Please Classmate (2021)

Sweet and pure high school life

This drama i recommend! it's a good watch. Even tho its the school genre this one is done well with a lot of refreshing elements. The storyline keeps it from being boring or the same kind of story, like studies, test etc.

The female lead is the class monitor, where she has to collect other students homework and turn it into the teacher. There she meets the male lead who is good at running. They are on bad terms because she successfully collected the male lead 's hw . The male lead is part of the track and field. He somehow has to combine classes with the female lead ( who studies english)

This drama is about their interactions and how they overcame each area, from the students in the english class and the students in running class not liking each other to overcoming their bias to help each other out. The male lead becomes more serious in his study and the whole class helps him fight of that he cheated in his test, to having a new celebrity idol come to the class, the female lead's sickness etc. They all go through i together.

The relationship between the leads was super cute too ! It was super sweet , pure and innocent. They finally had one kiss in the end. I really liked their puppy dog love. The times they spent together is super cute. Would love to see a sequel, maybe when they are in college.

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Pleasantly Surprised - honestly refreshing, though not short of faults.

Unlike my other reviews, I didnt read other opinions before writing my own here.

So firstly, lets start with the things i LIKED:

1. The friendship between the 3 male leads.
Ok, yeah, more than the romance between the main characters, above all I loved how healthy the rivalry and friendship between the male leads was. I'm tired of seeing shows where they are torn apart due to loving the same girl, torn apart then come back together, or make some kind of childish bet on the FL like she's a mindless doll with no agency or feelings :/ This show handled that well, with a refreshing feel to it that i honestly didnt expect coming outta China :side eyes: They were great as friends, and its comforting to know that even after the show, and regardless of their standing with the FL, they still will be. So refreshing to see such a healthy rivalry o.O (now can we get sumn like this but with girls shotting for the same guy, lmao)

2. The FL
Yeah, she did some questionable stuff towards the end, but this FL, while imperfect and i definitely wanted to yell some sense into her, is a strong FL in the sense that she doesn't let either of the leads walk over her. She does seem a bit willfully ignorant sometimes, but she doesnt let things fester.

3. The 1st and 2nd Male Leads
the 3rd male lead is adorable, but the 1st and 2nd male leads have a history you see. This ties in with my first point, but their (reluctant) bromance is cute and I love them so much. maybe its because the actors are in the same idol group already, but they felt like good friends on screen together. Great chemistry there.

4. The incorporation of sports and overcoming difficulties
something happens nearing the end with Li He and his athletic career, and I'm glad he also had a moment that needed to force his character development. Many things happen towards the end that force the characters to overcome a challenge and grow up. And while most of it was cheesy (like with Ze Yu's mom) I'm glad each of the main cast had to face some sort of character development.

THINGS I DISLIKED THOUGH:

1. the story isn't all that original
It's a classic formula, nothing is really re-invented here, (besides the bare minimum of healthy male rivalry) but it does so well, and it never really promised to re-invent anything from the blurb either.

2. what "two factions"? lol
The whole "two factions" thing sounds promising, but soon we realize that the entire sports faction consists of 4 boys, LMAO, and 3 of them are the lackeys of the male lead. I wish the different "factions" could have had a richer backstory, depth, and more believability to it. Wish things happened within those factions, with different characters, besides what revolved around the leads. But it's likely this may have had to do with filming during covid, maybe a low budget, and limiting the number of people for the cast. regardless, the whole factions thing didnt feel believable, but it doesnt detract that much.

3. Last few episodes are rushed af
This is a common occurrence. I was pleasantly surprised at the end, but still, it wasnt worth the train ride they put me through to get there heavily condensed into like 3 episodes O.o

4. Not as deep, or emotional as you might expect. (more below)

OVERALL:
this is a good drama. It isn't AMAZING, but it does what it sets out to do well. I do wish it could have had a richer, deeper exploration, and feeling to the school atmosphere, like it did with Li He's sports journey,(and to everything, really), and I also feel like some form of social commentary cud have been made on the various challenges the characters faced (the gaokao being the fat elephant in the room ;-;) but what I see as issues are probably not seen here, or cud not be commented on cause censorship O.O

U might argue, but its 24 episodes, and yeah, regardless idt those 24 eps were used the most efficiently. Regardless, Please Classmate isn't the deepest, most emotional high school coming of age show, but that isnt to say it's not emotional, or heartwarming in any way. I think it does a good, decent job, at being a high school drama. It definitely is the better of the high school dramas I've seen China pump out to this day (a love so beautiful, The best of you in my mind, these are a few it does better at. a love so beautiful is nOT that good dont @ me.)

