Wait My Youth (2019)

Comfort watch that put a smile on my face (esp. first 1/3)

Completed - 8/16/2022

China is excellent in churning out teen dramas. There are so many out there that it's really hard to be a standout. The reason I want to watch this is because I was looking for something light and easy. "Wait, My Youth" fits the bill perfectly.

Even with these cute teen dramas, most of them can't get away from serious topics such as bullying, tragic pasts, overbearing parents, etc. Well, you don't find any of that in this drama. "Wait, My Youth" focuses on the simple life of 5 high school friends through their high school, college and young professional life. Ep 1-9 cover the high school days, and these episodes put a big smile on my face. They are so cute and adorable. Li Jia Qi is probably the most high-school looking actress that I've seen in one of these teen dramas (even more so than Seven Tan in "With You" or "Go Ahead").

College days are also an easy breeze in the 2/3 of the drama. Nothing too dramatic and quite predictable. The fluffiest and sweetest romance happen during the college days, as you know they are not allowed to date in high school. High school is saved for bickering and picking on each other. Do not be afraid of the Love triangle tag. It's the mellowest and nicest love triangle you can find. There isn't anything annoying or evil either.

The 'sad' part of the drama happens towards about the last 4-5 episodes of the drama. Even though they are 'sad', you can totally see it coming and it's a very predictable situation. The fluffiness is reduced and real life challenges happen through these few episodes. I do think the quality of writing and editing drop off, compared to high school days.

Acting overall is just so-so. Li Jian Qi as the female lead is probably the best of the bunch. Zhao Yi Qin as our male lead is really good-looking, but his acting is somewhat bland. He actually has acted in quite a few dramas before "Wait, My Youth", more than Li Jian Qi. But his acting is not as good. If I didn't enjoy the cuteness of this drama so much, I might have complained about everyone's acting a lot more. So be warned!

Another very personal complaint I have about this drama is our female lead's hairstyles/wigs. I know many high school girls have the mushroom/bow cut, but hers is the worst I've seen. Unfortunately, the stying doesn't improve throughout the drama. Her super short college hair is the most tolerable. Who gives her such a weird long hair wig when she's a professional??? I feel bad for Li Jian Qi. She has the worst hair and costumes in this drama, and she's the female lead that carries the show.

If you are looking for a simple, cute and light watch, this is it for you. Just don't expect plot twists or amazing acting.

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This is a great coming of age drama. Although the drama could do without some clichés, the actors did a very good job delivering their characters. This drama depicts the characters and their struggles as they go from teenagers into adulthood without overly dramatic events and backstabbing issues. The individuals are connected by wonderful friendship among all the characters, with really good chemistry. The leading couple’s relationship takes time to develop, but the leading couple has good chemistry and the leading male carries the drama well. There are great moments among the leading couple, but there are some moments that the leading lady didn’t seem to be connected with her character, but overall, she did fine. The drama is entertaining. Enjoy it!

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A cute coming-of-age drama with added nostalgia of the early 2000's!

This drama is such a cute coming-of-age story
spanning from the main characters' high school days in the early 2000's
to their professional careers in 2011.

Main characters are chasing after their dreams as well as after their loved ones
And while there is this VERY MINI sad part in the middle, most of it is cute and happy (for those of you wanting a light-hearted watch)

Beware of second male lead syndrome though, some people caught it real bad (I was team First Male Lead :P)

For those of us that grew up in the 2000's-2011, this will be a nostalgic tour through:
- phones
- QQ messenger
- famous Chinese bands/singers, as well as song lyrics
- the development of music from cassette tapes to CDs to streaming platforms
I wish there was a bit more of the pop references, though XD

It's quite a good watch if you're in for some fluff and want a trip down memory lane.
Don't expect overt-sweet romance; this is a youth drama :P

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Cute but has its flaws

Overall, this was really cute and I liked the development of frenemies-to-lovers, of two people coming together because of the people they associate themselves with and not completely just due to random misunderstandings. The flow of going from high school to college to work-life was smooth as well, and I liked the feeling of slice-of-life.

At the same time, I felt like this is one of those dramas that needed to be longer; because it had to cover such a long period of characters' lives in a short time, I felt like they tried to hit that nostalgia factor and evoke the sentimentality of growing up, but there wasn't nearly enough time for me to feel that the characters were that close.

The love triangle wasn't dragged out and progressed in one direction, which was nice, but there are aspects of the romance plot that I felt could have been developed and explained better. During these periods I actually preferred the second ship's story. I definitely did not like all the side characters equally.

Something about the FL's acting or character just kind of bothered me; it's like she's always cooing to a baby or pouting, even after she grew up I felt like her personality didn't develop as much as I wanted it to.

