Kim Ui-gyeom’s shift from quiet top student to someone who fights back feels real and powerful.
Lee Jung-ha nails it—you can feel every bit of what his character’s going through.
Kang Yoon-ki adds energy and confidence, and together they make a duo you can’t stop rooting for.
The fight scenes aren’t fancy—they’re raw, messy, and hit hard.
It’s not just about action—it’s about justice, pain, and survival.
No boring parts—every episode adds more depth and tension.
It’s way more than just a school drama—it’s about standing up and reclaiming your power.
A heavy, gripping start that sticks with you—it doesn’t just entertain, it hits.
Can’t wait for next episodes
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This review may contain spoilers
[spoilers??] one: high school heroes – eugyeom. just. eugyeom.
okay listen.the way they portrayed eugyeom??? INSANE. i’m sorry but i’ve never seen anyone show those tiny shifts in expression so clearly—like full-on fighting mode one second, then blank, tight, emotionally locked down the moment his father shows up. it’s not just acting. it’s feeling. and i felt that.
that whole part where he’s filling out the “what’s your dream?” form and just hides it under the books when he hears the door??? yeah. that broke me a little. it’s so subtle but so loud. the panic. the instinct. the habit. the silence. the way he just... shuts off.
like yeah, he has dreams. but he’s been trained to either ignore them or feel ashamed for having any at all.
and idk if this is too personal but... the dad dynamic? way too real. like people from the outside might praise his father for being "so involved" or "working so hard for him" but all i see is a man trying to achieve the things he couldn’t when he was young. he’s not helping eugyeom live. he’s trying to shape him into something he wanted to be. and you can feel that weight on eugyeom’s chest in every. single. scene.
and that bit where he tries to choke himself at night?? people might say it's “too much” or “out of place” but honestly, if you’ve ever lived under that kind of pressure, if you've felt that silence and fear, you know. it’s real.
i used to watch dramas to escape reality. but this?? this drama dragged reality right back in. the way i literally flinch when his dad shows up, or when he pokes eugyeom's forehead with his index finger??? i wanna break that damn finger.
but that scene where he finally fought back… maybe it wasn’t the moment, but something cracked open. it felt like the start of him choosing himself. even if it wasn’t directly about his dad, it was a shift. he didn’t freeze. he fought.
and i hope—no, i PRAY—we get to see him rise from here. i want him to get mad. to speak. to breathe. to finally live.
also me: relates to eugyeom on a spiritual level
also also me: never fought anyone lmao (missed that part of the arc but spiritually i was throwing hands ok)
AND KANG YOONGI???
this guy is chaotic GOOD. pure punk energy. funky little gremlin with a heart, and i love him for it. definitely emotional support punk of the squad. 10/10, would adopt.
i’ll probably yell more when i finish the series but for now??
i’m invested.
i’m ready.
let’s go be heroes.
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Fighting to Feel: Bruises, Bonds, and Buried Trauma
This series is a pretty typical high school action drama built around the theme of bullying, a topic that seems to be popping up more and more in Korean dramas these days. It follows Kim Eui-gyeom, a quiet and respectable student who’s dealing with a lot of pressure to be the “perfect son”, especially after his brother’s apparent suicide. He carries the weight of trauma and mental health struggles mostly on his own, and it shows, he’s always on edge.After transferring to a new school, Eui-gyeom immediately catches the attention of the class bully. The tension escalates when the bully targets Eui-gyeom’s most treasured possession, a walkman that belonged to his brother. That moment pushes Eui-gyeom over the edge, and the fight that follows pulls him into even more trouble, drawing the attention of senior bullies.
Meanwhile, Kang Yun-gi, a chill and seemingly bored classmate, starts showing interest in Eui-gyeom and becomes an unexpected source of support. As their friendship grows, the two of them begin fighting not just in school, but outside of it too, all while Eui-gyeom’s home life slowly unravels.
The show tries to tackle some heavy themes, trauma, suicide, bullying, and abuse, but with only eight episodes, it doesn’t always dig as deep as it could. There’s also some confusion around Eui-gyeom’s fighting ability. At first, he seems inexperienced, but later he’s holding his own like a pro. The show doesn’t really explain if he had past training or if he’s just picking things up along the way.
