Reviews for Who's That Girl?

Based on ~20+ chapters. First chapter was wonky and the big chested female characters made me feel suspicious about the overall quality and possible tropes done badly. But it's actually very well written in terms of character progression, gender identity and idol training is taken seriously. Very, very (!) good writing so far, something to read more than once time. Hopefully it will be this way for the whole story. The plot is interesting, the MC learns a lot of skills. Reminds me of Skip Beat and other acting mangas where they delved into the intricacies of the industry and acting itself. So far it's similar to sportsmanga, in terms that female only interactions, no romance and overcoming obstacles to become the best in the team.

I'm pleasantly surprised, because the art itself, despite being obviously nice, hinted on a more generic romcom or something. This instead a classic shounen type of development, when character makes friends from enemies and gets good together at a skill they all love.

Another point, it can be relatable to people with body dysmorphia, dissociation/depersonalization and other issues when you have disconnect with your inner world and how people see you. There have been some interesting advice to the character that could be possible to apply to people who have similar feelings around their body/identity.

“Sometimes it takes a real man to become best girl.” -Gigguk As someone who isn’t usually into this genre, this manhwa turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. "Who’s That Girl" follows our protagonist, Kim Sanghyeon, who dreams of becoming an idol. Despite past setbacks, he is given an opportunity when he receives a magical device that transforms him into a beautiful girl. What stood out the most to me is how seriously the series explores what it actually meant for a man to become a woman. Unlike many other genderbender stories where the MC just instantly knows how to function in their new body,Sanghyeon genuinely has to learn how to adapt. He has to retrain himself how to dance due to differences in body shape, he has to deal with period cramps, and even confront questions about his own identity. It’s clear the author wants to tell a genuine story and not just humor some fetish.

This series also kinda made me interested in the idol industry now too, as it doesn’t shy away from portraying its toxic realities. I am very curious to see how the cast will navigate these challenges going forward.

Give this series a try. I’d say it is similar to series like "Ranma 1/2" and "Oshi no Ko."

TLDR: It's the modern day reincarnation of Ranma 1/2, but a grounded progression idol drama instead. Great stuff! I must say, the writing is way too well-written for something like this. The author is really good at avoiding common pitfalls in the genderbend genre. One would think with a premise like this the writing's would be lousy and fall into tropey fan-service harem or power fantasy but nope! The story is very grounded (short of the genderbend itself) and they even wrote the sole antagonistic character as being semi understandable, Like someone can see why she would reasonably crash out like that yeah. Stuff like managing tomake it so that the genderbend aspect/the fact that the MC is a guy actually matter and plays a major aspect of the story. Look at the dozen of GB femMC power fantasy isekais where its only mentioned in the first 6 chapters or so before being forgotten in favour of the usual power fantasy adventuring shtick. mostly cause hack isekai writers just wanted their MC to be pretty to look at while still being relatable to (the majority) male demographic of readers.

The main part that helps averts this is pitfall is because the whole manwha revolves around idols, an industry that is inextricably linked to feminity which allows for plenty of situations where the genderbend aspect of the MC comes in for great story beats. That, and generally how well-written everything is, expect good shenanigans to come out.

The other common pitfall that the author skillfully avoided was just making the MC be essentially a tomboyish insecure beautiful girl, which the author also managed to avoid. Mainly by writing it be a Ranma-style trigger, having the Male!MC do stuff too. An arc relatively early into the story is amazing at this, it also includes my favorite character. Such a believably flawed and well made character.

One last thing is the progression. The author knows to take the progression slow, measured and grounded. Making sure each step of progression is thoroughly explored. MC takes a good number of chapters to not be a complete girlfailure. The progression isn't for progression sake here unlike many other works but for the sake of the story. It's not your typical regression-esque manwha. Give it a read! It blows the standards of the typical genderbender or regression style works out of the damn water, a 10/10 for manwha GB standards (an albeit low standard).

