You Are My Lover Friend

Light & simple

Two mature main leads, one great group of friends that feels like group of friends and three couples with their own stories

Tang Yang & Shi Yan

The slowburn, the friendship, the romance it's all there. I do think that it's a great example of best friends to lovers because their romantic relationship didn't happen on a whim. There was no event where they were like "oh, I've fallen with my best friend". No, it was all in a little day-to-day things, from both sides. There's support, the fun, the friendship, trust and love between them and it's perfect. It's just a simple story without any drama (it has veryyy minor "villain" plot but honestly it didn't affect them at all). I love that they did write hesitance of turning 13-year friendship into romantic relationship and the awkwardness of the romance when it's still new for both of them. These two compliment each other so well but are still their own people without each other and I love that too

Jiang Yan An & Feng Wei Ran

This is basically friends to lovers thing that happened much earlier than main couple. At first I thought that they're just a comedic relief but I honestly liked both of them. They had their own very valid issues and they overcame them together. I truly admire the writers for including them too and not making them stupid like they like to do with typical second leads in a romcom

Cheng Hui & Sheng Ni Na

Oh, I wish we could have seen more of them! I really like the concept of grumpy guy/sunshine girl or black cat/golden retriever energy but this one actually opened my mind to black cat/black cat energy. They are very similar to each other, very honest and respectful. I do love them like that too (as a half-baked romance) but I'd wish they turned it into the proper second lead romance. There's 30 eps, they could have easily done that

Overall if you want something simple, not overly sugary, mature and slice-of-life-ish, this one is for you. This drama has veryyy little plot aside of the romance but it really felt like it was unnecessary so it's not a perfect 10 stars

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CALM LIKE A BREEZE

This drama is an adaptation of a novel, the director has done well for it.
The writing was consistent.

We knew the obvious, the friend part dragged for too long IMO.
You knew it was there but nobody confronted it.
Denial after denial, until the last 1/3rd of the drama where it came alive.

I'm not a fan to the long-term friends-to-lovers scenario for the sole reason that you always know deep down if you're interested and as we saw both of the MCs knew it already.
You can't fade away the sexual tension.

The acting was superb.
It's kinda feel-good drama.
I watched it quite slowly. took me a month or so.

Quite fun that way.
Overall it was decent.
What I really loved about this drama is the calmness.
The characters are sorted , it's a really well done feel good drama.
Something that you just want to keep watching slowly.
The ending was rushed though.

Let's move onto the short comings of this drama :
The biggest one is ..*Drum roll*
Character development.
Once again it was negligent.
The characters were exactly as they were introduced.
Everything felt too good and superficial to the context that there were zero ills in this drama which is strange.
Ills in regards to the MCs .

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An actual rollercoaster ride.

I've been mad at and in love with this show at the same time. First thing first, if you wanna skip 11-20, go ahead. It was such a waste of my time. But oh my god, Episode 22ish and beyond is fantastic. The story which was otherwise monotonous and stuck, finally starts moving - and I'm not talking only about the romance. Even otherwise, we finally see movement in various plots. Episode 22 onwards is a big redemption curve and I have loved this show for that.

For the show to be so heavily involved in work, I'm rather disappointed with how the mystery ends. It is so abrupt and out of nowhere. They could've come to the point a little earlier and started this plot earlier instead of wasting some 15 episodes on utter nonsense and 'over the top bro-zone'. The story was solid around the work aspect, but the execution was pretty bad.

I also liked the unconventional approach taken on the two relationships. I liked the sweet story for Cheng Hui and Sheng Nina and I loved how different the wedding and relationship (as a whole) was for our leads. It's very well-written once they actually get together. I'm not even going to bother wasting my precious words on the before because it's just so ridiculous. My problem is not with the wait but with the fact that while we're waiting there's no progression in the story. It's so so so repetitive with nothing new happening for at least 15 episodes. BORING!

Lastly, this relationship shows two contrasts: a healthy relationship at its peak (our leads) and toxic as well, lol. Unlike many people here, I found the friends' relationship to be very toxic. The guy had literally no say in anything and looked like he was just following whatever she said. I also feel they had poor communication skills (considering they were literally forced to resolve their issue). I don't feel kicking someone out of their own house just because of a fight is healthy as well. Or making major financial decisions without discussion is healthy. Plus, they were being a nuisance to literally everyone around them (including their minor child) because of their personal issues. While people would say all relationships have problems, I feel like these are very big issues to be taken so lightly. But then it's just a drama, so who cares, lol. Other than the fact that by some miracle they suddenly made up (literally out of nowhere after a random talk that we didn't see in full so we don't really know), I didn't find anything healthy about their relationship whatsoever. It genuinely seemed to me like they were only in love because they don't talk about anything important, lol. I don't like the screen time given to them tbh. It could've easily gone to Nina and Cheng Hui. They deserved more!

I liked the bond between the friends, it was hilarious. Wish to be with my friends just like this till the end. Overall, it's only a decent watch. So, proceed with caution.

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Just an Ordinary Show with predictable story.

