The 15 best school K-dramas of all time, from Dream High and Boys Over Flowers to Weak Hero Class and Twenty-Five Twenty-One
- High-school dramas are a mainstay of Korean television, with teen romance often a theme – examples include The Heirs, starring Lee Min-ho, and Love Alarm
- Often, bullying is part of the storyline, as in Weak Hero Class and Boys Over Flowers; other social problems get a look-in too, as well as youthful ambitions
One of the mainstays of the Korean drama landscape is the high-school drama.
Teen romance series, with love triangles aplenty, generally lead the way, but over the years the genre has become more complex, welcoming several exciting variations, particularly now that we’ve entered the streaming era.
Below is our ranking of the 15 best high-school K-dramas.
15. Love Alarm
Lead cast: Kim So-hyun, Song Kang, Jung Ga-ram
Based on the hugely popular webtoon of the same name, Love Alarm was one of the first Korean drama successes for Netflix. The show adds to the already heady world of teen romance with its fantastical concept of a dating app which lets you know if someone near you has feelings for you.
This plunges a high-school student into an epic love triangle with two handsome friends from very different social backgrounds.
14. Dream High
Lead cast: Bae Suzy, Ok Taec-yeon, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Ji-eun
Peak Nielsen rating: 17.9 per cent
Hugely popular among teens and arguably more famous for its songs than its story, Dream High is a classic high-school drama about six students who dream of becoming K-pop idols.
The show notably casts several real K-pop idols, among them Bae Suzy (formerly of the girl band Miss A), Ok Taec-yeon of the boy band 2pm, and Lee Ji-eun (aka IU), in their first or second screen roles. All of them have gone on to be major K-drama stars.
13. At Eighteen
Lead cast: Ong Seong-wu, Kim Hyang-gi, Shin Seung-ho, Kang Ki-young
Peak Nielsen rating: 3.9 per cent
Forced to transfer for something he didn’t do, a young man enrols at a new high school, where he becomes an outcast. There he meets a top student feeling oppressed by her mother’s ambitions and a class president who looks down on everyone while masking his own demons.
At Eighteen is a poignant tale of teenagers trying to make sense of the expectations put on them at a crucial age.
12. School 2017
Lead cast: Kim Se-jeong, Kim Jung-hyun, Jang Dong-yoon
Peak Nielsen rating: 5.9 per cent
The first, but certainly not the last entry on this list from the enduring School anthology series, which has aired eight instalments since its 1999 debut.
School 2017 follows a girl who dreams of being a webtoon artist and who is caught up in the search for a mysterious prankster at her school. She also deals with the pressures of school while finding time to get caught up in a love triangle.
11. Hello My Teacher
Lead cast: Gong Hyo-jin, Gong Yoo
Peak Nielsen rating: 15.9 per cent
This 2005 K-drama, also known as Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy, features Gong Hyo-jin and Gong Yoo as a teacher and a troublemaking student at the same school.
Desperate for a job at her old school, where she hopes to get close to the teacher she used to have a crush on, Na Bo-ri accepts a post that requires her to keep the unruly student Park Tae-in in check.
Tae-in plays constant tricks on Bo-ri, but over time his feelings for her take a surprising turn.
10. Boys Over Flowers
Lead cast: Lee Min-ho, Ku Hye-sun, Kim Bum
Peak Nielsen rating: 32.9 per cent
A cultural phenomenon across Asia upon its release, Boys Over Flowers was the series that cemented Lee Min-ho as a star.
He appears as the leader of the F4, the most elite group at a prestigious school, who gets caught up in a bullying scandal. When a girl, played by Ku Hye-sun, stands up to his bullying, he first torments her before eventually falling in love with her.
9. True Beauty
Lead cast: Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo, Hwang In-youp
Peak Nielsen rating: 4.6 per cent
There she becomes the belle of the ball and quickly has the two hunkiest guys in school fighting for her affections – but her past soon catches up with her.
8. Who Are You: School 2015
Lead cast: Kim So-hyun, Nam Joo-hyuk, Yook Sung-jae
Peak Nielsen rating: 8.2 per cent
Only one knows about the existence of the other and both have long-term male friends who have been pining after them.
7. The Heirs
Lead cast: Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, Kim Woo-bin
Peak Nielsen rating: 25.6 per cent
Lee Min-ho plays the heir to a chaebol, a Korean family-owned corporation, at a prestigious high school in this glossy hit series. The Heirs hits all the teen romance beats you could hope for and features one of the most dazzling casts of any Korean TV show.
6. Weak Hero Class
Lead cast: Park Ji-hoon, Choi Hyun-wook, Hong Kyung
Sticking out among a list dominated by romances, the Wavve Original series Weak Hero Class is a fiery tale of three high-school teens forced to fend for themselves against the bullies of their school.
A top student uses his wits to defend himself, but when he becomes the target of a bully he learns to use his fists instead, and soon joins forces with two others.
The bone-breaking fight scenes are a thrill, but the slaloming alliances of the friends are equally gripping. Season two is due out next year.
5. Reply 1997
Lead cast: Jung Eun-ji, Seo In-guk, Lee Si-eon, Shin So-yul
Peak Nielsen rating: 7.6 per cent
The first instalment of the hugely popular Reply anthology series, Reply 1997 focuses on a high-school student in 1997, who idolises the K-pop band H.O.T., and her five classmates.
Set in Busan, the show adds a colourful dialect to its cocktail of youthful romance and personal and academic woes.
It was one of the original Korean cable channel hits (it aired on tvN) as well as being one of the instigators of the “retro” trend which saw the culture of past Korean decades come back into the spotlight.
4. Extracurricular
Lead cast: Kim Dong-hee, Park Ju-hyun, Jung da-bin, Nam Yoon-su
This wickedly dark high-school drama from Netflix focuses on an enterprising young man who secretly works as an online pimp for illegal underage prostitutes.
Using the nickname “Uncle”, he provides protection for vulnerable sex workers, who include one of his classmates, although she is unaware of his identity.
The show was praised for casting a light on the darker corners of youth crime in contemporary Korean society.
3. Extraordinary You
Lead cast: Kim Hye-yoon, Rowoon
Peak Nielsen rating: 4.1 per cent
This wonderful confection features a high-school student who discovers one day that she is actually a character existing in a comic book.
She tries to break away from the will of her story’s writer, although she is hamstrung by the clichés written into her character, such as her heart condition.
Tender, lively and knowingly in tune with the genre it lovingly lampoons, Extraordinary You is one of the ultimate teen romances.
2. School 2013
Lead cast: Lee Jong-suk, Kim Woo-bin, Jang Na-ra, Daniel Choi
Peak Nielsen rating: 15.8 per cent
The best of the School seasons is the class of 2013, in which two teachers with opposing teaching philosophies manage a tough group of kids who bring their rough backgrounds into the classroom with them.
1. Twenty-Five Twenty-One
Lead cast: Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk, Bona, Choi Hyun-wook
Peak Nielsen rating: 11.5 per cent
Kim Tae-ri is a delight as feisty student Na Hee-do, who fights tooth and nail to earn her spot on a fencing team. Nam Joo-hyuk is her love interest, a young man studying to be a journalist.
