Monstar tells the story of a singer in a popular boy band who has to go to high school to clean up his image. He gets involved with an odd transfer student who is talented in music, and they become part of a band with several other students all dealing with difficult issues.
Monstar is a very fun and compelling drama with a refreshing focus on music. It beautifully weaves music into the narrative of the story, and the songs frequently reflect the emotions the characters are going through at the time.
The students all have difficult things they are dealing with, and their stories are all presented well which allowed me to emotionally connect with them. It’s also always fun to watch a group of students have to come together to achieve a common goal. And in this case, they have to form a musical group.
Yoon Seol Chan (Yong Jun Hyung) is our pop star from a popular boy group. He reluctantly ends up going to a regular high school, but soon finds himself involved with a unique group of students. He also becomes inexplicably drawn to the new transfer student and has a very difficult time reconciling his feelings for her.
Min Se Yi (Ha Yeon Soo) is our transfer student. She’s a bit of an odd girl, but her honestly and warm heart seems to draw people to her. When she draws the affections of Seol Chan, she is left confused and frustrated and also becomes part of a love triangle.
The third leg of our love triangle is Jung Sun Woo (Kang Ha Neul). He’s the popular class president and through a series of events, he finds himself involved with this ragtag group of students.
Park Kyu Dong (Kang Ei Shik) is the timid guy who deals with terrible bullying on a daily basis. His story is actually quite heartbreaking. The primary source of his troubles come from Cha Do Nam (Park Kyu Sun). To say these two have a difficult relationship would be an understatement.
We then have the outcast Kim Na Na (Da Hee). She’s quiet and intimidating, but there’s a lot going on underneath her roughness. And the last member of our group is Shim Eun Ha (Kim Min Young). She’s the positive and energetic one who really livens things up with her cheerful and passionate personality.
Seol Chan and Se Yi are certainly an interesting couple. They are the definition of lack of communication when dealing with their feelings. But I loved their interactions. They were both frustrating and fun as they dealt with falling in love for the first time.
There’s also a pretty strong rivalry between Seol Chan and Sun Woo. They have a history that has left them on less than good terms. And things only become more complicated when they both fall for Se Yi. But despite these things, they have to work together for the better of the group.
The drama definitely took some opportunities to have some fun. The students have active imaginations which worked for the audience’s benefit. I loved the little imagined scenarios that featured the students performing in fun and high quality settings. These were always extremely well done while also enhancing the emotions and situations they were dealing with at the time. And of course, the soundtrack itself is pretty great.
I do think the drama took to long reveal the back story of the characters that resulted in their present conflicts. It waited until the last few episodes to give answers to some important questions. It would have been nice to have had more time to deal with some of the issues throughout the drama rather than having a quick reveal and wrap up at the end.
The story also sort of meandered along at times in the second half of the drama. That may be more of a result of the longer episodes. The story definitely would have benefited from being a little tighter.
But luckily, the characters were all so engaging that it never took long before we would get back to their heartfelt stories and issues. And at its core, that is what this drama did best by bringing these students to life. Watching a group of completely different students have to come together for a common goal and work through their issues was very enjoyable.
Monstar was a great example of a well done high school drama. And it was enhanced by the use of music throughout. It created a heartfelt and moody atmosphere that I found very pleasant and refreshing. I would love to see more dramas incorporate music into the narrative, especially if they execute it as well as Monstar.
My Rating: 7.5/10
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