[REVIEW] Cheer Up!

Cheer Up! (2015, South Korea)

Title: 발칙하게 고고
Also known as: Sassy Go Go 
Genre: romance, comedy, sports, youth, (mature)

Episodes: 12

Broadcast network:  Oct 5, 2015 to Nov 10, 2015
Broadcast period: KBS2

Set in a highly competitive school that emphasizes achievement and scores above all else, the drama will lay bare the absurdities and hypocrisies of the education system while also featuring the growth stories of the students who struggle to move forward, one step at a time. - MDL

Overall Score: 10/10
Character Development: 10/10
Plot Development: 10/10
Acting: 10/10
Soundtrack: 9.5/10 (because nothing in the world is perfect right? Unless it actually is xD haha)

I can quickly mention that I honestly did not expect to enjoy this much as much as I did, and the poster is partly at fault here. DO NOT get fooled by this cutie-cute cute fluffy-looking poster! (yeah I wish I could've used another one, but this the official poster) There is quite some dark shit going on in this drama. Sure, not as dark and overdramatic as what we would see in the melodrama-genre, but this is far from just a simple and cute romance comedy in a high school setting. That's also why I've decided to put the genre "mature" up there with the rest of the genres, because I feel like the topics presented in this drama are far from something you'd normally see in a cute comedy. It deals with depression, self-harm, abuse, attempted suicides, phobias....yeah among other things. But don't let that scare you. This is not a "let's put a bunch of angsty kids under the same rooftop and see how their life progresses" - type of drama, there are quite a lot of cute and joyful funny moments too. So I'd say, if you like romance comedies and those type of "growing-up-youth-finding-yourself" type of dramas, mixed with some darker subjects, then this is definitely a drama you should be adding to your to-watch-list ASAP!

The story:
So what is the plot even about? Well, the synopsis doesn't give you much of an idea does it? I guess that was also another reason why I wasn't expecting much from this drama and just decided to check it out for the heck of it one evening when I was bored (and it wouldn't even have been on my to-watch-list if it weren't for Jung Eunji, N and Ji Soo) so yeah...if I were to write a quick synopsis without spoiling too much of the story it'd be something like:
It's about this group of teenagers, who are studying at one of the toughest and most prestigues high school's in Seoul, where everyone is pretty much competing to be nr 1, studying day and nigh etc etc, but this group of teens, they are different. With Kang Yeon Doo (Jung Eun Ji) as their leader, they form a dance group named Real King and spend their freetime dancing in a studio located in the basement of the school. They live a carefree and joyful life, not caring about the responsbilities that are put on them by the society and everything is going quite smoothly until one day when they clash with the high 0.1% elite students of the after-school studying-club Baek Ho. these two groups can't stand each other but (without spoling too much of the fun) the leaders of both teams, due to an missunderstanding and a hidden papparazzi photo, get entangled in a dating scandal.

