K-dramasare often grouped as one big monolithic genre, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. While they often share similar tropes, types of characters, and sensibilities, themost famous K-dramasspan across a wide variety of genres just like any other kind of entertainment product from the rest of the world.
Among these, of course, there are fan-favorite favorite genres to whichthe best K-dramasreturn time and time again. The teen drama set in high school is hands down one of these favorites since there are plenty of them to be found in the present and past of South Korea’s television scene. Rightly so, since a high school drama is the perfect setting for a story filled with friendships, romances, conflicts of all kinds, and the occasional zombie outbreak.
Boys Over Flowers
Cast
Boys Over Flowers is a 2009 South Korean television series based on the Japanese manga of the same name. The show follows Geum Jan-di, a courageous but impoverished girl who receives a scholarship to attend a prestigious high school. There, she encounters the infamous F4, a group of wealthy and influential boys, leading to complex relationships and social conflicts. The series stars Koo Hye-sun, Lee Min-ho, Kim Hyun-joong, Kim Bum, and Kim Joon.
TheK-DramaBoys Over Flowerswasn’t just a cultural phenomenon throughout its native continent, it was also one of the very first pioneers of the Korean Wave that is now playing a significant role in pop culture around the world. Based on the manga series of the same name by Yoko Kamio,Boys Over Flowersfollows a group of students at an elite high school—especially a working-class girl who attends this school thanks to a scholarship and a group of wealthychaebolheirs who rule the school’s social hierarchy.
Chaebolis a term that indicates a large South Korean conglomerate headed by a single family. The character of thechaebolheir is a K-Drama staple.
WhileBoys Over Flowersis very much a product of its time—and so some of its story beats might be considered outdated almost twenty years after it first aired—it remains a staple of K-Dramas in general and of the high school romance genre in particular.All the tropes are here, perfectly delivered by a stellar castled by now-household names Koo Hye-sun and Lee Min-ho.
9To the Beautiful You (2012)
Shakespearian disguise vibes
The 2012 K-DramaTo the Beautiful You, also based on a Japanese manga—specificallyHanazakari no Kimitachieby Hisaya Nakajo—has a somewhat Shakespearian device right at the heart of its plot which makes for a very entertaining watch. It all starts when the drama’s main character, Goo Jae-hee, decides to transfer from the United States to South Korea to attend the same school as the athlete she idolizes, Kang Tae-joon.
Jae-hee has a pretty considerable obstacle in her path, however,and that’s the fact that Tae-joon attends an all-boys school. She decides to cut her hair short and disguise herself as a boy to get the chance to meet and befriend her idol. Shenanigans, of course, ensue as Jae-hee becomes entangled in the lives of the boys from her new dormitory—including a classic love triangle and a somewhat open ending.
Dream High
Dream High follows six dedicated students at Kirin Art High School as they strive to achieve their aspirations of becoming stars in the Korean music industry. Released in 2011, the film explores their personal and professional challenges as they navigate the competitive world of entertainment.
Since the idol entertainment industry is a staple of the Korean Wave, it should come as no surprise that there are several K-Dramas focused on it.Dream High, in particular, merges idolhood into a high school settingby focusing on a group of students who all dream of becoming K-Pop idols.
The drama has its fair share of singing and dancing scenes as the main characters train in anticipation of their future of fame and fortune, something that makesDream Highquite an entertaining watch. Since it’s on the older side,Dream Highalso features quite the stacked cast of actors that are by now incredibly well-established—including actual idols like Suzy of Miss A and soloist IU.
Love Alarm
Love Alarm is a South Korean television series based on the popular webtoon by Chon Kye-young. Set in a world where a mobile app alerts users when someone within a 10-meter radius has romantic feelings for them, the show follows Kim Jo-jo, a high school girl who becomes embroiled in a complicated web of relationships and social hierarchies as she navigates the consequences of the Love Alarm app.
Thetwo seasons ofLove Alarmare inspired by the webtoon of the same name, as are several K-Dramas released in recent years. The drama is set in a world that is just slightly different from our own, where everyone has an app—the titular Love Alarm—that alerts them if anyone within a 10-meter radius of them has romantic feelings for them.
The existence of this app is, of course, a fantastic plot device to put the story’s main characters in a whole series of embarrassing or momentous situations that hit all the usual story beats of romance dramas.Protagonist Kim Jo-jo, a high school student coming from a difficult background, initially resists getting the appbut eventually downloads it as well, something that will plunge her head first into an emotional love triangle.
6The School series (1999 - ongoing)
High school chronicles
TheSchoolseries is an anthology series that has been running for quite some time, long enough for the franchise to be rebooted in 2012 after a ten-year hiatus. While all shows within theSchoolfranchise deal with the same themes, they’re all separate and can be watched independently of one another—which makes the perspective of a marathon less daunting, since audiences can pick and choose what to watch.
Each show focuses on a different group of students struggling through the typical challenges of high school, highlighting all the issues that are usually faced by South Korea’s young people.Among the eightSchoolshows, the most popular one is probablySchool 2017,which focuses on a class of students dealing with the mysterious “Student X,” a troublemaker whose identity needs to be uncovered.
