# Cheer Up! (발칙하게 고고) (TV series)
**Cheer Up!** (발칙하게 고고; also known as *Sassy, Go Go*, *Daringly Go Go*, and *Cheeky Go Go*) is a 2015 South Korean television series broadcast on KBS2, set at an elite Seoul high school where a street dance club of low-ranked students is forcibly merged with a study club of the school's top performers into a single cheerleading squad[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up). It stars Jeong Eun-ji of Apink, Lee Won-geun, Chae Soo-bin, Cha Hak-yeon of VIXX, and [Ji Soo](https://www.edgepedia.org/ji-soo)[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQCALvHtak).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 발칙하게 고고 (Balchikhage Gogo)[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up) |
| Network and format | KBS2; 12 episodes; per-episode runtime of 70 minutes[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958) • [1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up) |
| Premiere | October 12, 2015 on KBS WORLD, airing Monday and Tuesday[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958) |
| Genre | Comedy, romance, school[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up) |
| Main cast | Jeong Eun-ji (Apink), Lee Won-geun, Chae Soo-bin, Cha Hak-yeon (VIXX), Ji Soo[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQCALvHtak) |
| Setting | Sevit High School in Seoul, a prestigious school where academic ranking determines a student's standing[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up) |
| Episode count discrepancy | A KBS program catalog lists the series as HD 70 minutes × 16 episodes with production year 2016, while KBS World's own program page and episode listings give 12 episodes[4](https://global.kbsmedia.co.kr/Guide/Data/guide_drama2019.pdf) • [3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958) |
## Premise
The series is set at Sevit High School, an elite institution with a high college entrance rate where students are rated almost entirely by their grades[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958). The student body is divided between **Baek Ho** (White Tiger), a club of the school's top five percent that is a cheerleading club in name only and functions as a study group, and **Real King**, a street dance and hip-hop club whose members come from the bottom of the academic rankings[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up) • [5](https://kaedejun.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/thoughts-on-she-was-pretty-last-cheer-up/).
A "kissing photo incident" involving Kim Yeol of Baek Ho and Kang Yeon-doo of Real King leads to both clubs being dissolved[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958). To reinstate Real King, the school offers Yeon-doo's club the chance to join a cheerleading competition alongside Baek Ho[6](https://kaleo.sacredhearts.org/2015/12/10/cheer-up-reveals-pressures-of-high-school/). The merger also serves Kwon Soo-ah, the school's second-ranked student, who needs a genuine cheerleading competition on her record to reach an [Ivy League](https://www.edgepedia.org/ivy-league) university, an arrangement backed by her mother and a principal who takes money from wealthy parents[5](https://kaedejun.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/thoughts-on-she-was-pretty-last-cheer-up/).
## Characters
- **Kang Yeon-doo** (Jeong Eun-ji), leader of Real King, is ranked 196th of the school's 200 students. Once a popular middle schooler, she is now seen as a troublemaker, but she is loyal and openly resists the corruption at Sevit High[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958) • [1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up).
- **Kim Yeol** (Lee Won-geun) is Baek Ho's leader and the school's top-ranked student. The son of a wealthy, estranged father whose sponsorship protects him, he is clever and cynical but comes to see through the scheming adults around him[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up).
- **Kwon Soo-ah** ([Chae Soo-bin](https://www.edgepedia.org/chae-soo-bin)) ranks second in the school. Pressured by her mother to place first and enter an Ivy League university, she manipulates the people around her to meet expectations she cannot reach[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up).
- **Ha Dong-jae** (Cha Hak-yeon), Yeon-doo's childhood friend, is the school's top basketball player with a distinctive fondness for strawberry milk; a traumatic childhood incident left him with a phobia of physical contact[3](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958) • [1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up).
- **Seo Ha-joon** (Ji Soo) is in the school's top five percent, but his abusive father turns violent when he falls short; he struggles with anger management and counts Kim Yeol as his only true friend[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up).