Wouldn't rewatch Please Classmate though. Maybe the first few eps, but not start to finish. (i remember sassy go go much more fondly :P)

hope this helped! and if u needed it
tl;dr - give this show a shot! It's worth a shot.

FINAL RATING: 7.8
idt this show deserves a 8, but a 7.9 looks petty, so we're at a 7.8 for now.

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Plasticky...watch it only for the cast (they did a good job!)

Were I to use only one word to describe this "Please Classmate", that word would be "plasticky".
Fake and shallow as a tv commercial. But at least, those last 30", tops. This, instead, 24 looong episodes.
But, first things first - what I DID like, i.e.:

The Cast
True, a coupla actors were below par imho, but overall, the whole cast did a good job (heck, in some cases even a very good job, given the material they had to work with!). I have watched this for Dai Lu Wa and she didn't let me down. Honorable mentions also for Siwaige and Gao Xuan Ming.

The Music
Not really my cup of tea, but I'll admit it's mostly catchy, and it goes well with the genre, so all in all it gets the passing grade.

And now on to what I did NOT like:

The Story
Sorry to sound so harsh, but to me the writer didn't do a decent job, like, *at all*. It felt like an Asian-drama version of the meta-soap from the movie "Pleasantville". Take all the clichés of the genre, mix them together, and what you get is a cheesy, obnoxiously unoriginal, indeed plasticky yawnfest.

The "Packaging"
Photography, editing etc. contributed highly to that "tv commercial" feeling. The always tremendously fake lighting most of all!

In all fairness, though, even without the packaging, it would have given the same fake vibes, due to the script's faults. Again, if you've watched "Pleasantville", this is really like that "meta-soap": everything feels fake, whatever problems the characters face, they're not realistic at all. A coupla examples? (spoilers ahead, consider yourselves warned and jump to the conclusion if you want to avoid those)
In this drama the characters have to face the Gaokao, but it's all done in a few minutes with a few scenes edited together, and boom! they all got good grades apparently, like that, magically.
The FL thinks she might be suffering from leukemia, like her late father? Don't worry, it's just anemia.
The ML bombs the race upon which lies his future? Don't worry, someone retires last minute and he'll get another chance.
The SML misses his programming contest, gets found out, and is set to change schools? Don't worry, everything sorts out, his father does a U-turn and becomes suddenly reasonable, and a "flash-mob" by his school-mates will convince his icy mom too.
The love triangle isn't enough to run for 24 episodes? Don't worry, the lousy scriptwriter will add a third male lead who's a long-lost childhood friend of the FL and a teen idol on top of that.
Seriously, 24 episodes of this. It took me *ages* to finish it. I should've dropped it and forget all about it (matter of fact, that's precisely what I've done with many dramas; my "Dropped" list containing but a tiny minority of the dramas I actually dropped - normally, those that I felt were so bad that they deserved a mention for future reference) but I kept hoping it would get better at some point. It didn't.

Conclusion
I noticed that my opinion differs from that of basically everyone else here, so take it for what it is: my humble opinion an nothing more. Perhaps I'm too old for this kind of things (if the world doesn't end in the the next coupla years, I might even turn 50, LOL). Or maybe it's just that I really dislike dramas giving these überfake, plasticky vibes (hence my lack of interest for K-dramas, for example: I tried watching a few, they all gave me that feeling, I dropped them all and didn't even include them in my list - sorry K-fans, that's my personal experience and opinion - although I might not be absolutely alone there, as I've read several comments of people who've abandoned K-dramas and moved on to C- and J-dramas, apparently for precisely that reason - but anyway, as I said, only my humble .02, which might not mean much - if anything at all! - to most of the rest, so take no offense, peace! ^___-)

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Walk down memory lane

I don't generally prefer high school dramas because they often are over the top and somewhat unrealistic. However, I really liked this one because it's pretty honest.

