High School Frenemy

GMMTV Finally Does It Right

As a certified hater of GMM for their often lazy writing and lackluster shows, I cannot believe this show came from them, but here we are. The writing, the acting, the music, the storylines, the characters, everything was top tier.

I absolutely loved the complexities of the students, which appear exaggerated for TV, but showcase real issues that many students all over deal with. It showed the value of having adults who you can trust and who care for your well-being, and how important that is for kids, especially when those adults are your teachers when you don't have trusted adults as parents. The complexity of Ken's character wonderfully portrays how easy it is for a high schooler to get trapped in the wrong lifestyle, especially when you don't have supportive parents. I loved how Peeta and Cable's characters reveal the pressures students feel to please their parents and the toll it can take mentally. I loved Chadjen's character, Mark did a wonderful job playing Chadjen, I adore his character so much.

Now getting into Sky and Nani's characters as Shin and Saint, their friendship, bromance, relationship, or whatever the writers call it, was also a great take on the complexities of close friendships and how hard it can be to stop being friends with someone you really love. At first, I thought Shin might have been taking it too far with Saint until we learned why they stopped being friends, and then it all made sense. I know a lot of people got caught up in the is it a BL or is it not a BL but I felt that near the end, it was not important to me anymore. Their relationship is so deep and filled with so much love that it really blurs the sort of line between friendship and relationship; it somehow seems deeper than that. Sky and Nani are such a great pair. Nani's acting was a standout for me, but a lot of the other characters are a close second, including Sky. Overall wonderful show, and I will definitely be rewatching.

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Should Be BL, Not Bromance!!

There is longing but no proximity, shy glances and smiles that melt into friendly banter, flirtations turning into friendly leg pulling are both fun to watch and painful to endure, because the main leads look like they are in romantic love but both going “nah!”

With actions, strong and headstrong teen characters, drama and tumultuous feelings this show is a blurred line between romance and friendship.

“High School Frenemy”, a Thai remake of Korean drama School 2013, is what we will call a typical “Shounen” phenomenon. It’s a story about muscle power. Two rival groups of rowdy young men, competing and trying to be the top dogs.

That is the same with its original parent story in Korean. But the rest are very very Thai.

And by Thai, I mean the relationship of the main leads, Saint and Shin (Sky Wongravee and Nani Hirunkit).

Read the complete article here-

https://theblxpress.wordpress.com/2024/12/11/high-school-frenemy-series-review-ep-1-to-16/

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SkyNani has more chemistry than some BL couples

While there’s nothing to outrightly suggest that there’s anything romantic between the two, this shouldn’t stop the audience from appreciating their questionable bromance.

Their relationship is nothing short of spectacular. Ngl – Sky and Nani have more chemistry than some BL couples out there.

High School Frenemy is fundamentally driven by conflict and infighting. As you can imagine (and in case you can’t, I’m letting you know) – there’s a lot of petty and pointless violence. The story would get rather tiresome after several episodes, if not for the other characters in the series. 

Thankfully, the other troubled students within Siamwit also have interesting backstories and character arcs that gradually unfold over the 16 episodes. Tying all of this together are two teachers with opposite personalities but who do their best to help the troubled kids solve their problems one at a time.

Verdict: Came here for SkyNani, stayed for a great storyline about teachers helping troubled students

More reviews: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/

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Enemies to.....Almost Lovers?

This show was honestly way better than I expected. When I initially watched the trailer, I didn't have much interest in a show that seemed to be about high schoolers fighting each other. However, this show was so much more enjoyable than I thought. While the beginning was kind of slow and missing the backstory for awhile, once it picked up it was fantastic. The chemistry between the main leads had me confused about whether or not this was BL (it's not) for the entire time.

When two rival schools merge into once, the students have a hard time getting along. This is especially true for the students of class 2, who are all the known troublemakers from both schools. With a brand new homeroom teacher who seems unable to control the class, the students' rivalry gets out of hand. Shin (Nani) used to be top dog at his school, but with the merge it seems he's competing with Ken's (Kay) gang for that spot. Saint (Sky) seems to always be getting in the way, as he's determined to rekindle his friendship with Shin even though Shin has made it clear he's not interested. Old problems in their past friendship resurface as tension continues to build between the students - and their business with a local drug dealing gang.

Sky and Nani were FANTASTIC together. While I may have been hoping for a kiss, the "bromance" of the series was still super great to watch. I did feel like they could have sped up some of the plot in the first couple episodes, but as I approached the end, this series just got better and better. I'm super excited to see what Sky and Nani do next!!

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"FRIEND"SHIP!

Yeah this is the single gayest show I´ve ever watched, including actual gay shows. Which I don´t say lightly because I always praise when movies and shows focus on friendships more than romance, highlighting that a platonic friendship can be just as important and emotional as a romantic relationship. High School Frenemy does that aswell, but whatever those two got going on must be a secret third thing. All jokes aside, I really ended up enjoying this drama. I loved the focus on the female friendships as well as the main story. The acting from the cast was stellar, the pacing is good and its technically a well executed drama. I also just liked how this show looked and the camerawork.