I'm saying scandal because even the school principal is surprised but the fact that the rebellious teenager Yeon Do and the top Ace student Kim Yeol are dating. As Yeon Doo tries to clear her name and find out the paparazzi culprit, the situation gets even more complicated as Real King's dance studio gets closed on the principals orders as she thinks that "if they don't study then at least they shouldn't cause trouble for the students who are", as Yeon Doo's world si slowly crumbling down (since dancing and being with her friend was pretty much the only fun part of going to that hell-like school) the principal suddenly proposes an idea. The members of Real King will together with the students of Baek Ho form a cheerleading team and together cooperate (yeah I know right, it sounds interesting already xD) and participate in the upcoming Cheerleading tournament and they have to win first price, otherwise Real King won't be revived. (The situation is a lot more complicated than that, but I feel like if I say too much it will be a spoiler, but let's just say that it was kind of an idea that wasn't out of the blue, there is something else to be gained by this, for a certain someone...but I won't say much else. You should just go watch it!!) You can already guess that no one is really up for the idea, as if the rivalry between the two groups wasn't already enough to spark a fuel, now they are forced to cooperate, and cheerleading is a sport where you pretty much need to have 100% trust in each other. And that's pretty much where the story starts off and slowly develops into this super deep and question-morality-and-the-system type of drama. Through this drama we touch on the subjects of trust, betrayal, friendship, what it means to grow up and become an adult, views on adults, corruption, self-hatred...yeah the list is endless and if I had to pick 1 word that could describe this entire drama perfectly it would be "healing". I decided to go with the title "Cheer Up" and not Sassy Go Go for this review (both titles are correctly, this drama has two names) because i feel like it is more fitting. It's not a cheesy title, there is a lot of meaning behind it, you'd be surprise how well it fits into the drama. It's not just about healing each other through friendship and love, it's not just about the relationship between the students, it's about the relaionship between the students and their families, it's about the bond between the students and their teachers..it's just...hella complex and I'm getting super emotional just writing about it xD. I didn't think about it too much before, until it was actually mentioned in the drama but cheerleading wasn't just a random sport they just threw in the plot to make it more unique, it actually has a deep message as well. Why cheerleading of all things? To put it short: it's because cheerleading is about cheering on and cheering up people. That's the simple reply, for a more in depth reply that will probably make you bawl your eyes out, you'll have to go watch the drama. Because it is explained, in a very emotional and hearttouching way...-sob-

The characters:
Oh boy, where do I even start? Can I just say that I simply loved and could connect to every single one of them? This drama has got to have the most complex characters I've seen in a drama that is supposidly still a "romance comedy set in a high school setting".
















Yeon Doo, is not your whiny damsel in distress heroine who needs to be protected day in and day out by the handsome knight that is the male lead. She may not be the brighest person in the world (when it comes to studying) but the ideas she comes up with, and her brave side and her she has a heart of gold really serves as proof that perhaps being clever, in the senese that you're a living computer-text-book may not be the best thing in the world. She was loyal, proud, loving, caring...yeah I can go on and on about how complex and amazing she was as a character. She stood up for, not just her friends, but her family, her teachers whom she loves and cared about, she was the representative of a human being who was on the doors of adult-hood but who had not been corrupted and brainwashed by the "crush or be crushed" mentality that the systeme mindfucks you with since an early age (poor kids). She is a person who can't stand injustice and will do something about it, either with her fist or with her mouth (she has a pretty sharp tongue, I loved that so much xD). Pick on her BFF, Ha Dong Jae and she will not let you rest in peace. I just loved her, from head to toe she was amazeballs and I couldn't have seen anyone but Jung Eun Ji playing that role. This strong and mature woman never takes on a Mary Sue role, Never! and I'll be forever disappointed if she ever does in the future.

Kim Yeol is our main male lead. He's the brains, like almost a living text-book with a mouth, of the school. I just love when the main characters are clever, and not just richy bitchy jerks who think they're all that just because daddy's got money. This guy? He's totally not that. Like. not even a bit and I almost stood up and screamed when I found out. Kim Yeol is not an arrogant jerk. He's a super clever, cutie-pie with the cuties hamster eye-smile in the world! Yes I'm totally fangirling (and he wasn't even my favorite male character in this drama. Just serves as proof to say that every character in this drama was awesome, brilliant!). He does have his teasy moments, he loves to tease our main girl, but it's not done because he looks down on her, it's more because just loves to jokingly tease people and I found that very unique. Most of the time you don't even see him as anything but a nice sweet guy who lends his books to the other students because he is confident enough that he will still get a A+ score on the exams, he is a responsible guy, perhaps almost a bit too responsible, as he tries to keep up with the perfect facade the school is brainwashing him into, but as he starts to hang out with Yeon Doo, his true persona is uncovered, and he slowly becomes the guy he always wanted to become: a guy who can enjoy life and have fun with his friends, and not just study. His idealology may sometimes clash with Yeon Doo's free-spirited ways, because even if he tries to change, he has still lived 18 years as an almost-human-robot-text-book (quite sad ;_;) but he deeply respects and cares for her. Another person he deeply cares about is Seo Ha Joon, his best friend and roomate. Their bromance yuou guys.....their bromance!!! ;_; (I already spazzed like a crazy fangirl about this, so I won't repeat myself. If you want to read more about this epic bromance you can check out the blogpost's I'll link at the very end of this review). They're just so precious T_T poor babies. In this harsh and cold crush or be crushed world, their friendship is the truest of them all, Kim Yeol knows about Seo Ha Joon's darkest secrets, and Seo Ha Joon, while struggling with self-hatred and depression, opens up to Kim Yeol and only Kim Yeol out of all the people in the world. Their trust and bond never failed to touch my heart, at any given moment. I'll go down with this ship ~

