Above: Bong Gi, Below: him after transformation
The animé adaptation
When I Woke Up I Became A Bagel Girl is a webtoon made by Tank Guy over on Lezhin Comics
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Bong Gi used to have dreams of making something of his life. But now all that seems like a distant memory.
He has become fat, lazy, unemployed, and altogether unlovable. In the real world, people are grossed out by him. He has never had a girlfriend and he spends his late nights fantasizing about women whose pictures he leers at on the internet.
His own life appalls him, but he has one escape – his online life. Gaming has become his everything, and he excels at it.
After another long, lonely night of gaming, he wakes up – and is shocked to find that he has transformed into a woman. Or to be more precise, a woman who looks a lot like those he used to lust after online!
Confused, he does not know where to turn – so looks for answers on the net.
He encounters a young woman in a chat forum named Sae Mi, who offers him advice. He soon falls for her charms – which makes things complicated to say the least.
And things get even more bizarre when he attempts to take revenge on Sang Woo, a school bully who turns out to be Sae Mi’s older brother!
“Bagel Girl” is a 2019 animated South Korean series based on a web-hosted cartoon strip by Tank Guy.
An anime adaptation by Studio Animal was released on 2019, spanning up to 15 14-minute episodes.
The Original webcomic can be read here. Various manga sites have just the first chapter translated into English.
Both provide examples of:
- A-Cup Angst: Sae Mi is shown to have a little bit of insecurity in regards to her breast size, and even glomps Bong Gi while crashing at her place.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: He turned into a "bagel girl" after all, which essentially means "a young lady who has a baby face but a slammin’ curvy body".
- Boob-Based Gag: Bong Gi's new bust size is a whopping G70. SeM even mistakes it for the butt at first, and the next pic has her comment that (s)he seriously has butts on her chest.
- Fat Slob: Before his transformation, this was Bong Gi's Geek Physique. He works as a convenience store cashier in the webtoon, and at an internet café in the animé.
- Just Woke Up That Way: It's in the title. In the animé, we see that he transforms at 5:10 AM.
- NEET: Bong Gi calls himself as such, though it isn't technically true. That said, after work, he spends his nights playing League of Leggings (or a generic MMORPG in the animé)
The webcomic provides examples of:
- Book Ends: New gender aside, come the last chapter, months after the transformation, Bong Gi ends up the same way he started: somebody obese, and crippled by heinous habits that have made them physically undesireable, having wasted the beauty she was given. The animé offers a happier ending, though.
- Naked People Are Funny: On the first day post-transformation, Bong Gi assumes his gender swap is All Just a Dream and—hearing of an internet story he assumed to be similar to his current situation—decides to run outside naked in hopes of enjoying the moment before "waking up". One guy sees her and drops his friend's 75K Won phone upon seeing her (we readers don't get to, though), pissing off the friend before being placated at the sight of her. Naturally, she gets arrested, covered up, and she realizes That Was Not a Dream.
The animé provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Sae Mi and Sang Woo's little sister in the webtoon is not seen in the animé at all.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Sang Woo is not a bully here (in fact, he fights them and was Bong Gi's friend in the past), but he did abandon Bong Gi to bullies… to report to a teacher because he didn't have time to help due to family reasons.
- Ambiguous Situation: We don't know exactly what magical thing happened when Bong Gi resuscitated Ji Min that led to his body eventually being found by the hospital when we've also seen him go to sleep in his original form on the first episode before it transformed into Ji Min's.
- Big Damn Heroes: After getting into trouble herself trying to stop someone else from getting mugged, Sae Mi comes to the rescue by calling for the cops, forcing the muggers to flee.
- Burial at Sea: After strangling Ji Min, Seong Min dumps her body over the river. A few weeks later, he does the same to Ah Reum after sedating her. He then tries to do this a third time with Bong Gi and Sae Mi, but Bong Gi regains consciousness, forcing the doctor to spend time trying to make him fall, complete with prying his fingers off the railing, bashing them with the pipe.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Or at least, Bong Gi is only able to hold less than usual thanks to the new female body.
- Career-Ending Injury: Apparently, back at school days, Bong Gi was supposed to participate in the athletic meet and was a really good runner. Because of this, bullies resented him, cornered him, and broke his leg with a bat until the bat broke in half. That's where Bong Gi's mental decline began
- Cassandra Truth: At the start of Episode 2, Bong Gi tries to ask around for similar situations like her own over on anonymous chat channels. Naturally, no one believes it… except for one SeM, who sends a private message and talks her through getting a bra (which Bong Gi was also asking for). That said, Sae Mi at first assumes that Bong Gi had undergone sex reassignment surgery. She (and Sang Woo) discover the truth at the final episode.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The animé turns from lightheaded ecchi comedy to murder mystery with a touch of supernatural halfway through the show.
