Lookism is a fascinating manhwa. In the first half of its long run so far (~400 chapters as of this review), it featured lots of short arcs and jumped between several genres. E.g. there’s a brief horror story, and one of my favorite arcs was the 4-chapter detective story Jacedaichi Case Files around chapter 215. Then in the second half, Lookism becomes more of a classic shounen-style pure fighting manga.
In terms of characters, the protagonist’s slow transformation over the course of the series is delightful. And so are the many transformations of side characters - both the redemption arcs, and the falls from grace. There are, however, eventually too many characters, so some of them eventually lose out on screentime. In particular, several important characters (Zoe, Crystal, Jay, and the protagonist’s mother) almost entirely disappeared in the second half.
As for the writing, the arcs are mostly very enjoyable, but the plot for a few of them could be trivialized if only the characters consistently called their friends before doing something dangerous. Similarly, while the protagonist has an amusingly bizarre secret, his precautions should absolutely not be sufficient to keep it.
Finally, the story eventually suffers from annoying & excessive censorship (of e.g. cigarettes, knives, or punched faces). That’s presumably not the fault of the author, but rather the result of some kind of censorship law, but it’s still extremely annoying.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Lookism so far, but I somewhat prefer the first half over the second. Hopefully the story will eventually make some room for other stuff than fighting - it’s not like Lookism is bad at depicting it, but that’s not what made the story so special.