i will never ever recommend watching this to anyone looking for a fairytale romance.
story and characters: this is a slice of life. it is about youth. a very realistic portrayal of life and love, loss and separation, reunion and complex attachments that happens to most of us. it is highly relatable to many viewers. many may not like the fl because she spent over half the drama pining for the 2ml, who was busy with his own love life. but in reality we all probably know someone like the fl and 2ml, and maybe even a toned down version of the ml. obviously guys like ml are very rare, thats why this is a drama not a documentary.
we often come across someone who is in love with their best friend but never confesses and thinks they are oblivious to their love, but in fact they choose to stay oblivious to keep a precious friendship because of their own strictly platonic feelings. so many people really cant see the good things right in front of them because their heart blinds them to only see what it wants, and its not until late that they finally realize the true worth of things. how often do we see couples breaking up because of their ex coming back? there are also couples really in love but that love isnt enough to sustain their relationship and end up in a push and pull situation, thus breaking up and patching up again and again only to have an ugly separation, and possibly leaves one of them in lifelong regret. some people find everlasting love again after a messy breakup, some people don't move on even after a long time after breakup, some people give in to their regrets but never move on from that one love, some get back with their ex partners to ultimately breakup again with them and finally find their soulmate in someone else, some fall in love and get blind to others and after a long time subconsciously grow to love someone else that they have always relied on, some only just love one person forever and silently stay by their side doing everything for them selflessly just for their happiness. some of them get their happily ever after, some don't. some get their first love as their life partner, some don't get their beloved ever. this is real youth. this is what real people go through. this is what arrti portrayed through 6 characters who grow up and mature over time. growing up means separation, people go their own ways to build their lives, down the line we reconnect with some, while some are lost permanently. also lets not forget that the premise is set in pre 2000s which progresses to early 2000s during which most of the plot happens., so communication through internet wasn't exactly the best. another important part is that, i couldn't bring myself to hate any of the characters, be it lin you or huang jun.
acting: the acting was great actually. my first time watching wang ruichang as ml and this proved that he very well deserves more ml roles. 2nd time watched hu yixuan as fl and she honestly delivered her part well.
production: i wonder where they managed to find such rural looking settings that are actually fitting of pre 2000s society. they also found some pretty scenic locations too. also that song that xiaoju sang for cheng lang was my favourite ost. overall pretty decent production.
one complain is the ending. an ending like that? awful. i get that it was a happy ending but we deserved some more scenes of that.
i am not really into youth dramas, because of mostly the airheaded fls who speak in a baby voice, rich vs poor, love triangle cliches. and i most definitely never watched a slice of life before. so i am impressed by this one as it is my first time. i regret not watching this sooner. but maybe if i had watched it before, i wouldn't have appreciated it as much as i do now, since now i understand the story on a personal level. meaningful friendships, mature characters, and a realistic storyline. overall a good watch for sure.