- Chekhov's Gun: In an early episode Bong Gi reveals to Sae Mi that his/her figurines also double as flash drives. In Episode 14, it's revealed that after receiving Seong Min's call to go to the old ward, she actually stopped by the police station to turn in those figurine-flash drives, in which the incriminating files were copied into. And thankfully, they actually read the drives and discover Seong Min's crimes.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: After rescuing her, Bong Gi performs CPR on Ji Min. And then…something magical happened as she woke up.
- Deadly Doctor: Seong Min.
- Demonic Possession: As it's speculated on the final Episode, Bong Gi's soul apparently went into Ji Min's body. Or Ji Min's soul sucked his soul into her body in desire for him to avenge her. For some reason, this leaves Bong Gi's original body unconscious to be found and brought to the hospital. This possession also then seemed to turn Ji Min's body into Bong Gi for a while and temporarily remove his memories of the whole incident. And then when he goes home for the night, Ji Min's body returns to normal as he sleeps, giving the illusion that Bong Gi spontaneously turned into a girl. When Seong Min disposes of her body again, Bong Gi's soul is shafted back into his old body.
- Driven to Suicide: In Episode 13, we find that Bong Gi had been about to toss himself into the river, but ultimately chickened out. And that's when he found Ji Min floating down the river.
- Drowning My Sorrows: The night after shopping spree with Bong Gi, Sae Mi crashes at her place and drinks a lot of cans of beer, likely from frustration from Seong Min rebuffing her invitation to dinner as well as her fortune reading.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Bong Gi finally returns to his normal body, on top of unveiling a corruption plot in Benerooks Hospital caused by Seong Min, he's got a new friend and regain an old one, was able to come face-to-face with his shameful self. While he's now running to get back to how he was in high school. Ji Min is also in the process of recovering.
- First Law of Gender Bending: Actually subverted. He turns back to normal around Episode ##, and stays that way all up to the end.
- Forgotten Childhood Friend: Bong Gi believes Sang Woo forgot about him after abandoning him to bullies. Turns out he had to answer a call from his sister about their father's "suicide". And the final episode reveals Sang Woo never forgot, and had searched hard for Bong Gi, wondering if he hated him. They managed to make up
- Fortune Teller: Bong Gi visits one (with Sae Mi) out of desperation for answers to her current situation. His/her fortune is as follows: S/he had a hard time living alone, but recently went through a great change. And the #13 (Death) Card implies she "died" as a man, and a new life as a woman has begun.
- For Sae Mi's fortune (to be specific, a marital compatibility reading), she's told to "give up on that man". While bad boys are popular these days, the guy she's after (Seong Min) is not the one (though Sae Mi denies her guy is bad). If she misses the chance, great misfortune will befall her. Given the kind of man Seong Min actually is, she's got a point there.
- And the fortune teller seems to sense that Bong Gi seems to be "wearing someone else's clothes", that it's uncomfortable to do that, and to "hurry up and find your own clothes to wear". Otherwise, great misfortune will befall her. Bong Gi assumed this means finding a way to turn back to normal.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The Tarot cards turned over during Bong Gi's fortune reading are The Tower, (an old man) The Hermit, and Death. For Sae Mi's, she gets The Sun, The Lovers, and The Chariot.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Turns out this is what really happened between Ji Min and Bong Gi. When he had resuscitated her, something magical happened and their souls got switched (and somehow turns Ji Min's body into Bong Gi's for a while before "returning to normal").
- Gender Bender: Bong Gi, who then takes the name Ah Reum (taken from Seong Min's dog) and poses as his own cousin.
- Grew a Spine: Ever since turning into a girl, this applied to Bong Gi. Her first attempt didn't work out as well, but the second time as she outed the internet café on the stolen cash from cash register was more successful.
- Instant Sedation: Seong Min injects Ah Reum, but with lethal intent to make sure Ji Min stays dead. He does this again with Sae Mi.
- Internal Reveal: While the viewer gets the gist of it, it's in Episode 9 that Bong Gi realizes that Sae Mi and Sang Woo are siblings
- Just Between You and Me: Seong Min reveals his crimes to Sae Mi and Ah Reum in Episode 12. During this, he turns away from Sae Mi to look at Ah Reum and wonder how Ji Min survived. Sae Mi took the opportunity to slip away from his sight and headbutt him, disarming him of his syringe.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Naturally, though curiously only at Episode 2 and not immediately after realizing he's transformed.
- Mythology Gag:
- The pink jumpsuit Bong Gi wears in the second chapter appears in Episode 2… which she promptly discards because it smells like sewage. She's forced to opt for the limited-edition Sailor Fuku costume instead. That jumpsuit is actually Ji Min's, and it smells like that because she was thrown into the river (where sewer water was pouring out into).
