학교
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This is a challenge that I started last year, but we’re going to erase that from our memory as it didn’t go well 😂
The Try a Chapter Tag was created by Maliamoonshadow 6 years ago and is a tag that is a staple of BookTube. You can watch their video here.
I thought it would be a fun way to get motivated to watch dramas and the rules I made are below:
- Choose 3 dramas you’ve been interested (or are relevant for a challenge) in watching
- Watch the first episode
- Decide Yes or No on continuing and give thoughts
- Post a review once you’ve completed the drama
- When the challenge is up write final thoughts on overall experience
I will be giving myself at least a month and a half to watch the three dramas as I still am in a slump.
Live On (2020)
Baek Ho Rang is the most popular girl in high school. Everybody wants to be her friend, and all of the boys dream of winning her heart. Although she is famously aloof, she is also a star on social media – with the whole school seemingly following her every post. But when a mysterious individual arrives online, she is caught off-guard. This person seems to know all of Baek Ho Rang’s deepest secrets, and is seemingly armed with all sorts of information about her that she’d rather was kept a secret forever!
Desperate for answers, she seeks out the help of Go Eun Taek, the meticulous, right-minded head of the school’s broadcasting club. However, in order to gain his assistance, she discovers that she will have to become a regular club member – a fact that eventually brings her together with a group of students she never thought she’d consider friends. Can she solve the mystery of the online poster? And could joining the club eventually lead to romance?
MyDramaList
Baek Ho Rang (Jung Da Bin) is an Instagram influencer and high school student. She is standoffish and somewhat rude, however, it seems that her home life is not a happy one. Go Eun Taek (NU’EST’s Hwang Min Hyun) also seems to have a strained home life, however, instead of being fully standoffish, he has a blunt personality and takes care of the people around him.
The bickering between the students is fun and cute, it does school friendships well (even though some of these people should not be in high school as I’m the same age as a few of the actors and I haven’t stepped foot in my secondary school in 9 years!😂).
Some of the characters in the first episode did feel irrelevant, especially at the start and with how much screen-time they got. I assume they will become more active with the main characters once the drama picks up the pace.
The second half of the drama was a lot more interesting and is the reason I’m going to continue. The mystery of who is starting to play this game with Ho Rang and why is definitely intriguing. Ho Rang also has a lot of potential to grow as a character, which I’d like to see!
WILL I CONTINUE:
YES || NO
images from hancinema.net
The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim (2021)
Na Woo Soo is the very picture of high school perfection: He comes from a wealthy family, is outstandingly handsome, is every teacher’s favorite student at Seoul’s most prestigious high school, and unfailingly tops the class with his sky-high grades. But his life is about to turn on its head: The student with the lowest grades in his class is found dead in what at first appears to have been a suicide, and a girl named Ga Doo Shim transfers into his class.
Ga Doo Shim longs to be a run-of-the-mill high schooler, but she is fated to become a mighty, evil spirit-chasing shaman. The only problem is she struggles to see spirits, both evil and benevolent. Her grandmother once told her that if she could survive being 18, she would be able to live a normal life. But the death of the student with low grades soon turns out to have a supernatural link. And furthermore, she soon learns that Na Woo Soo has suddenly gained the ability to see spirits. Together, they realize, they have the power to fight back against the powers of evil, which are now threatening to overrun the school. But could their ghost-busting partnership one day blossom into romance?
MyDramaList
Going into this I didn’t realise two things: 1 – the episodes are only 20 minutes long and 2 – Goo Shim is the female lead.
I was so close to closing Viki during the intro to episode one… the acting was bad… However, I stuck with it considering the episode is so short.
Goo Shim (Kim Sae Ron) is a young girl who can see ghosts, but the lifestyle her mum and grandmother (in particular) has is not what she wants for herself. A flashback takes up most of the episode and it was great! Yoon Seok Hwa as Goo Shim’s grandmother was great and Jo Si Yeon as younger Goo Shim was fantastic!
Yoo Sun Ho as the ghost that holds the evil spirit was great in the flashback as well and I think he’ll be great throughout. I’m a little apprehensive about the main leads, simply because the intro was so bad. Here’s hoping I’m wrong because Nam Da Reum has really impressed me in the past.
Overall, it’s an interesting concept and should be a fun time. I know also that they are making a sequel, but not sure how that will progress due to the decline of Kim Sae Ron’s career after drink driving last year.
WILL I CONTINUE:
YES || NO
images from hancinema.net
Melancholia (2021)
A sexual scandal between a math teacher and a student in a prestigious high school ends in tragedy. Four years later, they meet again, now both adults, to reveal the corruption in school and to regain one’s reputation as a teacher.
Ji Yoon Soo is a high school math teacher with a bright smile and a positive impression of others. She is a hard-nosed and stubborn person who has to push ahead with the decisions she has made. She is a math geek who loves solving difficult problems and teaches students to purely love math.
Baek Seung Yoo is emotionless and has no light in his eyes. He used to be a math genius who appeared on a quiz program at the age of five and surprised the world by solving college-level math problems. He was admitted to MIT at the age of 10 but dropped out at the age of 12, and suddenly disappeared.
MyDramaList
The first episode of Meloncholia opens in true kdrama fashion with rich people being terrible people. Ji Yoon Soo (Im Soo Jung) has allegations of having a relationship with a student and it’s clear from the start that Noh Jung Ah (Jin Kyung), the headteacher of the prestigious high school for chaebol children is the clear antagonist.
The episode then throws us back to where it all starts. Yoon Soo loves maths and gets scouted for a maths teacher role at a school for the elite due to her being able to get her public school students to the Maths Olympics.
She soon realises that her position is to boost the future careers of a select group of students, however, Yoon Soo’s teaching methods soon ruffle feathers. Yoon Soo is also captivated by a mystery student who is incredible at maths, but has not been put forward for her class.
Baek Seung Yoo (Lee Do Hyun) is a child prodigy who no longer has a passion for maths, but is drawn into Yoon Soo’s questions.
I really enjoyed the first episode. Out of the three drama’s here, this is the one I’m most excited for. There is drama and intrigue from the offset. The teacher-student relationship doesn’t feel forced or romantic which I love. In this episode, there are moments that could seem romantic, but there is an element of sadness or wistfulness underneath because of the music. It’s clear that there are no romantic feelings on Yoon Soo’s side, it’s simply that she loves maths and is fascinated and happy with Seung Yoo’s intelligence.
I do think this is going to be an emotional watch. And as someone who didn’t understand any of the maths involved, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment.
WILL I CONTINUE:
YES || NO
images from tving.com
What are your thoughts on these dramas?
Thanks for reading!
I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥
DramaRambles 🌸 