No one can beat Kdramas for their high school genre. We have a list of the best high school Kdramas for you. Some are Korean high school romance dramas and some depict the serious problems of students at school. Most Korean dramas deal with bullying and a toxic grade system that destroys many innocent lives.
(The article is updated from time to time as soon as a new series comes up)
Here is the list of best Korean school dramas:
1: Princess Hours (2006):
Two royal families force their children to marry. They do not like each other but are forced to live under one roof. In the beginning, the prince likes someone else who betrays him. While living together, they both develop feelings and support each other. They are in the same high school. This school Kdrama has 24 episodes.
2: Mackrel Run (2007):
The story revolves around Cha Gong-chan played by Lee Min-Ho who is not interested in attending school. He was once a sportsman and popular but now he quits sports. He starts taking interest in school when a girl takes admission. He falls in love with the girl and this helps him to attend his classes. This Korean drama about school romance has 8 episodes as it was cancelled due to low ratings.
3: Boys Over Flowers (2009):
This is one of the most popular Korean high school romance dramas. The drama focuses on the life of four friends and a girl. A girl from poor background stuck in a high school filled with rich and arrogant students. She has to face the bully because of the rich students there. The drama also focuses on class differences and bullying. It has 51 episodes.
4: Playful Kiss (2010):
This is one of the popular Korean school dramas. The story revolves around a girl who is bad at studies and loves a handsome intelligent boy. The boy is famous at school and always treats the girl coldly. Things change for them when their parents turn out best friends and she has to live with him at his house. The drama has 16 episodes.
5: Master (God) of Study (2010):
This is one of the Korean school dramas that is based on Japanese comic series. The story focuses on the life of a lawyer who becomes a teacher at a high school. The school is about to fail and he decides to boost its position by working on a new strategy.
6: Sungkyunwan Scandal (2010):
The story revolves around a girl who disguises herself as a boy and gets admission to the most prestigious school. The drama is set in the historical era. She has to hide her identity as well as deal with the mischievous students. This high school Kdrama has 20 episodes.
7: Heart Strings (2011):
This is one of the popular Korean school dramas. The drama focuses on two different perspectives regarding music. It also focuses on the life of two different people who come close despite having different opinions. This is one of the Korean high school romance series and it has 15 episodes.
8: Dream High (2011):
This Korean school drama was quite popular in 2011. The story revolves around six students who have dreams to become Kpop Idols. They focus to improve their skills of dancing and singing in their school days. The drama also focuses on friendship and romance. It has 16 episodes.
9: Shut up Flower Band Boy (2012):
The story revolves around a high school rock band and their friendship, love and jealousy. They are no longer interested in attending school. However, when a new band tries to take over the school, they return back to rule over their high school. This Korea high school drama has 16 episodes.
10: To the Beautiful You (2012):
This is one of the Korean gender bender high school dramas. The drama story revolves around a girl who is in love with a famous high school student. The boy leaves sports and she disguises herself as a boy and gets admission to the same school. She faces lots of problems in school but develops a strong bond with her crush.
11: Puberty Medley (2013):
This is one of the Korean school dramas that is adapted from a webtoon. The story revolves around Jung-woo who prefers to live invisibly in school. After he is transferred to a new school the class president annoys him in different manners. Jung-woo gradually changes and protects the shy and timid boys against bullying. The drama has 4 episodes.
12: MonStar (2013):
The story of this high school Kdrama revolves around a K pop star and a common girl. A Kpop singer comes to an ordinary school to collaborate with an ordinary girl. The story focuses on the dream of many young people who wants to become singers or dancers in Korea. The drama has 12 episodes.
13: School 2013 (2013):
This is one of the Korean school dramas that focus on the life of teachers. The drama focuses on the life of two home school teachers who has to face bullying. They have to train their students for discipline and put some moral values in them. The students lack this and they try their best to make them better humans. The drama has 16 episodes.
14: The Heirs (2013):
The Heirs is one of the most popular high school Kdramas with a huge cast. All of the cast members are now popular Korean actors. The drama focuses on high school students with different social backgrounds. The main couple played by Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye belongs to rich and poor families respectively. After lots of encounters, they both fell in love with each other. However confusions lead them to separate, but love conquers all the problems. The drama is also quite popular for its love triangle.
