Duty After School made waves when it first came out. The show follows a group of senior high school students as they train to fight against an alien invasion. But where does the show's story come from? Is Duty After School based on a webtoon?
In this explainer article, we'll be talking about Duty After School's source. We'll also give a little bit of information on whether the Kdrama series stayed loyal to its source material.
Is Duty After School Based on a Webtoon?
Yes, Duty After School is a Kdrama based on a webtoon of the same name. The webtoon was created by Ha Il-kwon.
The webtoon tells the story of senior high school students in the middle of an alien invasion. While they still go to school for their studies, they have to train as reserve soldiers after they get their education for the day.
While preparing for their college entrance exams, the students get drafted to go to war against the aliens. Talk about stress.
Were There Changes Made in the K-Drama?
Although the Kdrama is based on a webtoon, the live-action adaptation did not stay true to its source material. In fact, the show gained popularity over this fact. Those who were already able to watch the series say that it is very different from its source.
There are small and significant differences that have been pointed out between the two. Some of the changes that were made in the live-action adaptation include the following:
Wang Tae-man's Background
In the webtoon, Wang Tae-man grew up in Canada and goes by the name Wang Johnson. This explains why he can speak English fluently.
The Kdrama series, on the other hand, does not include this information in the background of Tae-man (played by Moon Sang-min). This really doesn't impact the story since it only affects the way the character speaks in the webtoon.
Kim Yoo-jung's Personality
The K-Drama shows a different personality of the class president, Kim Yoo-jung (played by Yeo Joo-ha). In the series, she is presented as a reserved and quiet leader. Because of this, her classmates do not really listen to her until she raises her voice.
Meanwhile, in the webtoon, Yoo-jung is the opposite. Her classmates respect her and listen to what she says.
Kim Chi-yeol's Crush on Lee Na-Ra
In the Kdrama series, Kim Chi-yeol (played by Kim Ki-hae) does not talk about his feelings towards Lee Na-ra (played by Choi Moon-hee) until later in the series. But in the Kdrama, this is detailed right away.
Plot Differences
Another important change to notice between the Kdrama and the webtoon is how the story gets told. From the start of the webtoon, readers get to see video diaries from each character. But in the webtoon, the video diaries only come into the angle of the storytelling when they join the military.
In the webtoon, Kim Chi-yeol is manning the camera to record the video. The Kdrama, however, puts Chi-yeol behind the camera to record his classmates most of the time.
Despite these, the changes made to the webtoon do not drastically change what happens at the end of the K-Drama series. You can read the webtoon here.
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