Published serially in Linewebtoons,'Lookism' takes the form of teen & academy genre. Not only that, some fantasy elements underlie based on the foundation of teen & academy genre, and the contents are mixed with action and criminal elements, so the webtoon creates a unique feeling.

 

Lookism is controversial due to its somewhat irritating content and drawings. It is also the debut webtoon of the artist, Park Tae-joon, who gains the best popularity in Linewebtoons. Park Tae-joon is famous as an artist of Lookism, but before that, he was famous being an Ulzzang (a popular South Korean term meaning "best face" or "good-looking". A person desiring Ulzzang status would gain popularity on the internet through entering contests where their photos are judged and chosen by voters. - Wikipedia) and as the CEO of men's clothing shopping mall.

 

Besides, an interesting element draws readers’ attention; because Park Tae-joon has a close relationship with the cartoon artist, Gian 84, the characters from the ‘King who Returns to School’ by Gian 84 are mentioned or even appearing in the ‘Lookism’. Being in the center of attention, what is ‘Lookism’ about?

 

The protagonist of this work, 'Park Hyung-seok', is a fat and short guy with a single mother and a poor family background. Having low self-esteem, he has difficulty to make friends. He’s a loner character who is bullied every day at school.

 

Hyung-seok, who has lived in such harassment, decides to avoid the situation; he plans to transfer to a school where no one knows about him.

 

Hyung-seok lives by himself and starts having new hope. However, life in Seoul isn’t easy. He feels lonely soon, living by himself without any friends.

 

Then one morning, he wakes up like usual and looks in the mirror. And, a huge surprise is waiting for him!

 

The appearance of Hyung-seok in the mirror is a gorgeous-looking man's body.

 

Tall, a good-looking face, a muscular body… Who is this man?

 

And he turns around and finds the original Hyung-seok’s body sleeping…?!

 

He doesn’t understand what’s going on, indeed Hyung-seok has got a new body! When one body sleeps, the other body wakes up and maintains to live his life.

Hyung-seok suddenly becomes the owner of two bodies one day, and Hyung-seok’s new body has a perfect appearance very differently from Hyung-seok’s original body.

 

Hyung-seok goes to a new school with his new body and gets the attention of all the students. It’s Hyung-seok’s first time to experiences this kind of situation, and he’s confused to adapt to it. The only thing he wishes is that no one will bully him.

 

Hyung-seok starts a new life with a new body in a new place. It’s just his appearance that is changed, but he’s treated very differently from the life that he lived with Hyung-seok’s body. 

 

And for the first time, he makes friends and has various experiences, and through this, he’s gradually finding the confidence that he was devoid of.

 

And, when good-looking Hyung-seok’s friends meet original Hyung-seok, they also become friends. Through this experience, Hyung-seok realizes it wasn’t his appearance or conditions, but Hyung-seok himself who caused hardship and screwed him down, denying what he had in himself and having a negative perspective about it. 

 

On the other hand, this work has been frequently controversial because of its contents. The webtoon digs into illegal sports lottery, corruption in the entertainment business, adult entertainment establishments, and the dark side of social media and illustrates the related stories.

 

Being too provocative and also concrete from time to time, it’s criticized for inappropriate for the characteristics of webtoons that are viewed by many teenagers. Some parts are indeed so provocative that I can’t help frowning on them. 

The artist also uses these episodes as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the protagonist, Hyung-seok and his close friends. While they overcome these difficulties, this work has a style to bring them to get closer to one another and Hyung-seok to also achieve realization.

 

When you read recent webtoons, a head of a clique or this type of student appears a lot in the teens & academy genre. This work goes beyond the level of the teens & academy genre, forming the systematic crime syndicate outside schools, and even networking on a national scale.

 

As a result, stories related to school tend to diminish little by little and the worldview expands more and more. This happening is probably related to revealing the reason why Hyung-seok becomes to have two bodies so that readers feel more curious about the behind story.

 

And, the other person with two bodies appears. It is 'Choi Soo-jeong' who has a perfect appearance but his second body is short and chubby, unlikely Hyung-seok. With this body status, he maintains to live his life with the second body during most of the day time.

 

Soo-jeong goes to the same school as Hyung-seok. Her dad is depicted with a great background. Realizing who Hyung-seok is, she’s one of few people who knows why he’s become like that. 

 

When you read the Lookism, you’ll find offbeat fun that characters are based on real people.

 

Various characters are modeled after many celebrities such as K-pop idols, actors/actresses, models, etc. Among them, 'Lee Eun-tae' has the same nickname as rapper Vasco, and 'Park Bum-jae' has a similar name and appearance with a real celebrity.

 

Also, the character, 'DG' is modeled after G-Dragon’s name and appearance, 'Jang Woo-dong' after Jang Dong-woo’s, and Choi Soo-jeong after Crystal. You can easily take a guess these celebrities are a motif of characters in the webtoon.

 

In addition to these real people mentioned above, other characters in the webtoon are very similar to other real people, and it makes readers enjoy more of the webtoon by seeing how identical they are. 

 

Despite many controversies, ‘Lookism’ has gained the most popularity in the Linewebtoons, unfolding various and intriguing episodes since 2014 up until now.

 

Therefore, if you haven’t checked out 'Lookism' that covers dark issues of the society with the bubbly appeal of the teens & academy genre, I highly recommend you take a look.