Devoir périscolaire (2023)

thrilling and wholesome.. couldn't help but binge watch.. it's just... GREAT.. give it a try

I don't like to watch these types of dramas tbh I only picked it up because it said it revolves around CSAT
but man was I wrong I made the best decision it had everything it especially made me see the school students as too relatable
the acting is just very good. I have no words just a little reference... I watched the rest of the episodes ( 4-6 ) raw because I couldn't hold my curiosity. I hope you get an idea from this the last time I got so crazy about this to watch it without subs was in the last episodes or a very good web series again called HAPPINESS.. it was very good all I would recommend you to do is give it a try.

thank you!! have a great day everyone!

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A Worthy Adaptation

I started reading the webtoon while watching this and it really made me appreciate the drama more. The webtoon was first released over 10 years ago and the drama made updates to tell the story in a more engaging way.

The Good:
They create a contrast in the tone through Kim Chi Yeol's interviews versus the harsh reality that the students are facing. Kim Chi Yeol captures some funny moments of the students at times and in general they have some laid back humorous scenes. However, the worst possible thing happens each episode which immerses us in the students' feelings of being students who want to be playful at times in the midst of adversity. They were supposed to be goofing off from studying for their college entrance exam, not goofing from training to fight a war that literally fell from the sky. They also rewrote some order of events that helped create tension and suspense for the story. In the webtoon, everyone was kind of just going with the flow even when they were faced with a potentially traumatizing moment.

The Bad:
The changes to Bora and Ilha don't make sense to me. I don't get why they were changed to be more bullies. In the webtoon, Ilha seemed more like a class clown which is why he got into the fight that led to the studious Younghoon's death. But here, he's just a bully that is getting screentime without any sort of redemption so far. On the other hand, Bora was fine being a popular girl in the webtoon that redeemed herself by acting upon her sympathy for Aeseol.

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This is the happiest you’ll be. -Kim WonBin

Brutal, right? That’s the world of Duty After School feels like when you are watching the everyday mundane moments and those especially packaged in an epilogue.

Duty After School can be likened to any SHTF drama like All of Us are Dead or Sweet Home, but here, the 3rd year high school students and also the adult main characters are given the weight of responsibility for numerous people, not just your family and friends, which you’ll probably feel while watching. It has a couple of interesting characters and relationship dynamics that include friendship, competition and innocent love lines that makes their situation feel lighter.

The lines from the drama, not the web toon that I haven’t read yet, may sound too cliché especially when adults really want to impart ‘a lesson’ to the teens. It also felt like it is really adapted from a webtoon, because of some moments, especially in the first 3 episodes, wherein I do not feel as emotionally invested yet in the characters, but expected some despair to their outcome. There were also times that it tried too hard to give the viewers a laugh, when it is not the right atmosphere. It could have been the acting too, but as it went on, I (and probably the actors too) have warmed up to enjoy the camaraderie among the them. Having said that, there are a couple of promising rookie actors here too and I look forward seeing them in more dramas.

For the music, the first OST song played is kinda disorientating in the beginning but I think I’ll enjoy it better listening to it individually. Apart from that, I have nothing to complain.

I am not very keen in rewatching but will probably scan the last episodes before Part 2.

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What is the hype about

I regretted watching the whole thing. The only reason why I watched it is because of the spoiler shorts you see which were propaganda and an illusion.
From the start, I never liked any key characters, the ones you hoped out of it alive and unharmed.
The story was an utter mess like it was rushed and they needed to draw people's attention. Why use children as I'm sure that would never happen in real life. The mental health part I enjoyed as it showed the effects yet they didn't go into enough detail and too characters were experiencing it. In a time like this, it strengthens communication and leadership and yet every character lacks the key skill. Where was the division in roles? The strong go with the weak. Would've loved to see some friendship in this time of hardship but got strangers that were in constant conflict
What happened to the rest of Korea's population

Look the aliens were interesting as they were scary and seemed incredibly strong but they found key findings that were never used against them. I'm surprised they stayed in the end as I know I would run the first chance I could

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Just the title itself.

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I know for sure that the moment I saw the trailer of this drama or series, it already piqued my interest. It was something I haven't watched before so that's a plus. But yeah, just the trailer itself already got me on the edge of my seat and that's how I had expectations with this drama/series so as soon as they released it, I didn't think twice about going for it and immediately watched it despite how busy I am.

