Never-Ending Summer

Everyone must watch it to enjoy the lovely moments

I have watched so many dramas… but Never Ending Summer (2026) hit me in a completely different way. 🌅

This is not just a love story — it’s a journey of first love, heartbreak, memories, and the kind of emotions that stay with you for a long time. The way the story moves from youthful innocence to mature love makes it feel so real and deeply relatable.

Every episode pulled me deeper into its world. Once I entered, coming out felt almost impossible. The calm, dreamy vibe, the emotions, and the connection between the characters made me feel like I was living inside a never-ending summer.

Even after finishing it, I still feel like I’m stuck in that world… like a beautiful dream I don’t want to wake up from. 💭✨

This drama didn’t just entertain me — it stayed with me. ❤️

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In the abyssal dark lies glimpses of brilliance.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much for this drama. I knew just seeing the tags that this was going to be a bit heavy. Though this obviously had a ton of inspiration from another drama *ahem OBS lololol, it was re-written and reinterpreted enough that I would call it an original, albeit inspired work.

With that said, this is one of the more better produced dramas that came out of China in a while. There are tons of dramas this year, but this drama hearkens back to the days where classic cinematography and composition was used to move the story along.

Now onto the story, it actually makes a lot of sense. I know when it comes to romance, most "romance" drama watchers would prefer the angle of "prince charming" swooping in. However, not only was that not realistic, it devalues the girl wayy too much. I much preferred this. Call me old, but I prefer mature romance in which there's independence from both parties and inspite of that, they can still come together in the end. And this drama delivered in that aspect. Lu Xi Xiao, though he had his problems, it never occurred to him that all that he's done, all that he's achieved were done on his dad's/ family's penny. It was totally justified for Zhou Wan to leave him and let him understand his own value. As for Zhou Wan's character, I was a bit disappointed that she wasn't given a better platform after her 10 years of hard work. A bit realistic, but man, couldn't she become someone more... important? In the end, I dinked the writing a bit just because Zhou Wan's value ended up being the acceptance of Lu Xi Xiao for her complete self... i guess lol

Anyways, I just wrote a review for this drama just because i loved OBS. And since this was heavily inspired by that, I want justify my own score for it using this review lol

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disregard logic, disregard the characters and treat it like soft corn

Personally, I think the way that this drama was approached in the first place is flawed. A title like never ending summer and all these go-lucky happy posters sets up a premise in the viewers mind that this is going to be a lighthearted drama like 'when I fly towards you' but that is literally the furthest from the truth.

The story starts off with two people that obviously are not from the same world, there is no magnetic chemistry and no interesting plots or directing that make the viewer want to support the leads and follow their stories. We have a selfish male lead and an even more selfish female lead. They both have goals to complete and things to do so what is with the need to create a romance? This could have clearly been a heavier coming-of-age story about two people who come from hurt backgrounds but instead we have a mismatched romance where the leads are constantly not communicating and constantly pushing and pulling away from each other.

Now there is nothing wrong with a bit of push and pull in a romance drama but only if done tastefully in a way that makes sense. One example of the absurdity of this drama is around ep 8-10 the fl successfully enters into the ml's family but in order to get money for her grandma's treatment, she needs to find a way to send the male lead overseas. Mind you, the male lead wanted to go overseas already, one 5-minute conversation and both could have gotten what they wanted but instead we need an elaborate plan where the fl tries to 'win over' the ml with an obvious agenda. It is very hard for the viewer to subscribe to this kind of 'fake romance' where proximity and romance is created from straight up lies.

Not to mention, the logic of the plot is not well written, it seems like the first draft with many revisions needed. Take the fl, she is very poor and has a lot of debt seemingly from all of her grandma's treatment. It would seem logical that she may have debt collectors or people bothering her constantly. But instead we get debt collectors like twice in the show and once was literally to 'create' non-existant chemistry between the leads. At this point just get rid of the debt collectors? They don't add to the plot and certainty don't help anyones case. Suddenly they just disappear one day? It is incredibly illogical!

I think the best way to approach this is to literally disregard logic, don't care about the characters and just treat it like soft corn because the only interesting part of the story is the kiss scenes.

