True Beauty (Korean: 여신강림; Hanja: 女神降臨; RR: Yeosingangnim; Korean pronunciation: [jʌ̹ɕʰinɡa̠ːŋnim]; lit. The Advent of a Goddess), also known as The Secret of Angel and other names, is a South Korean manhwa written and illustrated by Yaongyi.[a] First published in Naver Webtoon from April 2, 2018, to June 28, 2023,[1] it centers on a young woman who mastered the art of makeup in her teenage years in order to transform herself into a gorgeous "goddess" after being bullied and discriminated because of being perceived as ugly.[2]
As of January 2022, the official English version of True Beauty has accumulated 6.6 million subscribers and 825.9 million views. The comic updates every Wednesday.[3] True Beauty was the third most viewed series on Webtoon in 2019[4] and a print version was released starting October 29, 2020 by Young Com.[5] It was also adapted into a television series of the same name which premiered on tvN on December 9, 2020.[6] An aeni series of the same name aired from August to October 2024.[7] A second season has been announced.
In her teenage years, Ju-kyung Lim has been treated unfairly by her family and bullied by her enemies due to being perceived as ugly. She starts learning how to use makeup by binge-watching tutorial videos on the Internet. She masters the art and her makeover proves to be gorgeously transformative as she quickly rises to fame and people become awed at the sight of her newfound beauty. Soon, she makes an unlikely relationship with two of the most handsome, most popular boys at school: Lee Su-ho, who is the first to recognize her beyond her makeup, and Han Seo-jun, a "bad boy" who is not on good terms with Suho. Living in a society where people are judged based on their physical appearance, Jugyeong navigates through her high school days and into her college life while struggling to keep her makeup-less face a secret and facing various challenges with her self-esteem, love life and career.
The plot of True Beauty can de subdivided into the following story arcs:
The planning for the Webtoon that would later be known as True Beauty started when Webtoon author Kim Na-young, better known under her nom de plume Yaongyi,[a][8] was in her late teens.[2] She published the early version of True Beauty in Naver Comics' Challenge Comics (Korean: 도전만화; RR: Dojeon manhwa), a platform for new, self-publishing Webtoon's (akin to Webtoon's CANVAS). In this version, the protagonist was male and was described by Yaongyi as a boy with a "warm appearance" and an "anime otaku."[2]
After a break from webcomics, Yaongyi returned to working on True Beauty in her mid-twenties and changed its protagonist to the current female character Lim Ju-kyung but she kept the Webtoon's theme of "true beauty" (e.g. the person's inner goodness is better than their physical appearance).[2]
Yaongyi also once worked as a fitting model before venturing into webcomics. This, combined with her penchant for fashion and cosmetics, helped her conceptualize True Beauty[8][2] which would later be published as a formal Naver Webtoon beginning with April 2, 2018, and has been running on a weekly basis on Monday.[1]
Various official translations of True Beauty were published on Naver's non-Korean Webtoon platforms as early as May 2018, when the Thai and Indonesian versions were released starting on the 14th and 19th, respectively.[9][10] The Chinese version followed on June 29, 2018[11] while the English version was released on August 14, 2018.[12] In 2019, True Beauty was also translated into Spanish and French, released on November 21 and December 18 respectively.[13][14]
Since its international release, True Beauty has become known under other names other than its international English title and its literal English-translated title. They are as follows:
A print version of True Beauty was released starting October 29, 2020, by Young Com.[5]
True Beauty has been adapted into a television series of the same name which premiered on tvN on December 9, 2020.[6] The plan to adopt the Webtoon into a television series was revealed in July 2019,[18] and the casting of Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo and Hwang In-yeop was confirmed by August 2020.[19] Written by Lee Si-eun and directed by Kim Sang-hyeop, the series focuses on the original Webtoon's high school story arc but with considerable changes in plot and characterizations. The main characters Lim Ju-kyung, Lee Su-ho, and Han Seo-jun are played by Moon, Cha, and Hwang, respectively, while the supporting character Kang Soo-jin was recharacterized, promoted to be one of the main characters of the series version and is played by Park Yoo-na.
On November 3, 2021, an aeni series was announced. It was produced by Studio N and Cocktail Media,[20] and aired from August 7 to October 30, 2024.[21] Crunchyroll announced during its panel at Anime NYC 2023 that it has streamed the series[22] and premiered the show on the same day. Crunchyroll also produced and aired an English dub starting on August 21, 2024.[23]
A Japanese dub version was released on October 5, 2024 through U-NEXT.[24] The show was later released through other streaming sites include ABEMA, Amazon Prime and Hulu.[25]
A second season was announced on January 4, 2025.[26]
In 2019, the webtoon was nominated for the 2019 Next Manga Awards in the web category and was placed 4th out of 50 nominees.[27]