Starting with the plot or the storyline, I'm aware that it's based on a webtoon so I'm quite sure that it's going to be great. . . and I was right. It didn't disappoint me because it was something I definitely wanted to see. It was able to balance the amount of scenes that it was supposed to have ─ from the build-up to the intense part/s which includes blood/gore or killing the monsters and vice versa as well as the funny/comedy, drama, romance, etc. aspects of it. The only downside that I could think of in relation to this is the logic or common sense of the characters which I believe was lacking. There were tons of dumb/stupid and annoying moments where-in I couldn't help but curse and wished that they could've just died. A lot of them also had screen time which felt infuriating. However, the positive side of it, it pushed the realistic view(s) of how these students react to such situations. Just like one viewer who commented here says "no character (or even a person) can be strong all the time" and I agree. The one I disliked the most became one of the reasons why I also love this drama or series. (Of course, if you don't have the patience and understanding, I don't think you would survive watching it but as someone who can empathize, I believe you can see where they are coming from. . and that's what I was able to realize as time went by)

About the casting, acting, and the CGI, everything's on-point. Glad that I was able to discover more talented actors/actresses. I, for one especially, love/d Lee Chun Ho (Shin Hyun Soo) ─ the platoon leader of the class. I'm not that familiar with him but when I checked his profile, he was on Waikiki which shocked me because it's one of my favorite dramas of all time and yet I couldn't remember him. Still, because of DAS, it proved that he deserves more recognition.

Lastly, if you're gonna ask me, I prefer this more than AOUAD, Sweet Home, and other zombie/apocalypse dramas/series.

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Exaggerated portrayal of how we failed the youth.

Starting from the message, that for me was completely overshadowed by the pure entertainment that the killing aliens brought.
What this show tries to present is how we as society created a false sense of security, purpose and goals for the teens - a path that is supposed to guarantee success and happiness. That path being higher education. The extent these teens were willing to go to get just a few more points that will help them get into a university - it showed how they truly believed that’s the only way to live a fulfilling life, to have it easier as an adult. The empty promises, the use of the pressure teens feel about their future was used to manipulate them to make dangerous choices and control their behavior. Exaggerated in the drama, but sadly truly happening in real life.

While the teens willing to risk their safety for a few points is believable, the fact teens were able to survive and fight better than train military was not. Did this completely lackluster and stupid take on the army annoyed me? Not really. They clearly showcased how delivering solid entertainment was the biggest goal and they aced it in that aspect. You just have to turn off a few neurons in your brain as you watch.

As long as you won’t question every unrealistic aspect, you will have a blast! The show is great at creating tension and keeping the viewer entertained with great pacing both in overall story, but also the episodes themselves. It had great comedic moments, good action sequences, solid character development, friendship and bonding, and some truly touching and heartbreaking scenes.

Did a lot of people die? Yes. Not enough from the main cast if you ask me. And not the right ones… Not gonna lie, the show got my blood boiling a few times when some of the most frustrating and annoying characters kept surviving against all odds. I also wish a few more students would die to make the stakes a bit more real. This is the luckiest group of teens I have ever seen and at some point I stopped being worried about them dying, because it seemed like they would be able to survive even with a nuclear bomb being dropped directly on their heads.

In terms of acting, what can I say? I am not worried about the future of Korean cinema. With this large cast of great young actors who can deliver a versatile performance, the future of movies and dramas is in good hands.

Production value was phenomenal. I love the design of the aliens, I love how they look, how they move, even the sounds they make. For some strange reason I always thought that if aliens exist they may look like fancy sea creatures, and this is exactly how the spheres look like. I have no complaints about the filming, editing, sound effects, lighting, set design. I only wish the female characters tied their hair, that was a bit so unrealistic even I could not ignore.

Overall, what a fun and exciting watch. With such a large cast they still managed to make all the characters memorable. The level of entertainment and engaging characters (be it for their awesomeness or how annoying they were) allowed me to ignore any possible flaws and just enjoy they ride. I cannot wait to see the second season.

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Heart-poundingly fantastic

I was a huge fan of All Of Us Are Dead and that's why I jumped at the chance to watch this; despite that, I went into it with middle-of-the-road expectations, and was actually really surprised by how much I ended up loving it!

I think the biggest hurdle for me was just the sheer load of characters there were. In other ensemble dramas like AOUAD, Alice In Borderland, or Squid Game, characters are either split into different groups with different subplots, or the big group is very quickly whittled down to about five, and then new characters are introduced gradually. Here, we're following the entire class, and even though there are some losses along the way and the occasional split-up, the cast is gigantic and there's about 20 characters you need to pay attention to. A few stand-outs are easy to remember but the rest blur together for a few episodes. Even as I got to learn everyone, I don't think I found a "favorite" the way I did in other shows and that's just mostly because our knowledge of backstories are still pretty thin.

As a result, the drama is more plot-driven, as opposed to character-driven — and whether or not you enjoy that will just be up to personal preference.

