Tong: Memories (2016)

This Korean action packed, school life, bromance drama is as good as it gets. These teens have dissimilar personalities, come from different backgrounds and yet, their fighting prowess creates a bond so strong, it topples the current high school kings from their thrones.

Lee Jeong Woo – the apathetic loner, seems to have, with little to no effort, gathered the best wolves and become the leader of the pack. Together, these guys are unstoppable; whether outclassed or outnumbered, they are a force to be reckoned with. You mess with one, you must mess with them all.

Great drama, but much too short, in my opinion. There are only 12 episodes that are run about 15 minutes each, but I guarantee you will be totally absorbed the entire 15 minutes. Realistic fight scenes, no special effects, which makes it just that much more hardcore and exciting. Great character development and plenty of laughs and attitude. This drama is symbolic ‘High School Cliques’.

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Now THIS is what I call a Korean action drama!!!

As others stated this is a 12 series mini short. Some episodes are just 13 minutes while some were a little over 7-9 minutes. Too short for my taste but I enjoyed every episode.

The one kid who became known to be the best fighter on the streets barely fought. I don't know if his martial arts skills aren't as strong as the others but the one time he did fight he laid out the leader which was hilarious and bad to the bone altogether.
The one time he did get hit was by his middle school's best friend. That guy was a total douche. His pride was so in the way that he literally got beat in every scene he fought. He did have some mad fighting skills but it went for nought a lot. Even his posse could fight better and none of them got beat after they were beat by the main two male characters.

Some of the 'bad guys' looked a little too old to be in high school too.

As one commenter mentioned females showing up and doing a stare down, I just knew they were going to have some fight scenes but no. It cut away to something else,

I whooped and clapped when I saw Ma Dong Seok doing his infamous slapping in one of the episodes. He's grown on me since Bad Guys.

I was upset about the ending. Korea loves to toy with martial arts fans by making episodes seem like they're going to continue only to not have any more shows.

Forgive the low rating for rewatch values. I haven't rewatched any Korean action dramas that I've already watched. Even though this is too short and wasn't continued there's no need to rewatch especially since I know how it ends.

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Tong: Memories I thought was a pretty good show. I was disappointed in how short each episode was.

I guess I will never be satisfied. Some shows are too long and the ones I enjoy seem to be too short.

Characters:
I wish there was more of a development for the characters. Jeong Woo...I remembered him from Oh My Ghostess. His friend Du Hyeon was very moody. He obviously liked Yoon Joo but instead of saying something he just sulks and gives Jeong Woo sad looks. It was so obvious. I liked all of the cast members. I almost split my side open with laughter when Ma Dong Seok showed up and slapped the heck out of his brother at the precinct.

Some of this kids had no business being in school. They looked like they should be married with children. Why is it that they have a full fledge fight club and teachers seem to be unware of this. I understand that Jeong Woo was the best fighter out of all of them but why was he the only one out of the entire cast good or bad that did no one was actually able to hit. The only time he was hit was when Du Hyeon pushed and kicked him and that was because he allowed it. Where did he learn how to fight? He must have been bullied to have to develop those types of skills.

I thought Yoon Joo was a fighter as well. I thought they would have shown a fight between the opposing girls but all they did was face off. Next scene and no one had a mark on them. Not even a flashback to show what happened. I was disappointed.

I love action films and this did not disappoint. Those hits looked really painful. I would have passed out from just the thought of a punch and those kids taking it like it was nothing.

I wish it was longer. I hope there is a second part because I want to see what happens when they all go to Seoul.

Re-watch....I don't think it's necessary...just want a continuation.

Music...I hardly ever pay attention to music no matter how repetitive so I can't really say anything about that.

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Great Fight Scenes

I read the manga after watching this show. The fight scenes were very realistic and so were the FX (bruises and knuckle damage, blood, etc.). The acting was awesome and believable. I've rewatched the fight scenes a few times! Good story, great production, appropriate music, well done all around.

There was a touch of female interaction, which could've been left out or should've had a little more. I hated the ending, because it felt like they were going to give us more seasons and yet we got nothing. For these two reasons it only gets an 8/10.

If you like fight scenes it's worth the rewatch!

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The last remnants of the school genre

This drama doesn't compare, but it carries some faint hints from Blue Spring (2001). There's a desperate need for more raw and scuffed school themed dramas rather than the over-saturated soft boys trying to act tough kind of ones, even the highest rated school themed ones fall under the latter. The school genre in Korean drama is practically dead and had been so for the longest time, with the excessive use of bullying, hierarchy play, school pressure and fluffy kids' romance. Extracurricular (2020) is probably the only exception from the recent 10 years, along with this drama. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem they're planning a sequel for this one after a decade already passed.

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I selected a rewatch value of 1 as I do not like to watch any series again if I have watched it as I already know what's going to happen.

Tong: Memories is a 12 episode series of 15 min. about a group of friends involved in street fighting. The series is outstanding when it comes to their fighting scenes as they are very realistic and pretty much little to no special effects in it. The acting of the actors was up to standard and the music scenes fitted, unfortunately it lacks a bit of a story in it as to me it is very basic.

So if you have spare time or just want to watch it during a short ride in a bus/train or whatever, I would recommend you to watch it.

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