Seo Ha Joon, played by Ji Soo -insert fangirl scream in the background- as I mentioned before is a bit of Kim Yeol's mirror reflection. He is a bit of a bad boy, who doesn't study a lot, but doesn't do those typical bad-boy stuff either, he doesn't pick a fight or anything, the reason why I say that he is a bad boy is pretty much because he looks like one, carries himself like one and talks like one, but deep down he is a fluffy teddy bear. A guy who has trust issues and who doesn't open up his heart for just anyone. Kim Yeol is pretty much the only guy he trusts, and the one guy who can calm him down in his darkest moments. He is one of the characters in this drama that reminds us of the fact that this plot isn't a typical romance comedy. His scenes are angsty, brutal and bloody and unless you force yourself not to connect to him, you will not be able to look away from him, because his story is heartbreaking and real. He is a loyal friend, a guy who definitely doesn't deserve the harsh treatment he's been getting from his father, he is the guy you cheer on and hope will one day be able to overcome it all. And from what I've seen on Mydramalist, I'm not the only one who has gotten my heart completely taken by Ji Soo's emotional and complex acting. He is simply phenomenal and this character is one of my favorite characters in dramaland - of all time!

Kwon Soo Ah, is also another character that serves (well one of the purposes) to remind us that this drama is dark and messed up at times. You can't help but to sometimes want to be there for her, support and cheer for her and at other times just slap the living crap out of her. She has her moments, and you can't help but to love to hate her, or hate to love over. She is a very deep character. Probably the deepest in this drama. She is pretty much the "antagonist" in blood and flesh, because the real antagonist is actually the systeme, which brainwashed people like Kwon Soo Ah into becoming a soldier for this messed up ideaology of "being nr 2 is the same as being nr 999999, only being first matters, everyone else is a failure piece of shit" <- pretty much a quote from the drama btw, more or less, thanks Soo Ah's mom, you deserve the "parent of the year award with a cherry on top" - sarcasm to the extreme. Soo Ah is Yeon Doo's childhood friend and roomate, a girl who is forever nr 2 in the entire school and who dreams (due to brainwash from her mother) to enter one of the Ivy League (aka the top Universities in the States). She is an example of a human being who was raised to live up to the expectations and wished of a cruel and selfish parent. She does some cruel things, and yet I can't help but to pity her. Watching her development through-out the story, was watching a person walk into the sea, slowly going deeper and deeper, knowing what is at the end, that you will drown but you can't stop because there is no going back (in your head). Literally this ->


"The water is cold, but I bet it's not colder than me" - Kwon Soo Ah

I felt terrible for not being able to do anything to stop her. To stop her evil wickedness that would sooner destroy her than anyone else around her. Seeing some people turn their backs on her and believe that that was her true self was painful to watch, but watching herself give up to self-hatred and the fact that she doesn't deserve people's kindness made me feel powerless, because I know people like her in real life. and I wish it wasn't true, I wish this wasn't the reality but this si what a incorrect systeme can do to you, and as much as Kwon Soo Ah played a villain, i feel like if you simply just see her as one, you have failed to see the depth and the message this drama tried to deliver. People like Kwon Soo Ah exist, and we shouldn't spit and hate on them, but instead try to help them, which is also not just the other student's job, but also the teachers. Which leads me to the other characters I just quickly want to mention:

Teacher Yang and Coach Nam...they deserve all applause and love in the world. The world needs more teachers like these two. They were brilliant. Nuff said.

