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This review may contain spoilers
"Even the most beautiful flower has been rained on"
I watched the Thai remake (High School Frenemy) before finally getting to the original version, so a lot of my commentary will apply to and be similar to the remake since the themes are pretty much the same. I'm a big fan of coming of age stories and stories that focuses on friendship, family, and the struggles of life. School 2013 has been on my list of things to watch for a long time, but I never got around to it, and I regret not seeing it sooner. It term of this genre, I would consider this a nostalgic classic.
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● SHORT REVIEW
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[ --LIKES-- ]
✔ A lot of the characters had great character developments. Aside from our main leads, I really enjoyed seeing the former bullies' development as well.
✔ Many great lessons about friendship and many sweet moments.
✔ Amazing bromances/friendships. Not only between Heung Soo and Nam Soon, but also between Jung Ho, Ji Hoon, and Yi Kyung. Also Teacher Kang's relationship with the guys. Ha Gyeong/Kyung (not sure which way to spell it since it's spelled differently in the subtitles on Viki vs here in the cast list) and her friend Kang Joo also had some nice moments. Also Na Ri and her friend.
✔ I think my favorite parts are after Jung Ho begins to redeem himself. Heung Soo and Nam Soon are already awkward enough sitting together at lunch, it's funny when Jung Ho inserts himself in. It's somewhat endearing.
[ --DISLIKES-- ]
✖ A lot of school politics between the teachers, principal, and parents. I know this is important to develop the relationship between the teachers and students and to have them face different trials, but I wasn't as interested in the politics between the adults.
✖ Wished we got more backstory for some of the characters and students
-------------------------------------------
● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]
Society is cold and harsh. We are taught to live in it, cope with it, and become a part of it. It's the way society is, and we conform to it or be scrutinized. It's a world that value academics, intelligence, and achievements. Because of this, students are under a lot of pressure from their parents and teachers. If they don't do/perform well, they think they've failed. If they don't come from a good background, they are at a disadvantage in a world where money and connections open doors. It's already hard enough without society judging you based on your family status, your smarts, and even how you look. Some kids just give up because they think they're not in a position to dream in such a competitive and judgmental world. It can feel like the world is against them. It becomes even more cold when teacher emphasize the importance of exams and based their teaching method around that. In such a world where both society and the school system may fail the student, teachers like Teacher Jung are important.
This series shows us that having a teacher like Teacher Jung who care about a student more on a personal level than a professional/academic level will have a greater impact on a student and their future than one who just teaches by the book. A good teacher will just teach us the material we need to pass our exams and get into a decent school. However, a great teacher is one who motivates us and inspires us to be better and do better. It's someone who teaches us how to live life. They are someone who change the way things are in a positive direction instead of accepting things as they are. Teacher Jung was willing to go out of her way to make sure her students are given a fair opportunity to attend school and learn whereas others may have given up on them.
The strive to be better is one of the big common theme in this drama. Heung Soo wanted to chase his dream of becoming a professional soccer player. To do so, he had to strive to be better and leave the gang he was in. His friend Nam Soon, feeling betrayed and like he was being abandoned, in a heated moment, accidentally went too far and broke Heung Soo's leg. This lead the duo to fall apart and become estranged. Heung lost both his dream and his best friend in the same night resulting in his anger and resentment towards Nam Soon years later. Nam Soon feels a lot of guilt and Heung Soo feels a lot of hurt. Nam Soon does his best to make it up to his former best friend and strives to be a better friend after abandoning Heung Soo years ago.
Ji Hoon was the first amongst the trio of bullies to try and be better and one of my favorite developments. Tired of aimlessly following Jung Ho and getting into trouble, Ji Hoon aims to live life more normally. He attends and focuses on school. Even when told that it was too late (for vocational school), he still tries as he wants to do better. He doesn't leave his friends behind though, which I loved. He tries to convince them to join him in school and even seeks the teacher's help to do so. He is shown to care about his friends, to actually care about his studies, and even show remorse for past actions. There was a scene where he asked Min Ki to borrow notes. There was also one where he apologized to Young Woo for past actions, showing his sincere growth.
