Tropes: High School, coming-of-age, unrequited love, slice of life
A story about Heesu, your average typical high school kid, trying to survive school, friendships, unrequited love, first love and everything in between. Heesu in Class 2 is everything you would expect a warm blanket to feel like on a chilly day. The characters are lovable and Heesu is my favourite. He is cute, funny and just written with so much love. He’s a character in a manhwa yet his laughter and smiles are infectious. Given the lightness and fluffiness of the story, you really wouldn’t expect much complexity to the characters but they weren’t completely superficial or one-note either, they’re written with a subtle maturity that was pulled off so well by the author. You’re really journeying along with Heesu as he reflects on his years of unrequited love and friendship, as he discovers new exciting feelings and as he starts to accept changes in his life — as a reader, it’s an immersive experience. I think a lot of people can relate to that uncertain, nervous yet overwhelmingly exciting romantic feeling of first love and this manhwa captures that sensation so vividly. The other characters, including the side characters, have similar arcs as well where you are fully let in to their thoughts, feelings and experiences which makes this feel so authentic. The plot is very fluffy slice-of-life, so again nothing too complex, but the story of innocent first love in itself and all that comes with it is not one to be underestimated. And the soft art really complements everything so well. I think that Heesu in Class 2 is a testament of how seemingly simple stories and characters, when written with a perfect grasp of the human condition, can really become a masterpiece. Now my only criticism of the story and why it falls short of the top tier, is mainly because of season 2. I felt that it wasn’t as strong as the first, the pacing became abit draggy and it didn't live up to the initial specialness that it had. The story and characters started to become more generic and it couldn’t really recover back to the same level as season 1. But, its still an amazing manhwa in its own right.