Las but not least, Ha Dong Jae, I think his character was pretty much the most unique one I've seen in a very long time. Serving as the best friend of our main heroine, you'd think he'd turn out to be that second main lead who gets friendzoned right? Well....I don't want to spoil but. he's not. He's that friend that is there for Yeon Doo as moral support, who stands by her side no matter what, who cares about her and wants to protect her, despite his "condition". I say condition because, well, at first I didn't understand it, but as the story unfolded it became more and more clear to me, and when it was fully revealed, I pretty much wanted to cry my eyes out. Basically, Ha Dong Jae can't handle close physical contact, it's pretty much a phobia for him and you'd be a cruel human being if you ever thought of hugging him or touching him, because his symptomes are very severe. I can't say enough about how much I felt like Ha Dong Jae was a very deep and real character to me. I don't know anyone like him in real life, but his character was so well portrayed that I almost felt like I knew him for real. He is such a mentally strong guy, that despite his condition that he struggles with, he wants to be there and help others, he sees the good in people, even people who try to hurt him, he doesn't hate them, he sees them as pitiful because he can see deep into their souls. And the fact that he really struggled against his condition even though it was hard....gosh. I just want to hug him but I'm afraid of him getting hurt. He's too precious ;_; N, I aplause for that man, I didn't know he could act so well. This role sure sky-rocked his career. I can't wait to see him in more dramas.

SPOILERS DOWN BELOW!! 
This post is so damn long already, but I'll just quickly mention a few moments/scenes/quotes from the drama that I simply adored/felt touched by/cried my eyes out over:

I already mentioned in a previous blogpost how much I shipped Ha Joon and Su Ah, because I felt, no hoped that they would be able to pull each other out of the darkness, to heal each other, and all that stuff, because they were in the same boat, but as the story progressed I slowly drifted towards the Su Ah x Dong Jae ship and woaaaaaah >_< that moment when Dong Jae saved Su Ah from the incoming car...oh god those feels. I started to cry, and I don't usually cry over those kind of scenes. I knew that Dong Jae would somehow be able to overcome his phobia but I had no idea it would be done in that kind one way, and it was BRILLIANT! SIMPLY AMAZING! It was definitely the best scene to portray him overcoming his fear, his caring side to save a friend -cough-future girlfriend cough- was enough to drive away any thoughts that braked him from being able to move forward. As a person who studied psychology I knew that the only way for him to overcome his fear was if he stopped thinking about it and instead reacted on instinct, and a sudden life-or-reath scene was the perfect choice for that + it sure was an emotional and awesome turning point for the two of them ;_;

Another scene I loved was the scene when Teacher Yang was expelled but still came, because the students begged him, to the cheerleading competition tournament and the students all pulled out those message-plates and apologized to Teacher Yang in front of everyone. It was such a cute moment. I died a bit inside. Teacher Yang was definitely a very sweet character, a good portrayal of what an adult should be like, in comparason to people like Ha Joon's dad and Su Ah's mom <_< (although I do appreciate that she realized her mistakes in the end). Also that moment when Yeon Doo told Teacher Yang in front of the principal that the school has taught her many things but also made her realize an important detail that she will carry with her for the rest of her life: she realized that some adults are worth trusting <- aka Teacher Yang. In a school where everyone is "every man for himself" to hear that be aid from a student, i can't even imagine how Teacher Yang must've felt. It's a huge acomplishment to see a student in that fucked up systeme grow up trusting others.