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A Refreshing Youth Drama

Never-Ending Summer is about young romance between a rich, rebelious bad boy and a studious, and poor girl. Does this pairing ring a bell? It's not a new pairing, but it's definitely addictive to watch. I personally enjoyed watching this drama due to the complexity of the characters. While watching this drama, many people compared it to The First Frost, because the man is always chasing for the love of his life, while the woman is always running away due to personal, fair, reasons.

Our female lead, Zhou Wan (Bao Shang En) is a very complex character, she may not be liked by many people, but I enjoyed navigating the layers of our heroine. I would say she is a morally grey character, because she sacrificed a lot for people she loves dearly. Doesn't matter what she does in her youth, as long as she could save the people she loves. Some would say she's selfish, mean, and a liar, I think otherwise. Zhou Wan is not inherently selfish, or mean. Yes, she is a liar, but she was forced to do so. Some say she could've just told the guy, however, from her perspective I think she would prefer to keep her issues to herself. She always handles these situations alone, because that's how she grew up. She was alone in a sense, she didn't want to hurt anyone and she thinks she's not the best person if the people she loves are hurt in the process. Her upbringing explains a lot of her behavior honestly. As an adult, I think she finally learned that it's okay to lean on others rather than holding it in, and that's character development in my books. I really enjoyed Bao Shang En's acting in this drama, very natural in my opinion, it felt like she embodied her character quite well.

On the opposite side, we have Lu Xi Xiao (Zhou Ke Yu) - your typical rich, yet rebellious male lead. I personally think LXX's personality stems from his broken family. Of course, other things comes in to play as well, but deep inside I don't think he's truly a rebellious guy. Other than having a weathly background, all he really wants is someone who loves him unconditionally and gives the attention he needs. That's where Zhou Wan comes in. The way LXX treats ZW is like she's the queen of his world. When he fell for her, he would always put her first and will never forget her. I think that's amazing, and genuine. He was heartbroken several times, yet continued to love Zhou Wan, because he knew she is not genuinely a bad person. I think this is where the anger stems from as they reunited as adults. Because he loved her with his whole heart, and knew what kind of person she is, he is angry that she couldn't just tell him the truth. As an adult though, LXX was childish AF, it was very annoying and cringe to watch. Zhou Ke Yu's acting as a rebeliious guy was a bit cringe I'm not gonna lie, maybe cause I've seen him on variety shows and can tell he's just acting, and not embodying the bad boy persona. Needless to say, his acting overall was decent as well. It was natural aside from the bad boy vibes he was trying to go for, his puppy eye love for Zhou Wan felt very genuine. I think this is my first ZKY drama, not sure if I've seen him in other dramas to compare but the impression was pretty good.


The music overall was good, the story was decent. It's quite sad honestly to watch in the beginning, but as adults it's all about revenge and reunion between the leads so the drama vibes did shift. I'm not going to lie, I skipped a lot of scenes in the last few episodes. lol I feel like I only watched this drama for the lead characters, no interest in the side characters at all.

If you enjoy rich, bad boy x poor, studious girl tropes definitely go ahead and watch it.

Never-Ending Summer touches upon some dark topics such as loss of loved ones, grieving, depression, abandonment, loneliness, etc. I feel like they touched the surface of some of these topics instead of going deep into it
If you must ask whether I recommend it, I can only say it did not give me the "Omg are you watching this drama?!" vibe when chatting with my friends. Like the only thing I cared about were the main leads, and that says a lot about the drama overall imo.

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chemistry so good i didnt care about the plot

i need this man booked and busy.
the way he delivered the lines, the emotion he was putting in every scene.
bao shang en my queen i love you i just met you but i loved your character
i cant lie, the story was hanging by a very thin thread called chemistry and nothing else. thank god i wasnt paying attention to anything else except these two, but that plot has some holes i cant ignore
jk i absolutly can
and boy he is a yearner he a real one i love when men cry let em cry i will watch it a hundred times
but now getting serious, what was that time jump? so uncalled for and unnecessary; why be separated for over ten years if youre gonna get back together in the next 20 minutes
i need tension, passion, love, hate, indecision—something that leads me to the HEA
i really liked this show i smoked it in like 5 days

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No villain, just life being cruel

Honestly I wasnt planning to watch this in the first place, i know how cliche it will be and since i already dropped speed and love, i thought this is the same. it also uses brother-sister dynamics but thank god, it just for a short while.

