YMMV / Itaewon Class

• Adaptational Displacement: The drama is far more well known than the original webtoon, especially to international audiences.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Diamond" is a powerful rock ballad by Ha Hyun Woo that perfectly encapsulates Saeroyi's Determinator nature that plays during moments of triumph when characters overcome extreme hardship and pain.
  • "Start Over" by Gaho is a fresh, hopeful pop-rock song about dreams and starting anew that perfectly compliments Saeroyi and DanBam's journey.
  • "Sweet Night" by BTS member V is a quiet, bittersweet indie pop ballad that beatifully conveys a feeling of longing about what-could-have-beens.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The drama and its portrayals of the lively streets of Itaewon (including a scene of tourists celebrating Halloween) can become hard to watch after the Halloween crowd crush disaster, which happened in Itaewon in 2022.
• Jerkass Woobie: Jang Geunwon is a bully and a Smug Snake who fully takes advantage of his connections and status as Jangga's heir to get away with humiliating others, but the one time we see him show regret and compassion he's forced to abandon them by his father symbolically — by having to kill a hen with his bare hands. In the years afterward, he keeps trying to live up to his position as the heir but keeps showing his incompetence and emotional instability until, immediately after receiving the first and only display of affection from Daehee, he's abandoned by his father to protect the reputation of the company, at which point he finally breaks. In the second-to-last episode, he reveals to his father that he only wanted to make him proud, with the only thing that kept him going without falling in despair after accidentally killing Saeroyi's father being the belief (forced into him by his father) that everyone beneath him was worthless.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: While the romance does play into the themes and plot, some people (especially the LGBT Fanbase) didn't care that much for the main Love Triangle, as they felt that it took time that could have been better spent on the main revenge plot and other interesting side characters (namely, the other staff of DanBam). Not helping was Yiseo and Soo-ah being both rather divisive characters.
• Stoic Woobie: Park Saeroyi was expelled from high school (and never finished it), lost his father and was convicted because of Jang Daehee covering for Jang Geunwon's deeds, but other than his violent outburst at Geunwon in the first episode, he responds through a carefully, patiently crafted revenge plan that spans years. Other than one drunken confession, he never complains or lets his suffering show to others until the second-to-last episode of the series, when he finally admits to his father and to himself that he's been suffering, and decides to let go of his hate.

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