THIS SHOULD BE A BL SERIES!!
The production team should change how they promote the series from BL to a Straight Series. This is misleading and disappointing at the same time, watching it. Less screen to the BL couple is causing distress and suffering in the BL community. Nothing against the actors, they are great but the series sucks. I can't even enjoy it. All I know is that I keep scrolling social media while watching, then stop to watch when the BL couple's screen time. That's all I know.P.S.
This is my first time giving the lowest review ever. Even the worst BL I've watched, I've never rated them.
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Beautiful
Reading everyone else’s review, I was honestly disappointed. I was hooked by this show from the first episode. Most of you who started watching this was expecting the normal trope of the boy and his best friend. You also were not expecting that there would be a straight couple as well. Now while I understand that they do get a bit of scene time, I feel as if it is needed. I feel like we get such an understanding of all the characters. This is a slow burn that is really burning for me at least. I have to be honest, when I started watching this, I thought Hee Su and his best friend were going to end up together, which almost always happens in these shows. Boy was I wrong and I’m glad I’m wrong. This show just kind of gives off a really heart warming but a realistic message which you’ll just have to figure out by watching yourself. While there are a ton of bad reviews, I hope this one gives you a reason to give this a try. And come onnnn, it’s rare to get a Korean BL that has 10 episodes with each being over 40 minutes long. They are evolving, and this one is just so beautiful.Was this review helpful to you?
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heesu and seungwon screentime when?? heesu and seungwon dating era when??
I actually have personal beef with the writers...First they just add an unnecessary straight couple and gave them TOOOOOO much screen time...like we got to see their dating era but not the main couples?!? Then they butchered chanyoungs character HORRIBLY like that is NOT my chanyoung bro...manhwa chanyoung would never... Also, not to mention, the main couple didn't even get together until the last 10 mins of ep 10 like are we being serious right now? they also added the most unnecessary side characters...IDGAF about them, i couldn't care less about hosik or that carrot girl...oh my lordd. LIKE WHERES MY SUNWOO AND DAMH?!?!?!?Neow lets talk about chanyoung....In the manhwa i did find chanyoung to be annoying at first BUT he's that character that grows on you and by the time i completed reading the manhwa, chanyoung was my 3rd fave character. HOWEVER, in the drama I genuinely despised chanyoung at all times. Whenever he showed up on screen, i sighed and skipped. One of my fave parts in the manhwa was when chanyoung found out seungwon liked heesu and he helped seungwon to build a relationship with heesu, along with the help of jiyu. Chanyoung cared a lot about heesu in the manhwa and loved him, but in the drama that's a whole different story tbh...It can be arguable but personally I don't think chanyoung was a good friend towards heesu at all. The mischaracterisation of chanyoung goes crazy cause did the writers not read the manhwa or smth?? Did they have hatred built up for chanyoung?? Like do you have beef with chanyoung?? How does one actually mess up a character this bad...
Now the unnecessary straight couple, which I think ruined the drama the most. In the manhwa jiyu and chanyoungs PLATONIC relationship was the best but ofc in the drama they had to change that. In my most humble opinion, manhwa jiyu would genuinely throw up if someone ever shipped her with chanyoung and fight me all you want but jiyu is a girl kisser. I don't make the rules. Everytime they got screen time I would just skip those parts. I didn't care about their relationship at all. What was the reason to make them a couple?? What's the point of adapting a bl manhwa if the main couple get less screen time than the 2nd couple that didn't even exist in the manhwa?? So you would get better response from the audience?? Then just don't adapt a bl manhwa bro lmaooo. Is it really that hard?? There's like 100000 straight manhwas, go adapt those if you want a straight couple SOOO bad.
Heesu and seungwons relationship in the manhwa was the cutest and was still cute in the drama but it can't compare to the manhwa. In all honesty, if we took and added all of the screen time heesu and seungwon had, it would be about a length of a movie. Like 2 hours?? maybe?? That says A LOT of how much the drama was ruined. The title is 'Heesu in class 2' HEESU!!! But it felt more like 'chanyoung in class 2' not cool guys...nawt cool at all...
