History Series / ItaewonClass

* PowerWalk: Happens several times in episode 6 with Jang Daehee and his entourage of Soo-ah, Jang Geunwon, and his other underlings, emphasizing Jang Daehee's power and arrogance. The first time, there's a wide shot of the group striding confidently through the lobby of the office building which is suddenly interrupted by an underling rushing in to bring news. The second time, the group walks brazenly in slow-mo into [[spoiler: Dan Bam to confront Saeroyi.]]

In 2022, a Japanese adaptation known as ''Series/RoppongiClass'' aired.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Geunsoo likes Yiseo, who likes Saeroyi, who likes Soo-ah, who is the MasterOfTheMixedMessage. [[spoiler:Until much, much later, Saeroyi starts to like Yiseo back...]]

* CharacterShilling: Yiseo is introduced with a voice-over by Geunsoo that gushes about how smart, athletic, popular, and savvy she is.

* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds: [[spoiler:In the finale, Soo-ah is immediately attracted to the chef applicant she's interviewing for her new restaurant.]]

* DeadAllAlong: The fate of [[spoiler:Kim Toni's father.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: Soo-ah and Yiseo both call out Geunsoo for [[spoiler:outing Hyunyi as transgender to the media just to get an advantage against the competition.]]
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: After the time skip, Soo-ah goes from having short-cut hair to very long hair that makes her look less cute and more mature and ruthless. Jang Geunwon goes from having yellow DelinquentHair to a subdued, natural haircut, showing his newfound seriousness and focus on business. Saeroyi keeps the same hair style throughout the series, symbolic of his determination and commitment to his principles despite all the challenges he's faced.

Park Saeroyi (Creator/ParkSeojoon) defends a classmate from a bully -- fully aware said bully is the son of the president of the major food conglomerate Jangga, which employs his father. A series of events leads him to not only be expelled, but also lose his father and end up in jail. He then builds a several-years-spanning plan to get {{Revenge}} on the people responsible: the president of Jangga Jang Daehee, and his son, Jang Geunwon. This revenge plan involves Saeroyi beating the president at his own game by creating his own bar-restaurant, [=DanBam=].

* AccidentalMurder: Subverted. In episode 11 the old lady who is the neighborhood loan shark gets in an altercation with a local alcoholic father who she disapproves of. He hits her back and knocks her down a hill, and he reacts as if she was dead. But she survives, though the resulting hospital scene reads like a DeathbedConfession.

* BluffTheEavesdropper: In episode 10 Soo-ah recommends that Dae-hee abandon his son Geun-won, and that if he doesn't, Min-jung will probably be able to oust him and take over the company. Dae-hee says he'll never abandon his son. Dae-hee's secretary, who is spying for Min-jung, overhears this and reports back to Min-jung, and with this knowledge Min-jung launches her coup attempt. However, Dae-hee ''does'' throwh his son to the wolves at the press conference that follows, defeating Min-jung and securing his own position as CEO. He later reveals that he knew the secretary was a spy all along, knew she was listening, and deliberately misled her in order to trick Min-jung into making her move prematurely.

** Soo-ah and Yiseo. Both sympathize with Saeroyi while believing that sacrifices are often necessary to be successful, but go about it on different ways. While she does have morals, Soo-ah is very unclear (and sometimes passive-aggressive) when it comes to stating what she wants, is ''very'' passive to the point of falling into BystanderSyndrome, and follows Daehee's orders even if she personally disagrees and/or those orders hurt Saeroyi. Yiseo, meanwhile, is brutally honest and has been diagnosed as 70% likely to have sociopathy, though she does come to care about (certain) people -- she is also determined to follow her own path, and actively decides to join and help Saeroyi because she both likes him and sees potential in Danbam.

* HowsYourBritishAccent: A sub-plot involves the Danbam gang hiring Toni as a part-timer because, since he's a black man, they just assume he speaks English. It turns out that he doesn't, as he's from Guinea and actually speaks French and Korean. They tell him he'd better learn English lest Yi-seo fire him. The payoff gag in the finale reveals that Toni is now speaking fluent, unaccented English. Actor Chris Lyon is an American and a native English speaker.

