School

School stories here cover both halves of student life: high school, with uniforms, classrooms, clubs and exam halls, and university or college, where the characters are adults living away from home for the first time. Either way, the school has to shape the story, not just supply a building.

In the high school titles the romance is about first crushes, courage and working out who you are, set against friendships, rivalries, festivals and exam pressure. On campus the rules loosen: seniors and juniors, rival faculties, roommates, dorms, part time jobs and group projects push people together, and graduation is always on the horizon.

On the high school side you will find Thai titles like 17th Spring, Only Boo!, GELBOYS, LOVEx3, Match Point, WEIRDO-101, When Oranges Fall and the GL story 23.5, the Japanese series Hold on, Harutora-kun, Ao to Midori and Your Summer, My Storm, Vietnam’s My Goofy Deskmate and Stupid Genius, HIStory3: Make Our Days Count and We Best Love from Taiwan, and the Korean GL drama Friendly Rivalry. The campus side holds Thai classics like SOTUS, Love by Chance, Dark Blue Kiss, Theory of Love, the 2gether series, We Are, Mr. Fanboy and the Fourever You series, Korea’s Love Class and Blossom Campus, Filipino favourites Hello Stranger, Like in the Movies and Oh, Mando!, Follow My Sunshine from Vietnam, and the Japanese series It’s Strictly Business and Your Sky: Hare Nochi Koi.

My tip: start with Stupid Genius for a quick high school comedy, then SOTUS for classic campus drama.