After a while, however, I really grew to appreciate that it was a big group because the dynamic of everyone sticking together and growing up in unison was so interesting. You see common classroom dynamics come out in a high-stakes situation and it exemplifies everything I love about the high school survival genre.

For this genre, the show is surprisingly heartfelt. I didn't expect this show to make me emotional but it definitely did by the end. Anxiously awaiting part 2!

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Part 1 ending (ep 6) was messed up

The show is good. Definitely recommend anyone to watch it. Deserves good ratings. It's just one thing that bothered me. Its not the extra emotional screaming and crying all the time like some people are saying. I found that this made the show alot more realistic. Because thats how people would really react if their friends were cut to pieces by aliens?. The thing that bothered me was the ending of part 1 (ep 6) how he died in that building. I understand he hurts his knee but I think it would have been better if he died trying to get out instead of staring at the walls. He could have scaled down the building from outside and maybe die dramtically. All soldiers know at least basic parkour. Or maybe jump right before they blow the building so that the force of the explosion would throw him somwhere. I dunno something like that. I didn't like the way on of the main characters that was one of the strong ones too died standing doing nothing. Other than that I really enjoyed the show and will be impatiently waiting part 2 and hopefully season 2. Def recommended for everyone. Although the show is very fictional they made the fiction quite realistic which is why I enjoyed the show so much. The way unlike other K-dramas many of the main characters that appeared in the beginning of the show died quickly and realistically and not magically dodge all the aliens or always make it out alive of tight corners. So once again don't keep pushing this show for tomorrow because its unequivocally worth your time and I'm sure like everyone else you will enjoy it. Happy binging ??

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Eye rolling galore...

Oh look it seemed like it might be fun , I gave it a go but 4 episodes in and I just want all these whiny brats to die, please just end my suffering and kill them all off already.. Maybe I have to be a teenager to appreciate this story. I can forgive that they are supposed to be teenagers thrown into a war with an alien species and they are just innocent little kiddies but really they have been living with these things floating above them for a year and they are all falling apart when the aliens finally make themselves known and start eating the humans. Honestly if my eyebrows raised any higher they would disappear into my hairline. The sheer dumbness of this group is astounding, baffling and just f-ing annoying personally, not to mention the so called adults of this series and their ineptitude. If I shouted at my computer screen any longer i'd be hoarse,my forehead has keyboard indents in it from every time a character did something mind-numbingly stupid. I cannot connect with any of these characters and I simply don't careless about any of them. Good luck to those sticking it out for part 2, I certainly won't be. Give me more of "Sweet Home or "All of Us are Dead" those were so much better.

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Tired of MDL users inflating drama scores

I made an account on MyDramaList today because I'm tired of the inflated scores reviewers give to these types of Dramas. There are dramas that definitely match their score and deserve their high rating like Signal, My Mister, Prison Playbook, and a handful of others. But sadly what I see is that there are way more dramas that have inflated scores even though they have blatantly large plot holes and this drama is definitely one of them. I understand Korean culture highly values education, but to value it to the point that the students in this show values it makes them look autistic, not smart. Why would anyone assume the CSAT meant anything during an apocalypse? Sure, it's only after several months of military training that they realize the true motivations behind their training but how would anyone still choose to stay in the military primarily for CSAT scores rather than training to fight aliens(I'm speaking of the second ranked student that wanted to continue military training after finding out they were fighting aliens). The other thing is why did the class have to move as a group? If people want to go back home they should go back home. It felt like the staying as a group idea was just lazy writing. Also, how did the students not see any bodies during their trip to their first marksmanship test? The streets are littered with bodies and destroyed buildings. Do these students just lack common sense? I don't know how this drama got a rating of 8.6. The cinematography is good but the characters are unbelievably dumb and the plot is riddled with as many bullet holes as there were in this show.

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Not as good as people say.

Duty after school is a subpar drama. If youre looking for something that 1. makes any sense, and 2. is serious, then I would not recommend this. The premise is really interesting but the execution is awful. The characters are unlikeable in the worst way and most of them show 0 development or awareness despite the things they go through. Their motivations are also really odd and dont really add up with what is going on around them. Basically they feel and are very surface-level, like someone wrote two paragraphs for each one and left it at that. Also they kept adding "funny" scenes that severely interrupted the flow and feel, especially because they were bizzarely edited with upbeat music despite the characters being in a literal warzone and fighting for their lives.

The worldbuilding is not very good either, things dont make much sense, the military act very strange and it makes it difficult to be immersed.

The acting was fine, thats about it.

(DO NOT be fooled into thinking this is ANYTHING like All Of Us Are Dead. It is NOT.)

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