This review may contain spoilers
A typical setup with an atypical plot and characters....
I accidentally stumbled upon this drama and I'm very glad that I did. This is my first Filipino drama so I did not have much expectations from it. As many viewers seem to mention that this is a Filipino version of Boys over flowers (BoF). The first half of the first episode I also felt like that because of the setup. A poor girl gets into an elite school where 4 rich guys basically rule it and she offends the leader landing her in trouble and making her the target of all the bullies of the school.But as the show went on I saw the major differences between the 2 shows. He's into her (HIH) establishes a very detailed family background, atleast for the main leads. The FL is the love child of a commoner and a rich heir. She doesn't end up at the aforementioned elite school through a scholarship but is enrolled by her father who finds her after years and takes her in. She doesn't go with him because she wants to know him or wants to live a comfortable life but to pay him back for helping with the medical bills of her grandma. The FL's major struggles involves countering the bullies and trying to fit in not only in school but also with her father's family.
The ML is established as a jerk at first which is later revealed to be a defense mechanism to counter his own family issues. He hurts others to take his mind off of the problems in his life like his comatose brother or ignorant mother. Both the leads are shown to be different at first but as the series progresses they find similarities in their lives which ultimately helps in their relationship and chemistry development.
As compared to BoF, HIH is a bit more realistic. The FLs family in BoF is poor just because, despite running a small business. In HIH the FL's grandma falls sick and the hospital bills pile up while the income declines resulting in their financial crisis. The ML in BoF stopped bullying the FL because he started liking her and went back to bullying her when she rejected him. In HIH the ML realized that he was wrong to bully people without knowing them or their circumstances and was helped by the FL in stopping bullying at their school. This part is the most significant development as it shows how HIH's ML is better compared to that of BoF for realizing, accepting and rectifying his mistakes. Instead of forcing the FL to be with him and stalking and obsessing over her like the ML from BoF, the ML of HIH slowly pursued the FL and took her on dates, helped and supported her and finally won her heart.
Now I know this may seem minor differences to some and some hardcore fans of BoF might argue saying how can a short web drama even compare to kdrama romcom classic let alone be better. But trust me and just watch this and you'll know that these minor differences is what makes this drama better in story, quality and performance. To use an analogy BoF is like a dish from a 5 star restaurant, expensive, flashy and tasteless whereas HIH is a dish from your favorite restaurant, hearty, tasty and soul satisfying. You gotta try it to experience it.
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The brave cry but never give up!
This is my 3rd Filipino Drama that i watched with joy. Plot is similar as like others bullying dramas Plot . But there have something different , something special that's the script. The dialogues and the actors and actresses shaped this drama in another level.The chemistry of the main leads is perfect! and the side pairs are super cute and cheerful.
If you want a good story that will keep you smiling from start to finish, be sure to try it!
To me ,This drama deserves more attentions. when I started watching this drama I got a bunch of butterflies on my stomach. And jiggling in every episodes when the songs He's into her-BGYO comes <3
And this dialogue touch my heart -
" The brave cry but never give up! "
Sorry if I write anything wrong on it.
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Cute, Cringe, Cinderella with a twist...
This drama starts of as a combination of Boys over Flowers and Cinderella and turns in to some kind of High school sports drama with a dash of murder mystery... Reminding me a bit of Clueless mixed with a K-drama that i can not remember at the moment (other than Bof). For those of you who are in it for the fluffy cliches this is definitely a fun to watch, easy to binge kind of drama that ill have you cringing, laughing, oohhing and ahhhing, and oh no you didn't.. .The female lead is sweet, smart, sophisticated and pretty sensible... if I where to just stick to adjectives starting with an S, but honestly she is bad ass cool and I love her. The male lead is very typical broken guy turned good and hits all the right spots for those of you who happen like that trope whether you are ashamed to admit it or not. The found families and friendships here are great but I do feel that I should have waited until the second season was released because I am aching to see how the story unfolds, it ends with a hint of a (predictable) cliffhanger.