That said, it’s still an engaging watch. The acting isn’t particularly standout, especially when compared to something like Weak Hero Class 1, where the lead gave a phenomenal performance. Here, things feel a little safer, and the bullies can come off as trying too hard. But the story itself is entertaining, and the bond between Eui-gyeom and Yun-gi is one of the best parts.
One character who really stood out to me was Kim Seung-jun. He doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but he’s definitely one of the most interesting. He starts off as a bully with a sense of honor and eventually decides to step away from all the nonsense. There are hints at a deeper story with him, especially involving his mother, and it’s a shame the show didn’t explore that more.
In all, it’s a small but promising series. If you’re into character-driven stories and watching unexpected friendships form under tough circumstances, it’s worth checking out.
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The same thing as Study Group or Weak Hero Class 1,2 etc.... fighting violence with violence.
School violence, bad distant parents, broken families, nuclear families and abandoned lost kids without any positive adult guidance is a problem, globally, and it is good that some art tries to call attention to children's and teenagers' and young adults' needs, .....But... with all due respect.. there is a flood of fight dramas now and such "art" will not solve the problem but make it worse.... it promotes fighting as "fun" and promotes solving violence by applying violence.
THE SAME OLD SAME OLD.... the root cause of all problems, advertised as the solution.
THE GANGSTA BOYS SEE FIGHTING AS GOOD and try to be the top dog in the violent world.... THEY SEE NO OTHER WAY TO EXIST.
Of course nasty ppl are like that... but also... kids who are gray area and who get beaten to serve the gang lords... AND the entire school is like that.... AND PARENTS .... AND ADULTS ....
The root question is: Why did so many "gray area" kids and even "good" kids turn out like that too.... ? and what is the proper way to solve this?
WHY would anyone organize into these gangs where they get entertained by beating others up... ? WHY would some stupid moron enjoy looking ah so grand by dolling it over others and harming them, "entertaining" others who are trying to kiss the ass of the lead bully... ? WHAT IS ENTERTAINING, OR USEFUL IN THIS KIND OF BEHAVIORS.... ? they are all mentally ill.
THEY ARE ALL MENTALLY ILL.... and then we get to watch them on tv
WHY SHOULD WE WATCH MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE SMASHING THINGS AND PEOPLE?
IS IT ENJOYABLE TO BE WATCHING A PSYCH WARD?????
no it isnt...
This drama has slightly better portrayal of the problems than most in this new flood of fight dramas, and it is good that the ML is not DEAD inside and does think of himself highly enough to deserve to exist .....
but he then ENJOYS fighting as "fun" and the drama is essentially the same thing as Study Group or Weak Hero seasons 1 and 2...
The same environment: All male school, and lots of fighting, enabled by boys not standing up for each other and by parents and teachers who do NOT care.
The same plot: a very shy boy who becomes a fighter and uses violence to solve the school violence problems.
The same approach - cartoon-like fights where MAGICALLY NOBODY EVER GETS REALLY HURT although they fight and there is blood all over, and they kick into all internal organs and ribs and bones..... All of them should have lost teeth, facial bones, cranial bones, brain damage, rib damage, kidney, spleen, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, intestinal etc damage and should have ended up as Mr. Plankton... but all that is conveniently swept under the rug, glorifying hitting and kicking each other ANYWHERE
The same pathetic tunnelvision reactive crude script - NO communication, NO talking things trough, NO big vision solutions, .... Basically, the script is mostly meaningless and shallow
The same pathetic tunnelvision characters - very closed off, emotionally supressed, dead ppl , who get SOME emotion when they fight
The same idea - that violence is only solved by violence
THE SAME GROSS VIEW OF MALE - DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT -
THE BULLIES BEAT UP VARIOUS BOYS AND **** NO OTHER BOY STEPS IN TO DEFEND THE VICTIM ***** and the parents and teachers could care less.
In short... this type of kdrama is great for perverts, for those who love sex and violence and love to watch pretty boys drenched in blood and bleading and breathing heavily
And this type of drama is great for psychopaths, who love seeing how others get hurt
In short, this type of drama is getting boys ready to enter French Foreign League, or gangsters, or some kind of assassin special forces.
Or at least to become crude brutal dumb corrupt policeman and fight violence with more violence.