** The similarities between Geunsoo and Geunwon's names hints at the fact that [[spoiler: they're actually half-brothers; Korean siblings in a family typically share the first syllables of their given name.]]

* MonochromeCasting: Averted -- the Guinean-Korean Toni is part of the main ensemble, with his status as mixed being a point of conflict, as his Korean-ness is not recognized by a lot of people due to his race. The show also makes a point of showing Itaewon as a place of tourism, with clearly non-Korean people frequenting the place.

* NotSoStoic: Despite the tragedy, obstacles and misfortune thrown his way, Saeroyi manages to brush it off and always seek for a way to move forward due to his determination, but on rare occasions the mask breaks. [[spoiler:Near the end of the series, he's finally able to admit to his vision of his father that he's just ''tired'' of being driven by ThePowerOfHate, and wakes up openly weeping.]]

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Saeroyi sees himself as this towards Jang Daehee, going as far to ensure that the one who makes Daehee leave his position as president is Saeroyi and no one ([[spoiler:and nothing]]) else.

** The show features a similar effect to show Yiseo's livestreams: the camera shows viewer comments flitting through the stream superimposed on the main picture, which shows whatever Yiseo is filming.
* PowerHair: Ms. Kang, the second-in-command at Jangga foods, is one of the top candidates to take over after Jang Daehee takes over. She's a middle-aged woman with a very short haircut with dramatic, longer bangs, a hairstyle that highlights her power and business acumen.

* SeniorYearStruggles: The show begins with the main characters in their last year of high school, which sets up the conflict for the rest of the show. In the first episode, Soo-ah and Saeroyi take their college entrance exams, but Saeroyi's police academy dreams are dashed after he is expelled from school for getting in a fight with the son of the powerful Jang Daehee. Meanwhile, Soo-ah gets into her college of choice and is offered a scholarship by Jang Daehee (who is now Saeroyi's ArchEnemy), setting up her conflicting loyalties between the two for the rest of the show. The show focuses on Saeroyi's attempts to build a food business, both as a revenge plot against Jang Daehee as well as because his job options are limited because he didn't graduate from high school.

Park Saeroyi (Creator/ParkSeojoon) defends a classmate from a bully - fully aware said bully is the son of the president of the major food conglomerate Jangga, which employs his father. A series of events leads him to not only be expelled, but also lose his father and end up in jail. He then builds a several-years-spanning plan to get {{Revenge}} on the people responsible: the president of Jangga Jang Daehee, and his son, Jang Geunwon. This revenge plan involves Saeroyi beating the president at his own game by creating his own bar-restaurant, [=DanBam=].

As [=DanBam=] and his team grow - which includes fellow ex-convict Seungkwon, the stand-offish Hyunyi, and the cold and seemingly un-empathetic social media star Yiseo -, Saeyori faces a challenge: will Saeroyi succeed in the world of business by remaining loyal to [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight the same principles that got him expelled in the first place]]?

** Saeroyi is very direct and blunt, though always well-meaning - which corresponds to his strong convictions.

* AFatherToHisMen: One of the main traits that set Saeroyi apart is that people and relationships are not a means or an obstacle to his goal, but his main motivation [[spoiler:(and later, IC's motto)]]- his goal (aside from revenge) is being able to protect his people. This puts him at odds with Yiseo, who doesn't hesitate in having someone fired if it benefits Danbam. [[spoiler:This includes not kicking Hyunyi out as recommended by Yiseo (on the grounds of Hyunyi not being a good cook, as well as possibly "making people uncomfortable" due to being trans), instead betting on her learning to cook, and vandalizing the entrance of a disco after finding out they didn't allow entrance to Toni because of his race.]]

