Lookism

As the manga messiah this type of content is a complete waste of time but I do this for the people that seek good content. Basically its some obese kid that gets bullied and literally everyone hates him and thinks hes disgusting just because he is fat. They act like he cant have talent or do anything because he is fat. He will walk in the hallway and get his ass beat, girl look at him and get scared. He blames his mom for him being fat because she puts eggs in his ramen?? how about some accountability fatty go to the gym and prove themwrong. Anyways One day he gets beat so badly it goes viral on the twitter and his mom moves him to a different town in a one bedroom(YEAH JUST RUN AWAY FROM YOUR PROBLEMS THX). He was excited running around the city and he ends up getting beat up again goes home crying wakes up in a different body with a six pack and super handsome(BTS rip off). His fat body is next to him and if he goes to sleep in the skinny body he wakes up in the fat body. got it? got it cool. So he goes to school in the skinny body everybody starts meat riding him "omg your so handsome" "hey want to be friends". SO YEAH thats literally it he keeps using the skinny body and using the fat one to work graveyard shifts at a gas station. Also checked out the manhwa turns into some edgy demon fighting Bullsh*t that last for 400+ chapters. My question is who was reading this garbage ?? how did netflix say yeah guys this the one lets animate this

I felt obligated to write this review to defend Lookism because none of the top reviews accurately and objectively depicted what this show is about (some are so factually wrong that it makes me wonder whether they actually watched this show or not). If you're here seeking a revenge story, or a power fantasy, then this show isn't for you. Lookism is a story of growth, maturity, and the multifaceted aspect of society. Some think it's too over-the-top with its depiction of bullying and how judgmental the society is when it comes to appearances, but they forgot to take into consideration the cultural differences. This"anime" takes place in South Korea, where women are looked down upon for leaving their home without makeup, where having good looks is seen as the most important thing (hence the growth of the plastic surgery industry), and where bullying is a major issue in schools. So it's not a surprise that bullying and appearances are a major focus of this story (I mean it's literally called Lookism so what do you expect?). I went in with little expectations since the last two webtoon adaptations (GoHS and ToG) were disappointing, and I have read some parts of the manga (stopped at where episode 7 took place) and it was good but not good enough to make me binge it. So I couldn't believe how good this adaptation is when the voice acting, animation, and OST of the first episode alone got me teary-eyed at certain scenes since even the webtoon didn't move me to tears. It only got better and better as the episodes went on. I went from "I have some spare time so I'll watch another episode" to "I'm binging this and finishing it tonight!" The last series that got me binging was ARCANE, not even Chainsaw Man or FMAB got me to binge them, which is saying something (not saying Lookism is as good as ARCANE I'm just saying it's definitely not as horrible as the top reviews made it out to be). (PS I binged the manga right after this and holy shit it gets insane!! The anime isn't even the tip of the iceberg!!) I've never seen any "anime" with Korean voice acting but the VAs did such a great job in Lookism that it never felt weird to hear Korean instead of Japanese. In one particular scene, the mother was saying something and she choked up, and the emotions in her VA's voice were so palpable that I was instantly moved to tears. And the OST, man, as soon as I heard him open his mouth and sing that first line in like episode 5 or smth (I forgot, it was in the empty classroom), I got literal goosebumps and rushed to youtube the song. Lookism is a story where everyone should be able to relate, whether you're a bully, victim, or bystander. Sure, the bullying you witnessed (or went through) may not be as terrible as the one depicted in Lookism, but we all know what it's like to judge someone and be judged based on our appearances. And this, judging and being judged, is a main theme in this series, so I'm certain you'll find some parts of the story to be relatable. I don't want to spoil the whole story to you so I'll just leave you off with this. If you've been bullied, you've been judged based on your appearances, or you want to stop the tendency to judge others based on their looks, then you need to watch Lookism. It's the story of someone who experienced both sides of the spectrum and became a better person as a result. It has no romance, but instead has familial love and friendship. It teaches you what true friendship is, how true friends would act, and why family is the one thing you should never turn your back on. We’ve all met people who are superficial and judgmental. Sometimes all it takes to gain a real friend who would accept you for who you are is stepping out of your comfort zone and saying “Hi” to someone you’ve never talked to before. Edit: I forgot to mention this one thing I love about this show. It not only showed people judging ugly people and looking down on them, but it also showed these ugly people judging good-looking people and thinking anyone who are nice to them are being superficial due to how rare it is for them to receive kindness from good-looking people. I like how the author showed that this judging aspect of society goes both ways, and that both sides can be victims to it.