The best part is they are not met by chance, or by coincidence, they met by choice. Xixiao seek her to buy her notes and Zhouwan seek him to get money from her mother who is currently his father's mistress. surely, at first, she only tried to get money for her grandma surgery, but she surely make him fall too hard. when her grandma died, he stayed by her side, and that is very profound. they runaway is absolutely cute (though i dont recommend it irl). i love how nonchalant he is but still expressing his feeling obviously.

they said there is a lot of misunderstanding in the drama, surely it is, but in my opinion, they already know and understand each other well even though they dont know anything since they dont communicate, but they immediately forgive each other is golden.

there's a lot up-down in the drama, and i keenly follow through with the updates. there's biggest plot twist at the finale, and i absolutely love it.

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As long as you say you love me~

Never Ending Summer, led by BaoShangAn and Zhou KeYu, is a drama that I never expected I would like. But genuinely, I really enjoyed watching it, even though towards the end, the plot didn't make much sense to me. I guess I enjoyed it so much because I hadn't watched a drama in such a long time. I also really enjoyed their chemistry, and honestly, it was the only thing that kept the entire story together for me.

To be honest, towards the end, it kind of started crashing, and some parts just didn't feel right because I felt like they were rushing the ending. I felt that they could have shown the 2026 era a bit more and cut down the 2016 era instead. Because, to be honest, I liked the 2026 era, or rather the more mature versions of both of them. In fact, I loved the mature versions of all the characters. I really liked how they handled situations and how much more mature they were compared to 10 years ago. So, I felt that they could have shown the older versions a bit more and cut down the younger ones.

For the younger timeline, I think the first 10 episodes were amazing. I really, really enjoyed them. But after that, once they started dating, or once both of them started falling in love, it kind of got boring. On the other hand, I found the 2026 era much more beautiful and meaningful. Even when they were dating again or when they moved in together, those moments were really beautiful. I loved how they were thinking through everything and handling their relationship in a more mature way.

I also loved all the outfits in this drama because I really liked the styling. Especially after the 10-year time skip, when they were older and around 28, the outfits were so good. ZW outfits, especially her off-shoulder tops, were absolutely top-notch.
Last but not least, I think the part where she is trying to solve the case was kind of misplaced. The plot became all over the place. I don't know how the mother got her redemption arc because we barely saw her again. I think we only saw her once after the 10-year time skip, and then suddenly she turned out to be a spy. What kind of plot was that? We didn't even get any hints leading up to it. It was probably the biggest plot twist, but it just didn't feel right. I honestly felt like it was poorly written, or at least poorly executed.

The chemistry between the leads was the only thing saving the drama. Even the side characters were really good. The factory arc, however, felt unnecessary at that point. We only got the 2026 timeline around Episode 19, which meant there were only about 10 episodes left. Most of those episodes focused on their redemption arc and how they had been missing each other. Then the factory arc came in, and I don't think they had enough time to execute it properly. Also special mention for the songs, istg they were so good at most of the times. The song placements were so peak, it just makes you feel the emotion.
Overall, I really enjoyed watching it, and I think it's a pretty good drama, probably rewatch it someday later!

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"Even if the world sees you as a bad person, someone will still love you for who you are."

There are some dramas that are just so good in the most unexpected ways. Never-ending Summer is one of those dramas for me. On paper, it has all the tropes I hate, especially the “almost step-siblings” trope. However, despite having its frustrating moments, this drama has become my ultimate comfort watch, mainly the reason being Lu Xixiao.

Lu Xi Xiao is easily one of my favourite male leads ever. He's an artist, a problem child, a rebellious teen, a clumsy lover, an adult who is not fully an adult, and most importantly, emotionally vulnerable(something romance male leads are scared to be).

He appears confident and nonchalant on the surface, and no one, except Zhou Wan, understood his insecurities, his fears, and loved him despite all his flaws. They become eachother's safe place, as she, too, had to put on a facade of maturity, and he is the only one she could be childish with.

• “I can't pretend anymore. I am only 18”. Lu Xixiao is the only person she can admit this to, and his reply to her confession of being tired of pretending is the reason she gets so scared when he gets harmed later in the show, infront of her, and eventually, leaves him.

