Forever Love (2020)

Well-Deserved High Rating

At first I thought, oh well, just another youth drama but still put this drama on my list to check out Wang An Yu as I liked his performance in Dreaming Back to Qing Dynasty. Xiang Han Zhi was a pleasant surprise, my first time watching and her acting was spot on despite being only 18 years old in real life! The story was well-written and the pacing was just right for the number of episodes. The first couple of episodes seemed ordinary but as the episodes progressed I came to appreciate the simple and heartfelt nature of the characters. The overall feel of this drama was innocent and pleasant. The difficulties faced by the characters seem relatable and the antagonists were not so evil. There were some scenes which evoked happy tears from me which only a few dramas were able to do. Production quality was excellent including music. Most importantly the ending was sweet and satisfying. I say this drama should not be missed.

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This drama is a package of cute, light, and romantic story. We are presented with their stories from high school. It's not a new story, but served simple and warm. I love the characters of the main leads, their acting are good and the chemistry is strong. Male Lead and Female Leas have strong characters and also their both are pretty. Their age are so young but they can act maturely.

The drama is slow but quite entertaining. Sometimes I get bored watching but overall I enjoy it. The support casts are also have good role in this drama. Their friendship is so good and the characters are funny. Also I love Lin Xi's father, he's so funny and supportive.

Simple and cliché, but it's perfect when you want to enjoy light-hearted drama with light conflict.

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One of those unbreaking love stories

This is just the perfect plot and storyline. The only reason for me giving it 9.5 (no 9.75 option) overall is because of some draggy side plots, or maybe I expected something else from the side plots.

The story is well developed. The characters are well introduced and you will not be disappointed with the cast and their acting. Both the leads deserve praise for their acting. The supporting casts are great, except for the FL's mother. I hated the character not the person acting it. This shows how well she acted. The mother is too much interference in the FL life. I hated that part.

Well saying about the story, it is great. No plots left hanging. The highs and lows of the couple are well understandable and well-executed. Loved the most important thing is they never drifted apart, as seen in many Chinese dramas. Although a time jump is there, that is well needed and well-executed. The FL is mostly better at developing the relationship. I just loved how the story sometimes goes through her.

So if anyone has seen "A Love So Beautiful" it is having similar phases but in a better sense. Even though school love stories are NO-NO for me, but I enjoyed them. So I hope you too like it. And yeah NO LOVE TRIANGLE, or at least I will not consider the second ML to have any chances.

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mature, healthy relationship of main leads

the biggest thing in this drama for me? the main leads

the main couple is everything - BOTH ml and fl are charming and lovely. their maturity and kindness towards each other, and their level of communication with each other is really refreshing and nice to see.

ML is especially wonderful and so ideal-bf material - he is caring, respectful, and understanding,,, not just on a surface level but i feel he genuinely loves FL and respects her as a whole person and not just bc she's "his woman." he sees her faults and her struggles but is always by her side and supporting her; he celebrates her achievements with her and respects her decisions and actions. also, ML is a very responsible person who works hard for the things that are important to him - this includes his family and loved ones, himself and his interests/work, and FL and her family. tbh at first his hair threw me off,, but then suddenly i was head over heels for him and now i think he pulls this look off so, so well. his visuals - esp those eyes - are just a bonus to his warm and sweet personality. he's definitely an actor I'm keeping my eyes on!

FL is intelligent, thoughtful, and hard-working. i think she's someone who really works hard towards her achievements - she isn't this rare and hyped-up female character who is magically "smart and good at studying" but she is humble and puts in the effort and time. moreover, this dedication to success unfortunately didn't initially come from a place of goodness. nevertheless, FL doesn't let her struggles put her down and eventually she's able to use her academic achievements to help her find her interests and guide her to where she wants to be. with the support and understanding of ML, i saw FL become more confident in growing stronger and more independent throughout many aspects of her life: family and all of her personal/academic/work journeys.

i would've liked the drama to be more specific in regards to FL's career goals and personal interests but i think maybe that wasn't the bigger obstacle she had to overcome in this series. i like to think she had her own struggles that she was eventually able to overcome in the end, and that was the growth she was looking for and needed. props to the actress!! i look forward to her future projects

i could write more but i gotta go; one last thing: happy to say i overlooked the drama's flaws and less-pleasant side characters bc of the main leads! i admit that every rewatch comes with skipping scenes i don't care about, but i don't mind!

