High School Frenemy (2024)

be there for the people you care about =)

So I've seen School 2017, but I've never seen School 2013. After watching High School Frenemy, I need to go watch the original Korean version, School 2013, now. As far as bromances and friendship go, Sky and Nani are now one of my favorite pair. I haven't seen a lot of series from either of them. I think the only series I've seen before this was in the Project S: Side by Side series with Tor. Absolutely loved that for the brotherly love. As for Nani, I've also recall watching one series with him and that was F4 Thailand, also a remake like this series. F4 Thailand also featured some great friendship/bromance and great lessons in violence/bullying and being there for the people who care about like this series. All of these series have been amongst some of my favorite Thai series so I'm thinking I need to watch more from these two, specifically.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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LIKES:
--The chemistry of Saint and Shin was phenomenal. Sky and Nani are both great actors. Their pain, hesitation, and care for one another can be seen and felt.
--The series incorporated some great lessons about understanding and empathy for one another, the consequences of our actions, and practicing kindness.
--Great development of supporting characters
--There was always something happening so it never felt boring


DISLIKES:
--It took over half the series for Saint and Shin to resolve their conflict. Even so, I didn't feel like it dragged out, I just wish we got to see more of them being cute together and less of Shin being angry with Saint. Very angsty.
--We got some great backstory and developments for some of the supporting classmates, so I wish there was more. Specifically, I thinking of First, Tew, and some of the other girls. I think we mostly got Peeta, Eve, Airy, Chadjen, Ken, and the one twin who became studious.


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● IN-DEPT REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

I love the friendships in this series. Every character is flawed and whether I agreed with their actions or not, I at least understood why act a certain way. At first, I thought there was a misunderstanding between Saint and Shin and that there was more to the reason Saint beat up his friend and broke Shin's leg. I can't imagine being so strict about a gang rule where I could hurt my friend that bad. But as we learned, he was angry at Shin for wanting to leave and he felt he was being abandoned. Sometimes, our emotions take over in the heat of the moment. It doesn't excuse his action, but it is understandable and relatable. Ironically, he then ended up abandoning Shin alone to deal with the consequences alone. But they were teens, so I can understand being scared. I also understand thinking the friend you beat up is better off without you, especially when their mother told you so. At the time, in the moment, these decision can make sense, but we ultimately regret it later. And Saint did end up regretting his choice. As angsty as it might be, it was somewhat heartwarming to hear that Shin wasn't angry about Saint breaking his legs, but rather that Saint avoided him. It shows that he just needed his friend to be there for him.

Just being there and being empathetic is a recurring them amongst the classmates in this series. We see this with Chatjen being there to help his friends in various instances. We see this with Peeta and Eve's story. I think my favorite showcasing on the power of friendship though is in Ken's redemption arc. Ken was a product of his environment and some bad choices, but we learned, beneath it, there is someone who trying to be a good guy. The scene where the friends and teachers were trying to reach out to him, where they all hugged him, was one of scenes that stood out the most to me in this series.

I also loved that the characters that were antagonistic at first went through their own character development arcs and came out better people. Except Jeng. I still don't like Jeng.


[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

Whether it sadness/hurt, anger/frustration, or silly cuteness, I think the acting was great. This series really tugged at my heartstrings in many places, which is a reason I enjoy series without much romance. Typically, these kind of series have a lot of great teaching moments and are (at least to me), a lot more relatable. Actors get to showcase a lot more than romantic chemistry. There are a lot of different types of relationships out there and this series a good example of that. The ones between parents and children. The one between rivals. The one between ex-friends. The one between friends who are going through a rough patch. The ones with new friendships vs old ones. The relationships between teacher and students. Regardless of the dynamic, the casts did a great job showing the relationship and the communication struggles that come with each of them. Of course, it goes without saying the chemistry between our two main lead Sky and Nani stood out the most.