This drama reflects the high school life of your typical nerdy student and is probably not representative of other types of kids (popular, cool, drama, band, football, etc). Sure, there's a runner but track kids are different than other sports' kids. Sure, there's a singer/actor but again, he's not the main.

ANYWAY, it was a walk down memory lane for me. The story arc of the second male lead especially hit home. That was my life in a nutshell...how he responded to his parents and what his parents expected of him.

This drama isn't for everyone. It's not as exciting or dramatic, but it spoke to me.

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Best Youth Series I ever watched!!!!

Kudos to the director and screenwriter of this series. This is a unique, fresh and out of cliche series out there. It gives the viewers a strong influence in friendship, teamwork, accountability, leadership and loyalty. I'm glad I found this in the recommendation list, this deserves a higher rating than how it does today.

Character review:

1. Yuan Caixi - wow! This female lead was really my favorite! She's strong, cool, very smart and a very good leader as the class monitor. Everyone respects and listen to her. She is not the typical cliche FL that's weak, easily bullied and head over heels for the male lead. Her character has strong sense of accountability and leadership whenever something goes wrong within the class, she always took the blame of not leading well (that's really a WOW!). She is fair and always unite the class. Kudos to the screenwriter for changing the usual-cliche Female leads and come up with this perfect female lead that will definitely influence the youth to be strong, smart and goal oriented. Everyone will easily like her for her character and you know that she deserves all the love and care from the male leads.

2. Ning Zeyu - This Male lead is the top 1 of the class, he is the nerdy and gentleman type and like the FL. He plays fair with his rivals and helped them as well. He is not a toxic rival where he will mess up the life of the male leads. You'll see his genuine care for the female lead. I like his character here.

3. Li He - He is the main male lead. He is a jock and excel well in sports, he really has good physique. I like this character too for always standing up for his friends, his logic was really good and is very inspiring. Of course he really like the female lead who helped him a lot in the story.

This is my first time to write a review, I've watched a LOT of Kdramas and Cdramas but this one really deserve the best review and hope the Youth will hype this series as well to inspire and influence them with all the virtues and values this series has.

I'm hoping the writer of this series will be able to read my review to thank him of writing such a good story that will make you miss your high school days a lot.

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Friendship and Growing up

This drama is quite refreshing, at least the voices are not dubbed and the acting is good! Kudos to all the young actors.

The storyline is focused on senior high school students in their final year before entering college. It’s about their struggles on friendship, balancing studies with activities; relationships with teachers and parents; and exploring their options on their dreams, life choices and future careers. It’s a good drama that infuses good moral principles- excellent for those in their teens and young adults.

As for me (who is older and working;)) I found it a little slow. There isn’t any romance going on, but the development of friendship to a budding romance between the leads was certain but slow ;) I’m just wondering why he didn’t tell her he liked her when he had so many opportunities :P

Anyhow, a good watch but won’t be rewatching.

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The leads overcome the main in showcasing real chemistry and nice kind of story

I was scrolling on social media one day and then some scenes from this shows pop up. Speaking as someone who loves Asian series, I really trust Chinese drama for creating a cute and fluffy school teenage romance. The story begins with an ongoing clash of PE students and those who excel in academics from two side of the campus, it wasn’t something new for me but I’m fine with it. Some scenes are a total cringe however I realized that they were all high school students who tends to do cheesy stuffs from time to time.

The setting and story isn’t bad but I don’t really feel the chemistry of the main lead. Yes, Li He is hot but his character is a little bit off for me. I find him sexist who has a toxic masculinity, obviously I don’t like it. Despite being the main character, he is my least favorite among the boys. Same with his gang, at first it was amusing to see them supporting each other but nearing the finale, they became so rude and annoying. Yun Ziang is the only one with better attitude in the gang. The amount of loyalty they have for their chief is quite fine but if only the script helps add an astonishing introduction to the rest of the group, it will be better.