- Bong Gi works at the Summ Summ convenience store after (technically) ditching his job at the internet café. In the webtoon, that was his current job both before and after his transformation.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: After his soul got ejected from his female body after Seong Min dumped her over the river again, Bong Gi awoke in his original body and made his way back to the old ward to save Sae Mi.
- Oh, Crap!: On the day of her date with Seong Min, Sae Mi borrows Ah Reum's/Ji Min's necklace/flash drive to wear. Ah Reum reacts accordingly and tries to reach out to her friend.
- Otaku: Bong Gi has anime character-depicting posters, a hug pillow, and figurines (such as of Hestia)
- Pipe Pain: After returning to his original body, Bong Gi picks up one upon returning to the old hospital ward to rescue Sae Mi. Not that it does him any good against Seong Min since he's still tired from just waking up from his coma and running all the way back to the old ward. And then Seong Min uses that pipe to smash the flash drive necklace, and when Bong Gi wakes up and tries to hang on, he uses the pipe to try to make him let go before resorting to biting.
- Revenge Romance: Bong Gi (now as Ah Reum) plots to do this on Sang Woo for what he didn't do when the bullies broke his leg. He drops this after hearing the story of Sae Mi and her brother's father's death.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Sae Mi is actually quite beautiful when she touches herself up for a date.
- She Knows Too Much: The reason Seong Min disposed of Ji Min. And when he saw Ah Reum who looks a lot like her, he decides to do the same for her and Sae Mi.
- Spanner in the Works: Downplayed; It hadn't been for Min Jeong following Ah Reum and reporting her to Sang Woo about her "duplicity", Seong Min would've successfully killed Ah Reum and Sae Mi for discovering his crimes (though only the former actually did). Because of the call, Sang Woo catches his friend in the act of trying to murder Bong Gi. The reason it's downplayed is because evidence of his crimes had already been sent to the police by Ah Reum before she went to the old ward.
- Stealing from the Till: Bong Gi's colleague does this among many other non-job related things and keeps taking the blame for it. He manages to get back at him (as Ah Reum) come episode 4 by implying the loss of cash from the register even with Bong Gi absent.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Bong Gi techincally deos this for his internet café job. The reason this is technical is because he does this while as a girl, thus coming off as a mere job offer rejection.
- The Reveal:
- Despite us seeing Bong Gi transforming in his sleep in the first episode, his body is seen in Benerooks Hospital at the end of Episode 8, comatose and under treatment.
- In Episode 13, aptly called "The Truth of That Night", we discover that just after work, Bong Gi had been at a bridge failing to commit suicide when he saw Ji Min floating down the river. In trying to take a closer look, he then fell over the bridge for real, after which he decided to carry Ji Min ashore and perform CPR. That's when…something magical came from the river and did something to the two of them meant to explain Bong Gi's transformation. And when Seong Min dumped Ah Reum's body over the river like he did with Ji Min, Bong Gi finally wakes up in his own body.
- Save the Villain: Despite everything he did, After turning the tables on Seong Min when he suffers a breakdown upon seeing Ji Min alive yet again, Bong Gi gets back on the bridge, pulls him over, but does not let him drop. Unfortunately, the ghost of Ji Min makes Seong Min let go, but Bong Gi comes to his rescue regardless and keeps him from drowning so he can be taken in.
- Third Law of Gender-Bending: Naturally, courtesy of Sae Mi buying new clothes from Bong Gi at the start of Episode 3. And then she starts unwittingly trying to enforce this trope on her as she constantly pulls her away from anime figurines and VR booths.
- Training Montage: There's one in the last episode as Bong Gi gets his life back together after returning to normal.
- Uncanny Valley Makeup: Sae Mi's make up "lessons" end up giving Ah Reum this treatment, and one kid says to his mom that "that last must've had a drink" as well since her face is so red. It results in a case of Your Makeup Is Running come evening.
- Villainous Breakdown: Seong Min is driven over the edge when he sees Sang Woo confronting him with "Ah Reum" in his arms. Seeing Ji Min alive yet again after disposing of her twice kinda does that to a murderer and he hallucinates her opening her eyes blank and looking like a creepy spirit. This gives Bong Gi time to get back onto the bridge and turn the tables against Seong Min.
- We Used to Be Friends: Sang Woo and Bong Gi used to be friends back at high school until the former abandoned the latter when bullied cornered him and broke his leg, and then disappeared since then until Episode 4. Bong Gi has resented him ever since. However, a talk with Sae Mi reveals that he didn't help because he heard the news of his father's death and thus didn't have the time, so he reported the bullying to the coach instead. He was so worried because he couldn't apologize to Bong Gi. They fortunately make up in the last episode.
- Younger Than They Look: Bong Gi's 26 years old, but his new female body appears younger according to Sae Mi, whose older brother Sang Woo is of the same age as Bong Gi.