5Cheer Up! (2015)
Forced coexistence excellency
Cheer Up!is another K-drama that really utilizes everything that makes high school stories as beloved as they are. All the tropes one might imagine would be present in a high school K-Drama are here, but that only serves to makeCheer Up!funny and engaging rather than predictable and boring.
Like in any story that features two wildly different protagonists forced to share the same space, sparks will fly from pretty much day one.
The story starts when two extracurricular clubs in a Seoul high school are forcibly meshed together to form a cheerleading squad. The two clubs, however, couldn’t be more different.The first is a street dance club that dangles at the bottom of the social food chain just like its leader, Kang Yeon-doo,while the second is a club meant for the school’s elite led by altogether perfect student Kim Yeol. Like in any story that features two wildly different protagonists forced to share the same space, sparks will fly from pretty much day one.
Extraordinary You
Eun Dan-oh, a high school student, makes the shocking discovery that she is a character in a comic book, with her life and destiny controlled by the unseen author. Determined to break free from her scripted existence, she teams up with Number 13, a mysterious classmate who shares her awareness of their situation. Together, they embark on a quest to rewrite their fates, challenging the boundaries of their fictional world and confronting the emotional complexities of seeking autonomy in a predetermined reality.
K-Dramas have become more and more aware of their own tropesin recent years and have begun to dabble in some metanarratives. A perfect example of this isExtraordinary You, based on the webcomicJuly Found by Chance, which follows a group of characters who actually live inside the world of a comic.
The main character Sun Dan-oh is an unremarkable student at a prestigious academy who soon realizes she and everyone around her are nothing more than characters in a comic titledSecret, and that her unhappy life has already been decided by the all-powerful Writer. Dan-oh, however, refuses to accept this and is determined to write her own story where she is the main character and is destined for more than what the Writer has in store for her.
All Of Us Are Dead
All of Us Are Dead is a South Korean series that centers on a high school overrun by a zombie virus outbreak. The students, facing an unprecedented crisis, must navigate survival while combating the threat of becoming part of the undead horde.
It wouldn’t be South Korean entertainment without a zombie twist.No one does zombie stories quite like South Korea, andAll of Us Are Deadbrings this much-beloved horror trope to a high school setting,creating quite the phenomenon. The drama was a success upon its release, and nowAll of Us Are Dead season 2is expected to arrive in 2026.
All Of Us Are Dead Season 2’s Story Tease Is Great News For The Zombie K-Drama After Season 1’s Success
All of Us Are Dead’s “survival period for zombies” is great news for the Netflix K-drama, which must be different from season 1 over 3 years later.
All of Us Are Deadstarts when a failed experiment made by a science teacher in the local high school of the fictional city of Hyosancauses the entire building to be the epicenter of a zombie outbreak. The story then follows a group of students who are trapped within the school and try their all to remain alive while the Hyosan authorities struggle to decide what to do to contain the outbreak.
True Beauty
True Beauty is a South Korean television series based on the Line Webtoon of the same name. The show follows high school student Im Ju-kyung, portrayed by Moon Ga-young, who masters the art of makeup to overcome her insecurities about her appearance. Cha Eun-woo and Hwang In-yeop star as her romantic interests. The series delves into themes of self-esteem, beauty standards, and the impact of outward appearance on personal identity.
A great success of recent times,True Beautyis based on the incredibly popular webtoon of the same name. It follows the main character Lim Ju-kyung, a high school student who has been relentlessly bullied by her peers for her perceived unattractive appearance for pretty much her entire life.
Ju-kyung decides to move schools and become a make-up expert—something that she learns how to do so well that her social status in the new school dramatically increases. Of course, though, her “secret” will have to be found out eventually. To complete the picture, Ju-kyung is torn between two male leads. On one hand, there’s Lee Su-ho, very popular but with an ice-cold demeanor; on the other. There’s Han Seo-jun, with a tough-looking exterior but an incredibly gentle heart.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One
Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a South Korean television series directed by Jung Ji-hyun. Set amidst the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the series follows the lives of a fencer and a reporter as they navigate love and ambition. Starring Kim Tae-ri and Nam Joo-hyuk, the show delves into themes of resilience and growth as the characters strive to achieve their dreams in a time of uncertainty.
Twenty-Five Twenty-Oneis a relatively recent release but it’s indisputably one of the highest-rated K-Dramas in the history of Korean cable television, as well as a pop culture darling that has a dedicated niche of fans even now.More bittersweet than other high school dramas,Twenty-Five Twenty-Onealso covers a wider period, following its main characters even after their graduation.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One Ending Explained: Baek Yi-jin & Na Hee-do’s Romantic Fate & More
The Twenty-Five Twenty-One ending finally answers the questions that have been lingering all season including, “Do Hee-do and Yi-jin get together?”
In thisK-drama, everything starts with Na Dee-do, a talented fencer who transfers schools so that she can continue her athletic career—something that she does until she becomes a member of the National Fencing Team. Along the way, she meets Baek Yi-jin, an aspiring journalist whose family lost its social and economic status following the 1997 International Monetary Fund crisis. Their lives will ebb and flow together and apart until the present day, in which Hee-do’s daughter Min-chae finds her mother’s journal and reads her story.