Ning Zeyu and Ye Jing Xi is a better choice than Li He but then again, you can’t push yourself to fell in love to someone you know for years and labeling them as a friend only without any sign of romantic affection. Jing Xi saves the show. I was actually feeling bored watching the current characters but when a childhood celebrity classmate showed up, my mood become more interested on what will going to happen next. His screen time make me so happy, an eye candy cast with a great story to add and spice up the viewers’ enjoyment from watching. On the other hand, Zeyu is a relatable character, living his high school life with a strict mother. I also come to the point that I became rebellious against my parents because there are so strict with my time schedule. Furthermore, I love how their friendship grows and those scenes from Jing Xi’s house was so fun and heartwarming.

There some certain scenes that supposed to be romantic but ended being a moment of laughter for me. It was during Yuan Cai Xi and Jing Xi moment. The sudden occurrence of unrealistic additional set up –the bubbles floating in the air, was really something I can’t help but to make fun with. The same with the lights at amphitheater during Jing Xi’s confession. How come that the lights are directly facing to one another when the two of them are the only one around? Not unless Jing Xi told his manager to do this kind of stuff for his proposal.

Last negative feedback for me: I would like to say that Monitor is really a nosy one too.

Anyways, 7 is the best possible rating I can give to this drama. If only the main couples’ chemistry captivated my heart, it will be a more than good high school sweet-heart drama. Interesting storyline, good acting from the leads and average acting from the supporting cast.

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It will make you reminisce your high school life

I always say that good looking actors are very important to me whenever I watched any drama. For this case, not all of them are good looking BUT they are not bad looking either. Since the setting is in high school, it is some how, for me at least, makes it more realistic in some sense.

I haven't watched that many episodes but the fact I love the past 11 episodes makes we want to write a review already so the others will support this drama.

As mentioned above, this drama is about high school students. I'm not familiar with any of main cast. This is my first time watching them but I can say all their acting are good. No exaggeration. I mean. in some episodes, I feel that Li He (played by Xia Zhi Guang) sometimes do exaggerate in some oh his reaction but probably when you really like someone, you can be very bold in some of your actions.

The female lead Yuan Cai Xi (played by Dai Lu Wa) is very simple. I love how she acts and like she knows Li He likes her but she is playing it cool or how she is indifferent with Ning Ze Yu (played by Yan Xu Jia) extra attention to her. What I love most here as well, I mean the typical family issue is still there. Like the family of Ning Ze has a very high expectation out of him and wants him to become a lawyer. There was a scene that his mom throw away his books but Li He saved them and kept it for Ning Ze. I love that he still went against their wishes and pursue what he likes. I also like the family of Li He. He was athletic student so his parents doesn't expect much from him. I love that they still support him BUT they wish that least for once he passed the exam. I do believe such family exist and I hope they show more this kind of setting.

You thought this is only the typical love triangle. But here comes the childhood bff idol Ye Jing Xi (played by Zhou Yi Ran). I like the fact that though he became popular, he still can't forget his bff whom he saved long back. I love how Li He and Ning Ze worked together to block the efforts of Ye Jing Xi to be with Yuan Cai Xi.

Overall, I love watching this series so far. I can't help but to compare with Remember My Boy drama (currently on hold on my end from watching). Each episode is very interesting. So far.

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"When We Were Young", modern version

Dai Lu Wa plays in modern variation of "When We Were Young", this time as the female lead and with many parallel plotlines (ML is a newcomer in FL's class, the ML and FL have a teacher/pupil dynamics - just reversed this time, FL's clever classmate whom she knows for a long time has a crush on her, carefree but generally supporting brother of FL, incomplete family, dysfunctional family, etc ...). It works pretty well, you just have to approach the drama with the "When We Were Young" setting in mind - romance is not the central point here, but just a part of the overall picture of high school years and life. Only issue I have so far is that Dai Lu Wa's character has a bit too much Mary Sue's vibes, especially in the romantic subplot - not just two, but three popular boys chasing after her (plus countless others just being mentioned) while she is the ice queen who generally ignores them all. Her Huang Deng Deng had much more "rooting for" dynamics (and so did Yang Xi), but maybe this changes in later episodes.

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