Cherry Boy, That Girl (체리보이,그녀) is a Korean Webtoon written and illustrated by South Ant. The series began serialization in 2012 on Naver
and ended in 2015 with a total of 110 chapters.
Shin Ttalgi takes pride in being one of the only female students at her male-dominated high school, yet her androgynously beautiful but equally vain boyfriend, Gyul is disinterested in her popularity. Tired of his disparaging remarks, Ttalgi sets her eye on the prince of the school, Hanbae, but Gyul's not exactly convinced on letting Ttalgi go...
Starting off as a silly comedy, the story goes under a dramatic Tone Shift past the first 15 or so chapters from its massive Character Development.
This series contains examples of:
- Abbey Road Crossing: One of the artworks of the series features the Abbey Road Crossing, as a Shout-Out to The Beatles.
- Always Someone Better: Laim grew up under the shadow of her more talented, more loved, and more beautiful older twin sister, Lamin.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Gyul and Ttalgi do nothing but argue, argue, and argue, but later chapters reveal there's more to their tension than simple lovers' quarrel.
- Betty and Veronica: Gyul plays the Betty and Hanbae the Veronica to Ttalgi's Archie. Once more of Gyul's past is revealed, and Hongdu comes into the Love Triangle, Gyul becomes the Veronica and Hongdu takes the role of the Betty.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Even though Gyul treats Ttalgi rudely, he's obsessed with her and jealous of her relationships with everyone.
- Creepy Crossdresser: When Gyul crossdresses, he does it well enough to fool everyone into thinking he's a girl. He does it to spite Ttalgi.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Gyul reacts angrily when he believes Hanbae is only hanging out with him because he feels sorry for him.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gyul can easily pass off as a girl, especially when he becomes a Creepy Crossdresser. It's also a point of contention between him and Ttalgi.
- Edible Theme Naming: All major characters are named after food. Ttalgi means "strawberry", Gyul means "mandarin orange", Hanbae means "pear", Hongdu means "walnut", Laim means "lime", Lamin means "lemon", etc. Some names were direct English loan words, such as "Cheli" (Cherry).
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Gyul has kept a picture of Ttalgi, which he uses as blackmail to discourage her from reporting him crossdressing to the teachers. The photo is later revealed to be Ttalgi before she loses weight and is eventually spread around school by Laim.
- Fallen Princess: Ttalgi quickly loses all of her popularity when a new girl shows up. Her fan club instantly turns on her when they find their presents burned.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Laim wears glasses, and she tries many times to bring Ttalgi down.
- Full-Name Basis: Hongdu often refers to Ttalgi by her full name.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Hongdu is sometimes seen wearing headphones and ignoring everyone.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Hongdu is allergic to women, but Ttalgi somehow worms her way into his heart.
- Heroic BSoD: Gyul has several, which often occur when he's reminded that he's lost Ttalgi. Notable scenes include when Ttalgi gives him back the hair clip he gave her, when she reveals she knew he was dating someone else behind her back, and when she admits she never loved Gyul even when they were dating.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Gyul locks Ttalgi together with him in a room in order to talk to her.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Hanbae advises Gyul to feel this way after sharing his own feelings about his doomed relationship with "Cherry."
- Important Haircut: Ttalgi cuts her hair when her blackmail photo gets spread around school.
- Like Brother and Sister: Hanbae and Hongdu are cousins but Hanbae looks out for Hongdu like an older brother. Hanbae also considers Ttalgi as a "cute little sister" rather than a Love Interest.
- Love Triangle: The series as a whole focuses on the Gyul-Ttalgi-Hongdu triangle.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Hanbae is in love with "Cherry", but doesn't know that "Cherry" is actually Gyul.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gyul tries to keep Ttalgi to him by crossdressing to manipulate the boy she likes. But it's more than that — flashbacks reveal that after Gyul and Ttalgi started dating in middle school, Gyul made attempts to steal away any attention she deserved to make her feel insecure, and also guilt-tripped her to spend more time with him than making friends.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Ttalgi is colored with pink tones, while Gyul is colored with blue tones.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Laim is cold and harsh, while Lamin is very friendly.
- Red Herring: Gyul was under the impression that Ttalgi loved him in middle school. She wasn't. She was in love with his best friend.
- Replacement Goldfish: Gyul dates Ttalgi's newest friend as her replacement, and Ttalgi notices their similarities.
- Shout-Out: The webtoon makes references to Infinity Challenge, a popular South Korean reality show. In one chapter, Ttalgi compares herself to Girls' Generation. Also, in one chapter, Hongdu is listening to "Dragula" by Rob Zombie.
- Sorry, I'm Gay: When Ttalgi tries to get "Cherry" to confess to Hanbae about crossdressing, but "she" instead confesses that "she" likes Ttalgi, inadvertently suggesting that "she" is a lesbian.
- The Starscream: Laim was Ttalgi's right-hand woman during the high of her popularity, but secretly hated her and manipulated all the remaining members of her fan club into hating her.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: Ttalgi and Hongdu break up in the last third of the series temporarily, after Hongdu gets jealous when Ttalgi insists on meeting with Gyul and believes that she's trying to protect him.
- Third-Option Love Interest: Between Gyul and Hanbae, Ttalgi eventually starts dating Hongdu.
- Tone Shift: The story starts out as a silly comedy, but once Gyul's ex-girlfriend enters the series, it takes on a more dramatic tone.
- Yandere: Gyul is obsessed with Ttalgi, and relentlessly sabotages her relationships to make her dependent on him.