[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

Not much to say here other than I love a lot of the songs. I think one of the ones that stood out the most to me was "Honest" from Adam Turley and Ethan Dufault. I think that one stood out cause it played during a very cute scene in episode 12 between Shin and Saint where Saint was taking pictures as they haven't taken any in years. It was a cute moment and one of my favorite scenes after they reconciled. And of course, I also love the main soundtrack "Promise" from Sky and Nani.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

I need to watch School 2013 first, but for sure, I will be re-watching this version.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

I've been watching a lot of series about gangs, violence/fighting, and bromances and so far, this one has stood out a lot to me. I'm very glad I picked this from my infinite list of things to watch, and I definitely recommend this if you don't mind a lot of angst and the lack of romance. However, a lot of the dialogue between Saint and Shin are actually pretty romantic, so that and their chemistry more than makes up for it. Overall, this series was a very fun watch. Lots of great heartfelt moments and lessons.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥

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I can’t move on from it

This is the first time I am writing a review for some series but High School Frenemy deserves it. It exceeded my expectations and I had such an amazing time watching it. I am not even a fan of thai tv but I am so glad that I decided to give High School Frenemy a watch. And when i came to know it was a remake I was surprised because I have never liked thai adaptations of other series before. Now moving on to the plot..it was really good in my opinion. I like high school delinquent stories like Tokyo revengers and wind breaker. So this series was perfect for me. But what made me become obsessed with the story to the point of insanity is Saint and Shin’s relationship because are you kidding me. What the hell was that? "I am crazy because I love you. My life without you had no purpose. You are everything to me now. " Like bro calm down lol. Saint and shin were so perfect in it. They satisfied every craving I had of angst, slow burn and a happy ending. I am not sure how much of a bromance it is though because...well the two boys are very obsessed with each other and it gives of romanctic vibes. Them confessing their love in almost every episode had me screaming and I had to remind myself that they were just best friends and this is just bromance. I really enjoyed their toxic codependency lol. Also Shin might have just become my favorite fictional character. I love him so much. Side characters were also interesting to watch even though I feel like they spend a bit too much time on the female teacher plot but that is something I can easily ignore. Even writing this review is making me miss SaintShin. Guess it is time for like a 10th rewatch lol.

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GIVE MY MARK THE BEST ACTOR AWARD ?

the whole series was amazing. I don't know what I should call this, a bromance, romance or A MASTERPIECE. I'm totally in love especially with Mark. Chadjen was supposed to be just a support character but he ATE and left NO CRUMBS. I cried at the last episode. how would I describe this? this series could be a true definition of masterpiece. DO YOU WANT A BL? this series is yours. DO YOU WANT A BROMANCE? this is your series DO YOU WANT AN AWESOME HEART-TOUCHING FRIENDSHIP SERIES? come here😭 i literally have no words to describe this series.

Let me just say this.

A MASTERPIECE 😭🙌

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When you enjoy the series so much that you just have to make MDL account to rate it a 10.

That's High School Frenemy in my case. Best series that I watched in 2024. SaintShin thank you so much for making the last couple of months of 2024 so enjoyable to me. This series made me like mondays. Not only that but I would wait like an addict for mondays and tuesdays to come so I could have my weekly dose of SaintShin. I loved their story. I loved everything about it. And it is funny that they tried to use "as a friend" at the end of every sentence and confession to remind you that it is just a bromance. Gmmtv honey no one cared about that tag. Not a soul. The moment Saint said "Yes I am crazy. I am crazy because I love you" I knew it was over for me. The friends to enemies to that whatevership they had at the end was everything I was looking for in a series. I could talk about other things and characters I liked in it but my brain is so occupied by SaintShin that I don’t even care about all that. Yes I am crazy. I am crazy because I love High School Frenemy.

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Just Amazing.!!! Go and watch it...!

The storyline, the acting, the characters, the visuals, the ost, everything is amazing. The chemistry between the two mcs Saint and Shin is literal perfection. Two ex bestfriends turned enemies and the tension between them is just🤌. I guess they wanted us to ship these two from the beginning and my God did they succeed..I loved whatever was going on between them and the ending made it clear that they are soulmates. Even side characters played their roles well. Never thought I would like a gmmtv series but here we are. Also this might be the only series that I am definitely going to rewatch because I miss them already.


They are both very down bad for each other but one is like a Yandere and the other one a Tsundere lol.