There are quite a lot of ships in this drama. You can pretty much ship everyone with everyone xD and I did have my share of moments when I shipped Yeon Do with Ha Joon but I honestly didn't see them as a couple. I know, it's odd, because most people really cried blood for this ship, but I always saw that Ha Joon, who had trust issues and never opened up to anyone but Kim Yeol grew close and opened up to Yeon Doo as a symbole of his character developement and trust in others and overcoming his dark past and self-hatred, rather than being like "I love you mplease marry me <3" I think Yeon Doo for him wasn't a woman he loved (he just thought it was love because it was the first time he felt that way for someone) but more a symbole of someone he wished to become and who was his mental pillar. Yeon Do didn't judge him, or force him to reveal her secrets to her, she sincerely cared about him and helped him grow as a person which later helped him gain the courage to step up to his dad and tell him that he can't treat him that way anymore. Whcih btw, was my favorite scene in the entire drama (and as you can see I have a lot xD) That moment when Ha Joon's dad stepped out of the car and tried to force Ha Joon itno returning back home and Ha Joon stopped his father's hand from hitting him. I stood up and cheered. I was waiting for that moment and I was so happy that it was portrayed in the most perfect way possible. Also, the short scene at the end that showed  Ha Joon's dad going tot he police office or something because he got charged with child abuse, booyaaah! I was super happy to see that because it's one thing for a korean drama to make a character dep up for hthemselves against abuse, but it's a whole different thing to actually ad in a scene where the abuser gets charged for child abuse, since you know....domestic violence is still kind of okay in South Korea, but that scene gave me hope that the systeme or view on that is slowly changing, otherwise they would've just brushed it off as "Oh good for you Ha Joon, you stood up for yourself, but child abuse is still okay. Keep going" so yeah. Thumbs up for that police office scene! Daddy is getting what he deserved! *_*

Also, as a final note, I, as many others was a bit worried with how the last few episodes would go, but it was done awesomely well. What would happen if Kim Yeol and Yeon Do's parents were to get married. We've seen that plottwist in other kdramas to be surprised, but what made this drama unique was how the "problem" was handled and I loved that it wasrealistic (I say that a lot) and not unecessary complicated out just for the heck of drama. In he end, Kim Yeol used his brilliant brain and came up with the best solution ever so in the end everyone got their happy ending :3
I can't really say i shipped Kim Yeol and Yeon Do from the start, but they definiely grew on me after a while, no actually after that one scene when Yeon Do went to visit Kim Yeol when he was doing his cleaning duty or whatever and when he sincerely told her that he does not regret getting inside the teachers room to get her the ring because he knows how much it meant to her and when she told him that she trusted him and loves him regardless of his grades. Once again, in a society where being the best is everything, and for a guy like Kim Yeol who has been brainwashed into thinking like that, it was huge words. I already developed my reasoning on this in the second blogpost I made about this drama, so I'll also link that at the very end if anyone's interested to check it out :3

Buuut no story is perfect, even though this was near perfection. One flaw I can give it, which is not tecnically a flaw but more something I felt I personally wanted to see. Was at the end when the last cheerleading competiton was over and Teacher Yang and Coach Nam hugged from happiness but then realized what they were doing and awkwardly stepped away from each other..I think instead of a hug, I would've wanted to see Teacher Yang kiss Coach Nam out of the blue, you know, in the head of the moment, only for them to awkwardly look away and perhaps see Coach Nam blush afterwards, that way their realtionship (come on, they obviously had feelings for each other at the end) would've been a bit more clear. A kiss between the two would've given this drama that extra perfection + at the end for me, but yeah, it was still 10/10. No complains.

END OF SPOILERS:   

Overall, this dram is a must-watch! It has a very deep plot with a wonderful message, reminds me a lot of School 2013. To give you a hint xP. It's pretty contoversial and in a good way, if you ask me because it talks about the problems and flaws of the school , no the entire South Korean society systeme flaws, that shouldn't be ignored. The characters are lovely, complex and very realistic. Actors did an phenomenal job. Yeah, I can't praise this drama enough. It received a 10/10 from me, and taught me a good message. Everyone should give this a try. I highly recommend it!
I really apologize that this post is so damn long. I had so much I wanted to say about this drama Dx I'll do my best and practice to write shorter reviews in the future. I hope you enjoyed nevertless! :)

http://omodramaland.blogspot.se/2015/11/omodramalands-cant-contain-my-fangirl.html (about my favorite ships, I'd like to also add Su Ah x Dong Jae to this list now :3)
http://omodramaland.blogspot.se/2015/11/omodramalands-cant-contain-my-feels.html (to read more about the Yeon Do x Kim Yeol scene I mentioned above)