Kdramas which are characterized for their cheesy romance plots and out-of-the world love stories still have other genres which are not as popular as the romance genre. Still in my non-romance era, after watching my last kdrama which was revenge themed, I scrolled through the list of kdramas I had already downloaded to watch during the course of this holiday and I came across Duty After School, a sci-fi /thriller series. I'm a fan of American sci-fi movies but I've never tried out Korean sci-fi movies/series. So yeah, I was and still am a newbie in this aspect of the k-world.
Duty After School is a Korean action series based on a webtoon of the same name, written and illustrated by Il Kwon Ha. It is a Korean series of the genres sci-fi, action and thriller. The series which is of 10episodes and a runtime of 60 minutes, stars famous actors such as Shin Hyun Soo, Im Se Mi, and Kim Ki Hae. The series follows the senior students of Sungjin High School preparing for their forthcoming CSAT exams, and suddenly are attacked by spheres that have been present in their sky for over a year. The students are forced to embark on military training as a means to equip them for the alien invasion and so they can save earth. After the invasion affects their school, the students are recruited as members of the armed forces. When the students learn the reality of the spheres, they are conflicted about whether to stay at school, under the safety of the military or go to the shelter where their parents are and risk dying on the way.
The series has a very unique plot and I particularly liked that about it. When I chose this movie, I had hoped to see the usual plot peculiar to horror/sci-fi movies. I mean those where the main character dives head first into danger and begins to find ways to escape after putting themselves in whatever situation they find themselves. In this movie, it was nothing like that. The characters were pretty much aware of what was going on and adapted quickly to it. The series had a very solid story backing it.
Also, I really liked how creative the crew were in this series. I'm saying this because there was a korean thriller series I had come across randomly and the monsters in that movie looked like they were all plucked out from a video game. But in this series, the crew did a good job in making the monsters (spheres) different from our regular kind of monsters portrayed in movies and the casts also did a good job where their roles were concerned.
As much as I liked the movie, I still found some things that grated on my nerves. One thing I disliked about the movie was the lack of humour pertaining to kdramas. Kdramas are known for having many humourous scenes but I could count the number of times the movie made me laugh with my fingers and still have fingers left untouched.
One other thing I found unsettling was the introduction of plot twists every now and then. I think other ardent fans of action movies, would find this entertaining. Sadly, not me. Recently, I said I'll be focusing on more non-romance genres than romance genres but that seems hard😭. The previous movie I watched before this, also had so many plot twists. I don't think I can do this anymore. It looks like I'll be heading back to my cheesy romance dramas sooner than I thought.
Overall, I'll rate this series a 4.1/5. Lesser points due to the above stated reasons and a major reason which I didn't state due to the purpose of avoiding spoilers. I loved the series. I enjoyed watching it. From the fast action scenes to the little teen love stories involved, I loved everything. So, if you're a fan of action movies, do check this series out. Also, I'll advise you to pay attention to trigger warnings if you are the type to get distressed by sensitive contents. Anyways, I enjoyed watching it but I don't think it's something I'll like to rewatch next time.