They also just completely erased the, ACTUAL, 2nd couple... like damn alright...what's your beef with gay people...
Finally, they just dragged the whole drama so much cause personally, in my opinion, the amount of unneeded screetime chanyoung had with all his idek tennis problems or smth, unnecessary side characters (NOT TALKING ABOUT MY LESBIAN QUEENS) and, sorry but, jiyus whole music artist thingy, should've been heesu and seungwons screentime and the confession should've, at least, happened around ep 7 or 8 so we could've seen their dating era. Also I was just disappointed with the confession scene as well because in the manhwa it was so cute and everything but in the drama it just made me mad. They also ruined the trip arc smh... so uhh yeah they ruined a lot of things including most scenes of heesu and seungwon (the main characters...)
Heesu in class 2 will forever be my favourite manhwa but the drama??....ermm a very hilarious question actually!! The reason I watched this and finished it was because, 1) well it's an adaptation of my fav manhwa and 2) the actors. That's it. ANYWAYS I hope my other fav manhwas NEVER get a live action again or if they do get a live action, I PRAY AND HOPE it's like semantic error and our youth (peak).
Watch this if you want but you should DEFINITELY read the manhwa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so yeah this is my first time writing a review so don't hate smh...
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Read the manhwa instead
We waited two long years for Heesu in Class 2 to air, and I, for one, was incredibly excited. I had read and loved the manhwa, and when the producers announced they were giving us a longer runtime, 45 minutes per episode, compared to the usual 25 minutes for Korean BL dramas. It felt like they truly cared about doing the story justice. When the air date was finally announced, fans cheered.I eagerly sat down to watch Episode 1 and found it funny, charming, and entertaining, a promising start. The original manhwa tells the story of Heesu, a boy in Class 2 who offers love advice to his fellow students. At first, Heesu has a crush on his best friend Chayoung, but over time, he develops real feelings for his classmate Seungwon. Seungwon, who also harbors feelings for Heesu, struggles with how to confess.
But in the drama adaptation, Heesu has been reduced to a supporting character, running around headless and directionless, because the producers decided to make the straight couple, Chayoung and his girlfriend Jiyu, the leads. They are given most of the runtime, full backstories (Jiyu as a budding musician and Chayoung with his tennis career), while Heesu and Seungwon are left with almost nothing. Outside of their crushes, they have no meaningful development that the audience can connect to.
Needless to say i skipped all of the straight couple's scenes.
In the drama, Chayoung is portrayed as a selfish and terrible friend, to absorbed with his own life to give Heesu a second glance. Seungwon and Heesu only get together in the last five minutes of the show, while the straight couple starts dating four episodes in.
The original manhwa was about a gay boy navigating his first love. The producers took that, and straightwashed it. Heesu, the heart of the story, is pushed into the background, treated like filler for the straight couple, a couple that doesn't even exist in the source material.
This raises the question:
Why adapt a gay manhwa if you have no intention of telling a gay story?
There are millions of heterosexual manhwas you can adapt. Why take a beloved, beautifully written queer story and strip it of everything that made it special?
I have never once seen a straight manhwa adapted into a gay story. Yet, time and time again, queer stories are rewritten to be palatable to straight audiences. Heterosexual shows don't change to accommodate queer people. Why are queer stories expected to accommodate straight people in order to exist?
Why can’t we have something that's just ours?
This is queer erasure and homophobia at its finest.
I loved Heesu, both the manhwa and what little dignity the drama version tried to salvage. But drama Heesu was completely let down by this adaptation.
I genuinely hope these producers never touch a BL manhwa ever again.
Edit: People in the comments are purposefully missing the point. I keep seeing people say, “You guys are doing too much. What’s wrong with having a straight couple?” And the answer is: nothing is wrong with straight couples. That’s not the issue.
The issue is that this drama gave us two straight couples, when the original manhwa had two gay couples: Heesu and Seungwon, and Heesu’s junior and his guy (I can’t remember their names, but you know who I mean). To me it is THAT serious.
