‘Lookism’ Ending Explained: Why Does Hyung Suk Gain a New Body?
Welcome to the Ending Explained for Lookism, a new anime series coming to Netflix this week. The series is based on the webtoon created by Park Tae-joon. Lookism tells the story of Park Hyung Suk, a young high school student who sees himself as the target of bullying and the general rejection of everyone around him because he is short, fat, and ugly. Hyung Suk’s miserable life takes a turn one day when suddenly he discovers he has two bodies, his original ugly one and another that is completely handsome.
Lookism is a very special series. Studio Mir, who has worked on other animated series such as Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender, come here to create a story that feels very much recent and relevant in today’s society. The story deals with themes such as bullying, suicide, extortion, and many other strong subjects. However, it also manages to be gentle and bring light on issues that might escape our attention, such as the obsession with physical beauty and our biases towards people who don’t look the way we like.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Lookism Season 1. Read at your own risk.
Why Does Hyung Suk Gain A New Body?
The series begins with the introduction of Park Hyung Suk as he wakes up and finds himself in a body he doesn’t recognize. It is all very creepy, but she looks in the mirror, and he realizes that it is him in another body. We go back two weeks into the past, and we see that Hyung Suk’s original body is that of a short, fat, and ugly guy. He is the victim of severe bullying by other students at his school. Hyung Suk is basically a slave and the target of every kind of abuse imaginable.
Hyung Suk’s mother is oblivious to everything and doesn’t understand why Hyung Suk is frustrated all the time. Until the moment that she sees the bullying firsthand and understands what is happening to her son. She complies with Hyung Suk wanting to be transferred to another school. Hyung Suk ends up transferring to a school far from home, which means he will need to live alone. He has no problem with this and starts his new life, but he ends up getting bullied and beaten up once again on the street. It seems his suffering will have no end.
Hyung Suk wants to die. He says so himself until one night; he just wakes up in the body of an athletic and incredibly handsome young man. This body seems to be the complete opposite of his old one. Genetics does like to play dirty tricks sometimes. However, Hyung Suk discovers that his original body is still in the room. He also discovered that he could transfer his consciousness between bodies the moment he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Hyung Suk must now juggle his life between his two bodies as he decides to use his handsome body to go to school and live his life.
On his first day at his new school, Hyung Suk discovers that being handsome makes things so much easier. Girls melt in front of him, people just treat him nicer in general, and they even allow him to have an unfair advantage, all of it because of his looks. Hyung Suk also discovers that, on top of being good-looking, he is also quite strong and fast. All his years as a bullied person, have trained to be able to tell when hits are coming his way, but now his body can react fast enough that his reflexes are lightning fast.
How Does Hyung Suk Juggle His Life Between Two Bodies?
Hyung Suk starts going to his new school, and things look pretty good. He starts off on the wrong foot with some other students. For example, Jin Sung a boxer and student, becomes jealous when the girl he likes starts seeing Hyung Suk with pretty eyes. They fight, but Jin Sung gets knocked out by Hyung Suk. After these encounters, Jin Sung finds new respect for Hyung Suk, and when he sees that Hyung Suk treats others with the same respect and doesn’t like bullies, Jin Sung stops being a bully himself.
Hyung Suk also manages to come close to Jae Yeol, a quiet and very rich kid in his class. Yeol begins to pay attention to Hyung Suk’s behavior and sees that he is a good person. When he finds out that Hyung Suk is poor and wears the same clothes to school every day, he gives him his old brand clothes on Hyung Suk’s birthday. He also begins a friendly rivalry with Vasco, a very strong student who also saves Hyung Suk’s old body from bullies a couple of times.
However, Hyung Suk’s strongest connection is made with a student called Duk Hwa. Duk Hwa is an aspiring rapper and composer; he is really talented. However, he is very much like Hyung Suk. They don’t come from wealthy families, and they are also short, fat, and ugly. His talent goes unnoticed, and he is bullied by other students who also aspire to become rappers. Duk Hwa takes his experiences and makes songs with them. Hyung Suk tries to be friends with him, but Duk Hwa is unsure. Finally, when he hears Hyung Suk singing, he decides to participate with him, and they finally become friends.
As the season ends, Hyung Suk practices a new song composed by Duk Hwa. Hyung Suk will sing, and Duk Hwa will rap. They present themselves at the school’s festival, and they come out victorious. A record label representative even gives Hyung Suk his card. However, Hyung Suk doesn’t want to do it without Duk Hwa and rejects the offer. A famous musician named DG sees the video of Hyung Suk and Duk Hwa’s presentation and becomes interested in them, but that treat is left for a second season that we hope comes very soon.