Welcome to my Saturday blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week I recapped episodes 3-4 of See Your Love. Our poor rich guy has an important epiphany after getting knocked by a car into a ditch.
I also recapped episodes 3-4 of The Heart Killers which has a hamburger costume, stripping, and some S & M. What more could you want?
What did I watch this week? I’m in a drama lull so watched something unusual for me:
Study Group – 스터디그룹 – 2025
Recently aired Korean delinquent high school thriller/comedy with 10 episodes.
A high school student with terrible grades who longs for a study group accidentally enrolls in a school where the only thing that matters is your fighting ability.
If you’re like me, a high school full of delinquents launches your brain into humming the opening theme to the anime Cromartie High. The “yankī manga” genre goes way back in Japan but with this and Thai bromance-but-basically-BL High School Frenemy I feel like it’s getting popular again.
This one is based on a Korean webtoon of the same name that is, for once, being translated into English. It has all the usual tropes of the genre:
We’ve got a gentle, mild-mannered hero who is awesome at fighting but longs for friends. He unites a group of wildly weird underdogs all played by people well past their teens (one is 37). This is fine because I don’t want to see teenagers get beaten up. Everyone has a tragic past to overcome with their fists and friendship.
There is an untouchable evil villain who can only be reached after tackling a series of mini-bosses and surviving a constantly escalating series of fight scenes. There’s absurd over-the-top violence that leads to horrible injuries and miraculous recoveries.
And some fun delinquent fashion.
So what makes Study Group stand out?
We’ve got Korean drama production values, intensity, soundtrack, and sincerity at work.
What the show does the best is lean hard into the cartoonish, over-the-top qualities of the story. Fights send characters flying through windows and walls, and leave them bloody and bruised. Characters all but fly and barely flinch when punched. Realistically, everyone in this show should be dead, but this isn’t a show to watch for realism.
It also avoids a major problem with these shows, repetitive fight scenes. The production team made each battle interesting and tell a story. Some fights are short and funny while others are epic duels laden with meaning. There are new participants, new locations, new moves, and different consequences.
And though CGI was involved, I never felt like I was watching a toddler bash rubber action figures together.
Thankfully the sincerity doesn’t come at the cost of self-awareness and absurd comedy. Some jokes were so tongue-in-cheek they could be easily missed. There’s enough at stake to get emotionally involved, but the show maintained a good understanding of its ridiculousness. It didn’t bog down the ending with excessive sentimental feelings.
If I have one complaint, the show relied heavily on its soundtrack to sell how cool the characters were. But over-using the soundtrack is another kdrama problem.
This is all to say this isn’t a unique show, but it’s fun
From the minute I pressed play I had a good idea of where it would go, but the fun was seeing how they got there. It also knows not to overstay its welcome with only 10 episodes and the suggestion there might be a second season.
If like me, you want something short and enjoyable that doesn’t yank your heart out or make you want to destroy your TV, this is a great choice. Sometimes you just want the guaranteed pleasure of seeing the good guys win.
And now “Back Packer” is warring in my head with the Cromartie High opening song. Lucky me!
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