Brilliant historical/sci-fi mystery drama

Brilliant. Very intriguing drama, but some violence~~ primitive period. You get enough hints to relate it to scientific developments of advanced civilisations without losing the period atmosphere. Sort of historical X files. Oh, and the romance is slight, with a nice twist at the end, assuming I am right in how I interpret it. Would a woman be in that position in Joseon period, though? Ah, but there's the twist at the end again that explains it. I do not know much about Korean history but as the Joseon dynasty lasted 500 years, which period is this? Never dull, plenty of different story-lines and characters you can identify with. The stories are only around 40/45 minutes but seem to pack in more than hour long shows with slow patches. For anyone who likes a mix of drama, sci-fi, supernatural, mystery in historical setting this is highly recommended. Even if you do not like historical, still worth watching, it converted me to looking at historical shows.

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I liked the dramatic opening. After a slow start in episodes 1 and 2 , where it was very unclear where this was leading, I found it riveting - as much for the characters as the mystery, plot and supernatural interest. I also liked the way it still managed to inject comic moments into what was basically a very dark story. I have rarely come across a story with so many twists. Just when you think all has been revealed another twist arrives. I am still not clear who was the ultimate villain. A very unexpected ending, nice but illogical in view of the fate outlined just before. I think the main (or perhaps only) reason I would re-watch a series is not for the story but from feeling for the characters - and this is high on my re-watch list for that reason. Highly recommended for anyone who likes supernatural mystery with some romantic interest without it completely dominating the drama.

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First thing to note is that although Hi School is in the title, this is not a school drama. Plot sounds very dubious but really works quite well, VERY funny, very inventive and a real good satire on corporate managers and their sycophantic making up to the boss, stabbing-in-the-back/downtrodden subordinates, Hyuk is really convincing in his role. Don't know why reviewer above thinks there's no villain - there is [well, for a lot of it - in fact two] and how could the interest be sustained otherwise? Jo Han Chul is also very funny in his OTT neurotic team leader role, I think some people are really like that in companies. Love angle becomes too heavy, ep.11 very complicated, not so funny, I lost interest a bit in the middle [I think you say it "sagged"] and it was on hold for a while, but really picks up after that and I positively wanted to watch it. Lee Soo Hyuk looks much better with a schoolboy haircut. Lots of feel good in the end, but deduct a point for loss of interest in middle which may have stopped me finishing it. Music so-so, ok for this show. Not one I think I'd watch again.

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This sounds good reading the reviews but I found most of episode 1 boring, just the usual police thriller with nasty murders and I can not see much sci-fi. Then it gets interesting as he looks like catching the criminal and you are hooked into wanting to know what happens next. I find Choi Jin Hyuk's acting "wooden", but I suppose there's meant to be a contrast between him as the rough cop and Sun Jae as the cool, arrogant graduate cop. Much better with episode 2. The "transition" to the future was well handled. Others comment it is not convincing but you have to have some "suspension of disbelief", not work out every detail of how someone would adjust in that situation. Some of the violent scenes are too gory for me, I must say. But glad I stuck with it as it gets better with every episode. Sci-fi element at first seemed to be just a way of giving a twist to the story, then about half way it takes a central role again, as the way the characters' lives interact with each other in past and future becomes clearer. Very cleverly done. The only thing that bothers me is I wish they could do these shows without zero-ing in on the ghastly murders "as they happen" or the grisly photos afterwards. They look all too real for my liking. How about just a foot with the detectives turning away and making a terrified face? Anyway, leaving aside my sensitivity, what started as apparently just another plodding police thriller turned into a clever and riveting drama. Very moving finale, I wasn't quite sure what would happen until it did..Once again teaches me not to ditch shows based on impulsive reaction to first episode or two. Finally rates a 10/10*.

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Great action, too much sentimental romance

I tried this out because of Lee Joon Hyuk from "Are you human too?" I like his cool, dark looks here. But this felt slow, slow at the start and then half of it was taken up with (yawn) romance and I wasn't sure if it was worth waiting for the 10 minutes of action at the end of the episode to find out what happens -the "targets" have more lives than a cat. Lee Min Ho jumping about looking pretty does not compensate. I could really not take seriously Park Min Young as a top state bodyguard? bang!! aaaaaagh - the president just got shot: ( Not a terribly original story - revenge and romance. This was on hold with me about half way through but in the second half it improved hugely, so I'm glad I stuck with it. Still too much sentimental romance for me got in the way of the plot but they certainly hooked me with the cliffhanger endings! They could have cut out the romance and taken 10+ minutes off the episodes or reduced to 16 episodes and it would have been much better all through imo. Really good towards the end. Well it got to the end and it was very well worked out, although in one respect not the ending I would have wished. Can not quite give this a 10/10 due to the above problems, but in the end a very good 9+ .

