High School Return of a Gangster

Time

What is the thing you want more but can’t have ?
And the thing you want to stop but it won’t ? …it’s TIME.

It was a great binge for me. Another great youthful drama.
I enjoyed the quick banter and the “konndae” nature of Song Ye Heon and the refreshing , funny moments .

I enjoyed watching Leo Seo Jin as an actor. Although after watching his variety shows , at times I can’t take him seriously and his character in this drama is a gangster? LoL i can’t … but he is after all an actor too.

This drama is another recommendation. Go watch it!

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Great acting to match a great story

Watching the very beginning, I wasn't sure I was going to stick with it. There are several scenes that are a bit difficult to watch with the school bullying early on, however, once you get into the heart of the story, the major transformation of the characters is unbelievable to watch. You can easily feel yourself go from anger to laughter to sadness in a short period of time.
Yoon Chan Young is so fantastic from start to finish in this role or actually duel roles that he plays. It's a very impressive acting performance. Bong Jae Hyun gives a great performance as well.
Without giving a spoiler, the ending can be taking either a positive or negative way, depending how you're feeling at the moment you watch it, but overall I think the ending worked really well.
This series definitely shows the meaning of true friendship and how important a role real friends play in life.
An absolute must watch feel good series!!

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can't fathom this ending

I'll start by saying I'm not an expert in anything, even less so in cinema so this is just my humble opinion.

This drama started really good and I actually really liked the characters and the story line. I'm usually not a fan of "transmigration" or similar things 'cause most of the time, it's very difficult to write those kind of story "well". In this case, not only is it "transmigration" but it's also a grown up (40+) that goes back into a CHILD'S body.

I honestly thought everything was going pretty well (except the very poor treatment of mental health but because it's a short drama I overlooked it) but the END couldn't have been WORST. How could Dok Pal continue to live in this body ? of course the kid was SUICIDAL so he might not want to come back but like... let's talk about it, let' see what we can do but the fact he STAYED in the body??? what the hell, it make the all point/story/moral of the serie USELESS.
Then they joke about like haha hihi hoho so funny I took someone's LIFE.... no really I can't understand how this was aired.

The last thing, at the very end Dok-Pal says he wants to go on a date... did he suddenly forget he was 40+ ? disgusting.
To make the matter worse I heard it's actually a BL webtoon that they straight washed and in the webtoon, Dok Pal goes out with Se-Kyung which is I think even worse considering the fact he is an adult in a child's body.

well anyway that was my opinion and I couldn't just keep it to myself after being brutally traumatised by that last episode.

xx

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I haven’t cried that hard in a while…

as the title suggests, I haven’t cried that hard watching a drama in a while (probably when i watched Weak Hero Class for the first time). The drama was phenomenal. The story was a good concept, there werent any holes in my opinion, and it felt like the perfect pace (not too rushed, not too slow). the acting was also *chef’s kiss.* the character arcs are also amazing. the themes of overcoming obstacles, facing challenges with friends, fighting for justice, and overall friendship/brotherhood were present. If you enjoy Weak Hero Class, you’ll probably love this too- I certainly did.
Also, the band LUCY contributed to the OST, so it was great to hear their song come on since ive been a fan of their’s for a while.
Overall, this drama is definitely worth your time, and remember to bring some tissues.

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Excellent drama that accomplishes what it set out to do

I am blown away by this drama. I give the most props to the young actor, Yoon Chan Young, who plays a VERY convincing middle aged gangster in a high schooler's body.

The drama do touch on sensitive topics, such as extreme bullying, suicide, domestic violence, and some drugs/alcoholism. While these topics are the main plot points, the focus is more on the characters, action to resolve issues, and some comedy. There is a good pace for progression, so I never felt bored. Even the side characters are entertaining to watch.

I had no idea it was from a BL story, and I didn't feel more than bromance/besties from the 2 MLs. Sometimes it felt like our ML can be a father/adult figure to the kids around him, which makes sense for this story.

