Top 6 Amazing Korean Drama Ugly Ducklings Transformation To Live For

Now, I know this trope might be the most controversial yet (and we’ve gotten some very problematic ones in the past few years), but stick with me here.

There’s something about a girl who initially feels like an ugly duckling slowly learning that indeed she’s a swan, and if that doesn’t make you slack-jawed, I don’t know what will.

Self-confidence can literally change a character’s personality, and in these lovely dramas, we get to meet a lead who learns to love herself (flaws and all).

1. Birth of a Beauty

Han Tae Hee transforms Sa Geum Ran into Sa Ra to win back his love but falls for Sa Ra instead, and all the while, her husband and his mistress plot against her.

Related: 11 Lovely Childhood Friends Turned Lovers Korean Dramas To Watch

2. True Beauty

Lim Ju Gyeong was severely bullied in her former school because of her acne, and when she changed school, she developed an entirely new persona who was super skilled at makeup, but no one in her new school knew her actual face.

This particular high school drama made me cry a lot because it was just entirely too sad that the beauty standards were very unrealistic and burdening everyone.

3. Fated To Love You

Mi Yeong’s life changes after a one-night stand with a charming stranger, and soon, their love transforms her into a confident young woman.

Also See: 11 Healing Kdramas That Will Snap You Out Of That Funk

4. My Beautiful Gong Shim

This lovely romantic drama follows the love stories of two sisters and two men who slowly fall for each other.

Our main girl in this drama lives and thrives in her sister’s shadow, and she’s literally the poster girl for awkward and odd female leads.

5. Oh My Venus

Personal trainer Kim Yeong Ho helps lawyer Kang Joo Eun get healthier after she is dumped by her long-term boyfriend.

And as they work together, they heal each other’s emotional wounds and fall in love, and I’m not kidding when I say it was the sweetest thing ever.

You May Also Like: 11 Korean Drama Male Leads Who Always Treat Their Women Right

6. She Was Pretty

You guys, I’m currently rewatching this office rom-com, and Hye Jin really got the short end of the stick in this drama (at least in the first few episodes).

The glaring difference between the way she and her friend (or husband) are treated made me so, so sad, and it was even sadder that this might be the reality of someone out there.