So entertainment wise this is a 9 or even a 9.5 quality, message and other stuff a 7 so I settled for 8,5 stars. Again this is for those who like fluff and cliches If you hated The heirs or Cinderella and her 4 knights you will probably hate this too.
Best of luck!
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-I don't know why, but I like the bullying trope thing...so I liked that! And she wasn't a weak baby who let them do whatever they wanted, which I liked!
-There was some comedy
Things I didn't like:
-There was barely any character development at all!
-there were a lot of plot holes, and it didn't really have an ending, or I just didn't really like the way they ended it.
-It was kind of weird how they spoke two languages on and off, but that's not really that important!
So to end this review, watch it if you want, but I didn't really like it that much.
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I can't dislike this show..... even if I tried
Sigh! I binge watched this and absolutely loved it!! It made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside while I was cringing at the how cheesy it was! I absolutely dig the lead couple! OMG, they were so cute!!I liked many of the side characters. I was a little confused about where they left off things with the FL's family. But, seeing that there is a season 2, I hope the open ends get answered there!
As for the last episode... I saw it coming, almost from the first episode, but, that didn't take anything away from enjoying the show! I'd recommend this show! Even if you're not in the mood for it, watch it... you may just end up changing your mood! :D
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Mostly fluffy romance
I've wanted to watch this this for a while since I saw some people comparing it to "Boys Over Flowers" (aka "Hana Yori Dango"). In hindsight, I think it's kind of a disservice to the drama though to call it a "BOF rip-off" just because it has a similar premise. I won't get into the plot because there's already plenty of reviews of "He's Into Her" on here. I'll just list what I liked and disliked about the series.Likes
1) The premise. I will never get tired of seeing a spunky girl stand up to a clique of rich boys lol. If you also enjoy this premise, this will be a fun drama for you.
2) Friendship. This isn't an ensemble drama but I really liked the large cast of friends of the FL and ML.
3) Romance. The romance here is surprisingly strong for a teen show. Donny (playing Deib) and Belle (playing Max) have really good chemistry and I see why they're a new "loveteam" now. The side couples aren't really that strong though.
4) Theme strong. I really top-notch, boyband theme song. I love it.
Dislikes
1) Rivals. RJ and Kim are the love rivals for the FL and ML. They are mentioned semi-frequently before they finally appear, but their real appearance still feels too late in the game. They end up feeling like unnecessary obstacles.
2) Fighting. Around the mid-point of the drama, the FL and ML's fighting felt really annoying.
3) Dropped and unfinished storylines. A love triangle between Ysay, Migz, and Hunter is set up but dropped. The series ends with a lot of unfinished storylines, such as Deib's brother. This is annoying as I would have preferred the story to be self-contained with the season.
"He's Into Her" is a fun, fluffy romance. The characters are well-written for what they are. Their motivations make sense and can apply to the real-world. Though it feels somewhat like a Wattpad story, I'm happy that they went that way instead of into soap opera territory. Now time to watch the sequel. Crossing my fingers that they don't ruin it lol.
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A mix of a strong plot, characters and acting.
When I watched the trailer, all I could think of was this is another Boys Over Flowers and Meteor Garden with the Male lead being a member of a group (Alpha 3 instead of F4) and he ends up bullying the poor but brave female lead eventually falling for her. But it's not quite the same. And that's probably why I liked it.Although both shows do have their similarities, this male lead, Deib, does have his humane side which they reveal early on. That's why it was easier to believe he was not a bad guy. His first intro was more normal. There are definitely clashes between the pair leading up to the bullying that are again insights into the type of person the male lead is. He is not an angry spoilt brat even though he can be. But you find yourself understanding where he's coming from pretty quickly.
The female lead, Maxpein, doesn't just stand up for herself but also others. Her family situation is dire but they are not over the top characters desperate to push her onto a rich guy like in F4:Thailand or BOF. Her family inspires her to show vulnerability but keep going despite hardships. "The brave cry but don't give up" is her motto during her weakest moments. At no point is she forced to overwork herself. Though I do wonder when she and the other students studied.