Would highly reccomend!!

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Tropey and Unimaginative

A potentially entertaining short series held back by a tropey unimaginative plot centered on school bullying and populated with mostly stereotypical mafia and teen drama archtypes. The few female characters were almost laughably superficial, as were most of the school bullies and adult gangsters. The only character with any real depth was the second male lead, but even in his case there is a noticeable disconect that comes from the fact that many of his actions are only explainable if he's madly in love with the first male lead, only the show keeps trying to insist they are just buddies.

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Second chances and box tissues.

» [Review # 13] «
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⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

High School Return of a Gangster is a story about friendship, acceptance, and self-love, but beyond that, it's a story about second chances. What seemed at first just a school-setting comedy with a sprinkle of supernatural elements soon turned out to be an emotional, profound slice of life of modern South Korean society.
There is no room for shallowness.

▶︎ The frustration of a middle-aged gangster turned high schooler ◀

The first portion of the drama is, without a doubt, funny and enjoyable. Witnessing the struggle of a middle-aged gangster in the body of a high schooler is something else. Everything is new to Deukpal: slang, high school, different body shapes, and so on.
But all these comedic intercourses still bear the weight of a suicide attempt. I loved how the drama never tried to minimize the struggles of Seong Yiheon and his will to die.

▶︎ Difficult topics ◀

This drama deals with various sensitive topics: bullying, suicide, parent strictness, lack of aspirations, and self-love, just to mention a few.
None of them is approached inappropriately, and each gets the attention needed.
High School Return of a Gangster doesn't sugarcoat these issues. It presents them only as they are and tries to show how one could handle them.
Wrongs can be forgiven but never forgotten.
The protagonists, as well as the rest of the main characters, emerge more mature and aware.

▶︎ Final considerations. ◀

High School Return of a Gangster is a symbol of redemption. The gangsters, the bully, and even the bystander Choi Sekyeong get to redeem their wrongdoings.
What first seemed just a comedy turned out to be a heart-wrenching story about wrongdoings, emotional scars, and lack of help from adults. All from the teenagers' perspective.
The finale is a ray of hope, a joyful anthem to friendship and life.

PROS:

- Reincarnation/second chance at life tropes are what I live for;
- Difficult topics addressed properly;
- Mental illnesses and struggles of the main characters are a major plot point and are addressed properly and with the care they need;
- Deukpal/Yiheon are such cuties.
- I'm all in for more than a bromance between the gangster-turned-high-schooler and Choi Sekyeong > BL drama Gods you know what you should do.
- The redemption arc of Hong Jaemin was coherent and believable;
- The gangsters were better Justice Heroes than the society itself (parents, police, prosecution, etc.)

CONS:

- No BL (jk, kinda);
- NOT a no-tissue drama > be prepared;
- Topics mentioned throughout the story might be too much for sensitive people

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The storyline made me even angrier than when a BL genre gets turned into bromance

When I watched the first few episodes, it felt exactly like The Dude in Me. Honestly, I had high expectations. But starting from ep 3 onwards, it just stopped making sense. The character Kim Deuk Pal in Yiheon’s body is way too naive. How can someone that naive, dumb, and kindhearted be a gangster?? It really doesn’t make sense. Kim Deuk Pal, are you seriously not aware that Hong Jaemin and his gang are the bullies who caused all of this?? How can a gangster character be so stupid? Giving them chances like that almost feels like romanticizing bullying.

Choi Se Kyung’s character is the same—hey, you’re also a victim of abusive parenting, so why would you say things that push Yiheon toward suicide? It just doesn’t make sense. The plot also felt like it completely lost direction. I was really hoping for a twist by the end, but there was nothing that lived up to my expectations. The plot and ending felt forced. And the fact that Se Kyung and Jaemin could see his ghost out of guilt just made me even more frustrated. There was no revenge that matched what Yiheon went through.