Because when you let these changes slide, when you say, “It’s fine, it’s just one couple”, you give studios permission to keep doing it. And they will. Again and again. They’ll keep adapting queer stories into safe, marketable ones, because the audience doesn’t push back.
If you don't care about queer representation, just say that. You have no right to tell queer people how to feel or react to blatant erasure.
Thank you, bye
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Read the manhwa for a proper story about Heesu and Seungwon
Tbh I usually don't write reviews. I just use this page to keep track of the dramas I'm watching or want to watch, but I really wanted to express this. The manhwa Heesu in Class 2 is my favorite of all time, I've re-readed many times, I just love it so much. They are the most adorable and wholesome couple there is. So I was super excited when the adaptation was announced and patiently waited for it to come out. I really liked the first episode, I think the casting choices were perfect. After the second episode I started to think "Oh no, it's going on a different direction". That is not necessarily a bad thing, sometimes it works, nonetheless, i don't think it was the case for this drama. I continued watching it with the mindset that this was not the Heesu that I knew and love, but someone pretty different. I enjoyed it like that. It was a good drama, just not a great adaptation. So if you are interested in the story and actually want to see the story of Heesu and Seungwon, I recomend you to please read the original work for these reasons:-Chanyoung's character is way better in the manhwa: he and Heesu are actual best friends. It feels like they actually know each other since they were babies. In the drama Chanyoung said himself that he felt that he didn't know Heesu, like WTH? In the manhwa he's concerned and aware of Heesu's feelings, wants him to be happy and doesn't want him to get hurt. In the drama they just made Heesu his shadow, not even like an actual friend, which was very dissapointing.
-Heesu is actually the main character: Yes, the manhwa has more characters, even later we got a second couple (no, i'm not talking about Chanyoung an Ji Yu) but even when they appear, you can tell who our main couple is. Heesu is such a sweetheart who deserves the world, and it focus it on how his feelings change and how he overcomes his past and new crush. We got to see how after helping people with their problems and with Seungwon, he then learns that he was so much more than just Chanyoung's friend. He started to be more aware of his worth. So he started to appreciate the people around him more, he then got more friends who supported him. We don't get to see that in the drama. Don't get me wrong, i loved the actor for Heesu, I think he did an amazing job with what they gave him.
-Chanyoung and Ji Yu are not a couple: When I was reading the manhwa I actually shipped them together for a while. Chanyoung actually had other girlfriend. So when I saw that they were put together in the drama, I actually was happy, but no for long. I think pairing them took away their whole personalities and good points. In the manwha they worked together to get Heesu and Seungwon together, which gave us some of the best moments in the story. They didn't took time away from our main couple, they actually cared so much for them. With Ji Yu you can tell that she's actually best friends with Seungwon, i couldn't feel that at all in the drama, at least I didn't.
-We couldn't see them being a couple when they are so lovey dovey in the manhwa: The couple we saw being a couple, was a couple that was not there in the first place. In the manwha Heesu realizing his feelings for Seungwon, the confession and their first moments as a couple were perfect. But in the drama we just got the confession on the last episode and the only moment we saw after they were together was something about the restroom? you've got to be kidding me.
-Somethig maybe not as important, but I wanted to point it out: Heesu's family is way more likeable in the manhwa.
I think there are a lot of other points, but i'll stop here. I didn't gave it bad score or anything. I think the production was great and I'm usually not harsh when I give scores, so I'm not saying not to watch it, buy if you actually want to see a romance story about Heesu and Sungwon please read the manhwa. They really are the cutest couple ever and we sadly didn't get to see it in the drama.
(Also english is not my first language so I apologize if it's not great)
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Caught by surprise
Heesu did everything he could to guide everyone to love and in so doing captured mine. As simple as the formula is, it works. Meandering through the myriad of teenage relationships, it feels fresh, confusing and exciting. Heesu's expressive eyes and high smile carries every flittering emotion of a young heart opening up to love.Heesu shares a home with his three sisters who go through their journeys and indirectly help shape his experiences. His friends paths are no different than his and add to the complexities of a teenage world. He starts determined to make his confession to only to be stopped by Seung Won who, in his awkwardness, knows Heesu doing so would make him lose the one he loves. Quietly and steadily, he loves.