** Both Saeroyi and Jang Daehee built a business out of nothing (with Saeroyi even studying and memorizing the latter's autobiography to do so) after major family losses, with protecting their people as a motivation. The main difference is 1. that Jang Daehee (who's more conservative) believes in a strictly vertical hierarchy, thinking of people under his orders as "dogs", while Saeroyi (far more unconventional) treats his colleagues in a far more horizontal, friendly manner. 2. Daehee is TheUnfettered: he's willing to backstab people [[spoiler:(as we learn later, even his own family)]] if it means protecting the empire he built, believing that the strongest always prey on the weak; meanwhile, Saeroyi will go out of his way to keep his people with him even if it comes with costs for Danbam, with trust being one of his main values. They also have a major similarity that Geunsoo notes: they both are determined to achieve their goals even if it means hurting people's feelings - the difference being that Saeroyi still puts people's wellbeing in consideration, while Daehee is all too happy to throw people under the bus for the good of his empire.
** Saeroyi and Soo-ah. Saeroyi is blunt but never malicious, while Soo-ah is a MasterOfTheMixedMessage and can be quite hurtful with her words. Saeroyi doesn't care about reputation, but about doing what's right, staying firm to his principles and goals throughout the series, while Soo-ah suffers a major case of passiveness, following the orders of Jang Daehee as his right hand even if it hurts Saeroyi. This goes down to their appearances - while Soo-ah changes wardrobes and haircuts several times between time-skips, Saeroyi never does.
** Saeroyi and Yiseo. HugeGuyTinyGirl aside, his straightforward ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight mentality contrasts with Yiseo's logical thinking and alleged LackOfEmpathy. He's also out of touch with things like social and marketing trends while Yiseo is a social media celebrity. They both have similarities, though, in that they're both brutally honest and don't hold personal reputation in nearly as high regard as the people around them - except Yiseo is ''far'' more willing to hurt people if it means improving business, especially before CharacterDevelopment kicks in.
** Soo-ah and Yiseo. Both sympathize with Saeroyi while believing that sacrifices are often necessary to be successful, but go about it on different ways. While she does have morals, Soo-ah is very unclear (and sometimes passive-aggressive) when it comes to stating what she wants, is ''very'' passive to the point of falling into BystanderSyndrome, and follows Daehee's orders even if she personally disagrees and/or those orders hurt Saeroyi. Yiseo, meanwhile, is brutally honest and has been diagnosed as 70% likely to have sociopathy, though she does come to care about (certain) people - she is also determined to follow her own path, and actively decides to join and help Saeroyi because she both likes him and sees potential in Danbam.

* MonochromeCasting: Averted - the Guinean-Korean Toni is part of the main ensemble, with his status as mixed being a point of conflict, as his Korean-ness is not recognized by a lot of people due to his race. The show also makes a point of showing Itaewon as a place of tourism, with clearly non-Korean people frequenting the place.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Sometimes mixed with ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules. Saeroyi will put protecting his people and doing the right thing over money or his personal reputation - though what he perceives as doing the right thing and protecting his people do sometimes conflict, which causes him some trouble.

Park Saeroyi (Creator/ParkSeojoon) defends a classmate from a bully - fully aware said bully is the son of the president of the major food conglomerate Jangga, which employs his father. A series of events leads him to not only be expelled, but also lose his father and end up in jail. He then builds a several-years-spanning plan to get revenge on the people responsible: the president of Jangga Jang Daehee, and his son, Jang Geunwon. This revenge plan involves Saeroyi beating the president at his own game by creating his own bar-restaurant, [=DanBam=].

* TransTribulations: Hyunyi is a pre-transition trans woman. Some conflict arises after the other staff at Danbam find out, [[spoiler: but it's revealed Saeroyi already knew she was trans and supported her since the time they worked together at a factory, and the staff becomes supportive as well as she transitions. This comes to a head when she becomes a popular contestant in a food competition show (where Jangga is also competing) and Geunsoo outs her in hopes to give Jangga an advantage, but she wins despite her popularity taking a hit. By the end of the series, she has retained one of the highest positions in IC, and is in a MaybeEverAfter situation with Seungkwon.]]
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: A variation occurs when Seungkwon, Geunsoo and Yiseo go to a disco. Seungkwon tries to (''awkwardly'') seduce a beautiful woman dancing, only for her to turn around and reveal she's his colleague, Hyunyi. This is how we learn she's not a guy as they previously thought, but a pre-transition trans woman.

