14 puntate

Anche i 2 soli neuroni impegnati a vedere questo drama alla fine mi hanno chiesto, perché ? Avrei dovuto droppare fin dall'inizio ma causa le ottime recensioni ho sempre rinunciato, ero io che forse non vedevo, oppure il meglio doveva arrivare. Si le ultime 2 puntate. Ma non si possono vedere 20 ore di programmazione per sole 2 ore buone e le restanti 18 ore mediocri, soprattutto stante le aspettative.
Peccato per gli attori tutti bravi, la storia inesistente, regia idem. Ho visto altri drama con storie banali ma da intese emozioni, qui quasi niente.
Le Ost buone

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Per chi ha subito bullismo o lo sta subendo.

Sono di parte, indubbiamente. Il motivo? Questo drama tratta un argomento vicinissimo a me, ovvero il bulismo e tutto ciò legato al sentirsi inadeguati, diversi, "mostri". Questo drama può sembrare molto semplice, a tratti banale, ma chi ha subito lo stesso trattamento della protagonista o qualcosa di molto simile si ritroverà vicinissimo ad essa e non potrà non simpatizzare e sentirsi lui/lei stesso protagonista di questa storia. Si parla anche di amicizia, di accettazione di se stessi, dei primi amori e delle prime delusioni, del futuro e di come superare l'adolescenza. Ho faticato non poco a trovare le parole giusto per invogliarvi a vederlo, ma mi sono resa conto che non posso farlo. Sta a voi vedere qualcosa in più in questo drama. Certamente ha delle sue pecche, come alcuni attori che dovrebbero imparare a recitare un po' di più: un esempio, Cha Eun Woo sarà anche il più bel ragazzo della Corea ma quanto a recitazione cala un po' siccome mi sembrava di rivedere il principe Yi Rim di Rookie Historian (drama storico/romance super consiglliato).
In the end, per chi pratico di manga, potrebbe sembrare di vedere uno shojo scolastico tra i più classici prendere vita (forse perchè deriva da un webtoon?) e questa cosa mi è piaciuta molto. Messo in lista per un prossimo rewatch.

Ah.
Ovviamente team Seo Jun ;)

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Che magnifica sorpresa!

È stato il primo teen drama che ho visto e anche se ero scettica, dopo averne sentito parlare solo bene, ho deciso di iniziarlo. Bè che dire se non che me ne sono innamorata! La storia mi ha completamente catturata e me lo sono divorato in pochissimi giorni.
Cha Eun Woo (il protagonista) è uno spettacolo da guardare anche se in fatto di recitazione deve crescere molto. Moon Ga Young è stata bravissima, mi ha fatto morire dal ridere e credo sia stata perfetta nella parte. Il second, Hwang In Yeob, è davvero dolce e puccioso e mi è dispiaciuto tantissimo per lui.
Il drama tratta tempi importanti ma con tatto e leggerezza, senza rendere mai la visione pesante.
Un teen drama da guardare assolutamente!!!

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Per me è un grande SI

Premetto che non ho letto il webtoon, per cui la mia recensione terrà presente solo quanto visto e non se è stato fedele o meno alla trama.
Io ho iniziato il drama on air e l'ho finito oggi, guardando gli ultimi due episodi sub eng perché non volevo aspettare un altro giorno per sapere come finisse.
Ho avuto il terrore per una settima che ci fosse una fregatura alla fine, una cosa come DoDoSolSolLalaSol, che mi avrebbe fatto drizzare i capelli e iniziare a pensare che sti coreani si ubriacano prima di scrivere finali.
Invece no, ho concluso la visione con il sorriso sulle labbra e una lacrimuccia per Han Seo-jun, ma in quella battaglia non avrebbe potuto vincere.
Mi piacciono i drama che hanno il destino come filo conduttore e qui non manca. Lim Ju-kyung da piccola lo rende felice, lui la salva da adolescente e poi finiscono insieme così come hanno iniziato.
Mi è piaciuto il cambio di carattere di Ju-kyung, la forza di essere se stessa con o senza trucco.
Mi è piaciuto che Lee Su-ho si sia innamorato di lei prima ancora di scoprire che fosse la sua compagna di scuola e di ricordarsi del ricordo di infanzia in comune.
Mi è piaciuto che Lim Hee-Kyung fosse così diversa dalle solite bellezze dei drama, mi è piaciuto che sia stata lei a corteggiare il suo pompelmo e che per una volta in una coppia adulta si sia andato oltre il semplice bacio (cosa che ho apprezzato anche nella coppia Su-ho e Ju-kyung) perché rende tutto più reale.
Belli i personaggi secondari e le storie costruite intorno.
Sinceramente non comprendo i voti bassi, ok che non sarà uguale al webtoon ma secondo me è un buon prodotto, destinato a diventare un must.