“Lookism” is what happens when You take the idea of the halo effect and turn up the absurd to 11. Ever heard of the halo effect? In short (and in simplification) it’s a psychological phenomenon where You attribute positive qualities to someone just because You find them attractive. Yeap. That’s the premise of the show. Well not entirely but I’ll get to that. Look… there is no other way for me to say it so I’ll just get this over with. This show uses cheap tricks to induce emotions and make You think it’s deeper than it is. It’s full of slow moments with slow music,over acted scenes of cheap bullying, inner monologues that pretend to be deep but in reality, when You stop and really think about them they are deep as a puddle and the MC acting like a shy saint. It’s so bad it’s not even funny. Calling this show cliche would be an understatement. Apart from the premise of switching bodies (that part is cool) there isn’t an original thought in all 8 episodes. The first episode (hold on it’s not that much of a spoiler) starts with Hyung Suk - our resident MC, being bullied. He’s shown as an absolute victim but in a very, VERY, lazy and comedic way. If this was supposed to make me sympathise with him it failed miserably. As a bonus for me not caring about him is the fact that he’s an asshole to his mother. As far as I can tell he’s a piece of shit to her all the time (the show doesn’t really show us their previous interactions so it’s just speculation on my part) so him being bullied is, at least partially, karma. The show wants me to think that he’s the only “good” person in a school full of assholes but he’s not really any better than the people that bully him. He can’t punch up so he punches down and lets out his frustration on his mother. Why the hell should I care about him again? For the most part of the first episode I wanted him to suffer. He’s an asshole and not really that different from his bullies. The worst part? In the end this mofo gets what he wants. So let me get this straight, to get what You want You just have to act like a sack of shit and play victim. Got it… Second thing. His mother barely had money for a shitty apartment in one city and somehow she is able to afford another shitty apartment in the slums in another city and the moron never questioned this situation? He was told that she doesn’t have money and yet not once asked how she’s able to afford this? Son of the year. Granted, he does have a moment of reflection but it doesn’t really change much about him as a character and the way he gets his epiphany is so lazily written that it was almost funny. The bullshit doesn’t end there. The first interaction he has in the new city with a random person ends up with him getting his ass handed to him and people just watching and recording it. It’s just another attempt to show Hyung Suk as a victim and sympathetic but it’s all so heavy handed and inorganic that I really don't care. It just made me laugh at how bad the writing is. You want me to believe that not one person would help a kid being assaulted on the street in broad daylight? No one. EVERYONE would just watch, record or comment on the phenotype of the victim? I guess this world doesn’t have any type of law enforcement and You can just go Alex Mercer on everyone. The world building in this show is one of the worst I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen some really bad anime. I think the worst part of the whole show is the way Hyung Suk gets his new body. He just does. He doesn’t earn it, he just gets it. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a moment like in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” but it doesn’t work. For one thing Gregor Samsa suffered because of his transformation. Hyung Suk just won a free ticket to win-town. For the whole time we see him he hasn't done one thing that would earn him a reward and yet, he does. No, being bullied isn’t a reason to get this kind of reward. He didn’t stand up to his bullies, he didn’t get bullied as a consequence of trying to help someone. Nothing. He just got bullied. It’s a weak, pathetic self indulgent fantasy where You get things just because. Did I mention that the writing in this show sucks? The problem with him getting his new body that fast in the show is that we don’t get a contrast of what he’s like when he’s not bullied (or being an asshole to his mother) so we don’t know if his actions change that much. This is a problem. If the message is that people treat You better when You are attractive despite how You act, we should get some scenes that show the same type of actions getting different results. As it stands we could assume he’s acting like he always did but there is no definitive proof of that. I’m not ever going to get into the bullshit of the fight scenes. They are pathetically slow, have bad, and I do mean BAD, choreography and the explanation of why he’s so skilled in fighting is just ass. It’s the most stupid, nonsensical and brain dead explanation I have ever seen. Shitty isekais with OP MCs have better once. I want to believe that this show is a criticism of the vanity culture of the last few decades and not judging a book by its cover, and to a degree it is, but it turns up the absurd to the 11 and not in a thoughtful way. Furthermore, if the point is to not judge a book by its cover, why are all of the actions that lead to a change in characters done by the “handsome” Hyung Suk? It would be much more impactful if at least some of them would be the result of the “ugly” one. My main gripe is that almost all the show wants to tell is heavy handed, bland and lacks originality. The use of hyperbole in people's reactions would be fine if it was used so often and in a very bland way. If You don’t want to watch anything new and just want the same old thing You saw a thousand times just with a new coat of paint I guess You can find entertainment in this. If You care about world building, story and plot, stay away from “Lookism”