Amongst all the characters, Jung Ho also had the most substantial development. In the beginning, he was just a bully. But as the series progress, we can see more and more that beneath the tough exterior, there was a decent guy. With the encouragement of his friends and teacher, he slowly begin to try and be better. It's especially hard when society have some bias towards you, and you need time to prove your redemption because you were a troublemaker. Despite that, Jung Ho still tried and that is commendable. Even though, ultimately, life got in the way of him pursing school, he matured a lot and promised to live well.
Even Teacher Kang, due to Teacher Jung's influence, became a more compassionate and caring teacher to his students and took interest in their personal problems. A tragedy in his past made him not want to be too involved but Jung's devotion opens him up again. Personal issues can affect academic and school life, so I think it's important to have a teacher who cares enough to take interest. Striving to be a defender for the students you teach is an admirable trait I wish more teachers had.
In episode 10, during a lesson, Teacher Jung read a poem about flowers needing to be shaken to blossom. Amongst the lines, there was a quote that resonated with me. "Even the most beautiful flower has been rained on," was a translated line in the poem that Teacher Jung read. It's a metaphor how adversity and hardship helps us grows and become more beautiful/better. The flower has to endure the wind and rain in order to blossom. But I think, in reality and some cases, if shaken too much, the flower can also wither as they can't handle the trauma of being vigorously shaken. A similar comparable quote is "The boiling water that softens the potato, hardens the egg." Adversity shapes us differently depending on who we are. Similarly, not everyone can handle the hardship. However, if they can endure it, they may come out better because of it. I think this is a great general lesson about life and relationships. Some will make it, some may not, but we should try. Strive to be better. Strive to make amends. Strive for more understanding and empathy. Strive for change instead of conforming to and accepting the unfairness of how things are.
[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]
I enjoyed the cast a lot. Many great actors and actresses I've seen before and they didn't disappoint. I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters and they all did a great job portraying depth and emotions. There were many times where my eyes were teary. Whether they played an angsty student, an overbearing parent/principal, a nonchalant teacher or a caring one, they all plays a great job in their roles. It's somewhat of a big cast with lots of supporting/background students, so it's hard to give a story and memorable screen time to everyone, but big shoutout to all the students who made the class feel alive and like an actual rowdy classroom.
[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]
I'll be honest, the music wasn't that memorable to me, other than towards the end of an episode, when suddenly the music would switch up. It wouldn't quite fit the tone of what just happened in the last scene of the episode and was a bit jarring. Other than that, there really isn't anything that comes to mind or anything I had to look up to add to a playlist. Just lots of ok background instrumentals.
[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]
Again, I'll be honest. I am more likely to watch the Thai remake on my own rather than this version. However, I would re-watch this if I had someone to re-watch this with. If I someday do feel like watching it again on my own, I'd probably start in the middle and skip the first half. The actors are great and the story is good, but I feel like the remake had more action whereas this one was more dialogue-heavy.
[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]
So this is where I compare and contrast a bit between this series and High School Frenemy. For the most part, they both do a good job at hitting the emotions and angst. I think the Thai version was more violent only because they changed the story a bit where two rival schools was being unified, and that caused confrontations. It also featured the outside of school gang a lot more significantly. The remake had more actual fight scenes and that made it more compelling for me to watch. They both also had cute moments but I also enjoyed the cute moments in High School Frenemy more. I think because I enjoy Sky/Nani chemistry a bit more than Jongsuk/Woobin. Both great, I just prefer one over the other. With that said, School 2013, I think, had better character developments. At least, I could see the transitional change-of-heart stage better and how the teachers actually impacted them in a clearer way. I think Ji Hoon and his Thai counterpart Knot (I think. Forgot if it was Knot or Nate) is a good example of this. Also while Ken did have a more memorable scene for me when everyone was trying to get him back to school, I enjoyed Jung Ho's development more than his Thai counterpart Ken's. The growth was more evident to me, although in this version, his ending leaves a bit of sadness. The method that Teacher Kang used to help the lead boys reconcile also made more sense in this version with them playing basketball together.
Overall, School 2013 was a great watch and I recommend at least seeing it once if you don't care about romance. The lack of romance is not the lack of chemistry as there is plenty of chemistry happening. It's a great bromance/friendship series with great insights on the struggles of being a student and contains many life lessons. It's a thought provoking drama that covers many topics relating to school and society. I'll probably go and check out the synopsis for the other prequels/sequels in the School series to see if there are any others I'd want to see. School 2017 was the only other one I saw before this.