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HOW DO YOU DOOOOOOO

Well, not very well considering True Beauty ended today and I'm going to have to spend the whole of 2021 nursing my awful second lead syndrome.

True Beauty was a really fun ride. It had it's plot in place, the right amount of funny moments and lovable high schoolers (and their families). The female lead was likable and I rooted for her throughout. Cha Eun Woo did great and could hold his own (has he been working out though? He grew biceps overnight. Damn).

But there is one person who totally breathed life into this show and yes the entire planet knows him by now and there are exactly zero surprises in this name-reveal. SEOJUN was amazing. His puppy scenes made me soft. His intense scenes made me hot. His confession scenes set the bar too high. His ultimate fate made me cry buckets (with him). He simply took over all our lives. He is definitely on that list of my all-time favorite characters and I just want to maintain a list of all his iconic dialogues and go back and watch them scene by scene (maybe that's borderline creepy. Well, I'm sorry dae sekkiya).

But there are so many more characters I want to talk about. The supporting cast was a great strength of this show. Im Semi did such a good job and I loved her pairing with teacher Han. I loved seeing them smash gender roles so royally. Teacher Han was the kind of teacher teacher I not only wanted all my life, but the kind I want to be in the future (yep, I'm a future teacher lol). Su Ah and Taehoon were adorable. Su Ah was such a good friend too. Sujin was great too, minus the minor (or MAJOR) blip where she strayed for a while. But I liked her journey enough to forgive her. I wish the writer hadn't given her that cliche second female lead script, but I guess they were sticking to the script.

Seojun Squad and Suho squad were both awesome. But yes, if I have to pick one, I'll have to pick seojun squad (I'm sorry dae saekkiya). Kim Chorong and Taehoon are the kind of friends I want to manifest into my life (where do I sign up for them?). Joo Young was goalssss. He was so funny (oh shit, my eyes hahaha). I loved all the extraordinary you cast cameos (but what about haruuuu). Chani did well in extended cameo.

Looking back, I was super excited for True Beauty when I found out Hwang In Yeop was playing the second lead. I absolutely adored him in 18 again. And even though I knew he wouldn't be getting the girl here (again), I was just so excited to see him in a role with more screen time for him. And in that sense True Beauty didn't fail to deliver.

It is easily one of the best high school romance kdramas out there I would recommend to everyone and I am sure I will go back and watch it again sometime and bug a few friends to watch it too.

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It was ok

The setup with ML tormented over a friends death and FL appearance were basically pointless as soon enough this settles into standard fair.

1. Pedestrian/Car accident despite all the time in the world to avoid? check
2. Love triangle where center (FL in this one) is oblivious? check
3. Mean mom suddenly overcome with grief when learning of child's hardships years too late and suddenly all is forgiven? check
5. Character disappears overseas for an extended time and returns with no advance word. check
6. Pointless breakup? check
7. Hospital visit due to gastrointestinal issue? check
8. Third wheel heroically gives up and helps main leads get back together after being annoying the entire show? check
10. Best friend betrayal to return later to allow lead to forgive to show how wonderful lead is? check

It's like there's a list that must be checked off at all costs to the story and characters. Still as formulaic as it is, it's not offensively bad.

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The same cliche and boring story

This drama has nothing new neither fresh, it was funny but that was their strongest point (and all the memes that came from here).

Will you remember the message of the beauty? No, probably you will remember the okey dokey dance more, but it's natural since they didn't focused on female lead struggles with her appearance, they care more for the tedious love triangle. The story is that lame that the side characters are actual more interesting than the FL and that it's not okay cause she should carry the drama.