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↪↔↩OG & the SAT↪↔↩ °7° °Good°

Deuk Pal is a gangster. That doesn't mean he can't get his GED and take the college entrance exams. He has a tutor and he's working hard. His boss wants him to quit school and take over the gang. Song I “Heon” is much younger, but he's already given up. He's jumping off the foot bridge to the highway below. Deuk Pal sees and rushes to stop him. They collide. Heon dies, and somehow, their souls switch. Deuk Pal's soul ends up in the kid's body. Deuk gets to attend his own funeral.

At first, he makes weak, ill-informed attempts to get back into his old body. That just isn't going to work. Next, a rude woman (Lee Mi Kyung played by Hwang Bo Ra of Vagabond-8 & What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8) drops by and appears to be his stepmother? His father's aid? (He doesn't know anything or anybody in Heon’s life). She drops off some school books after complaining about what a pain he is and that he couldn't even kill himself “properly”. He pulls out the tablet and reads the diary of the kid whose body he's taken. This kid's been picked on his whole life. He decides he'll go to school and set the bullies straight.

Deuk quickly learns that he doesn't have the mentality, vocabulary, or fashion sense that the other kids do. But he does have his strength-of-mind; gangsters aren't pushovers. He's also got a credit card with no limit, since he's the illegitimate son of the CEO of one of Korea's top 3 construction companies.

Heon had worn his hair long and over his eyes in order to hide from the world. In Heon's body, Deuk immediately gets a haircut. It's truly shocking what a difference a hairdo makes. Like a coat of paint, a change in hairstyle is an instant makeover. His classmates don't even recognize him. Deuk-Heon is a middle-aged man in a kid's body, but he is very much a middle-aged man. He's constantly told he sounds like an old fogey. He also takes responsibility, as an adult, for what goes wrong and encourages the kids to be their best and do their best. It's played for laughs and warmth.

Yoon Chan Young (All of Us Are Dead) portrays ML, Heon, who gets possessed by Kim Deuk Pal. This kid is great. He has the middle-aged man walk, stance, expressions, & the standing-casual-with-hands-in-pockets. He's got that vague, ever present exasperation. Bong Jae Hyun (Crash! & Insignificant Roommates) plays Choi Se “Kyung”. They are friends, though their relationship isn't simple. Kyung knows enough to know that this dude ain't Heon. Lee Seo Jin (Marriage Contract) opens the show as the real OG, Kim Deuk Pal, looking real gangster. Ko Dong Ok plays the rotund thug, Jong Cheol. He's very amusing. This is the acting debut of singer, dancer, and model Joo Yoon Chan as Hong “Jae” Min, the school's worst bully, and the cause of Heon's ep1 suicide. Deuk Pal isn't much for bullying. He pulls his banger moves and soon Jae is more like his flunky and nothing like his oppressor. Jae ends up being pushed by two opposing sides and has a difficult choice to make.

I can't tell if this is a romance or a bromance between the 2 male leads. It's open-ended enough to read either way. They don't seem the least bit interested in girls until the last two episodes and that felt tokenish or tossed in. The past friendship is vague, poorly defined and looks more like it was an attraction. With Deuk on the scene, the friendship is real and true, and it's the centerpiece of the show.

“Why do you try so hard?” “If we don't do anything, bad people will continue to get the upper hand, and everything will just get worse. That's how the world works.” The only thing Deuk Pal is afraid of is exams and teachers, whether he's in Heon's body or not. He feels for Jae and wants to clean up the mess that is Jae's life, but Deuk-Heon isnalready balancing bullies, gangs, his dad's assistant (perhaps the most gangster character in the show), teachers, friends’ parents, and his own sick mother. One thing he doesn't have to deal with is dad. Daddy's always been absent.

Toxic parents who push kids too hard or ignore kids for their own agenda are, once again, front and center. Kyung is pushed cruelly by a rigid father. Bullying and suicide are also in the mix. Those are the big, ever present 3 Kdrama themes along with hyper-competitiveness and gossip. It's obvious that their society runs on toxic pride. Every human society does, to a certain degree, but they keep it at a whole different level.