-------------------------------------------
● NOTE
-------------------------------------------
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 ♥
-------------------------------------------
● SHORT REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --LIKES-- ]
✔ A lot of the characters had great character developments. Aside from our main leads, I really enjoyed seeing the former bullies' development as well.
✔ Many great lessons about friendship and many sweet moments.
✔ Amazing bromances/friendships. Not only between Heung Soo and Nam Soon, but also between Jung Ho, Ji Hoon, and Yi Kyung. Also Teacher Kang's relationship with the guys. Ha Gyeong/Kyung (not sure which way to spell it since it's spelled differently in the subtitles on Viki vs here in the cast list) and her friend Kang Joo also had some nice moments. Also Na Ri and her friend.
✔ I think my favorite parts are after Jung Ho begins to redeem himself. Heung Soo and Nam Soon are already awkward enough sitting together at lunch, it's funny when Jung Ho inserts himself in. It's somewhat endearing.
[ --DISLIKES-- ]
✖ A lot of school politics between the teachers, principal, and parents. I know this is important to develop the relationship between the teachers and students and to have them face different trials, but I wasn't as interested in the politics between the adults.
✖ Wished we got more backstory for some of the characters and students
-------------------------------------------
● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]
Society is cold and harsh. We are taught to live in it, cope with it, and become a part of it. It's the way society is, and we conform to it or be scrutinized. It's a world that value academics, intelligence, and achievements. Because of this, students are under a lot of pressure from their parents and teachers. If they don't do/perform well, they think they've failed. If they don't come from a good background, they are at a disadvantage in a world where money and connections open doors. It's already hard enough without society judging you based on your family status, your smarts, and even how you look. Some kids just give up because they think they're not in a position to dream in such a competitive and judgmental world. It can feel like the world is against them. It becomes even more cold when teacher emphasize the importance of exams and based their teaching method around that. In such a world where both society and the school system may fail the student, teachers like Teacher Jung are important.
This series shows us that having a teacher like Teacher Jung who care about a student more on a personal level than a professional/academic level will have a greater impact on a student and their future than one who just teaches by the book. A good teacher will just teach us the material we need to pass our exams and get into a decent school. However, a great teacher is one who motivates us and inspires us to be better and do better. It's someone who teaches us how to live life. They are someone who change the way things are in a positive direction instead of accepting things as they are. Teacher Jung was willing to go out of her way to make sure her students are given a fair opportunity to attend school and learn whereas others may have given up on them.
The strive to be better is one of the big common theme in this drama. Heung Soo wanted to chase his dream of becoming a professional soccer player. To do so, he had to strive to be better and leave the gang he was in. His friend Nam Soon, feeling betrayed and like he was being abandoned, in a heated moment, accidentally went too far and broke Heung Soo's leg. This lead the duo to fall apart and become estranged. Heung lost both his dream and his best friend in the same night resulting in his anger and resentment towards Nam Soon years later. Nam Soon feels a lot of guilt and Heung Soo feels a lot of hurt. Nam Soon does his best to make it up to his former best friend and strives to be a better friend after abandoning Heung Soo years ago.
Ji Hoon was the first amongst the trio of bullies to try and be better and one of my favorite developments. Tired of aimlessly following Jung Ho and getting into trouble, Ji Hoon aims to live life more normally. He attends and focuses on school. Even when told that it was too late (for vocational school), he still tries as he wants to do better. He doesn't leave his friends behind though, which I loved. He tries to convince them to join him in school and even seeks the teacher's help to do so. He is shown to care about his friends, to actually care about his studies, and even show remorse for past actions. There was a scene where he asked Min Ki to borrow notes. There was also one where he apologized to Young Woo for past actions, showing his sincere growth.
Amongst all the characters, Jung Ho also had the most substantial development. In the beginning, he was just a bully. But as the series progress, we can see more and more that beneath the tough exterior, there was a decent guy. With the encouragement of his friends and teacher, he slowly begin to try and be better. It's especially hard when society have some bias towards you, and you need time to prove your redemption because you were a troublemaker. Despite that, Jung Ho still tried and that is commendable. Even though, ultimately, life got in the way of him pursing school, he matured a lot and promised to live well.