The second male lead, another great and charismatic character that ended up being a heartbroken guy till the end. I'm tired of that, why is so difficult to make him happy with another love or something. Anyway, he stole the show for me.

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With awful writing comes a disappointing route.

The anticipation of True Beauty made the show worthy of the hype it received in the first couple of episodes. Episode 1 & 2 settled a cheerful school vibe. But moving forward, you see the show focuses more on unnecessary elements that are not important to what message it's trying to portray. The love triangle became a higher priority than the development of its characters. The show used some important characters and damaged them for the benefit of the main couple. This show was supposed to be about an insecure teenager struggling with her beauty. It would've been nice to see more concerning her anxiety and trauma but instead, there were only a few parts of development and the show never tried to flesh it out more. She is a very flat character and it is hard to build a connection with her since the main focus of the show was a relationship. True Beauty had so much potential on being amazing. It is not a bad show, the comedy is what saves it. The show also brings up some cases of mental health. Being in a high school setting, it would've been nice to see more elaboration with that concept since it affects the characters. But the drama never showed the process of healing, rather help was never mentioned. The show gets realistic at times which is why it's best to watch True Beauty with an open mind. Don't come to this drama as a critic. There are many problems with this series that the writers never tried to solve. I believe the writers played the safe way with this series but the problem with that is making a show about a serious insecurity but not making the whole show revolve around it. Acne is a very sensitive facial feature that many are not fond of. This is why the series could've been so impactful in making people feel more proud of their true beauty. Instead, I'm leaving this drama feeling nothing at all.

In terms of characters. The majority of them I liked, but too much time was wasted on characters that aren't essential to the narrative. True Beauty has too much filler. They bring on an interesting side character and toy around with it to benefit the leads. It follows a simple formula: character good, we like character, now we're going to make character suffer to make the leads' relationship stronger! Ah forgot to redeem them...uh... here they showed up for 5 seconds anyways here's the leads' relationship again~ I find it ironic how the drama made me dislike characters I loved in the webtoon and like characters I hated in the webtoon. All I can blame it on is bad writing.

The only lessons I learned from this show is that friendships mean nothing if the person doesn't see you as a priority, and pinning on someone is a waste of time. True Beauty could've been the most magical high school drama to ever live but sadly it remains a lighthearted show that avoids proper development and a compelling end for everyone.

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True Beauty; “ A Love And Hate Relationship”

Let’s be honest. The original webtoon of “ True Beauty” has always had either a “ love and hate” relationship even amongst fans; the main heroine has little character growth, her relationships and decisions are questionable ,and the storyline hits a major snag after the halfway point as well.

Respectfully we should always try to take a step-back when watched a drama adapted from an original webtoon, novel or a reboot as a standalone production; writers often make very different decisions ( whether for better or worse) than the original creator with either storyline, themes or characters, and it is certain to say that writer Lee Shi Eun , did make some necessary and unnecessary changes in TVN’s latest eponymous drama adaption of the webtoon.

The biggest change to note is the predominant setting of the drama on our female lead Lim Ju Kyung ( Moon Ga Young) in high school for a major proportion of the series. Whilst naturally this did see the series brush over some notably darker issues of bullying, abuse and academic pressure, this also gave writer Shi Eun more playing ground with the joys and delights of intrinsic “ teen angst” and overused teen drama cliches. From the evident love interests of Suho ( Cha Eun Woo) and Han Seo Jun ( Hwang In Yeop) for our female lead, to other issues of bullying and love rivals on top, Shi Eun pulls at all the stops to make True Beauty, an overly cliche and “ sugarsweet” romance drama with more and more ridiculous tropes and scenarios as the episodes progress.

