Wait, My Youth

"When I was a little girl, I wished I could grow up faster... become the lead actress and save the world... But when I grew up, I realized I'm just an ordinary girl. But being ordinary doesn't cause youths to lose their brilliance... if you compare youths to a song, some songs are fast. Some are slow. Some are pop songs. Some are classical songs. Some are at the top of the list. Some are not cared for... But I believe no matter what kind of song and melody they are... when sung, someone will be touched and gain a lot of strength from it. We are racing against time in our lives. How many times have we clenched our teeth wanting to sprint forward? ...Wait for a while. Please wait for a while more. Let us cherish it more, embrace it, and shine once again."

Thus concludes WMY. So what happens before the end?

First of all, Su Cancan just adores Lin Jiaze. It's been about 6 years. Why can't she get near him? She's always running into his prickly misanthropic friend, Lan Tianye. He's nothing like the cheerful, fresh-faced Lin Jiaze. Lan Tianye is downright mean.

WMY is a 2019 release that is rated 82 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 24 adorable 45-minute episodes. We meet them in middle school. Su Cancan & Lan Tianye are deskmates for 6 years. We go to college with them. Some go abroad for a stint. Grad school. Career. Some of the romances work out, some don't. Some are tested to the max.

Li Jia Qi (Liars in Love) is Su Cancan. What an adorable little urchin she is. Zhao Yi Qin (Butterflied Lover, Hard to Find) portrays Lan Tianye. His voice is delish. It's like warm butterscotch sauce over chocolate cake. I've only seen him in Accidentally in Love-6.5, a very cute show with B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but it is still fun/strangely relaxing to watch. He is one of the best things in the show. This guy is a superb romantic ML and the reason WMY is so good.

Li Ge Yang In (Blossom) Lin Jiaze, our Ashley Wilkes. He's wholesome and handsome and perhaps lacking in sex-appeal compared to our ML. Wu Shuang Yi (Run for Young) is Tao Ya Ting, the gorgeous top student & top musician. She's perfect. So perfect her female classmates loathe her. Xu Meng Yuan (Love in Between) is Su's BFF, the irrepressible and vivacious Xu Mei Li. She's loyal and true. Leo Dong (Immortality) plays Tang Xing Yi who shares a hate-to-love relationship with Mei Li. The director is Shen Qin Yuan of The Eyas.

The Romance is well above average including the kissing scenes. The ML sells this one. Su is no Scarlett O'Hara, but the two guys remind me of Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. Ashley may hang around, but he doesn't really have a chance if the exciting Rhett Butler's around.

I find it difficult to not compare this show to other Chinese teen-to-adult romances that I've seen recently. The first 10 or so modern-day Cdramas I saw were of very low quality, with stunted scripts, wooden acting, and subpar filming. (They still have their charm and are oddly relaxing, so I kept tuning in). At the same time, Chinese historical and fantasy works were superior - some of the world's best. It was almost like China, a country that lags well behind in the area of freedom of expression, didn't know how people should behave in the current day. They seem to have gotten the feedback. All of a sudden, their modern-day features have improved dramatically. Cdrama or otherwise, WMY is one of the best youthful romances I've seen, along with A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5. Both of them don't have alot of room for improvement. They are the full package with likable characters, good scripting, directing and acting, solid romance and plenty of flutters in the stomach. They feature tension and drama. Two other excellent romances are When I Fly Towards You-7.8 and Hidden Love-7.8. Both of them are as cute as cute gets, yet they both lack complexity and tension. That can be a good thing for times when the anxiety is up: Such shows can be better than Valium. But these shows have a lower degree of difficulty. They are flatter road than WMY and ALTCFL which have higher highs and lower lows. Regardless, all 4 features are worth a romantiphile's time. For the even more devoted romantiholic, some other shows that might resonate are: You Are My Destiny 6.8 (cute, sweet and 1/2 padding); Put Your Head on My Shoulder-7.3 (with the first half at 8+ and then a big drop off in the second half which is a 6); Meteor Garden-7.4 (70% flowing 30% dragging, and Boys Over Flowers is better); and I Hear You-7.3 (so cute but with many flaws).

One reason the romance works so well is that, regardless of how oblivious Su Cancan is, Lan Tianye is focused on her. He is very attentive and patient. He's thoughtful & kind. He's very attracted to her. And he's gorgeous every moment he's doing all of that. It's all swoonworthy. Su Cancan may not be the most beautiful girl, but she's the cutest cutie. She has a comfortable warmth that draws a person in. It feels authentic that boys would be attracted to her.

The music is quite good. Find Your Way Home was the one title I caught. Most had no English titles available.

Another recent change in Cdramas is the shout outs to Kdramas, which must be huge in China. Shows from 2019 forward frequently make reference to watching Kdramas. WMY is no different. A couple characters mention Kdramas with affection. It seems to me that China is tipping its hat to the party that motivated their improvement the most.

In WMY, we all benefit from that!

〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.3 📝8 🎭8.4 💓7.5 🦋7 🎨6.5 🎵/🔊8 🔚8 ▪ 🌞6 ⚡3 😅3.5 😭4 😱1 😯3.5 🤢1 🤔3.5 💤0

Age 13+ Language: rare PG-13 words- @$$, $h!+

Re-📺? For sure!

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

💓 - C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine; Find Yourself 8.9; The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8; The Sleepless Princess 9.1 K🇰🇷 : A Witch's Love 7.8; Love To Hate You 8.9; Touch Your Heart 8.2; Crash Landing On You 9.1; Oh My Ghost 10; It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9; Hospital Playlist 9; My Mister 9.5;

🎎 - C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4, Under the Power 8.6, The Rebel Princess 9.1, The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style), The Rise of Phoenixes 9

🔮🐉- C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9; Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5; Douluo Continent 9.4; Handsome Siblings 8.7; Eternal Love 8.3, Ancient Love Poetry 8.6; Love and Redemption 10.