It's easy to see why the leads can connect and relate to each other. Even though the bullying is pretty nasty, it felt less intense except at one point when it gets serious and this is where the story takes a turn. Luckily it does not involve sexual harassment of any sort.
For 10 episodes and 45 min episodes, the story is conveyed well and there are many different aspects to the story that you don't see coming. Season 1 ends on a cliff hanger but even as a standalone season, it does well to take you on an emotional and fairly relatable journey. This is the first Filipino drama that I have watched and I am quite impressed by it. As far as the support cast is concerned, I quite liked Maxpien's father, Elle, and the headmaster did a wonderful job portraying their characters.
The show is not heavy on the romance which is nice but may not be everyone's cup of tea. I recommend giving this a go for the story and the acting/cast.
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Not a fan of Filipino dramas but.....
I don't like Filipino dramas, but this one peaked my interest because I came across the theme song in an Instagram video and I couldn't get it out of my head. Now I'm glad I followed the song. This series was like a combination of Mean Girls, Boys Over Flowers and Another Cinderella Story. Basically a melting pot of all the teen, rom coms you can think of. And it was GOOD. Max was the character that I wanted for the BOF drama. I really liked her. She was a tough cookie that fought back. The chemistry between her and Deib was great. The actors really went all out for this one, although the one that played Lorde was SO annoying. The story was great even though it used every cliches and tropes in the book. The side characters and the couples were very likable too. Throw in your bitchy villains, a sprinkle of great comedy and some heartwarming moments and you got yourself a very well played out teenaged rom com. I liked this one. I would recommend for a lazy weekend binge.Was this review helpful to you?
Some cute parts but very cringe overall
I kind of LOL at this being the first Philippines drama I ended up watching because I'm sure it isn't representative.There are some cute moments and I do enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope — when it's bullying it's always questionable but I definitely don't think this is as bad as Boys Over Flowers / Meteor Garden, though it does have many of the same cliches.
I'm not sure if having more episodes would have helped some issues I had, but I think it would have helped character relationship development for sure; the main leads did have some development but I would have loved more scenes of those. The side relationships also could have used a lot more development; they felt random and out-of-the-blue and because we had no context I just felt like it was taking up time and adding weird dialogue where the characters would cycle through discussing each ship in conversations .
Speaking of which...the dialogue and writing just were really awkward and cringe most of the time. I felt like even regular teenagers wouldn't talk that way — it was like watching a chick flick parody. Though I do admit there were some genuinely funny moments, scenes where the drama didn't take itself too seriously either.
The acting was also not great sometimes — I feel like it was very clear who was a seasoned actor and who wasn't, and many of the side characters were robotic and awkward.
Other than that, there are some subplots that are cliche but still sort of fun to watch, but the writing style and acting felt like something I'd write and act out in middle school and it took me out of the show a lot.
Good OST though.
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Overhyped¿
It's overhyped because the title was adapted from a marvelous wattpad story and also because the leading man is Donny Pangilinan, a rising star. However, the series has a typical bully and victim plot. It's indeed cliche but I think it is the first time for a Philippine broadcasting network to film this kind of plot so it was highly anticipated.Overall, it was great to watch and was made well.The chemistry was fine, as well as the opening theme - I did not like it at first but I enjoyed it eventually.
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The witty lines thrown in was reason enough to watch.
Some really witty lines from time to time. Plot was nothing new. School setting, lots of teen angst, friendship, family and of course young love.Although the plot was typical, it was realistic enough and relatable specially to the younger generation. ML was your typical jock; cool, cute and rich. He already has everything, but he's still desperate for his mother's approval and love. FL was an ordinary girl, loved by her family and friends. She's not weak, giving up is not in her vocabulary. Specially when she had to leave her comfort zone and go live with her father's family.
This is not a heavy drama, nothing profound to see. Surrounded with young artists, this show reminds us the joy of youth and made watching this really enjoyable.
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