‘Lookism’ Review: A Boy Trapped Between Two Bodies, and One Mind

Netflix has been investing heavily in animation in the last couple of years, and its selection of anime original shows keeps expanding. They have also done a fantastic job at becoming one of the main platforms when it comes to South Korean content. Famous Korean dramas have found a home in the streaming service and with it the ability to reach the entire world. Now Netflix comes to mix both worlds and thus appeals to both demographics at the same time with Lookism.

Lookism is an anime TV series developed by Netflix and based on the webtoon written and illustrated by Park Tae-joon. The series tells the story of Park Hyung Suk, a high school student who is living a terrible life by being the victim of bullying and all sort of abuse by all the thugs in his school. The reason? Well, Hyung Suk is short, fat, and ugly, so people everywhere ignore him or just humiliate him for these reasons alone. One day, Hyung Suk wakes up to discover that he now has a second body, one that is handsome and athletic, and he decides to start a new life with it.

The production of Lookism is in the hands of Studio Mir, a South Korean animation studio that has been working with Netflix on shows like Voltron: Legendary Defender, Dota, and, of course, The Legend of Korra. The animation studio has proven itself by creating quality animation for several TV shows and films. Here, Lookism looks definitely has something different for the animation studio, something that is a lot more normal than their standard fantasy affair, and something that also has its own personality.

The anime tries to feel connected to the original webtoon, but it also polishes many details and makes the characters a lot more consistent in their looks. The original webtoon isn’t precisely a visual feast, like many other webtoons, the art seems very rudimentary, so the anime is certainly on a higher level when it comes to visuals. At first, it seems like Studio Mir is taking a step back and doing something very humble and chilled, but it doesn’t take too much time before we see some authentically fantastic fight scenes.

Studio Mir is also experimenting here with the use of CGI to enhance many of the scenes in terms of visual fidelity, but also when it comes to the camera work. However, unlike many anime series running today, Studio Mir doesn’t overstep the use of the tool, and it actually ends up achieving most of what we see on camera through the traditional 2D animation we have all come to love. The visuals keep improving with each episode, so it makes us excited to see if the anime will seriously keep adapting the webtoon, as there is some cool stuff coming that way.

The story itself fits well with the visuals. We are dealing with stories that feel very much taken from a Korean drama, and the characters behave pretty much like the stereotypes that we can often see in this TV series. However, the slice-of-life type show soon transforms into something closer to Crows, or even Tokyo Revengers, thanks to the fantastic element of Hyung Suk inhabiting two bodies. This is an excellent narrative device that creates drama and stakes for Hyung Suk every single day.

Hyung Suk is a great protagonist. At first, he is introduced as a very pathetic being. He is full of anger, sadness, and regret, but soon we understand fully that he is a good person on the inside, a truly great person, and that all his frustrations and anger come from the way people treat him. As the story progresses, we learn more about Hyung Suk from an internal viewpoint, and we come to realize that he would have been so much happier in life if he had been born handsome.

It is a harsh reality, and the story doesn’t shy away from depicting people as they truly are. People behave differently in front of attractive people, and sometimes that is all a person needs to have an unfair advantage in life. It is true that no one asked to be born beautiful, but no one asked to be born ugly either. The author of the series knows this perfectly well, as he has a background as a model, so he understands exactly how it feels to be judged by the way you look.

In the end, Lookism might look like just another slice-of-life anime or some sort of romantic series. However, in reality, it is very different, as it tackles very heavy subjects and also evolves into something darker and with a lot more grit. This first season feels very light, but if the show continues, then future seasons will reveal the true colors of the series and people will be shocked. This is a fantastic beginning, and you will binge-watch this in one sitting. We really cannot wait for season 2 to be announced as soon as possible.

SCORE: 8/10