15: High School Love On (2014):
This is one of the Korean high school romance fantasy dramas. The drama is about an angel who turns into a human due to some mistake. However, her magic sometimes works. She starts taking classes in a high school along with two boys Sung-yeol and Woo-hyun. Soon she starts feeling for one of them. This high school kdrama has 20 episodes.
16: High School King of Savvy (2014):
The story revolves around a high school student who has to take his brother’s position at a company. They both look alike despite their big age difference. He fell in love with a woman at the office who is older than her. He learns how to be mature in his life by working in the field at such a young get. This romance school Kdrama has 17 episodes.
17: To Be Continued (2015):
This is another Kdrama that focuses on the life of a Kpop singer but with a twist. A Kpop singer travels back in time when he is about to debut. It is hard for him to go back to his ordinary status. A girl tries to help him to go back to the future. This Kdrama high school has 12 episodes.
18: Angry Mom (2015):
The story of this high school Kdrama revolves around a woman who was once a bully at school. She leaves the school because she is pregnant. Many years passed and she has a daughter who gets bullied at school. The daughter and mother do not have a strong relationship. However, the mother finally comes to school by disguising herself as a student to help her daughter. This school Kdrama has 16 episodes.
19: Orange Marmalade (2015):
Orange Marmalade is one of the romance fantasy Korean school dramas that is based on the life of vampires. The story revolves around a vampire girl who gets admission to a human school.
The world has changed and everyone knows about the existence of vampires. However, it is difficult for some people to accept their existence. It is one of the high school mystery dramas in Korea. The drama has 13 episodes.
20: Who are you School 2015 (2015):
The particular theme of this high school romance series is the bullying and the love life of the main characters. The drama revolves around bullying that makes a high school student committed suicide played by Kim So-hyun. She has a strong twin sister who takes her place in school and gives a good lesson to bullies. The weak twin is not dead and comes back later. This is one of the popular Korean school bullying dramas in Korea.
21: Sassy Go-Go (2015):
This is one of the light-hearted Korean school dramas that focuses on student passion and dreams. The characters want to achieve their dream of becoming dancers amid all school politics and difficulties. The number of episodes is 12. It is one of the popular high school Korean dramas. (one of my favourites)
22: Click Your Heart (2016):
The story of this high school comedy romance series revolves around a girl who is clumsy and always gets into trouble due to her clumsy nature. However, there are many boys in school who fell in love with her. Click your Heart is a web series it has 7 episodes.
23: Page Turner (2016):
It is a one-act play and has three episodes. Page Tuner was highly appreciated for its storyline and acting. The story is about a blind pianist. She stops playing the piano but is finally able to get back her life with the help of her friends. Page Turner cast includes Shin Jae-ha, Kim so-hyun and Ji Soo in lead roles.
24: Solomon’s Perjury (2016):
The story of this high school Kdrama revolves around the death of a student. The police investigate the case and prove it a suicide Meanwhile, another student claims to see the murderer. The media and police deny helping the students. The students decide to solve the case on their own. The drama has 12 episodes.
25: Reply 1988 (2015-2016):
One of the most popular Korean school dramas is Reply 1997. The drama is popular for depicting the typical life of Korean youth and Korean society. The drama focuses on the lives of high school students and their personal lives at home. It highlights friendship and love. This drama has 20 episodes.
26: Moorim School: Saga of The Brave (2016):
This Korean high school series revolves around a mysterious high school. the school is far from the city and the teachers and students belong to different countries and cities. The school teaches them sacrifice, faith, humanity and compassion. This is a fantasy romance high school Kdrama and it has 16 episodes.
27: Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (2016-2017):
This is one of the Korean dramas that is based on college students who try their best to achieve their goals. Some want to become swimmers and Kim Bok Joo wants to earn a name in weightlifting. The drama focuses on their relationship as well as on students’ careers and achievements. This drama has 16 episodes.
28: Go Back Couple (2017):
The story revolves around a married couple who also has a son. They are facing lots of problems in their married life and are about to divorce. One day they wake up and travel back to the time when they are university students. This time, they try to make different choices to live a better life. This Kdrama high school has 12 episodes.
29: School 2017 (2017):
The story of this high school Kdrama focuses on the stressful life of high school students. The students have to fight against bullying, and the corrupt system as well as do better in the competition for grades. Different students have different backgrounds and passions. They have different problems in their lives that they have to overcome to be a better person. The drama has 16 episodes.