In his obsession to create happiness for those around him, Heesu cluelessly continues on his mission. Misunderstandings and unspoken feelings add to an already chaotic world. Finally, bravery wins for all. Life is not a stagnant pool and whether they liked it or not, the constant changing from day to night meant that their lives changed also. With every interaction, confession, rejection and acceptance came maturity and wisdom.
Heesu's narration felt like a warm blanket, gently imparting the new found knowledge at the end of the day. This was a huge plus to the series. When the day was done, we all processed at the same time. Opening the window into Heesu's current mood through his anologies emerging from his knowledge of astronomy. Like a butterfly breaking free from his cocoon, he would hurt before receiving his joy. The boy he loves, loves him.
The six couple relationships were seen to maturity over the period of 10 episodes. It was well interwoven within their daily activities that none were rushed. Their differering stances at the end would see the growth of all. In many series the bl focus is so strong that the hetero world is either ommitted or shown to be lacklustre. Not here. In a world where we all co-exist, here the value of each group was beautifully displayed. This was a huge benefit to the actual storytelling. Seung Won's relationship with his two moms would be briefly touched on, but the bond would strengthen as they both wanted to have lives unencumbered with lies.
There are many who may not have liked it as according to mdl's feed, it veered away from the original webtoon. I was not disappointed as I've never read it nor will I. There were two versions of Love in the Big City and I liked both. The expectation that a piece should be specific to it's source material will always be disappointing. Embracing a piece as it's given should be enjoyed on it's own merit. The acting was competant and inviting. The production did a wonderful job of bringing their stories to life. The accompanying score would create the wonder of Heesu's confused environment. The darkened room needed only the soft voices revealing their truth.
This is going onto my rewatch list and I'll boldly add, should be on yours, too.
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What to expect?
You can watch this for a light hearted distraction from real life fall-outs and their chemistry is not too bad. Though as an avid BL fan, i think this series should've focused more on heesu and his love interest rather than the other couple.Just like every other k-bl, the show focuses more on the confession part yet often falters back on showing their relationship development. The actors were great but the plot could've focused more on heesu and his lover.
I would recommend people watching it but obviously compared to thai, japanese and taiwanese bl, i think korean bls need to be a little bolder by focusing on the boys as they often side track the mls in a mix, gay-staright couple serie just like this one.
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A very good Story!!
Everyone seems to be going crazy over the fact that this drama isn't "BL enough," and there's been a lot of bashing about the inclusion of a straight couple as a secondary pairing. While I understand the frustration — especially since the drama doesn't strictly follow the original material and apparently changes quite a lot of the story — the drama itself delivers a very good narrative, full of sweet and emotionally charged moments. You can clearly feel the characters’ struggles as they often find themselves watching the ones they love fall for someone else.This isn’t like a typical Thai BL, where it feels like every guy naturally falls for another guy without question. Instead, Hessu in Class 2 presents a different, more bittersweet perspective: the reality of unrequited love, the genuine fear that being true to yourself might cost you dearly, and the painful experience of watching your desires slip further out of reach. Not every story is meant to offer a dreamlike fantasy — some are here to show us a fragment of harsher, more grounded realities, ones that might be far from what we wish for, but are nonetheless true.
There is absolutely no "straight-washing" here. The development of the straight couple is actually an important part of the narrative engine, driving the story and character growth. Personally, I found their presence grounding, giving the world a sense of realism and making the stakes of the characters’ secrets feel much more tangible.
Although almost all the side stories are barely developed — often serving only as background decoration or a quick breather between heavier scenes — the main story is strong! There’s no wasted time with fan service or pointless subplots just to fill the runtime. Every event moves the plot forward, leading to a conclusion that, while a bit rushed and barebones, was ultimately satisfying.
This is not a BL, this is a Love Story, and as such it delivers.
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It’s not a BL
Very sad about the path they decided to take. They changed the story of the Manhwa a lot, the development and personalities of the forgivens are not the same. Finally, the development of a straight relationship being the focus more than the main couple was a choice. They emphasized the guitar scene, but not the chicken date.Was this review helpful to you?
