Dream High
If we hear Dream High, surely we will automatically remember the idols who starred in this drama such as Bae Suzy, IU, Kim Soo-hyun, 2PM’s Taecyeon, and more. Dream High is one of the old dramas with a high school theme that has become the most recommended to watch. This drama aired on KBS2 from January 3 to February 28, 2011. Let’s talk about the synopsis. This drama follows 6 high school students named Go Hye-mi, Song Sam-dong, Kim Pil-sook, Jin Guk, Yoon Baek-hee, and Jason. They have different backgrounds but have the same passion for music, and they want to become singers. This school musical-comedy drama was able to reach a rating of 15.7% and got a score of 9.2/10. Dream High has a second season that aired in 2012, but the rating wasn’t as good as season 1.
School 2013
The next high school drama is School 2013. From December 2012 until January 2013, this drama was very popular and many people talked about it. School 2013 talks about school problems with many complaints by parents about facilities, school fees, and other things that relate to real life. Not only that, but this drama also tells about Go Nam-soon (Lee Jong-suk) and Park Heung-soo (Kim Woo-bin) who are members of a gang. Then, Heung-soo wants to make his dream come true which is to be a soccer player, so he decides to leave the gang. But, Heung-soo must be beaten before he leaves because of tradition. Because of Nam-soon’s mistake, Heung-soo has a leg injury and can’t fulfill his dream. So, there’s hostility between them. School 2013 managed to get a rating of 17.3% and got a score of 7.9/10! Here is the trailer of this drama!
School 2017
School 2017 is the 3rd insert of the School series which was aired by KBS2 on July 17, 2017. This drama starred Kim Jung-hyun, Kim Se-jeong, Jang Dong-yoon, Han Joo-wan, Han Sun-hwa as the main cast, and more. After the two previous series named School 2013 and School 2015, this drama appeared as the last of the series. Unlike School 2013, this series is more focused on the unfair school system problem, and there is a spark of romance in it. The rating was only 5.2% with a total score of 7.5/10. Nonetheless, this drama was awaited by people at the time and can be one on your drama list!
Reply 1997
Just like the School K-dramas, Reply also has 3 series named Reply 1988, Reply 1994, and lastly Reply 1997. This drama uses a high school background, and the story tells about Sung Shi-won and her 5 friends who are nostalgic about their high school moments in the 90s. At that time, Sung Shi-won was the biggest fan of H.O.T until her father cut her hair and took down the group posters in her room. Reply 1997 focuses more on Shi-won’s life, her high school days, and even her high school love story. This drama was aired on July 24, 2012, through tvN, and the drama starred Jung Eun-ji, Seo In-guk, and many more actors. Not only is it about school but if we watch this, we will surely remember the 90s, making it relatable and also full of comedy. The drama got a rating of 7.55%, and it became the highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history. It also gained an 8.1/10 score.
At Eighteen
Just like some of the dramas above, this drama tells about teenagers aged 18 with their slice of life story and romance in high school. The drama which aired on July 22, 2019, starred a former member of Wanna One, Ong Seong-woo, who plays Choi Joon-woo who has to move because of involvement in a theft case. The drama also starred actress Kim Hyang-gi as Yoo Soo-bin. Her life is controlled by her mom, especially her education, and she must get high grades and achievements. The last main cast member is Shin Seung-ho who acts as Ma Whi-young. He is always being compared to his older brother, and he feels under pressure. The three main characters have different teenage problems. This drama gained a rating of 3.88% at the end of the drama and got a 7.6/10 score, so this drama got into the best high school recommendations that you should watch. Besides the score and rating, this high school drama is multidimensional and easy for the audience to understand.
Extraordinary You
It seems like everyone already knows about this drama because in 2019, this drama managed to become one of the dramas that gained the highest rating which is approximately 3.6%, and it has always been stable and increasing from the start. Extraordinary You is a drama based on a Webtoon which tells about Eun Dan-oh (Kim Hye-yoon) who is a high school student. One day, she realizes that she and the people around her are the characters in a comic entitled Secret. Eun Dan-oh is destined to die because of her illness, but she wants to change her destiny so she gives character number 13 the name Ha-ru (SF9′ Rowoon). Before Secret, they were apparently the main characters in a previous story entitled Trumpet Creeper along with Baek Kyung (Lee Jae-wook). Because of the appearance of a new character, it changes the storyline and Eun Dan-oh’s fate that was made by the author with Eun Dan-oh, Ha-ru, and Baek-kyung. Here is one of the drama’s scenes!
This drama is really different from other dramas, so you have to watch it because the drama is full of romance and fantasy!
Love Alarm
Love Alarm is a high school drama that brings out a teenage love story with the sophistication of technology named the JoAlarm, a mobile app that can detect someone’s feelings. The synopsis of this drama tells about high school students named Kim Jo-jo (Kim So-hyun), Lee Hye-young (Jung Ga-ram), and Hwang Sun-oh (Song Kang) who are involved in a love triangle. Kim Jo-jo and Lee Hye-young are friends. Then, Hye-young falls in love with her, but she doesn’t know because she didn’t use JoAlarm. Hwang Sun-oh also loves Jo-jo, and he is curious about her feelings so he uses the app to find out. Through the app, he knows that his best friend Lee Hye-young also has the same feelings for Jo-jo, and then he becomes confused about whether he should choose his best friend or his love. The drama that was aired on Netflix from August 22, 2019, until March 12, 2021, got a 7.2/10 score, and the drama has 2 seasons!
True Beauty
The last recommendation of high school k-dramas is True Beauty. This drama starred Moon Ga-young, ASTRO’ Cha Eun-woo, Hwang In-yeop, and Park Yoo-na. The drama reached a fairly high rating of 3.8% to around 4.3% and also got a score of 8.1/10! Why is this drama popular? Besides this drama being adapted from a popular story on Webtoon, the drama also has a good story which tells about Lee Ju-kyung who was always feeling insecure because of her ugly face and being bullied at her school. She then decided to move and does a face make-over. In her new school, she is always praised like a goddess. Then, she meets the smartest student, Lee Suho, who turned out to be the person who helped her in the past. Suho falls in love with Ju-kyung, but it turns out that Han Seo-jun who is Suho’s best friend as well as enemy also has feelings for Ju-kyung, and they compete to get Ju-kyung’s love. Who will be the winner? You can find the answer by watching this drama! So, that’s all the best k-dramas with high school themes that you can add to your drama list to watch. Don’t forget to read our other articles and also follow our Twitter @CKoreaOfficial to be closer with us!