Honestly? This surprised me. What I thought was going to be a mediocre, troupe-filled, mess of a story that I would read in a night and then move on and forget about turned out to be a genuinely well-written drama that got added to my weekly rotation and has me eagerly waiting for the next chapter release. You've read the synopsis above, so you should understand that the Main Character wants to be an idol but is unable to due to a bullying controversy he was a part of. His face leaning towards a mix of "unremarkable" and "delinquent" also don't help his chances of idolstardom. In enters the magic MacGuffin that turns him into a drop-dead gorgeous beauty that idol agencies would kill for, giving him an opportunity to live the idol life he was dreaming of.

If this sounds like complete slop, I get it. That's what my impression was too going into this. But this story takes this trope-filled mess of a concept and just works with it. It manages to avoid the pitfalls and traps lesser stories fall into.

First, let's address the giant gender-bent pink elephant in the room. Most stories that employ this idea don't really need to. It's mostly an excuse to draw a female MC or is a marketing gimmick. In those stories, the character, usually male, turns into a woman, spends a chapter or 2 reacting to this ridiculous event, and then carries on with the story without much inconvenience to the fact that their body just completely changed on them. What this story does that I applaud is actually taking the time to have the character adjust to the change.

This MC is effectively unhireable as a man. He doesn't have the beauty appeal needed for the job, so he put everything he had into practicing dance and singing to make up for it, but it still wasn't enough. When he finally turns into a girl and gets his chance, it doesn't work out as well as he was expecting *because* he is in a completely different body. All his muscle growth and stamina, his muscle memory, his sense of balance, his difference in height: all of those lead to him walking around like a new-born fawn. By all respects this character should be "overpowered" in this setting, but because his body is different he has to work from the ground up and build his foundations again.

Secondly, the magical MacGuffin doesn't go away. It's a constant presence in the story. This leads to the MC switching back and forth from his male form and female form on a frequent basis. Thus, a story about a character living a new life is changed into a story of a character living a double life, which is undoubtedly more engaging and interesting.

The highlight of the story is the character writing for me. This story has found a way to navigate around more common pitfalls lessor stories have in the form of 1-dimensional antagonists. Yes, we have characters like Bitch-A and Narcissist pretty boy, but the author is able to write them in a way that their antagonistic moments make sense when the context is provided. There isn't a clear-cut antagonistic presence in the story, at least not within the first 50 chapters. This story is just about the grind.

It's about the main character getting used to his body, learning how to fit in with his other idol wannabes, and learning how to focus on the advantages he never had as a male. This isn't a deeply serious story, but it doesn't need to be. It's enjoyable for what it is and is remarkable for what it isn't.

7/10, recommended to read.

Not a bad manhwa. Usually, this type of theme isn't paired with strong writing, except in a few cases like Ranma or Onimai. But this one is genuinely interesting. I'm not usually the type of person who reads a lot, but I finished all 55 chapters in just 2 days. I'd say the pros are that the plot is genuinely interesting, the cliffhangers are usually very good, and the artwork is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. The only real flaw of this manhwa, in my opinion, is the romance. It's classified as a romantic manhwa, but it really isn't. Yes, there are bits ofromance here and there, but they usually fall apart and don't reach any kind of conclusion, so I'm not sure why it's labeled as such. Either way, it's still not a bad read.

Actually really good. I like how they did the "power balancing" in this manhwa. The main character knows how to dance etc but runs into problems in a different body. It creates a really nice balance where the mc doesn't feel too OP, there is a sense of skill progression and success involves shifts in mindset and understanding along with practice. I also really like how they handled the gender swapping. Things aren't weirdly played out and the women in this manga are actual characters. As in, the stakes to becoming an idol feel real and the other trainees are legitimate friends, enemies and competitors.The main character is also easy to root for and the gender swapping thing does come across as a bit of a double life superpower in the later chapters. It's only at ch 25 but I really like where they're taking the story so far. Not only with the idol main plot, but also with the sub-plots that explore the gender swapping and its possible uses.

Overall, I rate it 7/10 because it's still at ch 25 but so far I'm really enjoying it and the art in it is beautiful.