This review may contain spoilers
Sweet Start, Messy Finish
I randomly stumbled upon this drama and ended up really enjoying it, at least in the first half. The early episodes were engaging and sweet, and I found myself invested in the characters and their relationships. Unfortunately, the later half of the drama did not hold my attention as much. I’ll be honest, I skimmed through the rest of the episodes.Lee Seul Bi is a death angel who, due to an accident, saves Shin Woo Hyun and becomes human as a result. The first few episodes focus on her struggle to navigate the human world and figure out how to return to her role as a death angel. These episodes explore her naivety, curiosity, and gradual understanding of human emotions. A turning point comes when she witnesses Shin Woo Hyun mourning the loss of his grandmother. Seeing his grief firsthand makes her reconsider her perspective on humans and mortality, and she makes the difficult decision to remain human in order to support him. The early half of the drama is largely about building the friendship and emotional bond between Lee Seul Bi and Shin Woo Hyun, and those moments are handled with warmth and sincerity.
The second half of the drama shifts focus to conflict and jealousy, which, for me, was less engaging. Hwang Sung Yeol becomes jealous of Shin Woo Hyun and, once he realizes the girl he loves isn't in love with him. Once he finds out Lee Seul Bi's identity, does everything he can to drive a wedge between them. In the end, Sung Yeol learns to let go of his jealousy and opens his heart to the people who genuinely care for him.
There is also a third character, her senior from the afterworld, who has been in love with her all along. He too becomes human and serves as another obstacle preventing Lee Seul Bi from reuniting with her friends after she loses her memory. While this adds drama, these additional storylines felt unnecessary and at times weighed the narrative down. Honestly, considering how everything plays out, it might have been more effective if didn't have Hwang Sung Yeol's storyline, and just casted him as the senior death angel. The tropes they had felt overwhelming. The way they tried to fit in extra cliche trope.
One of the highlights of the series is the chemistry between Kim Sae Ron and Nam Woo Hyun. Their interactions feel natural and grounded, and the friendship and subtle romantic tension between them are believable. The actors bring charm and emotion to their roles, making Lee Seul Bi’s journey from naive death angel to caring human resonate even when the plot becomes predictable.
Overall, Hi! School – Love On is strongest in its first half, when it focuses on character development, emotional growth, and exploring human feelings through Lee Seul Bi’s perspective. The first half is enjoyable and I would definitely recommend you watching the first half.
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Then, I have no idea what happened. I felt like I must've missed an episode where something terrible happened, because it felt like there was so much random angst, and I didn't know why the characters were making bad decisions.
Sung-Yeol started out as one of my favorites, and I even felt a tickle of second lead syndrome. But his character regression was one of the worst I'd ever seen, and his temper tantrum lasted way longer than it had to. A lot of the side characters, like both Sung-Yeol's parents also started not being able to communicate and lacking common sense. The mom was especially frustrating, and I don't think I ever got a good enough reason why she did what she did. Overall, everybody being stupid made the drama have eight more episodes than it needed.
I had read reviews saying that the beginning and end were good, but the middle dropped off. For me, the middle dropped off and the end never got better. It utilized a cliche and didn't explain it well, and there was a dreaded time skip. Overall, I really wished that the angel thing was explained more, because I wanted to learn more about how everything worked, and if the world-building had been stronger, I'm sure the plot would have had more, instead of dragging out the same thing for eight episodes.
One side ship that I really rooted for was Tae-Ho and Joo-Ah, both characters who I had a soft spot for from the first second they appeared on screen. I liked how the ensemble grew in size as the drama went on and that friendship started to play a bigger role than romance.
I also really liked how witty and meta this drama could be at times, talking about dramas and love triangles. Those little comments always made me laugh.
The OST is also surprisingly good—every song was a bop and I'll be downloading them all!
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This drama is good but.......................
Update review:It didn't let me edit or delete my other review so l'm doing another.
No hate. This is just my opinion
This drama is good to watch if you don't have anything to watch but you want to watch something, well this is how this drama feels.
It's really good but not great.
I like it because it feels l don't know like a Disney movie/drama because when you watch it has little romance (l think because they were all starting as actors), cheesy, comedy and there acting wasn't that good but l know they tried there best.
Like l said before it felt like Disney movie/drama but in a Korean way.
The story was good, it's perfect or good for people who like this kind of storys/storytelling.
OST/Song was really good.
I'm going to mention this again. The main actors there acting wasn't good and you could tell but they tried there best because 2 of them are singer and they just started acting. Also the main girl she just started acting in romance dramas so it's understandable.
The support cast they were good at acting because they have been acting for a while or long time.
I would watch this again but if l was really bored and just want to watch something out of nowhere.
Again MY opinion.
