Here's The First Look At BTS J-Hope's BT21 Character Mang Without A Mask

Recently, BTS‘s J-Hope has been working hard to create a design for his BT21 character Mang without a mask. On the previous episode of “Inside Mang,” J-Hope revealed why now is the time to create Mang’s real face.

Surprisingly, this week’s episode took place while J-Hope was at home. He suddenly decided to turn on the camera when a great idea popped into his head.

J-Hope’s genius idea goes back to his reputation as a squirrel! Known for his adorable appearance that reminds ARMY of an adorable squirrel with chubby cheeks and big eyes, he decided that Mang should also be the same species.

J-Hope claims his sketches are not very good…

…but when he puts his idea on paper, his super cute vision is clear!

There are a few key points in Mang’s new design, including that their heart nose has become the pattern on the top of his head.

Additionally, like many squirrels, a big and fluffy tail is necessary.

It’s possible that Mang’s been hiding this tail inside the mask all along!

J-Hope also revealed his idea concerning his body color.

You know, the purple color of Mang’s mask is kind of light purple in a way, and above the light purple is a zipper! When the zipper is open, something completely new comes out.

— J-Hope

Worried this would replace too much of Mang’s original identity, he then added an acorn bag (also known as a crossbody bag) of Mang’s mask.

To support his new design, J-Hope also created an entire backstory that ties into what has already been known about Mang. Mang’s mentor, Conn, is the one who gave them the mask so they would blend in with everyone else.

J-Hope also shared his super clever idea of naming the squirrel village Dotohee* (*sounds like dotori which is “acorn” in Korean). Putting this together, the name becomes “Dotohee Mang,” which sounds just like huimang* (“hope” in Korean)!

After a year and a lot of training and perfecting his craft, the time has come!

Mang wears a mask to become like their friends as much as possible. Then they begin training really hard, doing lots of practice. Now Mang is ready. The time has come for Mang to take off their mask!

— J-Hope