Shadow Beauty (2021) User Reviews

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 8/10 · 30 December 2021]

Korean Mini Series "Shadow Beauty" is a dark version of True Beauty with more focus on the main lead and her progress in learning to be herself rather than the romantic prospect.

The drama does a great job creating the right atmosphere right from the start, with the main character being all creepy and sad at the same time. Her family situation seems ominous, her school life is a nightmare and all this has resulted in her seeing enemies everywhere and trusting none, even her best friend. The story, with the right pace for such a short drama, covers all the aspects of her life, with a smooth showdown in the end and a nice conclusion that wraps up everything.

However, the drama didn't handle the transition from a bully to a friend of the second lead. All the side characters actually were briefly presented, as the focus was mainly on the main lead.

The performances, though, were all great and the ending of the drama with the focus on the main character's revelation was pretty interesting and refreshing.

So, overall, 8 out of 10.

good one for teenagers

[sara-67977-67162 · 6/10 · 13 January 2022]

This serie is a great lesson to all teenagers and high school students , talk about bullying and beauty standards and psychical problems .

The story is about a girl that been bullied at school by students in her school , after school she turns into instagram celibraty with her heavy makeup and photo editing .

People who have been bullied understand how it can affect people and it change the way the look at them selves please dont destroy peoples lives ,the world is already an ugly place so dont make it worse.

"I would rather be a little nobody than to be an evil somebody."

Oh the show that might have been

[leahcubed · 7/10 · 19 May 2022]

7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean romantic drama with 13, 20 minute episodes.

Ae-Jin (Shim Dal-Gi) lives a double life as a bullied high school student who is constantly harassed as being "ugly" and a "goddess" social media influencer which she achieves through costumes, camera angles and photo editing. Her worst fear is that someone will discover her trickery and reveal her dual existence to all. This fear nearly comes to fruition when she receives a text with a picture of her posing in her costume and makeup unedited. A series of circumstances lead her to suspecting her only friend at school, Lee Jin-Sung (Yang Hong-Seok) of being the blackmailer. Lee Jin-Sung is an idol trainee who is literally too cool for school and he, on the other end of the spectrum, is also an outcast. He and Ae-Jin become friends as they were both frequently alone at school.

The premise of this was very interesting and that alone carries viewers through. All of the young actors do a great job of conveying their roles. Spoiler(s)** Often I am disappointed because the actor who plays the role of someone unattractive is not unattractive. Now I am on the opposite end, the actress who plays Ae-jin can be pretty with makeup and a flattering hair style but they do everything to have her look unattractive in never smiling, her body posture, and attitude. Which makes it really hard to buy that Jin-sung would fall in love with her. I got the whole he was an outcast because he was too cool sort of thing but, even if they were lunch friends, him falling for her when her personality did not even come through as that good, was a stretch. If she had been super smart, really nice, creative, or just really fun, I could have seen him falling for the beauty inside. But, she was a bit self focused and whiny so it was a stretch to believe he would have fallen for her. The more believable pairing would have been Ae-jin and the "lunatic detective", Kim Ho-In (Choi Bo-min), because they were alike on so many levels. Ho-in's girlfriend, Yang Ha-Neul (Heo Jung-hee) was such a bully to Ae-jin, even with her later redemptive actions, I could never see Ae-jin embracing friendship with her. And Ho-in even mentions how he hated seeing her bully other people and yet he still cannot live without her - that was a bit of a stretch too. The 12 short episodes flew by and it really felt like some of the issues could have been fixed with more episodes. They could have shown a side of Ae-jin we didn't see that would have made her more lovable. Maybe a fuller explanation of why Ho-in was bullying and an apology to Ae-jin. I really wanted to like this show more than I did because it was a great premise. I think it is worth watching for the unique premise, I would not re-watch it, but watching it once through was enjoyable enough. I also thought it showed, quite well, how bullies can make every day a living hell for the bullied whether it be a bully at school, at home, or in the workplace. I have combated bullies in my life, defending others, and also a workplace bully once myself, more times than I care to count. Seeing a bully get come-uppance is enjoyable as it rarely happens in real life. Hopefully a similar premise will arise in the future but there will be a better job with developing the characters and showing positive aspects of the relationships. Not a bad series, just not particularly good either. It's the show that might have been.

Amazing!

[mmemignon · 10/10 · 30 December 2021]

The show started out slow in the first episode...However, the deeper you go the more it wows you. I truly enjoyed this drama. Everyone acted great and it really pulled at my heartstrings. I even did the ugly cry a few times. It was just THAT good... I wish the show was longer as it was just too short for my liking, but we can't have everything we want. The show is definitely a must watch.

"We are perfectly fine not being perfect..."

[hanalisss · 10/10 · 29 December 2021]

This series is very good.

Every freaking episode will shock you and you never expect what will happen.

With every episode you will discover some new information about the characters story that will allow you to understand more and more about them and why they act and feel certain way.

The performances are brilliant and they make all their characters emotions feel so raw.

The message is very relevant in today's society, obsessed with high unrealistic beauty standards and how this affects emotionally and psychologically so many people.

The FL will doubt everyone around her and will try to drive away all the people dearest to her just because she has very low self esteem.

It is very heartwarming to watch her discover how wrong she was, how strong love and friendship can be and how the only way to happiness is being yourself.

Short, thrilling and sweet, watch this, you won't regret it.

Give it a try!

[simranvidyarthi · 9/10 · 30 December 2021]

Reality of the dual individuality of a person. Lately beauty is seen as obsession & power rather than admiring & gift of nature. This k-drama beautifully depicted the social issues & the world of social media where faceless people give their views , likes & comments. Shadow beauty is ironically satire for today's definition of beauty. I will recommend it to watch. P. S. Love yourself cause your are rare.

Potentially great

[wanchy · 9/10 · 10 October 2022]

This drama had a great potential to become something spectacular because it covers some major points of our modern society, meaning, influence of social media and distorted image of perfection that many are trying to achieve.

Another aspect vaguely portrayed was what's actually happening behind the closed doors (meaning in real life, when the camera is off), depicting fragile emotional and mental stances.

Given the appropriate amount of screen time I think it could have been fantastic - this way as a viewer I wasn't totally happy with it because its shortness didn't give all the characters and story in general the chance to properly develop to its full potential.

Failed

[Park_Min · 2/10 · 16 March 2024]

Decent premise but it didn't go anywhere beyond that. - Because of her looks, Koo Ae Jin is bullied at school and even insulted by strangers. But after school, she leads a secret life: with heavy makeup and hours of photo editing, she lives as Genie, a social media star with 770K followers. While Koo Ae Jin is toeing the line between her true self and Genie, what will happen when a boy from school discovers her secret? Because of her looks, Koo Ae Jin is bullied at school and even insulted by strangers. But after school, she leads a secret life: with heavy makeup and hours of photo editing, she lives as Genie, a social media star with 770K followers. While Koo Ae Jin is toeing the line between her true self and Genie, what will happen when a boy from school discovers her secret?