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Unrequited affection, transformative friendship, the mystery of hidden love
Adolescence is fertile ground for fiction. It's that time in our lives when emotions run high. Every obstacle is the end of the world. Every sexual or romantic attraction leads to hours and hours of thinking in bed. Every photo or comment on social media saves us or plunges us into the abyss of life. Insecurities bring out the worst in us. Waking up in the morning means facing the existential crisis of understanding one's place in the world. And, at the same time, anything is possible.If we consider that it is scientifically proven that childhood is that key stage for every person, where the intellectual and emotional foundations on which their success or failure as an adult depend are formed, it is clear that Lee Hee Su, the young protagonist of 'Hee Su in Class 2', has all the makings of a rather happy future.
Someone who is aware that, as small, fleeting beings in a universe we don't understand and will probably never understand, we will also be unable to know what the future holds, tells us that we are in the presence of an awake, curious, and thoughtful teenager who seems to have his ideas very clear.
Offering sound love advice to his classmates, even though he doesn't dare apply it to his own love life; talking about crushes when he doesn't even know what to do with his own; being part of an almost utopian universe (that of youth and school) where those who had never paid attention to him begin to seek him out for love advice, where Hee Su himself is the first to be surprised when he realizes that "his special talent" can solve relationship problems, and where love entails not knowing that we won't find love with the person we think we love, but with someone we would never have imagined, this was the best thing that could happen to a boy who keeps the secret of being in love with Joo Chan Young, his best friend. If we add to this the fact that his heterosexual crush, unaware of the feelings he awakens in Hee Su, takes every opportunity to talk to him about girls, including Ji Yu (Park Yoo Hyun), his favorite singer and schoolmate whom he likes so much, it could very well be a trigger for the deepening frustration of having to hide his crush.
And although at times it seems as if his world could collapse with a complex family environment, with absent parents and three single sisters, one of them suffering from heartbreak, everything will change when an unexpected person enters his life.
South Korean female director Park Kyung Min makes her television debut with a coming-of-age story, a youth drama that raises questions about unrequited affection, transformative friendship, the mystery of hidden love, self-discovery, unexpected relationships, and the search for acceptance in a school environment with the freshness of student life.
Far from being just another of the hundreds of LGBT+-themed productions that are increasingly appearing on television channels and digital media, 'Heesu in Class 2' surprises with a complexity and attention to detail that transcends its genre, with its fresh and emotional take on what it means to find one's own path in the midst of adolescence. Ahn Ji Ho, after winning critical and popular acclaim for his roles in the series "Nobody Knows" (2020), "Night Has Come" (2023), and "Begins Youth" (2024), and the films "Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days" (2018) and "Rebound" (2023), once again showcases his artistic talent in his portrayal of Hee Su, a dreamy, clever, but socially awkward young man whose identity at school has been reduced to being "Chan Young's friend". Kim Seung Won is a destabilizing element in his life. Unlike Chan Young, the neighbor and class president is reserved, shy, studious, and somewhat clumsy, especially around the main character.
Lee Sang Jun, known for his performance as a soldier in the second season of 'Squid Game' (2024) and his appearance in television productions such as 'Beauty and Mr. Romantic' (2024) and 'Blue Birthday' (2021), plays a character whose serious demeanor and intense glances, interpreted as signs of rejection, initially confuse Hee Su. However, he manages to draw him out of Chan Young's shadow when the two meet in the School Guidance Club and begin to interact more. In addition to sharing activities at school, Hee Su discovers that Seung Won is her neighbor, and on more than one occasion, they end up talking through their bedroom windows. This unexpected bond brings them closer, showing Hee Su a different perspective on affection and companionship, something she had never considered outside of her devotion to Chan Young.
The series, which at times reminds me of 'Sex Education' (Laurie Nunn), becomes a kind of healing sanctuary and an unprejudiced adolescent audiovisual. While in the 2019 Netflix series, Otis (Asa Butterfield) decides to use the sexual knowledge acquired through his mother, a renowned sex therapist, to help students and transform their environment, here Lee Hee Su achieves the same results, but resorts to repeating some of the love clichés contributed by her sister, who has also failed to find happiness in love.