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This Is Literally The First GMMTV ADAPTATION I LIKED

High School Frenemy is based off of School 2013, a South Korean drama about 2 Best Friends that ended their Relationship on bad terms when one hurt the other in multiple ways. These 2 Friends Reunite when they become classmates at school. The Korean Version starred Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk. Two KDRAMA STUDS.
Would I normally even start a GMMTV ADAPTATION. Heck no, I'd rather watch dogs bark at a cat up a tree but why this one?
First I adored the Korean Version. Second Sky and Nani. Their chemistry is insane and I'm not going to lie I was so pulling for their friendship. They're friendship was more like a relationship. These guys shared a deep abiding love which is why the BL Community called this a romance and not a bromance.
Sky and Nani deliver on all pistons.
The cast was nothing short of amazing (except Mark) I'm not a fan of Mark at all seeing that guy on screen makes me want to to turn it off and to be clear I don't mean Mark that played Chadjen but the Mark that played Cable the principal's son. Every one else was fantastic in my opinion.
The other Mark, The Good Mark made me love him more than ever and the release of his upcoming BL Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist.
All the Girls did a great job. Love all of them.
Eliminate Mark as Cable and this would have been Top 10.
Did they out do Korea...no not at all but they matched them closely in their own way.Sky and Nani were excellent. Can't say that enough.
Now WU will this be a BL or another Bromance?
This series is worth the watch.

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This dragged for what felt like an eternity

Let’s get spoilers out of the way first: this story is about two teen best friends who used to be in a gang, one wanted to leave to have a football career, the other didn’t want to let him go, so he gave him a “customary” beating, breaking a leg of his friend and ending his football dream. The perpetrator felt ashamed and vanished while the victim felt abandoned. 3 years later they meet again and – instead of clarifying things – begin a prolonged back and forth with the perpetrator wanting to apologize and the victim refusing to listen; they eventually reconcile, but by that time the show introduced several side plots which sidelined the main plot and the series can’t end before those side plots are concluded. At the end of the day we get whopping 16 episodes filled mainly with repetitive content (e.g. in ep. 1-6 Saint follows Shin and tries to talk to him, Shin doesn’t want to talk; they nevertheless kinda talk, but nothing comes out of that – no conclusion nor resolution – so Saint follows Shin… And this happens 2-3 times per episode) or side plot content – about various problems of Shin’s and Saint’s classmates. I admit I got tired of the main plot by ep. 3 and started watching the show on FFDW.

Some claim that this is actually a BL. I guess some people could get this impression as the show was produced by a company specializing in BLs, both main characters are male, young and attractive, and the show’s about their relationship. Others might believe that nonromantic love between males is impossible (hence it’s no “bromance” – it must be a BL) or that the supposed chemistry between Nani and Sky proves that their characters are more than friends. I strongly disagree with the above – and not just because there’s nothing in the story that would imply “High School Frenemy” to be something else than a “bromance”. It’s also the structure of the story. In most BLs (and love stories in general) story is about characters developing their relationship, going from strangers to a couple. This is a gross simplification, but – with a few exceptions – that’s how vast majority of BL are written. “High School Frenemy” is about two characters who already had a strong non-romantic relationship and want to rekindle it – which takes them most of the 16 episodes. I’m not saying forgiveness, healing and rekindling of a friendship are easy nor that they can be achieved quickly, but in case of this show it’s more than obvious that this process was treated as filler for as many episodes as possible. The aforementioned repetitiveness does not result from Shin and Saint needing a lot of time to reconcile (they actually do it in two scenes), but from the show needing content. There’s like 2 hours of actual story and content of the main plot and it could have been told in a concise and emotional way; it loses a lot of emotional weight due to being stretched over far too many episodes, with the few decent scenes getting drowned by constant repetition. The “give up what’s most important for you” thing in ep. 7 is a good example of what this show does to good concepts: it was supposed to display Saint’s sacrifice and importance of friendship, but was executed in a horrible way, ruined by awful dialogue (spelling out what Saint was giving up), poor delivery and dragging it over three utterly pointless scenes, making it lose all emotional charge.

As for subplots, I feel all save one were shoehorned as additional filler. Sure, when you have a school/classroom setting for a story (regardless what the story is about), you need people to appear in the background – as students, teachers, administration etc. What I don’t get is why any of them needed their own small story, which was unrelated (or very loosely related) to the main story.

Ken’s subplot, the only one somewhat connected to the main plot, was stretched just as unnecessarily as the main plot. This had several consequences – we got tons of pointless violence (apparently one fight scene wasn’t enough to illustrate the problem) before characters were allowed to realize that it serves no purpose: neither side could “win”, asserting permanent domination, and even if “winning” was possible – it wouldn’t change much (they would still be students at a high school). Furthermore the show presented school violence (and violence in general) as something ordinary, an element of everyday life – normalizing it. Violence and danger are so common, that the stakes are oddly low: we get a solid beating every other episode, yet it ends with a few bruises, no apologies and no punishments.

