Odd Girl Out (소녀의 세계 | The Girl’s World)

by Morangji

Have you ever felt like an ugly duckling next to a more attractive friend? You either want to blend in without being noticed or get more attention.

Then, Odd Girl Out might be for you.

It takes place at a high school and covers the friendships between the prettiest girls and the protagonist, an average looking girl.

The Webtoonist came up with the concept by looking at a collection of celebrity graduation photos, and thinking, “what if they were in the same class and had an ordinary friend?”

Odd Girl Out offers pretty drawings, highly immersive, yet not provocative episodes, and characters with distinct personalities. It perfectly portrays the conflicts and misunderstandings between friends at school. It also describes a realistic aspect of the bullying problem in Korea.

Synopsis

Odd Girl Out is about the true friendships of ‘swans (pretty girls: Yuna, Mirae, Seonji)’, who look perfect, but feel lonely, and a good-hearted ‘ugly duckling’ (ordinary girl: Nari).

After dieting, Nari finally feels confident to go to high school on the first day. But she somehow ends up being friends with the three prettiest girls at school. Everywhere they go, everyone stares at them. Nari feels uncomfortable to be in that group. But it seems like the other girls are very happy to be friends with her.

Score

Read it on Naver

Yumi’s Cells (유미의 세포들)

by Donggeon Lee

Yumi’s Cells is a completed series in Korean, but ongoing in English.

Yumi’s Cells personifies Yumi’s brain cells to show how she feels, thinks and behaves. It’s divided into two parts: mainly what’s going on with the brain cell characters in her mind, and Yumi’s love story happening in reality. Overall, it depicts the reactions in her mind based on what’s occurring in reality.

This Webtoon will be adapted into a K-drama in 2021. An animated version is being released in 2022 as well.

Synopsis

Yumi works at a company where she tries to date someone. This someone keeps changing because it’s about Yumi, not her boyfriends.

The main brain cell characters are: love cell (사랑세포), hunger cell (출출세포), emotional cell (감성세포), naughty cell (응큼세포), etc. and they’re working really hard in her head.

Score

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Mom, I’m Sorry (맘마미안 | Mamma Mian)

by MiTi/GUGU

Its Korean title is Mamma Mian, which seems to be a mixture of “Mamma Mia” by ABBA and “Mian” (sorry in Korean). This is the second collaboration of MiTi and GUGU after <Do it one more time | 한번 더 해요>.

The story is about the protagonist, who signs a contract with a lifespan dealer to give years of his life to his dying mom. Even with the unrealistic elements, this Webtoon depicts the reality of moms devoting themselves to their kids, and kids realizing it a bit too late.

Synopsis

Henry (공효찬 | Hyochan Gong) hears from a doctor that his mom is dying, and he is shocked. He realizes that he’s done nothing nice for his mom and cries.

A lifespan dealer shows up and Henry trades his time for his mom’s. By mistake, his mom rejuvenates too much, and looks like a 20-year-old college student. Henry devotes his remaining life to her happiness.

Score

Read it on Naver

#Killstagram (살人스타그램)

by Ryoung

#Killstagram is a completed series in Korean, but ongoing in English. It’s in the thriller and horror genre, rated R, but shows some real consequences of social media.

As the title “Kill + Instagram” suggests, this Webtoon is about a serial killer who targets victims using hashtags on Instagram, and the protagonist who becomes the next target. #Killstagram discusses the chronic issues of modern society where stalking happens easily with social media exposure, and public opinion that blames victims. The creator’s intention to criticize the real world is clear, and the delivery is revealed through the story.

Synopsis

Remi Do is a super pretty influencer on Instagram. She feels so loved by the number of likes she gets as soon as she posts her selfies.

The catch is that a serial killer is following/stalking her on her Instagram too. He finds out where she usually hangs out, and where she lives based on her hashtags.

Score

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No Longer A Heroine! (여주실격)

by Maenggi Ki

No Longer A Heroine is a realistic Webtoon by Maenggi Ki, who created <My ID is Gangnam Beauty>. My ID is Gangnam Beauty was adapted into a K-drama, available on Netflix.

When the Webtoonist went to see the drama set based on her Webtoon, she became inspired to create one about the drama industry. Maenggi Ki planned out the details after reading articles on child actors battling depression.

The Webtoonist said that it’s more about Lisa’s life story than romance. It has romantic elements, and no specific male characters.

Synopsis

The top celebrity, Lisa Cheon (천리사), was a child actress with natural beauty and genius acting skills. She is framed as a drug addict and that’s the end of her career in Korea. She announces her retirement without hesitation, but decides to come back after four years with a famous director’s drama.

Score

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Tomorrow (내일)

by Rama

Tomorrow is a Healing Webtoon (힐링웹툰) that’s not available in English yet. The story is about grim reapers trying to prevent suicide.

It features a lot of Cider (사이다 | gratifying) scenes and touching moments to make your eyes tear up. Each episode contains its own theme, and each title comes from a popular Korean song.

Synopsis

Joonwoong Choi (최준웅) is an unfortunate job seeker who keeps failing. One day, he crosses the Hannam Bridge while drunk, gets into an accident and falls into a coma. His spirit gets a job in a special crisis management team at an underworld monopoly company. He’s assigned to ‘a grim reaper team that prevents suicides’. It seems odd to him why the grim reaper saves people on the edge.

Each episode talks about different characters who are suffering like a victim of bullying, hopeless student, person suffering from the death of a loved one, anorexia patient, veteran without benefits, LGBTQ person, etc.

Score

Read it on Naver

Did we miss anything?

There are some great reality Webtoons on Naver.

Let us know your favorites in the comments below!