30: Sky Castle (2018-2019):
One of the dark Korean high school dramas and also involves the dirty politics of rich people to get a place for their kids by hook or by crook. The drama revolves around the lives of rich mom who wants to see their children at the top and to do this, they adopt every bad way. This is one of the most popular Korean school dramas and it has 20 episodes.
31: Extraordinary You (2019):
This is a high school Korean fantasy romance drama. The story revolves around Eun Dan-oh who one day finds out that she is just a character in a comic book. Everyone around her is the same and the writer is deciding their destiny. She is fed up with her life as she is suffering from heart disease and also in a relationship that only causes her more pain. She decides to take matters into her own hands and tries her best to change her destiny. They all are students in high school and the story become interesting when a new character enters the school. This high school Kdrama has 32 episodes.
32: Beautiful World (2019):
The story focuses on the life of a family who seeks justice for their son. The boy is injured due to violence and bullying at school. The family decides not to accept this injustice and fight back. This school Kdrama has 16 episodes.
33: Class of Lies (2019):
The story revolves around the murder of a high school student. Another student is seen on her deathbed with a knife. The rest of the story goes with the investigation of students regarding the case.
On one hand, a lawyer tries to save the accused while on the other hand, a prosecutor asks him to admit the crime. This school Kdrama has 16 episodes.
34: Moment at Eighteen (2019):
The story revolves around an eighteen-year-old boy who is expelled from a school. He is expelled from the school for a mistake he never committed. He joins a new school and decides that he will be invisible to others. However, life brings lots of twists for him. This school Kdrama has 16 episodes.
35: Live on (2020):
The story of this high school Kdrama revolves around a girl who is famous on social media. She has a lot so admirers but haters as well. One day, she receives messages and the person blackmails her. The person threatens her that he/she will reveal a secret from her past. She joins a school club to find out about that person. The drama has 8 episodes.
36: True Beauty (2020):
True Beauty is based on a girl who is considered ugly. She finally decides to hide under makeup. Suddenly everyone starts considering her beauty in the school. She has a crush on a popular boy but he loves her true self. She starts enjoying all the attention that she gets after hiding her true self.
However, in the end, she realizes that beauty is in accepting and being confident in one own skin. The drama focuses on friendship and love and is one of the popular Korean high school romance dramas.
37: 18 Again (2020):
Dae-Young marriage is about to collapse and his children do not show any concern to him. He wishes to go back in time and fix his life. A miracle happens and he gets back his body of 18 years old with the mentality of middle-aged man. He gets admission to the same school as her daughter.
He focuses on his ambition and helps his children to find a better way. He starts understanding his wife and children better. This high school Kdrama has 16 episodes.
38: Extracurricular (2020):
This is one of the dark Korean high school dramas. The drama focuses on bullying, abuse, human trafficking and drugs. The drama involves high school students who because of their depression and abuse enter into the world of crimes that can only end with their death. It focuses on the misuse of power. The drama is available on Netflix.
2021 Korean school dramas could not create the hype, however here are the names for those who want to watch them. School 2021, Racket Boys, Adult Trainee, Blue Birthday, Light on Me, Melancholia, The Great Shaman Go Doo-Shim, Law School and Be My Boyfriend.
39: Cheer Up (2022):
This high School Kdrama is about a lively and bright girl Do Hae Yi. She is from a poor family so her focus is always on earning money rather than studies. She joins a Cheer up Squad that was already in the University for many years and become a part of it. In the beginning, she has not so much interest, but with the passage of time, she develops a liking for it and also for the people around her. Cheer Up has 16 episodes.
40: Twenty Five Twenty One (2022):
It is one of the high school Kdrama which is set in 1988. The drama focuses on the dreams of youth who wants to achieve their goals. The drama is about a girl Na Hee-do who is a member of a school fencing team (combat sport), due to the low budget the team is disbanded. She later transfers to another school and takes part in another fencing team. She meets a young man Baek who is going through a financial crisis. They both develop a bond and encourage each other. However, they both do not end up together as they have bigger goals to achieve. The drama has 16 episodes.
Many of these dramas are now available on Netflix and you can also watch them free here. (some times the link don’t work, they keep changing it due to copyright issue)