Can people change? Deuk thinks so, as long as they decide to. “Even if you give up on me, dad, I will never give up on you. I'm going to grow up to be an adult who is respectable, confident, and upright. So you just watch me.” Kyung finally stands up to his father. People can change once they face truth. Once truth hits an individual, it's hard to continue to live in lies. Sadly, truth doesn't even brush by most people. Most people exist in lies all of their waking hours. The first and biggest lie is telling ourselves we're doing pretty good. All of us need more improvement than we could accomplish in a lifetime, and it seems that none of us are humble enough.

HSROG is a 2024 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of only 8 55-minute episodes. The first sign that this is a lite piece, and the creators weren't adverse to taking shortcuts, is the fact that they give us no reason for the soul switch. Maybe I looked away for a moment and missed it, but I don't recall any basis. We just have to accept it. Nevertheless, I took to it fully, rather quickly. I looked forward to each episode and was sad when I got beyond the halfway mark. The show is fun to watch.

It does lose steam and get goofier in the 2nd half. The villain is Heon's father's aid. She's much worse than the good-at-heart gangsters. It's alittle much, but not so far out of line. The show opted for simplicity not complexity. It is on the teen level, and for that level, it's good.

The heart-of-gold gangster is as easy to find as the heart-of-gold rich person. They are urban legends borne of our projection. Sure, some must exist, somewhere, but there's not many of them. I could never understand the appeal of gangsters and thugs in entertainment. Apparently, audiences love them because they do whatever they want to do. I still don't get the appeal of lowlife thugs, murderers, rapists, drug dealers and cruel pimps. I never will. It's different for someone truly apologetic. Bad guys who turn a new leaf are an inspiration. Jae has a genuine turnaround and experiences forgiveness and genuine human connections for the first time.

Despite the fact that this is less than half the length of a typical k-drama, they still have a wonderful last episode with a thorough and satisfying wrap-up. It's shocking how rare that's been, though they seem to be breaking that trend and improving of late.

As the show reinforces good values and is relatively clean and tame, it's perfect for teens who will relate to the pressures that these kids are grappling with. It reinforces personal responsibility, strength, and forgiveness. It's the opposite of gangsta.


QUOTES🗣

Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

It's an adult's job to help kids avoid misery as much as possible.


IMHO〰🖍

📣7.4 📝6.5 🎭7.7 🎨6.5 🎵/🔊7.3 🔚6 🤗4.7 ▪ 🌞5⚡4.5 😅2.5 😭3.5 😱2 😯3 🤢2 🤔4.8 💤0

Shazams: GO by LUCY


Age 12+ Language: weak@$$, @$$holes, violence, bullying, Rated TV-15: Parents Strongly Cautioned. However, this show is on a teen level. It's more a kid's show than an adult piece.


Re-📺?
This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Flex X Cop-8.5,
The Miracle-7.7,
Another Miss Oh-7.5,
Glitch-8,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Alchemy of Souls-7.9
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Law School -8,
Why Her?-8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Revenge of Others-8.1,
SKY Castle-9,
Blood Free-8.5 ,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing),
Tunnel 8.5,
Anna-8.1,
Moving-8.5,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Squid Game-8.4,
Awaken-8.7,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Sweet Home 8.4

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Nice and easy watch...no stress!

What a nice surprise! I got hooked from the first episodes and was rooting for Yi Heon as he tried his best to put things right. It was refreshing to see someone teaching others the right way of life, and he was spreading his wisdom. I loved his friendship with Se Kyung and the positive influence he had on him. It is nice to have a friend you can rely on and who wants only the best for you. I liked the storyline, and the ending was satisfying for me as everyone was punished (that does not happen very often), and he could fulfill his dream of becoming a student.

It was a really nice easy watch, especially as it was refreshing to see the story in reverse, as we saw the worst happen at the beginning and after that things got better and better. No stress.

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