This approach is simple and daring, but it results in a series with a completely natural tone, very funny, very well developed, and unfolding quite realistically. It's a reflection of life that normalizes the normalization of certain topics, discussing human and adolescent psychology, and often drawing on the main character's knowledge of astronomy and the cosmic universe.
I have to admit it. I've rarely seen two actors like Ahn Ji Ho and Lee Sang Jun so accurately portray the emotions, awkwardness, and emotional intensity of those first loves and relationships.
Their performances are very genuine in capturing personal growth and self-discovery. As the characters get to know each other, a maturation process occurs through their romantic experiences, centered more on silences, secrets, glances, restrained gestures, unspoken words...
The series beautifully portrays the school as a social center. The school environment created is the perfect setting for adding drama and tension to the characters' romantic adventures. It's also beautiful in depicting the drama of friendship, how friends influence romantic decisions and add complexity to the story with loyalty, jealousy, and support.
Another element we shouldn't overlook is the family dynamic. Lee Hee Su lives with three sisters. Much of the action takes place in their home, while these four characters share experiences and conversations. The series is exquisite in showing how family influence can influence the way the characters approach love. The relationships between Hee Su and her sisters, Lee Hui Jae (Park Kyung Hye), Lee Hui Jeong (Kim Han Na), and Lee Hui Sin (Jung Ye Nok), generate tension and push the protagonist to make important decisions. Other issues we shouldn't forget are how conflicts and dramas inform the romantic stories of Hee Su and Kim Seung Won, on the one hand, and Joo Chan Young and Choi Ji Yu (Kim Do Yeon), on the other. Love triangles, misunderstandings, rivalries, and breakups keep these two stories captivating and full of emotional twists and turns.
Shin Ho Sik (Jeon Yeong In), Hee Su's friend and classmate, is another character audiences will enjoy, as they empathize with a boy who discovers love in a classmate after the girl he's been in love with rejects him.
Ahn Ji Ho's performance is superb. His character struggles with his insecurities, his sexual identity, self-esteem issues, and emotional ups and downs (whether joy, heartbreak, or confusion) as he tries to figure out who he is. Through his insecurities, viewers can understand how this boy deals with love and relationships with everyone around him.
Some vilify the series for not being faithful to the original. I haven't read the eponymous webtoon by Lily Zuzu, published in 2018 by Lezhin Comics, on which it is based, so I can't speak to its virtues or defects as an adaptation, but the creators have the freedom to discard the so-called Literal Adaptation and Condensed Adaptation, to avail themselves of the Interpretive Adaptation, which allows greater creative freedom when adapting the original work.
The truth is, I have no doubt that those who can't do anything, teach. And those who have never experienced love begin to give advice about love. That's the essential premise of the series.
A work with a wonderful rhythm, with perfect and magnificent performances, with a well-written plot that works to create a dynamic that moves the work forward with enormous doses of fun, profound discourses, and brilliant acting. It takes advantage of its themes and has a refreshing perspective on the world and art, with wholesome messages and great naturalness, but above all, it is a very funny series with 45-minute episodes, something unusual in South Korean BL series, which amaze us and make us enjoy the entire length of the series, without the typical filler. A work that gets to the point with what it wants to show and how it wants to entertain us for a few hours.
Along the way, Hee Su resolves the sentimental doubts of both his schoolmates and himself. 'Hee Su in Class 2' has managed to break the prevailing heteronormativity, allowing the visibility of sexual orientations and their expression in young characters, which represents a breakthrough in a country as conservative and patriarchal as South Korea. It offers one of the best scenes of support between a queer character and another queer character ever on television: the moment when Hee Su overhears a girl talk about her feelings for another woman. And, while it vindicates friendship in all its forms (between boys and girls, between gays and straights, from equality and difference), it offers a valuable deconstruction of toxic masculinity. This, I would say, is its most stimulating legacy.
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