Still, this was overall a fun watch — one that doesn't require you to think that much but still gets you to smile.

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when was the last time i enjoyed a youth drama this much? i have no idea. the fact that i don't remember tells you how much this drama has made it so memorable for me to forget about other youth dramas. sure, this drama is cliche, as most youth dramas are, but the flow of this drama and its character development was such a beautiful journey to follow. it sort of hit close to home for me because it reminds me of my own school life, especially during the high school and university era —had me feeling super sentimental!

compared to other youth dramas, i love how this one is the most realistic of them all (as of 2019, i guess). the writer doesn't glorify things just to make viewers happy. our characters go through ups and downs and they behave in certain ways because of the expectations surrounding them; this was really relatable as a viewer because i'm sure most of us have gone/or are going through our teenage years feeling the same way such as pressure, stress and other complicated feelings hard to put into words. one other aspect i love about this drama is the friendship carried by our 6 characters. when there is a conflict between them, such as between our first and second male lead, they don't use violence to add tension to the drama (which most drama does because writers love the fight scenes haha). the way they solved their problem was rational and mature and it makes you realise how having communication is very important.

same for the way the writer portrayed love. there are so many types of love in this drama and each of them was shown beautifully through the characters' journey of growth, whether it was very subtle or very obvious. my heart felt for tingting a lot, but i also admired the way she handled her problem/one-sided love. i initially thought the writer was going to turn her into some sort of annoying and bitchy character, but i was so thankful that it didn't happen because it made it more realistic for a girl her age (when she first fell in love with you-know-who after you start watching) and that sense of hope that she was feeling when they met again in beijing was just too...real (?). sigh...when you're young and naive...

i also loved mei li's character very much, especially her as a best friend. mei li's friendship with cancan is too precious. my most memorable scene of her was when she gave cancan her hair clip to make cancan look prettier because cancan's crush was walking pass. she also said that she cannot have a crush/fall in love with the same person as cancan because they are best friends. how sweet is that?! :')

the actors are quite young and still very fresh in the acting scene so do not expect the acting to be 10/10. it's not cringy though, so that's good. i quite liked li jia qi when she was in meteor garden which was the reason why i decided to give this drama a try. no regrets at all.

watch this if:
- you want something light-hearted.
- you love a drama about friendship and love.
- you like watching a character's journey of growth from high school to uni to adulthood.
- you want to take a break from side bitches lmao.
- you're usually scared/don't want to watch annoying love-triangles (this one will keep you feeling neutral about both males because the writer gives proper/mature reasons for the man our fl end up choosing. in most other dramas, our leads tend to end up together just because they're leads or they usually turn our second male lead into some evil man because they need to make him look bad so he not be accepted by the fl lead...).
- you're sick of stupid, dense and no-brain female leads. su cancan is just an average girl like most of us viewers; she has things that she is good at and things that she is bad at and she's very rational when she encounters problems + knows how to solve them by acting rationally rather than making stupid decisions.
- you're searching for a short drama. this one has only 24 eps!

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Loveable

This drama is a very good drama but I almost dropped it. I accidentally read the summary and the plot wasn't very unique. But I finished it today and actually remembered why I loved it. The friendship between some of the characters really gets me going. Xu Mei Li and Tang Xing Yi were the best couple due to the fact they could love each other without problems. But in the end, everyone got a loved one. Tianye and Cancan got engaged, Xu Mei Li and Tang Xing Yi are engaged/married, Lin Zhou got married, and Jiaze and Yating probably become a couple. There's a scene of them together that wasn't published. You can search for it or ask me for the link. This drama is very enjoyable but you need to put effort into it. The acting wasn't that great and had cringey moments but the actors themselves are very nice. If you drop this drama I wouldn't be surprised because it's just a regular school love triangle drama. I prefer Accidentally in Love over this because it has more reasons why should continue watching it. And the plot doesn't die down. The writers and producers did very well on this though. If there was a Korean version I wouldn't watch it. Off-topic but I also watched ALSB and they made a Korean version. I for one won't watch it because I just don't think remakes are better than an original. Unless it is a movie into a drama or vise versa. Anyway, that's it. Enjoy the drama!

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Not bad, not great.

This drama was very similar to A Love so beautiful, a which is a drama I just watched recently so it felt a bit repetitive.
In all actuality the only difference between the two dramas was that here the FL was crushing on the ML’s best friend, and in A Love so beautiful the FL crushes on the ML.

There were very few differences between the two dramas, maybe you could say the FL here was a bit toned down compared to the one in ALSB but just barely. Otherwise both the dramas followed the same pattern, high school led to college which led to falling in love, then a try at long distance/too busy to meet which led to an unnecessary breakup and then a reunion at the end. I don’t know who copied who and I also just can’t be bothered to check the year each was released.