• “I've never been really that interested in this world. I never had much hope for the future. Everything just felt kind of boring. But, now that, you’re with me, when I think about the future, I actually find it exciting. I never make promises, or talk about ‘forever’ with anyone, but this time, I really want to say this to you: Zhou Wan, lets spend every summer together from now on”. Despite getting abandoned by both his parents, LXX felt safe enough around ZW to propose something like this, as she healed him, yet she also abandons him, and tells him to forget her, but how could he— when she was the closest thing resembling to a family to him?

I love how ‘Never-ending Summer’ doesn't paint one character as a messiah, and the other as evil incarnate. Both LXX and ZW are flawed characters who hurt eachother, and I wouldn't say their relationship is healthy. It borders on codependency, but what could you expect from two grieving people who have been abandoned? Despite everything they've gone through, their bond is genuinely beautiful. You can tell they both love eachother. Their vacation arc, where they were free from their ‘family’, showed how perfect they're together when the adults in their life don't mess with them.

Talking about the adults in this drama, they're the most infuriating part. None of the adults are responsible, or mature, or rational in the slightest bit. It frustrated me a lot.

Another thing that was frustrating was the second male lead— Jiang Yan. His inferiority complex towards LXX is due to his parents(there are moments where I felt like the reason he still lingers around ZW after getting rejected is cause of he wants to have something LXX has). He resents LXX for getting everything that was supposed to be ‘his’, but that resentment is so misplaced. He crashes out on his mother (understandably so), and LXX, but he works for his father's company. He wants the approval of his father, and he resents the wrong person for not getting it.

Anyways, the casting is perfect. Whoever decided to cast ZKY and BSE in a drama together deserves a raise. Their chemistry is exceptional, and they fit the character so perfectly. ZKY really brought LXX to life. I think it'd be hard for me to watch other ZKY dramas without getting reminded of LXX. I wasn't a fan of BSE’s acting in G2G, but she's great here.

Another thing that I adore about this drama is the OST. Its comforting, and befitting of the show's overall aesthetic. I have them on repeat. Especially ‘When The Milky Way Falls’ by Zhou Ke Yu, and the Sunset Counter one (i am listening to it rn).

Overall, ‘Never-ending Summer’ is a comforting watch. It tackles a lot of heavy topics, like suicide, emotional abuse by family, abandonment issues with care(tho, there's a scene where the ml and fl help a suicidal person, and i hated every bit of it). The main characters with estranged families are relatable, and the romance between the leads feel genuine. The editing might seem a bit weird at times, but the aesthetic of this drama is so beautiful. Its one of those dramas that'd make you fall in love with summer.

^^Bonus(yeah there's more):

• “She actually just stepped out of time. She returned to earth’s most primitive components— atoms, molecules. In the future, she will slowly return to you in another form. When it rains heavily, or the wind blows hard in the future, she can be the big tree that shelters you from the wind and rain. When winter comes, she can also be the sweater that keeps you warm”. Lu Xixiao says this to Zhou Wan after her grandma dies, and its such a beautiful way to view death. Instead of saying something clichéd, he answers in a way that is so him. ZW's mother keeps saying Lu Xixiao is just like his father, but I think he's more like his mother— artistic, sensitive, loving, and obviously, miserable :(

If you decide to watch this drama after reading my long review(tbh this is more of a character analysis), I'd tell you to focus more on the characters, rather than the overall story. Its a very clichéd plot, but the characters make it unique. Also, LXX is adorable<3

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Good And Bad Sides

The Plot vs. The Chemistry: When a script is a complete trainwreck full of incomprehensible plot holes, the entire production essentially rests on the shoulders of the main leads. If their physical chemistry—amplified by that top-tier, classic height difference—is off the charts, it creates a powerful distraction. You end up ignoring the nonsensical writing just to watch them share a frame.

The Solitary Sane Character: Having an entire cast of characters who have seemingly lost their minds, except for one lone sane person on the male lead's side, is a hilarious but common trope. That one character usually becomes the audience surrogate, looking around in absolute disbelief at the chaos surrounding them.

Talent Wasted on Chaos: It is both a blessing and a curse when the casting is phenomenal and the main leads deliver powerhouse acting. On one hand, their talent saves the show from being entirely unwatchable; on the other hand, you can't help but wish their incredible acting had been utilized in a masterpiece rather than a chaotic, messy plot.

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