In short - this type of drama is a strong advocacy and advertisement for feminism, for a female-dominated environment where things would be solved with kindness and talking things through.
Well not the kind of woman "The Glory" is about LOL she is no better than these... she orchestrated murder on several people. Yeah they deserved it but removing them was done ... in a very gross way.
The Glory contributed positively by showing that women are no less bullies than men, and that the sex partnership between male and female bullies creates even more chaos and suffering and damage
The pluses in comparison between this drama with other dramas of this type:
This one shows more of WHAT THE PARENTS ARE LIKE who created kids like these - we see the bullying that father does to the son, and his medication-addicted useless mother; AND WE SEE HOW THE KID TRIED TO COMMIT SUICIDE . So that is better. THat really helps to understand bullying. Kids never do it just because. They come from homes that create this disorder.
This one unfortunately tries to put together violence and sex - there is the starting video where we see all bloody face of the kid and he is breathing deeply as he listens to music, so it is behavior seen at sexual activity coupled with bloody violence look. Very pervert ready
So imo this is the "Hollywood type" of drama that Netflix and Disney are trying to put on, to essentially make american moves with korean actors and then sell it in the West where the audience IS conditioned to be perverts, they are all so conditioned to watch MOSTLY sex and violence in their entertainment, without ANY meaningful content.
I think this is abuse of kdrama reputation and an artistic fall of kdramas
FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY, getting americans to pay to watch this
And I also think for the sake of runing korean culture and families
bc if S Korea keeps making dramas like these, kdrama reputation will go down AND they will lose their culture
all for the sake of grabbing a few $$$$$$ by making dramas similar to what americans already watch
this type of "art" is really a clever cultural colonization move, counting and enhancing the most vile, the most low, the most primitive impulses in the audience, conditioning the audience to be MEANINGLESS
The script that is shocking, gross, distracting, scandalous, "catchy" bc it is so grossly disgusting.... the meaningless script that DUMBS DOWN THE AUDIENCE
so yeah welcome to america where school shootings are a normal thing and all kids have to practice shooting drills, and where parents are totally absent. It is a miracle if a family has a father at home. THERE ARE PRACTICALLT NO FATHERS LIVING AT HOME IN THE USA. Black ppl are 99% without a father at home, white kids maybe 80% have no father at home and probably 99% in big cities, so only fathers at home are Mexicans, Arabs, Asians and other RECENT immigrants
Also, in the USA, there is a huge epidemic of drug use and everyone uses drugs, from sleeping pills, painkillers, legal pot, all the way to cocaine, crystal meth, extasy, and who knows what else, you just see huge billboards in all big cities about drug epidemic AND ALSO syphilis, Hep C, and AIDS epidemics.
Kdramas do not talk about that bc it is NOT YET prevalent in their culture but ... if they keepmaking and watching this kind of "entertainment" that is where S Korea is going .... there is no other way...
If you want solutions, you would not support this type of art, because this does NOT show the solution, only the demise
SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE KDRAMAS ABOUT REAL SOLUTIONS TO SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND BULLYING
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estou com bastante expectativa
A série tem um ritmo envolvente e consegue prender desde o primeiro episódio. Gosto de como as coisas vão se desenrolando sem pressa, mas sem ficar parado também.A construção dos personagens está sendo um dos pontos que mais me chama atenção. Dá pra sentir que cada um tem suas próprias motivações, e isso torna tudo mais interessante de acompanhar.
Me lembrou bastante Weak Hero Class e Study Group, dois dramas que eu gostei muito, então estou ansiosamente esperando pro que vem pela frente.
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This review may contain spoilers
uma mistura de whc e study group
Os primeiros 4 episódios são muito muito bons, o desenvolvimento da história é ótimo também, eu realmente espero que o protagonista apanhe menos kkkkk, também quero saber se o irmão do prota realmente é do bem pois apareceu uma cena dele enforcando o irmão (acho que era ele sim).Sem contar que a família do protagonista inteira aparenta ser maníaca, principalmente o avô (que superou o pai na loucura).
Bom, tenho minhas desconfianças com o rapaz de óculos, talvez um trauma com whc, mas apareceu um rapaz em coma, é amigo? parente? ou ele que deixou aquele garoto em coma?
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