* {{Transgender}}: Hyunyi is a pre-transition trans woman. Some conflict arises after the other staff at Danbam find out, [[spoiler: but it's revealed Saeroyi already knew she was trans and supported her since the time they worked together at a factory, and the staff becomes supportive as well as she transitions. This comes to a head when she becomes a popular contestant in a food competition show (where Jangga is also competing) and Geunsoo outs her in hopes to give Jangga an advantage, but she wins despite her popularity taking a hit. By the end of the series, she has retained one of the highest positions in IC, and is in a MaybeEverAfter situation with Seungkwon.]]

Park Saeroyi (Park Seojoon) defends a classmate from a bully - fully aware said bully is the son of the president of the major food conglomerate Jangga, which employs his father. A series of events leads him to not only be expelled, but also lose his father and end up in jail. He then builds a several-years-spanning plan to get revenge on the people responsible: the president of Jangga Jang Daehee, and his son, Jang Geunwon. This revenge plan involves Saeroyi beating the president at his own game by creating his own bar-restaurant, [=DanBam=].

* AdventuresInComaland: Saeroyi sees and talks to the spirit of his father while in a coma in episode 15, after he was struck by a car.

* BluffTheEavesdropper: In episode 11 Soo-ah recommends that Dae-hee abandon his son Geun-won, and that if he doesn't, Min-jung will probably be able to oust him and take over the company. Dae-hee says he'll never abandon his son. Dae-hee's secretary, who is spying for Min-jung, overhears this and reports back to Min-jung, and with this knowledge Min-jung launches her coup attempt. However, Dae-hee ''does'' throwh his son to the wolves at the press conference that follows, defeating Min-jung and securing his own position as CEO. He later reveals that he knew the secretary was a spy all along, knew she was listening, and deliberately misled her in order to trick Min-jung into making her move prematurely.

* KissOfDeath: The symbolic version. In Episode 11 Dae-hee, who has always been horribly abusive towards his son Geun-won, gives his son a hug, and admits that he's never given Geun-won any token of affection before. He then goes directly to the press conference where he throws Geun-won under the bus, admitting that his son was guilty of the hit-and-run killing of Mr. Park, and turning over incriminating evidence to the police.

* DelinquentHair: As a teenager, Jang Geunwon has bleached blond hair, showing he doesn't play by the rules, consistent with his bullying playboy lifestyle. After the time skip, he ditches the hair dye for a conservative haircut, signifying his new commitment to business.

* HowsYourForeignAccent: A sub-plot involves the Danbam gang hiring Toni as a part-timer because, since he's a black man, they just assume he speaks English. It turns out that he doesn't, as he's from Guinea and actually speaks French and Korean. They tell him he'd better learn English lest Yi-seo fire him. The payoff gag in the finale reveals that Toni is now speaking fluent, unaccented English. Actor Chris Lyon is an American and a native English speaker.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Also a modus operandi for Geunwon post TimeSkip, though it doesn't work as well.

* EskimosArentReal: Several characters don't believe Toni (who's half-black) when he says he's Korean. This leads to Yiseo hiring Toni based purely on the assumption that he can speak English and thus attend tourists [[spoiler:(he can't)]], and Toni being rejected from a disco because they only attend Korean people.

