‘My School President’ (แฟนผมเป็นประธานนักเรียน), directed by Au Kornprom Niyomsil, was originally announced as part of GMMTV’s 2022 lineup, and revolves around students of Niyomsil High School and the journey of Chinzhilla, the school music club, as they enter the Hot Wave music competition.
Initially, this series did not start out as the next big thing on BL fans’ radars. When it was revealed, many people expected it just to be another school BL series in the already long list. That started to change, however, when the series finally started airing in December of 2022. While it didn’t immediately become the hit it is now, some fans gave it a chance, and as the weeks went on the number of fans tuning it in continued to grow. With the series’ final episode coming up, let us now take a look at how this seemingly ordinary and unexceptional series proved itself to be so much more than what people thought it would be. Before we begin, though, it goes without saying that:
There will be spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.
1. A Cast of Many Talents
One of the many reasons this series succeeded is the amazingly talented cast. The stars of the show are Fourth Nattawat Jirochtikul, who plays Gun, the energetic and silly music club leader, and Gemini Norawit Titicharoenrak, who plays Tinn, the head of the student council who has also secretly been crushing on Gun for years. These two rookie actors are able to display levels of chemistry that are on par with those of some of the most well-known long-established BL pairings such as BrightWin and TayNew. To add to that, Gemini portrays Tinn’s infatuation with Gun with such excellence that it keeps us rooting for him to win Gun over while Fourth displays levels of nuance few actors can match, especially at such a young age, that make Gun’s range of emotions resonate with audiences. They are also joined by a cast of characters that all get their own chance to shine. First is Mark Pakin’s Tiwson, Tinn’s best friend on the student council and captain of the TinnGun ship. Up next are Gun’s bandmates: Ford Allan as Por, their keyboardist as well as one of their vocalists who sparks a budding romance with Tiwson later in the series, Prom Theepakon as Pat, their drummer who is comically insistent on disbanding whenever something goes wrong, Captain Passatorn as Yo, their acoustic guitar player and occasional catfish on dating sites, Winny Thanawin as Win, the hot-headed bass guitarist who doubles as their rapper, and Satang Kittiphop Sound, the latest addition to the band who plays the electric guitar, sings, and often gets into arguments with Win before coming to terms with his feelings for his bandmate.
2. Captivating Musical Numbers
This cast does not only excel when portraying their characters but also in bringing the series’ music to life. The series has an excellent list of covers such as Gemini and Fourth’s cover of “ข้างกัน (City)” by Three Man Down and Tilly Birds’ “เพื่อนเล่น ไม่เล่นเพื่อน (Just Being Friendly)”, covered by Fourth, Ford, and Satang. This series also is not short on original songs like a fan-favorite love song “เพลงรัก (Hook)” by Gemini, Ford’s enchanting “อีกนิด (Come Closer),” and “ไหล่เธอ (You’ve Got Ma Back),” which serves as the band’s theme song and features the voices of Fourth, Ford, Winny, and Satang.
3. Excellent Storytelling
One more reason this show exploded in popularity is the execution of its narrative. This story of high school boys captivates viewers with the charming innocence of young love while also taking audiences through its characters’ insecurities, fleshing them out, and making viewers empathize with all their struggles. From Gun’s wavering confidence in his ability to succeed as a musician to Tinn’s shaky relationship with his mother and Chinzhilla overcoming all the bumps on the road on their way to Hot Wave’s final round just to find themselves coming short of victory, this story creates an excellent contrast to its many feel-good moments by allowing its characters to fail, which makes their victories all the more worth it.
4. Resonating with a Queer Audience
Lastly, one of, if not the, biggest reasons this show appealed to such a large audience is the way it resonates with a lot of queer audiences who get to see Tinn and Gun, Tiw and Por, and Sound and Win live out the high school romances they never got to experience. It is an all too common occurrence among queer youth that while their straight peers get to experience and experiment with relationships in their teens, many of the LGBT youth miss out on that due to not being ready to come out, not yet coming to terms with their own feelings, or any of the countless other reasons for that. It is because of this that My School President carves a special place in these viewers’ hearts and with its final episode coming up, I’m sure it will stay in many of these hearts long after the story concludes.