I did really like the ML here, he was cute. I also liked that the ML & FL developed a proper friendship that acted as a frame work for them liking each other. But I did find the FL frustrating, but that’s a problem I have with a lot of C-dramas, the FL are mostly childish, unpractical and weak sadly.

I also want to point out whoever did the FL’ makeup during the high school years, you seriously F-ed up. She constantly looks so pale, and the concealer on her eyes, gawd, so many creases! I don’t know if it was done to make her look younger, but with that awful, I assume wig, she always looks a step away from passing out.

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Perfect!!

This drama is considered one of my favorites C-dramas. This was so heartwarming and also a great learning experience of growing up.

Story:
I was in love with the story. This drama is your typical coming-of-age drama which I'm a sucker for and enjoy a lot. It started with the high school premise of the show where we meet all the characters and how they become friends going on to college together. I enjoyed it more when they were In college but I did enjoy it when they were in high school too.

Characters:
I loved all the characters !! Su Can-Can was such a fun character to watch and you could relate to at times, which I really liked. Lan Tian Ye, I loved him !! He was just the best love interest and fell in love with Su Can-Can and there moments together I love. Esspecialy the ending i was so shocked by it. There relashiop was basically a love- hate relationship which I'm also a sucker for, The ML (Lan Tian Ye) found The FL(Su Can-Can) annoying but ended up adoring her at the end.
I also love in this drama that you fall in love with the side character too and just wish them all the happiness and their friendship with each other was so heartwarming. Even the side couple were cute and had their time to shine.

OST
My favorite song was: Further in The Distance - Allen, Wang Wenting

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Sweet

This high school drama was really sweet and inspiring.

I enjoyed the ML and his character, the FL was very natural and not over childish.

The length of the drama was just great, not draggy and not over played out, the story flowed easily. The ML was good at his character he had a level of charm with out coming pompous. The overall drama was pleasant to watch and sweet, with a happy ending.

I feel this show really let the main FL accomplish what she had set out to do, the only thing I felt she should not have made a decision for him continue to leave for abroad it was his decision and the fact that he went but was unhappy for all those years. However it all came together very nicely and happy.

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Just what I was looking for

I think My Youth was just perfect for what I was looking for hence the high overall rating. Objectively, it is not an 8 more of a 6. However, the drama worked for me. There is romance, but there is also some focus on one's dreams and friendships.

The acting is very green, but I grew to love every character which is why the rating is high. I actually wanted to know what happened to everyone, which is not an easy task for a drama. The editing can feel choppy and writing is not always smooth. The last few episodes were the most disappointing part because we needed more time with the characters as adults. It felt rushed.

**SPOILER**I think the main couple needed more time to miss and want each other. Their reunion felt too rushed, and the years they spend apart did not feel all the painful. I love angst when it is used properly, and this felt like a wasted opportunity to incorporate some. **SPOILER**

However, I did like that the ending wasn't necessarily about the couple getting together. Yes, romance is a big part of the drama, but that wasn't the only message in it. Personally, the best part for me was the friendships.

Recommended if you enjoy youth cdramas. Want something quick and easy to watch. Attractive and young cast (female lead does take some time to get used to, but I liked her in the end). Quite a lot of (slightly awkward, but still loved every moment) skinship especially for a cdrama (though I think the male lead was a bit rough in some scenes...I think that's still something cdramas overall need to improve on)

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Just a cliche and typical chinese school drama but have a better storyline compare to others. The drama start with a youth and school story but climax with some conflict. In my opinion, this drama was topping the school drama list because the main lead itself. A rascal 'gangster' looks boy with a cute innocent girl. This is actually not new in drama but this time really hit different. The most crazy things is the second lead syndrome also very strong in this drama because the both male lead and second lead are suitable for the girl eventhough both of them have different personality..

The plot is good and i love how the different story from different couple can be mix into one stroyline.. in mid of the story, there are some boring plot but as i said, there were some storyline so, it's not really focus on one thing.. many people not realize that this drama is more focusing on friendship compare with romance.. the title of the drama itself told everything about the story

you guys should give a try for this one, if you got quarantine becuase of covid-19, watch this lmao..

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Best Drama

I love the story, cast, music and everything about this drama. The way the writer portray characters and development of emotions its the best part of the story. I have watched it more than 4 times and i really can't get over it. The leads have a great chemistry. ML loved her silently and stayed by her side in the first half which shows his sincerity wonderfully. During there separation period the way he missed her n his letter that whole scenario was heart touching. I love those drams where people portray characters close to reality n shows that though love is important but pursuing your dreams is more important. So, you have to achieve your dreams just to stay happily with your loved once .

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