This drama starts nice , It tries to build a back story for main characters but fails drastically. It could have been better, if the story and and main leads were little complicated , That would give audience the happiness and excitement as an opportunity to imagine or guess the next scene and find something else. In my opinion both male lead and female lead are awesome but they are not compatible with each other in both aesthetically and physically. Second couple and side characters played their role very professionally which kept me to finish the whole drama. All the above feedback is with respect to my preferences which may differ from person to person.

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=> Good Youth series - Friend to lover, if you have ( a lot of) patience.

Friend to lover with Zhang Xin Cheng

PLOT: 2 inseparable childhood friends (FL & ML) accompanied each other during 13 years, in their studies and their professional lives. Little by little, they discover that their attachment is more than "best friends". But friends & family find hard to believe that they're dating.

+++ Very cute CL (Steven Zhang & Uvin Wang) with great chemistry.
+++ Realistic story
+++ No Great Villain. Endearing 2dary characters and romances.
+++ pretty ending song

### VERY slow-burn [not even a couple before episode 22/30 :( ] => quite a lot of FF and skipping on these 2/3 of the series.
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Friend to lover avec Zhang Xin Cheng

PLOT: 2 inséparables amis d'enfance (FL & ML) s'accompagnent depuis 13 ans dans leurs études et leur vie professionnelle. Peu à peu, ils découvrent que leur attachement est plus que "meilleurs amis". Mais amis & famille a du mal à croire qu'ils datent.

+++ CL très cute (Steven Zhang & Uvin Wang) avec une belle alchimie.
+++ Story réaliste
+++ Pas de Great Villain. Personnages et romances 2daires attachants.
+++ jolie ending song

### TRES slow-burn (pas ensemble avant épisode 22 :( ) => pas mal de FF et de skipping sur ces 2/3 de la série.

=> Bonne série Youth- Friend to lover, si vous avez de la patience.

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Good onscreen chemistry between main CP, but nothing special with the plot.

You Are My Lover Friend is a RomCom drama that starts with Zhang Xin Cheng as Jiang Shi Yan and Wang Yu Wen as Tang Yang. The main CPs were friends and buddies in high school who lasted through their university days, as well as working professionals.

No one believes they would turn into lovers, not even their besties and mothers.

Synopsis: Tang Yang and Jiang Shi Yan were high school classmates and have been close friends for ten years. After finishing school, they passionately pursued careers in bank credit review and new media communication. Tang Yang helped the families of military martyrs start businesses in her small loan job. Inspired by their perseverance, Jiang Shi Yan made a documentary about their stories, which gained widespread attention. Throughout this journey, the trust and understanding they developed during their teenage years endured various challenges. They blossomed into a sincere and beautiful love. They went from being classmates and friends to becoming partners, building a family, and facing life together.

My Reviews:
1. Nothing special in the story. It has been done so many times in Cdrama land.
2. I like the main CP because they are talented actors.
2nd CP is most adorable and funny, especially the 2nd ML
3. The third CP should not have been part of the story. There is no chemistry, and the actress must be younger than the guy.
4. The moms are funny, too.
5. Overall, it is okay. It took too long for the main CP to get together until the last 3 to 4 episodes. It was draggy, and I was annoyed to see it take so long.
6. It would be better with 24 episodes instead of 30, but their onscreen chemistry was good.

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High expectations. Low returns.

Coming from a Steven Zhang fan,

I had high hopes from this drama and got pretty much disappointment. The drama, as a whole would be 8/10. Acting was perfect. Music was good, story was again good! However, they messed up with screenplay.
Because It felt so long !

And the ending...? It was like very fast and quick ! ! ! Every happened so quickly at the end. Either romance part should have started earlier or there should've been more episodes (35eps) to end it with slow and stable pace...

I have seen both Steven Zhang and Wang Yuwen's previous romance dramas and they were all perfect. With good plot, perfect romance and perfect screenplay with perfect ending... But this drama feels rushed! And somehow... It isn't as good as their previous work. (For me, in my opinion)

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walking the line between friendship and romance

I watched this while in the mood for the friend's to lovers trope, and it does deliver on that well, in a way that i haven't actually seen many other friends to lovers stories address, which is the transition is normally painfully awkward. I like how even though both leads do realize how they feel its very difficult for either of them to act on it, as seen by the constant almost kisses we got before they finally actually kissed.(Though the almost kisses were so painful to witness because of how many times it happened)
But the major issue is that the episode length is far to long for this kind of melodrama, especially when the business plot was not extremely engaging. Had this story had a more developed supporting cast i wouldn't be as dissatisfied, but the other two couples were not interesting to me. If anything the streamer and tech guys relationship would have been better if they did something with it, but they kind of didn't.
Its interesting because the acting and gradual process of realization is the best part of the story, and had it been 24 episodes instead of 30 i think this would receive a higher rating from me.
The music wasn't especially memorable, but i did like the main opening theme.
Also i give extra points for not doing the standard men and women can't be friends, it was really refreshing to see that they had to convince the people around them that they were dating. the set up of their friendship being something that neither of them questioned was very well done, also the fact that neither of them regretted not acting on it, but instead felt fulfilled by their choice to start it now.
I wouldn't recommend this honestly unless you like really slow paced romance stories and the friends to lovers trope, but for what its worth i don't regret watching it, even though it took me a few weeks to actually finish the show.
Additionally the leads being actual childhood friends in real life is a sweet touch, really does make the dynamic believable.

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