Nonetheless it is wrong to write off that the show didn’t do anything well either, in particular towards our actors.
Whilst Ga Young did have a couple of questionable acting moments, for a major proportion of the series, she perfectly captured the awkwardness, humour and more angst-ridden moments of our female lead. Similarly whilst Eun Woo is certainly a fairly veteran actor within romances , some of his past “ leading man” performances have come off as a little “ wooden” and lacklustre . It wouldn’t be lying to say that his role as Suho doesn’t not stand out as much as some of his previous works , however, it is prominent that Eun Woo did add a level of genuine heart and comedy to his role as Suho as well. Notably rising star Hwang In Yeop ‘s performance as Seo Jun has caught a lot of attention by viewers and fans with a surprising level of awkwardness, emotion and angst behind Seo Jun as a fleshed-out character, something which certainly must be given praise for as well.

This of course does move on to the show’s tackling of characterisation throughout the series, with some notably mixed results by the ending . The biggest elephant in the room must be addressed through the character of Kang Soo Jin ( Park Yoo Na). Similar to her original webtoon character, Soo Jin is sighted as a “ natural beauty” who lives in an abusive household and has a complicated relationship with Su Ho, however, the most notable change from the webtoon occurs within her 180- degree personality change in the beginning from a conniving social media influencer in the webtoon , to a studious and angelic friend for Ji Kyung during the drama. Honestly, Soo Jun’s character introduction had a lot of potential in comparison to her webtoon counterpart , with a seemingly strong of morality and strength by notably helping Ji Kyung out from an awkward situation during their journey to school on the bus before even getting to know her.

As most romantic cliches have proven, however, female animosity is the adored cliche of screenwriters, and it soon provides a downwards slope for Soo Jin as both a character and an individual as well. It is important to advocate that it is not necessarily Soo Jin’s feelings towards Soo Ho which make her suddenly a “ terrible person” over the course of the series, but rather how screenwriter Shi Eun unevenly mismatched Soo Jin’s later actions and decisions ( especially towards Ji-Kyung) near the finale.Whilst Shi Eun attempted to amend this in the final episodes, the damage had already been done quite irrevocably, possibly making Kang Soo Jin, the epitome of writing a terrible second female lead.

On a more positive note, however, the most prominent praise for characterisation must be given to Ju Kyung’s development as our heroine ( especially in comparison to the webtoon). Although it was a little painful that Ju Kyung did not talk out about her more dire decision in episode 1 to her family and still retained oblivious naivety at times ( stereotypically to Soo Jin’s feelings) , she did gradually begin to learn to grow more self-confidence and respect for herself as an individual ; something which is an important stage for any healthy relationship.

Equally Suho upon first glance, was intrinsically cliche and effectively a “ Mary- sue” of the drama and webtoon world ; overly” good-looking” , stylish and intelligent, however, alongside Seo Jun, Suho had some notable character growth as a character passed off as “impassive and aloof”, to being a notably non-judgemental individual towards physical appearances, but rather assessing someone based upon their individual personalities and actions . ( Perhaps the one aspect which would have intrinsically explained this more to
watchers, would have been to have the included the key aspect of Suho’s background as a ‘ half Japanese-Korean’ , resulting in him often being bullied from a young age and determining physical appearance as meaningless ; something clearly left out of the show in order to avoid controversy by Shi Eun.) From opening up about some aspects of his difficult past and childhood, his buddying friendship to blossoming feelings for Ju Kyung as well as refreshingly partially- reconciling with Seo Jun, did allow Suho to have some decent characterisation(despite the array of cliches that the show threw in our way) .

So, this leaves us on the big question; is it actually worth watching? True Beauty will always have a love-hate relationship with drama and webtoon fans - the storyline is sugary sweet ( with little sense of realism or grittiness despite the “ angst” apparent in the storyline), the tropes overtake actual story investment and some of the characters are fairly abandoned by the ending of the drama. Nevertheless there are some good things to note about the show; the OST is fairly catchy, the cast help to flesh- out all of our characters and the majority of our main protagonists have some deeper character development over the course of the series. Therefore it is fair to say that it really depends what you are seeking from this show; a cute, fluffy and unoriginal teen drama which you can binge watch? Then, definitely. Something to actually invest time into an original portrayal of the difficulties of romantic relationships as students? Then, probably not as there are certainly better dramas out there to consider.