** Both Saeroyi and Jang Daehee built a business out of nothing (with Saeroyi even studying and memorizing the latter's autobiography to do so) after major family losses, with a motivation of protecting their people. The main difference is 1. that Jang Daehee (who's more conservative) believes in a strictly vertical hierarchy, thinking of people under his orders as "dogs", while Saeroyi treats his colleagues in a far more horizontal, friendly manner. 2. Daehee is TheUnfettered: he's willing to backstab people [[spoiler:(as we learn later, even his own family)]] if it means protecting the empire he built, believing that the strongest always prey on the weak; meanwhile, Saeroyi will go out of his way to keep his people with him even if it comes with costs for Danbam, with trust being one of his main values. They both have a major similarity that Geunsoo notes: they both are determined to achieve their goals, even if it means hurting people's feelings - the difference being that Saeroyi still puts people's wellbeing in consideration, while Daehee is all too happy to throw people under the bus for the good of his empire.
** Saeroyi and Soo-ah. Saeroyi is blunt but never malicious, while Soo-ah is a MasterOfTheMixedMessage and can be quite hurtful with her words. Saeroyi doesn't care about reputation, but about doing what's right, staying firm to his principles and goals throughout the series, while Soo-ah suffers a major case of passiveness, following the orders of Jang Daehee as his right hand if it hurts Saeroyi. This goes down to their appearances - while Soo-ah changes wardrobes and haircuts several times between time-skips, Saeroyi never does.
** Saeroyi and Yiseo. HugeGuyTinyGirl aside, his straightforward ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight mentality contrasts with Yiseo's logical thinking and alleged LackOfEmpathy. He's also out of touch with things like social and marketing trends while Yiseo is a social media celebrity. They both have similarities, though, in that they're both brutally honest and don't hold personal reputation in nearly as high regard as the people around them - except Yiseo is ''far'' more willing to hurt people if it means improving business, especially before CharacterDevelopment.
** Soo-ah and Yiseo. Both sympathize with Saeroyi while believing that sacrifices are often necessary to be successful, but go about it on different ways. While she does have morals, Soo-ah is very unclear (and sometimes passive-aggressive) when it comes to stating what she wants, is ''very'' passive to the point of falling into BystanderSyndrome, and follows Daehee's orders even if she personally disagrees and/or those orders hurt Saeroyi. Yiseo, meanwhile, is brutally honest and has been diagnosed as 70% likely to have sociopathy, though she does come to care about (certain) people - she is also determined to follow her own path, and actively joins and helps Saeroyi because she both likes him and sees potential in Danbam.

* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Soo-ah keeps vaguely rejecting-but-not-really Saeroyi's feelings, often saying he makes her hate him but also spending a lot of time with him and passively watching him realize his plans. This is in part because she works for Jangga, and because [[spoiler:she's never dared to really go for anything she wants.]]

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:After not appearing for several episodes, the last episode shows that Toni ''did'' do his homework and has become fluent in English, displaying perfect pronunciation.]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: [[spoiler:Jang Geunwon is shown to be this, trying and failing to make his father proud. Even after his father abandons him, Geunwon still understands it's for the good of the company, but becomes completely broken.]]

* CharacterShilling: Yiseo is introduced with a voice-over by Geunsoo that gushes about how smart, athletic, and savvy she is.

* NerdGlasses: Hojin, a shy, bullied teen who grows up to be a math and finance whiz who attends Korea's top university, is the only major character with glasses. He starts off with thick, heavy frames, but graduates to a more stylish pair once he gains professional success.

* PowerWalk: Happens several times in episode 6 with Jang Daehee and his entourage of Soo-ah, Jang Geunwon, and his other underlings, emphasizing Jang Daehee's power and arrogance.. The first time, there's a wide shot of the group striding confidently through the lobby of the office building which is suddenly interrupted by an underling rushing in to bring news. The second time, the group walks brazenly in slow-mo into [[spoiler: Dan Bam to confront Saeroyi.]]

* HeadTurningBeauty: One candidate for the new part-time worker is an incredibly beautiful woman who instantly renders all the guys in the room senseless. Seungkwon collapses into GiberishOfLove and has to go sit on the sidelines to compose himself, and Saeroyi is speechless and transfixed. The two are ready to hire her on the spot without hardly an interview, but Yiseo puts her foot down and stops them from hiring her.