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Episode 1 - lovely intro countryside and "Indian Summer", then (thinks) is this meant to be surreal or just a mess of bad acting? As to "the beauty and body" of Gil Ra Im, is the above summary for real? it's extremely well hidden. But the production values are good…….As at ep.2 is this rather ridiculous - the idea that not-bad looking Hyun Bin (especially as s super rich CEO) would fall for plain Jane penniless Ha Ji Won defies credulity - plus I don't like the snide reference about "gays". Ep 3 why am I still watching this? the fashion? interior design? Oska? - oh, I forgot Lee Jong Suk……..are you there?? Ep 5 strangely magnetising, beginning to get into this but mainly for the side stories and bizarre characters of Kim Joo Won and OSKA, I like bizarre characters, but regrettably still not Gil Ra Im. ep 7 - well with a mother like that I now understand why he became so twisted, whew. This drama lit up with the gender bending, I'm not sure if Hyun Bin deliberately meant his transformation to be so camp, but either way it's quite funny. I like Hyun Bin here, he has a difficult character to portray but he in particular has managed to keep me watching. I would like to watch more by him but the dramas covered here don't sound appealing. The soundtrack of this drama is also really good. Ep. 13 Gil Ra Im's evening dress is -ahem- a little "de trop". I do love that house, the architecture and interior design are stunning [that library! but where did he get the time to read all those books?) Ep17/18 really an unexpected twist (not entirely liked by me) but SG now passes my excellence test of putting it on hold because I don't want it to finish. Having now finished the series I think it should have ended with Episode 19 and left the rest to our imaginings. What was a stylish, classy and intriguing series raising some real questions about identity and the penetration into this world of other dimensions was spoilt by - there's a good English word - sentimentality of a common romantic drama. Better to stop when it was still ahead. Maybe this stuff appeals to many people, but I feel it was a major error of judgment by the writer/producer. This is not to take away from all the good things in the series. I plan to re-watch as I suspect I missed many details the first time around. But I shall not be watching the last episode.

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Intriguing start, somewhat far-fetched with two people with precognition just happening to live next door with intertwining lives. Plus a lawyer with paranormal powers? Not in my experience. I was initially irritated that just when I'm enjoying the comedy it gets really heavy, but now I'm into it, I find the mix of comedy, tragedy and supernatural enjoyable and keeps me watching. As it goes, it looks like half of Seoul have precognitive dreams. But in my opinion the big flaw in this drama is the connection between the central characters between present day and back story. It really is completely unbelievable, although everything does come together quite powerfully as between the different characters then and now. Still stretches the imagination, though. It also has a "split personality", as it can't make up its mind if it is a supernatural drama or realistic law/court drama - it starts with the supernatural element very prominent but from about half way to me this fades to the background. Also it sags in the middle with too much soppy romance. But it totally recovered as the action picked up later on, when it was edge of the seat stuff and passed the test of being not easy to stop from going on to the next episode. I also loved the comedy, like the office politics and the young brother constantly put upon by LJS. IMO LJS looks far better in casual than formal clothes. Music for the romantic scenes is good. I also have a soft spot for the villain, although he's a really nasty one, which I suppose is evidence of Lee Sang Yeob's good acting. These dramas would never work without a bad guy and the audience wanting to know how the good guy gets the better of him (if he does). The very end nice but so OTT. The idea could have carried over to another series but it was obviously packaged only for one. Not one I'm going to re-watch, once you know the story it's pointless and there are too many romantic stretches in between at some points. But I don't like to over-analyse when reviewing, so 10/10 as a really watchable drama when the action took over.

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I prefer this to the recent version. Maybe it's because the 1990s version is so different from the current trends in schools where you wonder if there's any limits on students at all in many cases. I agree with the other reviewer that Onizuka's character is based on an amazing bond with his students, admittedly larger than real life. My usual lament: if only teachers were like that in the real world! Mine certainly weren't. Yes. it's sometimes over-the-top (on one occasion definitely surreal), but mostly during the course of the story the background is believable and GTO's remedies may be bizarre but not absolutely impossible. I personally prefer my school dramas to have realistic backgrounds, not twenty-somethings dressed in school uniforms. Their problems are different from school students'.