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one of the best highschool to college/adult dramas ive watched

i wasnt sure what to expect with the drama when i started it but it did not disappoint i was hooked and binged it in a few days, especially the first life during their highschool years. the lead actors are amazing, the FL is one of the best actresses of her age ive ever seen tbh, her eyes are so expressive i am constantly in awe, shes my age and already so talented. the ML actor also has very expressive eyes / facial expressions, they did very well with acting their roles.

the ost is also great i love it and i think the editing in general is really well done, especially during the coding scenes lol.. makes me wanna code myself as a hobby!

the only things i would say i wasnt a fan of would be that: the second lead couple could have had more effort put into the storyline for, they dragged it out for a long time and she was constantly being hurt by him due to his obliviousness. Also, the treatment towards linxi by the 2 roomates because of something out of her control was annoying.. idk why they always make the female characters do this sigh, and how the second ML was so obsessed with the FL like it was borderline harassment at one point… but regardless this didnt impact the enjoyment too much! because i was so in love with the main couple i didnt really care about the rest lol

overall a very good drama for those who want something pretty light to watch with a very realistic and mature lead couple, especially for their age!

id defo rewatch this again , 9.5/10.

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A cute, fluffy drama with mature leads

If you're into dramas such as put your head on my shoulder, love 020 or any other sweet, fluffy dramas, then you will love this drama. The story is simple that follows the leads from school to college and then to their workplace. What I really liked about this drama is that although there were so many negative setbacks and challenges, they never broke up nor did they misunderstood each other. They always believed each other fully and understood each other without getting influenced by any third party. To be honest, there were so many side characters that tried to break them up or create problems in their life so I was worried that they might break up or misunderstand each other. But with each challenge and difficulties, they believed and loved each other more and more.
Their story progressed from being strangers to classmate and then to lovers and finally as husband and wife. You may see that in most of the dramas the ML is rich and spoils the FL, but in this drama the FL is rich and she supports and takes care of the ML too. The ML doesn't have ego and understands the FL very much. So this story is unique from other dramas because the ML doesn't carry around his masculine ego. Infact he is very soft for the FL and does everything to keep her happy even though he is not very well financially. The FL is very strong and straightforward and too pretty. Her character is very adorable. The side characters are also praiseworthy and they all support the leads throughout their journey. The FL never left the ML even though she knew about his financial conditions.
In this story you can see how the leads go through each challenge and prove themselves as worthy for each other. You will surely love this drama cause the leads have perfect chemistry and a simple yet good storyline.

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Show was mid

The storyline was simple. One of the things i definitely could not get past was the lack of sisterhood in this drama. Of course, Gu Xiao Man and Qiu Yan were great friends to Lin Xi. I have no issues with them. Hightly disappointed in Zhuang Fei and Shi Ying. Why are we sabotaging each other over men??? Couldnt get past that. I was also consistently rolling my eyes with GXM and Chen Yi Chuan. She was OBSESSED with him. I spent so much of the first half of the drama waiting for her to wake up and realize how much better Duan Ning treated her and how poorly CYC treated her. She was literally a dog at his beck and call. Additionally, Xia Lin Xi is too much like a supportive female western character (like the ones in the old cowboy movies). She is just there to provide help to the male lead. Yes, i agree she loves him and I also agree that he is a great person but some things she did just felt like she was doing TOO much. I guess she's fortunate that Jiang Zheng Han truly loved her and wasnt there to take advantage of her.
If i knew these people personally, i would definitely want to tell them: (1) Men are not worth fighting over. (2) You can love men but being obsessed with them is not okay. (3) You dont have to do everything for him. Let him be his own independent person. She bought him a laptop, rented him a place to stay near his work, moved his entire secret base to him, agreed to go abroad to fund the company. It just felt too much like we were regressing back to plots where the ladies are just there to aid the male lead.