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true beauty is overhyped but does not deserve the hype ❤

i just don't understand why people likes this drama like well yes they are funny but the plot is very boring. it is so predictable and it was just a simple drama that revolves around jugyeong and suho. does some of you guys just like it bc of the young and beautiful casts :(

i regretted my decision watching true beauty bc i thought it is not just a typical drama but has lots of plot twist BUT I AM WRONG awh don't watch this if you doesn't like dramas that has a boring plot, you will just waste your time! the only thing i like about true beauty is their osts lol ngl

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Stuck with one problem

Honestly, I really liked this drama in the beginning, but later on, I felt kind of bored. I like the message of the drama, is where the title from, but I think that wasn't in the centre. In the latest episodes, the story circulated around the two guy leads and the main character. It was their triangle drama. I didn't like the way Seo jun is the one who makes soo ho and Ju kyung's love deeper. I think there could have been another option. Soo ho liked Ju Kyung from the beginning and I think it would have been well with only 8 episodes. And why bring Seo jun in all this?

In the beginning I wanted or I was very sure about giving a 10, but now I will only give 5. I recommend "extraordinary you" over this drama which has the same director. The beginning "True beauty" matches with the title, but the last episode matches with a title like "You and me forever" haha. The message of "true beauty" was not strong enough. I felt the drama showed us more about the triangle drama.

One thing I loved was the OST. The songs are good. I really enjoy listening to them. It reminds me of the drama, but the beginning of the drama (Episode 1-6).

The last thing is fate. They know each other since they were kids so of course they meet in the future and got together. Seo jun does not have a chance. I would love to see a kdrama without fate. Even if it's a fate I would like to see that fate is not always true. I mean that your life partner does not have to know you since before. True beauty, weightlifting fairy Kim bok joo, strong woman doo bong soo, you who came from the stars, what is wrong with secretary Kim and many more. To all the writers, can we get something real? Fate is not in real life. And also if anyone has any tips for dramas without the fate thing, please write. Thanks :)

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Different from Webtoon, Good or Bad(?)

If you would not like to know who the female lead will end up with before you watch it, I think you shouldn't be reading reviews, honestly it is a bit hard to not spoil it.

I started watching without reading the webtoon, but I went to read the webtoon after I started the drama. I would say I personally prefer a remake that doesn't follow exactly from the webtoon, if not why watching + reading both of it? Also I enjoyed watching shows with unexpected plots, so I don't mind if it changes the story, as long as the remake is also a good story! Which I think this is! The drama started off similarly and became quite different in the second half, also it doesn't have some characters that appeared in the webtoon and created some new characters too, which makes sense for the story to develop differently. Plus! This is still an ongoing webtoon and drama only have 16 eps.

If you are a fan of the webtoon and are persistent in the storyline or loveline, hoping to just watch the actual scenes being reenacted, you may reconsider watching this; however, if you are opened to a refreshing remake, then you should watch it! Although it shares a different story, but both are fairly good! Although TBH the last few eps of this drama was a bit draggy, but still okay for me!

Besides the main roles, their side roles are pretty interesting and funny too (especially female lead's teacher and family), definitely gave me a good laugh from time to time. All casts' interactions are quite hilarious and natural too (except for Eun Woo haha, I love him a lot but couldn't deny the fact that his acting was not that natural, as compared to In-Yeop, but has improvement from his previous drama)

Anyway, I'm #TeamSeoJoon, but I prefer female lead with Suho :) At least for the drama.
Reason being that since the very start, the writer has been very consistent in setting up a lot of encounters between female lead and Suho (even from the young age), so it doesn't really make sense for female lead to end up with Seo Joon, although this means breaking lots of second-lead syndrome girls' heart. I'm also pretty glad that the girl wasn't swaying between two guys and was pretty loyal to only Suho, so it ended quite well and I'm overall satisfied. Although I would appreciate if they gave Seo Joon a girl too, honestly he is so precious and deserves so much love. It breaks my heart A LOT when he was always there for the one he cares for but ended up being so sad :'( Gosh, I wish I can have him for myself, such a sweetie pie!!! Definitely one of the best second male leads I've ever seen! With In-Yeop's fantastic portrayal, his on-point smirks and puppy look, he's real good at it!

Overall, a light-hearted teen drama with lovable characters that is worth watching!

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