This is fun but also not avoiding some serious issues. Despite the fantasy, there is no quick fix to solving the problems during the course of the series. So this GTO pushes and leads but it's the students who make the decisions in the end. But there's plenty of comic relief in the continuing battle between the stuffy professionals and Onizuka. It's great when he gets the better of them despite their constant plotting. You almost feel sorry for Uchiyamada and his co-conspirators trapped in their small worlds. Can't say much about the ending for fear of spoilers. Let's say it goes back to its manga roots in terms of fiction departing from real life. The particular twist which is what really brings things out right is frankly unbelievable. But that's manga. The ride is probably better than the arrival.

I agree it can lift the spirits, yes it's corny as someone else said, but there's no harm in that sometimes. the tendency these days is for these dramas to get way too heavy. GTO is a positive force, I like the passion of his character. Sorimachi Takashi is also not only an attractive character but a charismatic person to my mind.

Story not that original but with plenty of twists and turns so you don't lose interest - I watched it right through, with no "on holds", so it must be good. Acting very good, with larger than life Onizuka and the others performing good character acting, not to mention the kids. Music OK for the background. Re-watch definitely. There's enough in most of it to attract without the ending being important.

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Up to Episode 5 nice, feel good drama with cute leads and sufficient plots to keep interest going. Lee Sung Yeol's haircut certainly does him no favours. Is he trying to disguise his good looks??? Right, at ep. 8: Some people mention cute, fluffy romance, but around eps. 8 and 9 this gets really heavy……around eps 11 and 12 etc my feeling is a) why the heck are people so unkind/nasty to each other? and b) why don't they explain what happened instead of minds just going into overdrive based on false assumptions due to others' silence? - well I suppose then there'd be no excuse for 20 episodes, silly me. I put it on hold around the middle as, like others, it did not seem to go anywhere. Went back as I liked the lead actors and side stories of the others. Liked Mrs Ahn too, but maybe that's my bizarre taste. At ep.17: after some going round in circles around the middle, interest picks up. I've decided I really like this series and care about what happens to the characters but it certainly is not a laugh a minute, it can get quite depressing if you are in the wrong mood. Also the supernatural theme is there but is irritatingly background and not developed. Finally having reached the end and the denouement is certainly cleverly thought up. It's really not a spoiler to say nicely done, sweet. harmony and bliss descends. Better haircuts and appearance (within its limitations) virtually all round. As others say, it's quite emotional (I'm so happy (cry, cry where's that tissue box?) )HOWEVER, since most of this series from episodes 8/9 to near the end was more like tragedy or melodrama and after the contortions of the plot and characters, the transformation in one single, final episode was really a cheat. The trouble is the series went on in the middle for far too long. If there were fewer episodes, the ending would have been more in proportion and credible. Still it was a nice ending and I enjoyed it overall and am glad I didn't drop it half way through.

Music OK but too sentimental, not so great you wanted to continually hear it to the point of depression. Re-watch - probably not for me, it's too long a slog, with too many episodes going round in circles. For the good bits (generously overlooking the bad bits) 9/10 overall.

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This is more or less a reflection of my comments on Kurosaki-kun (2015) as they are much the same anyway. Cool, done really well - a potentially far from amusing bully-masochist theme played very adeptly to finally bring out the comic slant. The clue to this happens quite soon in the movie. Nakajima's earlier delinquent role Bad Boys J obviously gave him suitable experience for this movie and Kurosaki-kun 2015 also. Some might say Kurosake was OTT and Akahane OTT passive but that's actually the nature of manga, it doesn't generally do "refined" (does it??) I would re-watch this as it's short and funny and suitable for a night when you need undemanding relaxation or cheering up.