On the bright side, i do like that JZH trusted XLX's decisions. This was something Qin Yue couldnt do.
Speaking of Qin Yue, why is everyone so blindly in love with someone who doesnt love them back? It was a whole love conga line!!

Main couple also had poor communication skills. They think hiding their personal struggles from the other is the right thing to do. But at that point, are you even in a relationship if youre not willing to work out problems together?? Why are you making the decision for the other party rather than giving them a chance to share their opinions?? For example, XLX tutoring because her mom cut her funds. I get that she was worried that ZJH would worry and that he would take on the role of breadwinner on his own. Judging by his response when she decided to go abroad, i dont think he would stop her from teaching had she just been transparent with him.

The ending felt rushed yet also dragged out at the same time. We were bombarded with updates on everyone during XLX's time abroad and yet nothing past the wedding between our leads. What was the point of a bug popping up during their wedding? It was like the ending was beng stretched then abruptly ended??? It felt like a useless point to me.

Overall, was disappointed in the plot. Music was meh. Main actors were great though!

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Adorable chemistry and healthy relationship

The relationship between the leads in this drama is, for the most part, so healthy and adorable — they were undoubtedly the best part and I just loved how much they communicated and trusted each other. Both the female and male leads were independent, smart, hard-working, logical...and were just overall really refreshing and natural personalities.

I admit that I do think the relationship and the plot seemed to slow down afer the ships got together, but the chemistry stayed pretty strong overall.

There are a few things that left me unsatisfied, like characters whose arcs were seemingly just dropped, characters who got no closure, or just conversations between characters that I waited for the entire drama and never got. I felt like the parental characters could've been dealt better for sure.

Overall, the drama was still an enjoyable watch and I really loved how they handled different conflicts. There was one last ditch conflict that was a little annoying because it was borne out of miscommunication and just didn't make logical sense. Although they did resolve it pretty satisfyingly and the tone of the drama was consistent, the entire thing just felt unnecessary and made me drop my rating a bit.

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Surprisingly Good

I nearly dropped this after the 1st episode, the actors are all young, acting seem a little over the top with bad dubbing, however stuck with it and fell in love with the 2 leads after a few episodes. The story is refreshing which follows them from last year of school, through university and into their workplace. They face family challenges, backstabbing, third parties trying to split them up but also form great friendships. It wasn't overly dramatic, the story didn't drag, its nice and fluffy at times and other times moving. Overall a very enjoyable drama to pass the time.

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Never expected i'll gonna like this drama or gonna give this drama such high rating. This maybe one of the most calm atmosphere drama i've watch so far. What that mean...? It doesn't mean they don't have turmoil or problem, but simply the problem isn't like a 'big wave' or they just resolve it calmly. But even though this is a calm drama, this isn't a boring drama.

I think this is the first drama that i watch where both of the main lead have very calm character, they aren't too emotional or outgoing, both main lead mainly have the same character, they don't use opposite attractive kind of relationship. But for sure both of the main lead are persistent but honest & passionate.

What i like about this drama:
+ They talk about dream. Achieving dream never about easy. The dream in here talk about 2 thing. 1 is about business, build a start up business never easy, but with friend support you can go. 2 is about love, how to finally get approval from xia lin xi (LX) mother.
+ jiang zheng han (ZH) & LX love never too passionate but we can see their love each other deeply. Xiang Han Zhi who played as LX still quite young, so they don't shoot too much affection between LX & ZH. But i'm always happy when they don't have too much affection scene, because it's actually show us love doesn't always need to be express by affection [sorry i have old school mind :)]
+ the true friend atmosphere sometime really can make us cry.
+ you always can't see the book by its cover kinda situation happen here. When LX can see past what people want to see about ZH, she saw the truth about ZH character.
+ ZH & LX both have the childhood friend that they 'abandon'. Usually just one of the couple that have childhood friend. & I Like how the way they ending the childhood friend relationship, even maybe it's a little bit cruel in one side but really a necessary action that we sometime have to do in that kind situation.
+ show us every person have dark personality in us. Like Shi Ying & Qin Yue that do stupid thing because of 'love' or jealousy. They both are what people see as very bright/brilliant people, but they also have dark moment in their heart.
+ They still remind us that our character is still students afterall. It's so funny when they already launch their company & the company is also successful, but they still back to library back to the reality that every student still have to take, named test. ^_^

