Phantom School immediately caught my attention because I wanted to watch an Asian drama (and it sounded like something right up my alley), but I wasn’t keen to invest as much time as I would in a drama. I’m also a sucker for school-based settings, especially one with fantasy elements, so this sounded right up my alley.
The web drama is only eight episodes long with approximately 25-30 minutes each, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for a quick watch. I started this shortly after it aired on Viki and followed along each week as the episodes released because of the short length.
The opening scenes of Phantom School immediately give off a bit of a horror vibe with some fantasy elements in a contemporary setting, with phantom beads being stolen from the magic world and released in a school, resulting in different malicious phantoms influencing students. Each phantom is based on different sins and emotions, and there are Phantom Hunters who take on the responsibility of fighting them.
One of them is Kang Yuna (NC.A), a trainee sent by Master Hunter Glow to locate the beads so a Master Hunter can retrieve them. Rather than doing as she’s told, she steals Glow’s Soulance (a ring used by Phantom Hunters to seal the phantoms) instead and goes undercover as a student in the school the phantoms are expected to appear at.
If this were a book, I’d actually pick it up in a heartbeat, or at least put it on my TBR list to read soon. And given that this is a web drama, there are definitely different expectations compared to a regular drama. But while the concept was great, the execution not so much, even if a second season happens. So far, no signs of that happening.
Phantom School is predictable and simple, but it also quickly bores because most of the episodes are essentially the same thing with little progression. As harsh as this will sound, if it were a drama, I probably would’ve stopped after watching the second episode because I wouldn’t want to watch 30+ hour long episodes of the same thing happening. I actually did want to give up on this after the fourth episode, but by that point, I wanted to finish it for the sake of closure. (I also wouldn’t hate myself either over the length.)
It is, however, written for a younger audience, though, and I definitely am not the target. The predictability and simplicity reminds me of quite a few shows (Code Lyoko, for instance) that I enjoyed a lot when I was younger that I likely wouldn’t like as an adult, and Phantom School captures the fun and lightness of those shows decently.
There are a lot of plot holes and world-building issues – I think I left with more questions than I got answers. Let me run down just a couple of things that bugged me without giving spoilers:
- Phantom Hunters beyond the very core of what they do: hunting down and fighting phantoms before they cause too much of a ruckus. Heck, we don’t even know anything about being trainees, either.
- The demon world and magic world: they’re mentioned, but we also know nothing.
Like I mentioned, I know this is a web drama, so my expectations are different, but we have two-hour movies that pack an entire story and amazing world-building even if there’s a continuation. While Phantom School does have a storyline, it feels vastly incomplete, like it was cobbled together and thrown to the wolves of the universe. You could even say it felt like we should know the world already, even though we don’t. It’s unfortunate considering there’re heaps of potential with this.
The acting is okay; it’s not anything stellar, but it’s not the worst. Most of them seem to be rookie actors from a quick glance through MyDramaList, and I have seen none of their previous works if any, so the jury is still out there. (I will say there are rookie actors who do nail their roles better, though, and we’ll leave it at that.)
There are definitely cringe-worthy and secondhand embarrassments, but I think this comes down to the way the characters are written (not so good) rather than the actors’ portrayals of them. They’re so surface level I just wanted to cry because it felt like they got slapped with the shortest end of the stick. I loved their friendship dynamic a lot, though, and I enjoyed following Yuna and her newfound friends as they worked together to track down the phantoms. View Spoiler »
With that said, though, there are some logistics that go hand-in-hand with the plot and world-building that don’t go together well or make little sense, but going into the nitty-gritty would give off all the spoilers. It brings us back to the drama feeling more on the incomplete side rather than there is a satisfying circle of completion with the promise of more in store; there’s a balance to be struck, and this didn’t exactly balance very well.
Phantom School was overall mediocre bordering on disappointing, but it was easy and quick, and it was a good, fun break from what I usually watch. Assuming there’s a second season in the works that hasn’t been confirmed or announced, it’s a somewhat solid first season that leaves you with a lot of questions yet also interested in more if you make it to the end. But if it’s just the eight episodes, it’s definitely not worth taking the time to watch, even if it’s quick, because it’s hard to say that I would even watch a second season.
Sophia started blogging in February 2012 for the hell of it and is surprisingly still around. She has a GIF for nearly everything, probably listens to too much K-Pop and is generally in an existential crisis of sorts (she's trying her best). More of her bookish reviews and K-Pop Roundups can be found at The Arts STL.
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