The school setting makes sense – but only when viewed from a distance. As someone who does not require full realism I can say that too many things felt nonsensical and were written like that because of plot (and not realism or relatability); I listed some examples of that below.
1/ Teachers (not just Jan and Sung) had no idea what they’re supposed to do, imposing “clever” punishments to force students to think (punishments that no school in the civilized world would dare to apply). The method of tricking someone to change their behavior or mind was also used on one of the teachers.
2/ The principal was unhinged, throwing tantrums and switching between having bright ideas and going hard on students, between being bent on expelling an innocent student and overlooking those that are responsible and applying collective responsibility.
3/ The exam cheating issue was presented in a crude and heavy-handed way, plagued with banal statements by Jan and Sung (which were, of course, made sound like something profound and important). Jan punishing herself/forcing students to “punish” her for them cheating during the exam was pure cringe.
4/ School bullies who associate themselves with criminals were scared of a teacher quoting penal law and threatening to tell their parents about what they do. Were they naughty teens, who can be kept in line by teachers, afraid of getting expelled, or delinquents who don’t care about graduating or their parents finding out that they’re bullies? Which is it – cause it can’t be both, and the show sure wanted it to be.
5/ During the “investigation” into cases of violence (in ep. 6-7) nobody remembered the brawl which resulted in Chatjen throwing a chair through a window nor about the one class member who was recording all the school fights for “content”. And how come virtually all the surveys from class 2 incriminated Shin – did Saint, Chatjen, First, Thiu and Cable accuse Shin of being a violent troublemaker in their surveys?

A few words need to be said about the cast. Most performances are either weak or unimpressive – this includes what both Maria and Foei bring to the screen. Nani’s delivery is pretentious and annoying in nearly every scene (he seemed not to know what to do nor how to portray his character once Saint and Shin reconciled), while Sky is stiff and wooden; in all “emotional” scenes he’s reciting lines like an automaton and gets better only during the very few “friendly banter” scenes he shares with Nani. Neither of them can act and they have little chemistry (although these two things are not related – there are many couples and ships with no acting skills, but with good chemistry), with just a few better scenes in later episodes, when Saint and Shin reconcile. The single good performance of the series comes from Mark Pakin – the only actual actor in the cast. I did, however, enjoy Winny’s guest appearance, while Marc Natarit was surprisingly convincing in his little role.

I enjoyed some of the music used in the series. The opening theme by “Kong” Jaithep Raroengjai is very good and I was upset upon finding out that it’s only 1:08 minutes long (no “full version” or longer version is available).

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First of all WOW. Second SAINTSHIN is my personality now.

I am so happy I gave this series a chance. I wasn’t even planning on watching it when I saw the trailer. But one day I was bored, and it popped up on my YouTube, and I was like, "Ok, let's see," and boy, am I glad I did. I didn’t know I could be attached to the "friendship" between two characters to this level before I watched HighSchool Frenemy. Literally, every episode was making me more obsessed with them. The chemistry is off the charts. The bROMANCE(which it is marketed as) is very strong with this one. The actors played their roles well.

Ok, so basically, the synopsis is like...there is this school with two separate campuses, Thep Burapha and Udon Pitahak...sorry if I spelled those wrong. The students of these two campuses have been enemies for years due to some reason. They hate each other, and I can’t stress the word "hate" enough. One day, the principal decides to just merge the two campuses to end this rivalry. It makes everything worse because fights just escalate. There is violence in every episode. Boys will be boys, I guess.

Amidst all this chaos, there are two central characters, Saint and Shin...our main characters. Saint is from Thep and Shin is from Udon. The thing about them is that they were best friends in the past, but due to some reason, their friendship ended, and they parted ways. Now they meet again after the campuses are merged but as enemies, and you can only imagine the tension, the angst.

I loved their relationship a lot...friends, soulmates, whatever you wanna call them. The way their eyes show anger, hurt, and regret. Their longing gazes. Everything is perfect. One thing I will tell you is that there are love confessions in every single episode. More than even straight-up romance shows. The two boys love each other a lot, and I can’t imagine them with someone else. Like, imagine being the wife and your husband loves his "friend" more than you and confesses his love for him every damn day. It would end in a divorce lol.

Jokes apart, this series is very fun to watch. So, just give it a try and get ready to swoon over their dynamic because they will give you pterodactyls, not just butterflies.