Even Teacher Kang, due to Teacher Jung's influence, became a more compassionate and caring teacher to his students and took interest in their personal problems. A tragedy in his past made him not want to be too involved but Jung's devotion opens him up again. Personal issues can affect academic and school life, so I think it's important to have a teacher who cares enough to take interest. Striving to be a defender for the students you teach is an admirable trait I wish more teachers had.
In episode 10, during a lesson, Teacher Jung read a poem about flowers needing to be shaken to blossom. Amongst the lines, there was a quote that resonated with me. "Even the most beautiful flower has been rained on," was a translated line in the poem that Teacher Jung read. It's a metaphor how adversity and hardship helps us grows and become more beautiful/better. The flower has to endure the wind and rain in order to blossom. But I think, in reality and some cases, if shaken too much, the flower can also wither as they can't handle the trauma of being vigorously shaken. A similar comparable quote is "The boiling water that softens the potato, hardens the egg." Adversity shapes us differently depending on who we are. Similarly, not everyone can handle the hardship. However, if they can endure it, they may come out better because of it. I think this is a great general lesson about life and relationships. Some will make it, some may not, but we should try. Strive to be better. Strive to make amends. Strive for more understanding and empathy. Strive for change instead of conforming to and accepting the unfairness of how things are.
[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]
I enjoyed the cast a lot. Many great actors and actresses I've seen before and they didn't disappoint. I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters and they all did a great job portraying depth and emotions. There were many times where my eyes were teary. Whether they played an angsty student, an overbearing parent/principal, a nonchalant teacher or a caring one, they all plays a great job in their roles. It's somewhat of a big cast with lots of supporting/background students, so it's hard to give a story and memorable screen time to everyone, but big shoutout to all the students who made the class feel alive and like an actual rowdy classroom.
[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]
I'll be honest, the music wasn't that memorable to me, other than towards the end of an episode, when suddenly the music would switch up. It wouldn't quite fit the tone of what just happened in the last scene of the episode and was a bit jarring. Other than that, there really isn't anything that comes to mind or anything I had to look up to add to a playlist. Just lots of ok background instrumentals.
[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]
Again, I'll be honest. I am more likely to watch the Thai remake on my own rather than this version. However, I would re-watch this if I had someone to re-watch this with. If I someday do feel like watching it again on my own, I'd probably start in the middle and skip the first half. The actors are great and the story is good, but I feel like the remake had more action whereas this one was more dialogue-heavy.
[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]
So this is where I compare and contrast a bit between this series and High School Frenemy. For the most part, they both do a good job at hitting the emotions and angst. I think the Thai version was more violent only because they changed the story a bit where two rival schools was being unified, and that caused confrontations. It also featured the outside of school gang a lot more significantly. The remake had more actual fight scenes and that made it more compelling for me to watch. They both also had cute moments but I also enjoyed the cute moments in High School Frenemy more. I think because I enjoy Sky/Nani chemistry a bit more than Jongsuk/Woobin. Both great, I just prefer one over the other. With that said, School 2013, I think, had better character developments. At least, I could see the transitional change-of-heart stage better and how the teachers actually impacted them in a clearer way. I think Ji Hoon and his Thai counterpart Knot (I think. Forgot if it was Knot or Nate) is a good example of this. Also while Ken did have a more memorable scene for me when everyone was trying to get him back to school, I enjoyed Jung Ho's development more than his Thai counterpart Ken's. The growth was more evident to me, although in this version, his ending leaves a bit of sadness. The method that Teacher Kang used to help the lead boys reconcile also made more sense in this version with them playing basketball together.
Overall, School 2013 was a great watch and I recommend at least seeing it once if you don't care about romance. The lack of romance is not the lack of chemistry as there is plenty of chemistry happening. It's a great bromance/friendship series with great insights on the struggles of being a student and contains many life lessons. It's a thought provoking drama that covers many topics relating to school and society. I'll probably go and check out the synopsis for the other prequels/sequels in the School series to see if there are any others I'd want to see. School 2017 was the only other one I saw before this.
-------------------------------------------
● NOTE
-------------------------------------------
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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