## Themes and tone
The series opens as a loud teen comedy and settles into a sustained treatment of academic pressure: students pushed to be first, parents who hire tutors, bribe, and confront school officials, principals corrupted by money, and honest teachers with no real power[7](https://dryedmangoez.com/2021/03/11/good-ol-review-kbs-2015-series-cheer-up-sassy-go-go-a-timely-sincere-and-resonant-story/) • [5](https://kaedejun.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/thoughts-on-she-was-pretty-last-cheer-up/). Reviewers noted that the title works on two levels: the students' inexperience with cheerleading, and the mental health of the students and some of the adults, with school violence, bullying, and family pressure running through the 12 episodes[7](https://dryedmangoez.com/2021/03/11/good-ol-review-kbs-2015-series-cheer-up-sassy-go-go-a-timely-sincere-and-resonant-story/).
The romance between Yeon-doo and Yeol drew particular comment for developing the way real relationships do, through friendship and flirtation rather than hostility, within a large ensemble in which many supporting members of the two clubs received little individual development[8](https://www.kdramafighting.com/2015/11/cheer-up-sassy-go-go-korean-drama-review.html). Critics of the finale argued that Soo-ah's redemption and the resolution of Dong-jae's long-held trauma were wrapped up too quickly to be convincing[9](https://shikidrama.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/kdrama-cheer-up-ep-1-12-end-reviewimpressionopinion/).
## Recognition
Chae Soo-bin, for whom this was an early role, won Best New Actress at the 2015 KBS Drama Awards[1](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up). The series was later broadcast internationally, including on Japan's KBS World channel in 2023 under the title *Koi ni Cheer Up!* (恋にチアアップ！)[10](https://www.kbsworld.co.jp/program/detail?prSn=1144).
## Not to be confused with the 2022 series
A separate South Korean series titled *[Cheer Up](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheer-up-south-korean-tv-series)* (치얼업) aired on SBS from October 3 to December 13, 2022, in 16 episodes. It follows a college student from a humble background who joins Theia, the once-prestigious cheerleading squad of Yeonhee University, a fictional school modeled on [Yonsei University](https://www.edgepedia.org/yonsei-university) and its real-life cheering squad and rivalry with [Korea University](https://www.edgepedia.org/korea-university)[11](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cheer_Up) • [12](https://v.daum.net/v/WO4Gr5HRbq). The 2015 and 2022 series share a cheering theme and an English title but have different casts, networks, and settings.
## References
1. [Cheer Up! (발칙하게 고고), Doramchi drama profile](https://www.doramchi.com/dramas/cheer-up)
2. [Cheer up! | 발칙하게 고고 [Trailer], KBS WORLD TV on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQCALvHtak)
3. [Cheer Up! program page, KBS WORLD TV](https://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/program/view.php?pg_seq=958)
4. [KBS Program Catalogue: Drama (2019)](https://global.kbsmedia.co.kr/Guide/Data/guide_drama2019.pdf)
5. [Thoughts on 'She Was Pretty', 'Last', 'Cheer Up', Kaede + Jun](https://kaedejun.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/thoughts-on-she-was-pretty-last-cheer-up/)
6. ["'Cheer Up' reveals pressures of high school", Ka Leo](https://kaleo.sacredhearts.org/2015/12/10/cheer-up-reveals-pressures-of-high-school/)
7. ["Good Ol' Review: KBS' 2015 Series 'Cheer Up!/Sassy Go Go'", DryedMangoez.com](https://dryedmangoez.com/2021/03/11/good-ol-review-kbs-2015-series-cheer-up-sassy-go-go-a-timely-sincere-and-resonant-story/)
8. ["Cheer Up/ Sassy Go Go Korean Drama Review", KDrama Fighting!](https://www.kdramafighting.com/2015/11/cheer-up-sassy-go-go-korean-drama-review.html)
9. ["[Kdrama] 'Cheer Up!' ep 1-12 [END]", Four Seasons Dramas!](https://shikidrama.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/kdrama-cheer-up-ep-1-12-end-reviewimpressionopinion/)
10. [恋にチアアップ！ program page, KBS World Japan](https://www.kbsworld.co.jp/program/detail?prSn=1144)
11. [Cheer Up, DramaWiki](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cheer_Up)
12. ["다시 돌아오지 않을 젊음의 시간, '치얼업'이 남긴 것들", OhmyNews via Daum](https://v.daum.net/v/WO4Gr5HRbq)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Korean contemporary drama › Romance and melodrama series › Romance melodrama miniseries › Romantic comedy series › Youth and campus romance series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license