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Ep 1 When I saw these mean-looking guys walking around with thick wooden sticks I thought at first I'd pressed the wrong button and this was a prison drama, but no, it was School 2017. So anyone still in hi-school should probably give K. a miss. Eun Ho character especially good, Kim Se Jung has vitality and looks and so far the best storyline. From ep.3 whew this is drawing me in, not just the usual hi school tropes. Tae Woon becoming much more interesting as a character beneath that boorish exterior, but the sensitive Dae Hwi driven to crisis of values is an important character in a different way. The principal with the gorgon glare who looks like a cross between a pit bull and a vampire but with brain of Daffy Duck is hilarious, while the idealistic young teacher (Han Joo Wan) is attractive. This is really cutting to the heart of some important themes as outlined in the reviews. It stretches believability that such corruption really operates in schools, but it does in business organisations, so are school administrations any different? TBH I find some of the romance verging on soppiness but I suppose that's what the audience likes. The other weak spot in the story, which a lot of the plot centres around to keep the story going, is Eun Ho's relentless self-sacrificing mindset which in the real world would appear nothing short of masochism to the point of being abnormal. For this reason I liked her at the start but my interested faded. The boys, on the other hand, grew in my estimation. Others have commented on the totally unrealistic nature of the story. But if you come to a fictional drama, you have to suspend disbelief, don't you? Whether you are willing to invest time in doing so for any given drama is a matter of your particular taste. I don't think it's in any sense a spoiler (because this is so predictable) to say that as usual with even good dramas the ending is what in my universe I term a "flop" - a neatly-wrapped sentimental package. Can't go into detail unfortunately. Music jolly, typical school drama, nothing special. Will re-watch to catch some of the strands possibly missed in the opening episodes (which seemed a struggle) but for me the interest ends at the penultimate episode.

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Unexpectedly - as I usually like to keep bands' interest separate from drama - I loved this drama. The series had enough twists and turns to keep you gripped, a real shocker of a story twist almost from the off. Some wildly attractive bohemian-type "eye candy" in every meaning of the term, especially ji hjuk (Sung Joon) for me :) It veered off the school angle half way through. I thought it might be my antidote to School 2013 withdrawal symptoms, but in that sense it turned out not to be. But it certainly took your mind off it. Certainly it's about the impact of girls and romance clashing with ambition and celebrity when emotions are still haywire as adolescents, but surely even more about the closeness of the relationships binding a boy band together. I never like reaching the end of a series, there's got to be development if it's a good drama but so often the wrap up is too neat and verging on cheesy and this did not altogether escape that. It's more about giving the fans a "feel good" ending. But overall I loved this series, I kept watching it without any breaks, which is unusual for me. It also had two great songs, of which I especially liked Wake Up. Knowing the outcome, I'm not sure it's one I'd watch again, but that's probably true of most.

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Boy, this drama was sooooo good I can't believe it…I feel it's the best one I've seen since Seven days, I really was not looking forward to the end as I'm going to feel empty and wonder where I find another one as good??? So far Master of Study, School 2017 (very different, though, and not as gripping). I thought once the issue between the main protagonists was resolved, the main story would be pretty much over and all the writers can do is think up various school issues to dramatise. But actually they have explored the boundaries also on really important social issues, covering many issues that must be faced by kids and teachers in schools in underprivileged urban areas. It's here where the main teacher actors also did an outstanding job, although one of them Jung In Jae is so almost saintly as to rather stretch credibility when you go outside the drama and think of what's more likely to happen in the real world. If only I had had any teacher like that I'd be in seventh heaven. I mean, keeping phone contact???……is that normal in Korea? Can we please, please have it in the West, as long as it's someone like her?…….But the Daniel Choi character and the other main teachers (perhaps especially the "baddie" ones) - do bring a dose of reality to what challenges teachers in similar situations face - ditto the parent characters stand for a credible portrait of what some parents are really like in the real world. The only fault I can find in this drama - where it really is drama, not a full portrait of reality - is the constant allowances for misfit kids - though that was corrected somewhat at the end where reality took a savage bite. In the real world, kids who don't fit in are written off, which is why we have crime, broken homes etc etc Maybe these kind of dramas can alert more people to the problem. The end feeling is that everyone went through some kind of evolution in this drama - kids and teachers. I feel this is the only drama other than Seven Days (which is out and out gay and therefore pushes the boundaries more) and maybe Nobuta wo Produce, which I could give a 10 to for rewatch value.

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Brilliant, even the OTT parts - Ituka Toma always taking off running somewhere at 80m.p.h - agonised looks of remorse etc - the glint in the eye as wicked Naruse carries off another dastardly deed - are endearing. It's an old revenge plot but in a fresh form, with a nice occult theme tied in, and the twists and turns keep you wanting to know what comes next. Plus two very handsome leads. What's not to like? Having watched both, I think this is better than Lucifer - it's more compact, the right length to carry the story, whereas Lucifer slows down and continues for too long. leading to loss of interest.

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