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It was apparent that Woo Hyun and Sung Yeol were a little lacking in experience as their acting was a little dull and stiff but it was palatable. On the other hand, I think Kim Sae Ron did really well. :) You can hardly tell that she is 14?! I was so shocked when I found out her real age, for such a young actor, she portrayed her character well.
The music is meh. Not good, not bad.
I highly doubt I will rewatch this again unless I am in the mood to torture myself slowly with boredom.
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Story: Not bad, I liked it, just not a whole lot. Happy ending and it flowed. I just didn't understand Sungyeol's character and it was kind of cliche..
Acting/Cast: Kim Sae Ron can really act! Woo Hyun was pretty good and so was Sungyeol.
Rewatch Value: It was enjoyable but I wouldn't rewatch this..
Overall: 8/10 I think you should give it a try. It was a sweet drama.
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This drama started out really fun. My ratings of the first 4 or so episodes are pretty good. But things went south. It had a great setup and I was interested in the characters. Things were progressing nicely. But then the storylines started to repeat over and over. Pretty much all of it got convoluted. I'm usually someone who doesn't mind 20 episodes. When the shows good it's perfect. But normally a drama needs to be 16 episodes to avoid flashbacks and fillers. Sadly THIS drama needed to be done in 10. (As I think someone else has stated.)
The acting was pretty cute and fun. I really liked Seul Bi she was amazing and I hope to see her in another drama. A better one. Both male leads were pretty good as well, and I wouldn't mind seeing them else where. Some of the other actors/actresses where campy. Like the male reaper/angel, though I think that might of due to his stereotype as that character.
Music was fun. Great at some points, too dramatic at others. Visually I thought it was well done. The fashion was fun, weird at some points, and hilarious in a few spots. And no I won't be rewatching this ever. As I really debated about dropping this drama.
In the end I kept going with High School Love On because I truly enjoyed it at the beginning. I think this drama suffered because it took so long to come out. Writing issues and it lost itself. I'll keep an eye out for the leads.
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There was not only love but showed the value of friendship, specially in Ep18 & the love of mother specially in Ep19 & the love of the couple specially in 9,10,12,18, & 20... It was superb...!!
There was only one kiss in the whole drama but the love between Woohyun & Seaulbi fulfills for many kisses & i guess that it should be enough since they were high school students..
And when we coming to acting, I guess Nam Woohyun can reach to 'the best romantic actor' title.. Because his acting was soo real and cute to watch, And he is a cool guy!!
And Kim Sae Ron, she has got a talent.. Beacuse for her age, it was soo realstic... And she acted soo well.. She also deserves a 'Best young romantic actress' title..!!
And eventually both of them were such a cute couple.. I wish for a part two for this story under the same casts or the couple act another romantic drama..
Finally, I hope they become the real couple!!
All the best for both of them to have a great future ahead!!!
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This review may contain spoilers
Up to Episode 5 nice, feel good drama with cute leads and sufficient plots to keep interest going. Lee Sung Yeol's haircut certainly does him no favours. Is he trying to disguise his good looks??? Right, at ep. 8: Some people mention cute, fluffy romance, but around eps. 8 and 9 this gets really heavy……around eps 11 and 12 etc my feeling is a) why the heck are people so unkind/nasty to each other? and b) why don't they explain what happened instead of minds just going into overdrive based on false assumptions due to others' silence? - well I suppose then there'd be no excuse for 20 episodes, silly me. I put it on hold around the middle as, like others, it did not seem to go anywhere. Went back as I liked the lead actors and side stories of the others. Liked Mrs Ahn too, but maybe that's my bizarre taste. At ep.17: after some going round in circles around the middle, interest picks up. I've decided I really like this series and care about what happens to the characters but it certainly is not a laugh a minute, it can get quite depressing if you are in the wrong mood. Also the supernatural theme is there but is irritatingly background and not developed. Finally having reached the end and the denouement is certainly cleverly thought up. It's really not a spoiler to say nicely done, sweet. harmony and bliss descends. Better haircuts and appearance (within its limitations) virtually all round. As others say, it's quite emotional (I'm so happy (cry, cry where's that tissue box?) )HOWEVER, since most of this series from episodes 8/9 to near the end was more like tragedy or melodrama and after the contortions of the plot and characters, the transformation in one single, final episode was really a cheat. The trouble is the series went on in the middle for far too long. If there were fewer episodes, the ending would have been more in proportion and credible. Still it was a nice ending and I enjoyed it overall and am glad I didn't drop it half way through. Music OK but too sentimental, not so great you wanted to continually hear it to the point of depression. Re-watch - probably not for me, it's too long a slog, with too many episodes going round in circles. For the good bits (generously overlooking the bad bits) 9/10 overall.
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