#suspensful

Greetings,

It’s time to review Nightmare High, a "suspenseful” Korean television show that’s currently available on Netflix. With only one season out and a hint of a possible second season in the works, Nightmare High is anything but “scary” as so one of the tags claims. It’s a show aim towards teens but even so, for something that’s aim at teenagers, it’s not even remotely scary. But what’s considered scary to someone may not be scary for everyone so... moving on.

The show is about class president, Ye-rim, and her photographer friend finding out what’s going on in their class after they notice a surprising number of empty seats. Their teacher has gotten into an accident so the school gains a new mysterious teacher who makes Ye-rims classmates dreams come true but comes at a cost. This is a classic “be careful with what you wish” type of show as we see students, who struggle with their daily life, go to the new teacher (whose also the guidance counselor) for help and after signing a contract, with blood, everything they ever wanted comes within a grasp.

Throughout the show, I wonder why no other students outside of the class or the other teachers do something when there’s fights and bullying going on. Maybe they don’t notice, maybe they have their hands full as it is, or maybe it’s just something that’s culturally different than the US. I don’t know. Heh. We all know if this was anything like America then someone would’ve brought a gun to school..... Sorry. Anyways, we don’t see the home life of these kids even though it would give these characters more development. For an example, a student is being bullied at school. Is she also mistreated at home? We don’t know. It would make sense if she stayed at home if she was being bullied or the reason she continued to go to school is that it’s better than being at home or her parents force her to go despite her protest. Another example is a girl being obsessed with the way she looks. She gains the power to alter her facial appearance to look prettier than everyone at her school. Why doesn’t her parents question her appearance and how she managed to get the makeup, the money for the makeup (since I’m assuming they give her an allowance) and how she managed to alter her features? After a while, the show becomes really predictable and you’re just watching it to finally see the main character face off the villain.

One thing I like about this “be careful with what you wish” type show is that the first couple characters turned into something they hated and only realize this when it’s too late. That and every time its time for the characters to disappear, the rest of the class forgets their existence. I didn’t enjoy the ending as much when it came down to Ye-rim vs the counselor and when time was turned back to the first episode, all of the characters were different but didn’t remember what happened throughout the series with the exception of the counselor. Which made no sense to me. The counselor showed clear signs of being a demon, if not the devil, but he came off as if he only wanted the students to learn from their mistakes through harsh methods. I’m also tired of the “main character running into the younger versions of themselves” trope because it’s been done to death. Yes, i know children represent purity and innocence and whatever, but the main character doesn’t have to have some child to help them. Sometimes they can just fail or succeed on their own.

Chapter 1,

In a time long before Pokemon obeyed the orders of humans... There was Ixeodel...

A utopia for Pokemon of all types and origins,life was good, just as Arceus intended. But peace was not long, for the first time in Ixeodel's history, there was conflict. A question was Posed to Ixeodel by an Alakazam by the name of Roy, he spoke of revolution from Arceus, " he created us to be potentially more powerful than even he is, but he has kept it a secret from us" he would call in the streets of the kingdom of iron, " and he intends to bring to us judgement if we are not prepared to fight him." His speeches were convincing enough that the temple of arceus was stormed, and the topic was made public to all the tribes. This created more conflict... Many agreed with Roy, " we have seen people more powerful than Arceus could even dream to be" they would say in anger. Some said Arceus was to be followed and Roy was nothing but a blasphemous worm, "can those pokemon create the land and the life on it?!" They would protest. And then there were those who did not know who to believe, choosing their gut instinct over any fact or opinion, " but what if Arceus doesn't care about any of this?" They would question. This conflict escalated heavily, from a squabble, to a conflict, to a battle, to a war. The war raged with countless deaths, and horrible battles. Arceus looked down at what he had done and was dismayed. In attempt to fix what he had done he created titans, legendary Pokemon to fix this, to his greater dismay, the legionaries also took sides.

Along with this new conflict, the types began to split into tribes. The Kingdom of Iron quickly rose to power, led by dictator Frisk. An Aggron who seeks power beyond anything else. He has murdered for his rule and will do it again if anyone dares defy him. he rules his land with an iron fist, and because of this, in battle his troops display a kind of merciless bloodcrazed hunger for death and power. This has caused trouble for likes of the Electric Tribe, the neighboring territory. Their king, an electivire by the name of Mordecai, denied Frisk of the electric's innovations and technology, their city was put into ruins and only a few cities have managed to rebuild, there is a tension between the two tribes that has not died down since the day of Frisk's actions. There are many more tales of destruction and hate that generated throughout the years... The war raged on for many years longer until the decade of peace... This is the tale... Of the final War of Ixeodel