I didnt really love the gang plotline, but I understand that it was a tool to move the plot forward. The plot being the power of friendship of course. Something that did kinda bothered me throughout the show was the lack of extras in the shots. Like I´m sure they could afford to pay some university students to be on the set for a few hours. It might not seem like a big deal but it´s noticeable and makes the world feel empty. Also some conflicts where resolved a bit to fast in my opinion.

I also could see this show being something that I rewatch in the future, as it doesnt rely too heavy on plotwist or anything like that. I know some people didnt tune in to this purely because it not an "bl" but I would still recommend to give it a shot!

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School 2024: Thailand

The intensity of childhood friendships is no less dramatic, complicated, painful, or joyful than romance. Shin and Saint's friendship is the most intense of them all, though it's nice to see the various other ones between the other groups of characters that all coalesce into a heartwarming of peace and friendship between the whole class. Their angst was well acted by the characters, though the reveal of what happened between them took way too long. They should have revealed it to the audience at least in the second episode because it just felt like it dragged the story down. It wouldn't have made the impact of Saint confessing he beat Shin to the point of him breaking his leg and losing his ability to play soccer to the whole class any less or lessen the pain of Shin's being so heartbroken by Saint's not understanding the thing he truly couldn't forgive Saint is for leaving him when things are hard instead of facing it with him. This series is based on kdrama School 2013 where the friendship of the male leads were also the heart of the story. I would say though that High School Frenemy leaves things a bit more open as to the possibilities of what these two friends could become in the future. Aside from their family, and other friends, they love each other the most in the world. They keeping making promises and oaths to each, and tell each other they love each other. The last time they do in the show in the rain and sharing an umbrella, hints to the possibility in the future of more. It's nice they don't have to deal with that on top of the other wild things they've been dealing with and just enjoy their friendship for now. It would be interesting to see how they would deal with trying dating other people once they are in college or something.

Though they have 16 episodes, which is longer than a lot of other Thai series, they didn't get enough time to address a bit more of the home life. Saint's dad is definitely an alcoholic, he's almost always drunk, but he's never abusive to Saint, though him owning money causes Saint to take beatings on behalf of his dad. It's implied that at the very least he settled things with the loans sharks when Saint met up with him outside the police station. It's weird that his alcoholism is never called out though. They saved that for Ken's dad instead. We don't get to see Peeta and her mom come to an understanding, just an off screen acknowledgement that Peeta finally doesn't have to go represent the Thai academic team any more once Peeta is sent to the hospital. Eve and Airy is another friendship that hints at possible romance. They are newer friends and it's pretty blatant from Airy's questions and approach to Eve that she does have a crush on Eve. The teachers also on their journey to learning how to understand and help their students along the way was nice too. It was pretty crazy that neither Mr. Sung or Ms. Jan stepped in after Saint pushed Shin into the mountain of desks that fell on him and he was actually knocked out for a minute and Shin called Mr. Sung for help. Saint wasn't faking it, he was really out, which should be concerning because it's different than all the other times he takes hits and are fine. All lot of the beatings look very realistically brutal, but it kinda breaks the realism that most of the time no one ends up in the hospital after them, like when Saint got kidnapped, beaten, and left outside where Shin finds him.

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Emotional "friendship" story

Well... the casts and the director said it is a friendship story, but, to me, this is a censored BL.

Anyway, that is not really the main point of the story. It is a powerful coming of age with life struggles that would fit every generation. Big kudos to the screenwriters for making a 2013 still relevant to this day and age.

The cast is superb. Every main and most of support members are A+ actors and actresses. Main ones that I need to mention:

Mark Pakin as Chadjen is the star of the show. Though he is not the main leads, in my mind, he is one of the mains given how important he is to the story and the presence as he delivers all those lines!

Sky as Saint: We know Sky can act, and he meets the bar. Personally, his role is not as challenging as the two Marks, but I would have to give him a big round of applause for being able to show the different colors of Saint - the two alter egos of Saint ans Tsunami - so seamlessly.

Nani as Shin: I have never been a fan of F4. Hence, I have not seen his work before. However, the fact that he matches Sky level of acting skill, and being able to portray strong yet emotional character without me being annoyed? Im loving it! Also, his facial expression and the eyes are so captivating.

Mark Ji as Cable: Now, as a person who has gone through a phase of GAD, Mark really captured that moment. Its just one scene in the series that made me go - man! That boy has skill!

Lastly, I LOVE that scores in this film. Not many original soundtracks but everything fits so perfectly!

This is not the show I am going to rewatch anytime soon because it is super heavy, but it would be something that I cherish! Please GMMTV put this on youtube for the Thais. VIU app is such a mess...

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can’t help but love Chadjen

I hesitated to watch because I didn’t think I’d enjoy it when it was only available on YouTube. luckily one of the streaming services I have has it and I gave it a shot. I knew Mark Pakin was a good actor but he really shined in this series. Chadjen was my favorite character aside from Chingching. He was so sweet and was a major factor in Saint and Shin reuniting. The only thing I can think of that would make it better is if it was a BL. The main characters are too in love to just be friends. I found Ken and the situation with the teachers exhausting because the problems could have been solved if they weren’t so soft on the students at the start but Ken redeemed himself for the most part. There feels like the Twins and Ken as well as Eve and Airy still have stories to be told. I doubt there’s any continuation of the show but there are plenty of storylines that could be extrapolated on.

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