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School Trip: Joined a Group I’m Not Close To
4 people found this review helpful
by Unpopularopinionbydemand
This review may contain spoilers
Darling HS Series
I had to watch this after seeing all the hype, and thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. School Trip is packed with fluff and delivers nearly everything you’d want from a first-love high school story. That said, while it gave me most of what I was looking for, it didn’t quite hit the mark when it came to the romance itself.
Let’s dive in.
The plot is simple: a lonely guy ends up being invited to join four incredibly hot and incredibly sweet popular kids on a school field trip. Cue every fluffy trope imaginable. And honestly? It works. The series does exactly what you expect it to do, and because the story flows naturally and the characters behave consistently, it never feels misleading or disappointing. It’s cute. That’s the point.
I think where it fell a little short for me is that I wanted more. Across the 11 episodes, nothing really moves all that quickly, and there are virtually no stakes beyond the characters’ own internal struggles. Watarai is also a bit too coddly for my taste. While it leads to some endearing moments, it often veers into irritating rather than charming.
Hioki, on the other hand, completely won me over. He’s cute, shy, emotionally unaware, and yes, he cries, which immediately earns points. I wish the series had done more with the other three boys. I loved the bromance and the refreshingly non-toxic energy between the group, but I would have liked to see them given their own romantic arcs too, whether hetero or not.
The chemistry between our leads is a little lacking. Now, any height difference will usually have me locked in immediately, but there’s something oddly bland about these two. I can’t quite pinpoint what’s missing, only that something definitely is. There are plenty of moments that scream “this is absolutely adorable,” but once their feelings are fully realized, the dynamic starts to falter. The kissing isn’t terrible, but Hioki mostly just stands there while Watarai does all the work. That could be a character choice, but after a couple of months of dating, you’d think he’d at least learn how to participate in a kiss.
Ratings:
Story: 8/10 - It’s good. It has that perfectly Japanese mix of overdramatic and zany, and because it fully commits to being a fluff-forward story, it works. Something doesn’t completely click for me, but this series never aimed to be more than what it is, and that’s fine.
Acting: 8/10 - Solid performances all around. The characters are fairly straightforward, so I wouldn’t call this the strongest acting I’ve ever seen, but everyone fits their roles well and sells the story.
Music: 6/10 - Catchy, honestly.
Recommendation Value: 9/10 - This is fluffy, fun, and a very quick watch. So yes, absolutely go for it.
Let’s dive in.
The plot is simple: a lonely guy ends up being invited to join four incredibly hot and incredibly sweet popular kids on a school field trip. Cue every fluffy trope imaginable. And honestly? It works. The series does exactly what you expect it to do, and because the story flows naturally and the characters behave consistently, it never feels misleading or disappointing. It’s cute. That’s the point.
I think where it fell a little short for me is that I wanted more. Across the 11 episodes, nothing really moves all that quickly, and there are virtually no stakes beyond the characters’ own internal struggles. Watarai is also a bit too coddly for my taste. While it leads to some endearing moments, it often veers into irritating rather than charming.
Hioki, on the other hand, completely won me over. He’s cute, shy, emotionally unaware, and yes, he cries, which immediately earns points. I wish the series had done more with the other three boys. I loved the bromance and the refreshingly non-toxic energy between the group, but I would have liked to see them given their own romantic arcs too, whether hetero or not.
The chemistry between our leads is a little lacking. Now, any height difference will usually have me locked in immediately, but there’s something oddly bland about these two. I can’t quite pinpoint what’s missing, only that something definitely is. There are plenty of moments that scream “this is absolutely adorable,” but once their feelings are fully realized, the dynamic starts to falter. The kissing isn’t terrible, but Hioki mostly just stands there while Watarai does all the work. That could be a character choice, but after a couple of months of dating, you’d think he’d at least learn how to participate in a kiss.
Ratings:
Story: 8/10 - It’s good. It has that perfectly Japanese mix of overdramatic and zany, and because it fully commits to being a fluff-forward story, it works. Something doesn’t completely click for me, but this series never aimed to be more than what it is, and that’s fine.
Acting: 8/10 - Solid performances all around. The characters are fairly straightforward, so I wouldn’t call this the strongest acting I’ve ever seen, but everyone fits their roles well and sells the story.
Music: 6/10 - Catchy, honestly.
Recommendation Value: 9/10 - This is fluffy, fun, and a very quick watch. So yes, absolutely go for it.
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