A River Runs Through It

Exclusive Fairytale is pretty funny and the female lead is so innocent. So it is basically proven that this drama is similar to "A River Runs Through It" because it's plot is also funny, and the male-lead "Xia Xiajou" is sooo innocent and cute too!

One is the original drama, the other is a collection of missing scenes and a very cute epilogue to the series.

Both dramas follow the female lead and her crush through high school, college, and adulthood. Both dramas also show the male lead go abroad for education and return to China as successful adults.

The story is similar between the two dramas. based on high school. please classmate is one of my favourites !!! go for it !!

Frenemies to romance relationship between the mains. FL likes another boy first. ML falls for her long before she falls for him.

slice of life, family, romance, friendship, youth, school, love triangle, childhood friends.

setting time in the older era, make them give a nostalgic feeling even if we weren't born at that time.

Both dramas have a main couple who are childhood friends, now in high school. In both dramas, the ML falls first and harbors a crush for a long time on the FL without her realizing.

Both dramas have a warm feel, a school setting, and an enemies/frenemies to lovers relationship between the main couple. FL likes someone else who only sees her as a friend. The ML in both seemingly picks on the FL who is annoyed by him, but when he starts to fall for her he falls hard and must try to get her to see him as more than a friend.

I won't say that it's exactly the same but the feels are very much similar. The communal relationship and how all characters are bounded with each other through friendship and a close bond.
Gen Z is more towards one's growth and about medicine and the romance part is not the main thing. However, in the other one romance and friendship is primary with the leads growth and how they find themselves through the process of teenage to maturity.

Both are set in the late 90s/early 2000s and the stories span over highschool, university and adulthood

Very different setting/plot but similarities in characters.

ML has a more unusual personality (more like a SML). It's not obvious at first who FL will end up with as she initially loves the other male character. FL is optimistic and very romantic.

School setting. Themes of nostalgia and growing up. Main couple support each other even before they're couple. Happy endings.