The relationship between the character that I actually don't know to put this in (+)/(-) about in this drama:
• ZH & LX: It's like they love really can go trough everything even without need too communicate with each other. Like when LX have to go abroad to study for 2 year without even tell ZH, but ZH is not even angry to LX. A little bit too good to be true actually.
• Chen Yi Chuan (YC) & Gu Xiao Man (XM). Just plainly stupid. YC is really one of the most stupid character that i've watch, he is the classic stupid man who already used to with XM being around him that he refuse to admit he love her. But in my opinion what YC do to XM a little bit too unreasonable. If i were XM i'd gonna punish him more.
• Chu Qiu Yan (QY) can even forgive & married with Xu Zhi Li (ZL). If i were QY after what he did the whole time, i think i'll never gonna able to see pass that. That's a really questionable character that i can't tolerate. So when QY still working with ZH against ZL, but still being together with ZL as a couple... It's already beyond my understandable how a person can do such thing.

Overall i really enjoy this calm but mature enough drama. Re-watch: yeah maybe just some scene

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This drama was great, at least for the most part. The leads had amazing chemistry and their romance is just beautiful. I really like the idea of innocent and healthy relationships like the one showcased here working out. Both lead actors were incredible, pretty much in every way. The OTP gets together at ep12 & they stay together until the end.

In the comment section multiple people asked if this show had a love triangle and I've seen quite a few ambiguous and misleading answers. Let me address that here. Yes, this show does have a love triangle, it's not a particularly weak one either in the sense that the second ML does not give up until very late in the series and he ends up doing quite a few pretty crazy & annoying things, while staring at our heroine with his teary eyes. Despite the Triangle lasting way too long, I gotta give credit to the writers for not making it purposeless. At least the the FL never wavered(wavering is the WORST) and it was nice how his efforts were clearly and straightforwardly rejected every time, that's very unusual in Asian dramas. Some of the rejections were quite entertaining to watch too. (In fact the love triangle here kind of reminded me of One Spring Night, but it was better executed here)

One minor problem I had with the show, that there were some really unreasonable side characters, having some really dubious / cartoon villainy motivations. (Ugly Betty roommate, roommate Senior, psychotic mom) It's really difficult to justify their actions, especially Senior's, I mean why would she help Lin Xi's rival in love, how does that make any sense?

The biggie is that episodes 22 to 27(the 5 episodes preceding the finale) were somewhere in between bad and boring. It's not that I got bored with the uncontested romance, far from it. It's just that the focus shifted to internship and then the startup related stuff later & all the corporate scheming & struggle just did not do it for me. This drama is undisputedly much better than Love O2O, however the company happenings in O2O were much more entertaining and relatable.

I'm displeased with how once again the writers went with the forced separation plot during the penultimate episode. Yes they did not break up, merely ended up going long distance thanks to mom McCrazy. The whole thing doesn't last much longer than a minute either. I understand why they went with a 2 year timeskip, but the separation was uncalled for & it did not fit the drama, I don't think.

I was mostly happy with the ending, but the mini redemption arks all the villainous characters have gotten are borderline stupid.

I am likely to watch this again, the rewatch value should be quite high, since I can just skip all the BS..

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CRAAAAAAZY??

I only can say, you WON'T regret anything after watching this drama!

Finally a smart, beautiful, hard-working female lead! She literally has everything, but she didn't take anything for granted and really have a good value in her life.

The male lead, how can I say........ he's a man of his words. Very responsible and protects everything that he can protects.

The chemistry was superb!!!!! Now I can't watch their drama and the romantic scene with other actors >< oh and also I enjoyed the slow burn romance hahahaha. In this drama, they dont have too much skinship, but whenever happened it really heart warming & full of love. I can say a drama is good whenever they have not too much kissing scene to show that they're in love. But from little things they do and sacrifice for their significant other.

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