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IMINA SKYNANI

HSF was definitely worth watching. Can't believe today (the 3rd December) is the last episode already. Their acting is so great, the story is great. I'm glad I really got to know them, get to know this serie. My mondays and tuesdays with them were great, crying watching the sad scenes, crying seeing these two (SkyNani) reconcile, crying seeing these two happy and Saint defending and fighting for their friendship and Shin telling him the true reason why he was mad at him. Looking forward to WU, whether it's a BL or bromance, I'll gladly watch it. Even if these two might not be together in Mu-Te-Luv, I'll try my best to support them through all their series (even if a part of mewanna see them as BL partners). IMINA SKYNANI!!

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a decent show to let the ship of skynani sail

the only thing i asked from this show was for it to not be trash like some of gmmtv's shows and it delivered. but i would not say this was great or enjoyable by any means.
the show was well made in terms of sets and costumes. overall from a cinematography or aesthetic part this was good. but it was so damn repetitive.
we had a few major plot points but we kept circling around them by having the same conversation. up to ep 6, where we find out the reason for the friendship breakup, we keep on having the same conversation with saint and shin. the exact same set of dialogues were repeated for so long. same with the principal-teacher convo or any other conflict. we would repeat the same conversations which do nothing to move the story.
they could have distributed the storylines a bit more evenly, felt like we only focused on saintshin for the first half and suddenly everyone has a problem towards the end.
it might be the cultural thing but i could not understand the school system nor the two different campus things. people like this would have been suspended in my high school long ago. i could not also take some of the things they do/say cause they are supposed to be 11th graders here.
a lot of the back stories did not match the present for me. saint was so gentle abt shin in the past, the violence to him seems very out of character.
i feel like some of the other side characters could have some more depth as they were shown to blindly follow some leader. saint and the girls were shown to be close in the beginning but that friendship was not shown again.
i also lowkey didn't like how they showed chadjen. he was either a cute/weak character used to strengthen other's friendships.
the earlier episodes reminded me of home school the series so much. doesn't help that its the same director with almost the same cast. view, kay and the twins almost play the same characters in both the series.

nani impressed me so much. this is his best acting after f4. his works after that were very bad but he nailed this role. glad to see his improvement.
saintshin were friends on paper but the way sky and nani portrayed them added a layer of romance to it. almost all the episodes i was screaming at them to kiss. sky too gave a good performance
the rest of the cast were good too. this was bonnie's first series (i think) and she did well. can't wait for her gl next year. and viewjune, what we could have had. happy to see them together one last time.

so overall a decent show, this might be something skynani fans look at fondly after a few years.

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Redemption

I knew from jump I wanted to experience this drama. Fourteen episodes in, I am still amazed. The acting is so good, especially between Shin and Saint. I couldn't have guessed how they could revert from frenemies, but it was done in such a smooth and transtional way, I was wow-ed.

This series carries redemption in almost every characters life. From friendship, to learning, to making wrongs right.

Chadjen is the glue that holds it all together. Especially proud of the way Mark played this character. As an aunt to an autistic child, its good to see a functioning person on the spectrum.

Fighting! For the next two episodes. Will update.

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a bRomance

Listen, if you're not looking for an almost love story between two guys, just move along. While this show is NOT BL, it's working overtime to give you the same kind of feels.

Shin and Saint have a twisted past, and after an unexpected reunion, despite how Saint tries their relationship will never be the same again. The two used to be inseparable, right and left hands in a dangerous gang, now just the sight of eachother will trigger a fight. As their story unfolds more and more of their painful history comes to the surface, a story full of mistakes and misunderstandings that leave them both hurting. It's not an incredibly original story, and it's a little more drawn out than it needs to be, but the level of tension that the story builds adds a nice touch and I'm enjoying it for the most part.

The actors really make this show, Sky and Nani are both incredibly talented and their bromantic chemistry is definitely tangible. Mark has always been a diamond but playing a sweet kid with autism was a great new stretch to his range, honestly the whole crew is packed with talent. I will say I don't know who cast this, but between Sky and their Thai language teacher, someone must have put "needs to look like they're on the verge of crying 24/7" in the requirements because... yeah it gets to be a bit much.

Good production quality, the shots were well done, and I enjoy the action packed scenes.

Overall its a little over the top to just be a bromance, and a little short of being a good BL, so it kind of falls in this weird gap of leaving you wanting more, or less I guess if you weren’t hoping for a romance. I think the acting and the chemistry makes it worth the watch either way, and the story is interesting enough to keep you wondering what happens next, so give it a try! There are still several episodes left so if anything changes I'll update the review as needed.

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