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Friendly Rivalry
2025 South Korean television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Friendly Rivalry (Korean: 선의의 경쟁) is a South Korean teen mystery thriller television series based on the webtoon of the same name by Song Chae-yoon and Shim Jae-young, starring Lee Hye-ri, Chung Su-bin, Kang Hye-won, and Oh Woo-ri. It was released on U+ Mobile TV from February 10, to March 6, 2025, every Monday to Thursday at 00:00 (KST).[2][3]
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Plot
Woo Seul-gi, a girl who grew up in an orphanage after getting lost during a school trip as a child, transfers to Chaehwa Girls' High School, one of the top 1% in South Korea. While facing a cutthroat college entrance exam competition, she gets entangled in the mystery surrounding the suspicious death of her father, who was a member of the CSAT committee.[4]
Cast
Main
- Lee Hye-ri as Yoo Jae-yi[5]
- Chung Su-bin as Woo Seul-gi[5]
- Kang Hye-won as Joo Ye-ri[5]
- Oh Woo-ri as Choi Kyung[5]
Supporting
- Choi Young-jae as Nam Byeong-jin[6]
- Kim Tae-hoon as Yoo Tae-joon[6]
- Chae Seo-eun as Jo A-ra[7]
- Kim Sang-ji as Kim Bum-soo[8]
- Na Hyun-jin as Goo Chae-ryung
- Chu Ye-jin as Yoo Je-na
- Han Lee-ie as Lee Si-woo
- Ma Hyeon-ji as Park Byung-hee
- Go Da-hyun as Kim Na-ri[9]
Production
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Development
The series was planned by Studio X+U and produced by Ylab Plex and Studio X+U.[10] It is a dramatization of the webtoon of the same name written by Song Chae-yoon, illustrated by Shim Jae-young and produced by Ylab,[11] and, compared to the original work, it added the mystery surrounding Woo Do-hyuk's death.[12]
Friendly Rivalry was directed by Kim Tae-hee, who co-wrote the script together with Min Ye-ji.[13] At the series' press conference, Kim stated that she accepted the offer to direct it immediately when she was first asked to write the script in 2021[14] because, "First, there was no good person among the characters, and second, the fact that there were a lot of women was appealing."[10] She also thought that it would be fun to picture "these slightly crazy girls, each hiding their own secrets, engaging in a bloody competition and alternatively becoming friends or enemies."[10] As for the script, Kim said that she wanted the drama to be persuasive to the viewers and hoped that the characters would be ultimately understandable,[10] stating "Our work is a story about everyone who has not learned how to lose in a society that only teaches how to win. If you know that there's definitely a next chapter in life even if you fall and fail, you just have to dust yourself off and get back up and start your own race again. I wrote and directed with the hope that Jae-yi, Seul-gi, Ye-ri, and Kyung will know that the true competition in life begins from that moment."[15] During the four years of development, the director met with female high school students, and consulted with psychiatrists and teachers.[14]
Friendly Rivalry was given a youth viewing restriction.[16] Director Kim Tae-hee stated that they had in mind from the beginning that it was not intended for teenagers because they wanted to reflect reality.[10] As for the same-sex kiss scene with co-star Chung Su-bin, Lee Hye-ri commented that she wasn't worried because she thought it could clearly show the two characters' conflicts and obsessions.[10]
Casting and filming
![Thumb](#/media/File:"Friendly_Rivalry"_cast_at_the_drama_presscon,_6_February_2025_07.png)
On July 23, 2024, Studio X+U announced that Lee Hye-ri, Chung Su-bin, Kang Hye-won, and Oh Woo-ri would work together to tell the story of high school girls.[17] On July 24, Andbut Company stated that Choi Young-jae had been cast for the series.[18]
Lee Hye-ri stars as Yoo Jae-yi, the top student of Chaehwa Girls' High School and a hospital director's daughter. When questioned about the reasons behind her decision to take on a role that involved smoking and a same-sex kissing scene, she said that, despite being burdensome in some ways, she really wanted to participate, explaining: "When I looked into the story, I thought that there were parts that could only be understood when you are in your late 20s. That's why I took courage regardless of my age. It's not easy to participate in a school drama as time goes by, so I became even greedier."[10] She also added that Jae-yi was starkly different from her previous, warm and smiling roles.[10] Chung Su-bin said that she auditioned because it was a scenario never seen before in Korea that broke away from the framework of existing dramas.[10] Kang Hye-won shared that she had found the "girl thriller" genre attractive and interesting, with Oh Woo-ri adding that the charm of each character was the most important part.[10]
Filming started in August 2024;[19] as of October, more than half was done.[20]
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Original soundtrack
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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Reception
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Before release, Friendly Rivalry garnered attention due to an effective promotional campaign and word of mouth.[21] As soon as the first episode was released on February 10, 2025, the series took first place in number of views, number of viewers and number of new viewers among U+ Mobile TV and U+ TV original works,[21] and continued to top the charts for three weeks.[22] It was released simultaneously in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, achieving good results:[15] in Japan, it ranked first among Asian dramas on Hulu, and first among Korean dramas on Abema and Watcha, while in Taiwan, it ranked first on OTT Friday and second on the drama chart on IQIYI.[23] Due to domestic viewers' requests to make the series available on more accessible platforms, it was subsequently released on TVING in March and in approximately 190 countries around the world through Rakuten Viki.[22]
Friendly Rivalry was also popular in China, where it wasn't officially released due to the Korean Wave contents ban: it recorded over 68,000 fans on the overseas drama section of Weibo, and posts on Xiaohongshu analizing the relationships between the characters and their psychology received thousands of likes.[22] Kim Heon-sik, a popular culture critic, listed the suspicious deaths and drug problems amidst the college entrance exam competition, and the atypical GL romance, as the reasons behind its popularity.[22]
It received favorable reviews for the unique setting and characters, suspenseful storyline, fast-paced development, fresh and unique directing, and acting,[15][21] with some considering it a turning point in Lee Hye-ri's career and her life's character.[24] Yoo Jung-min of iMBC praised the combination between a densely composed story and sensual directing, stating that the relationships between the characters, which cross friendship and solidarity, trust and suspicion, admiration and jealousy, left a strong impression, expecting it "to be remembered by viewers for a long time as a well-made genre piece where everything was perfect."[24] In her review of the first four episodes, Xportsnews Jung Min-kyung stated that, although the work was intended as a "mystery girl thriller," they focused more on Woo Seul-gi's subtle emotional changes towards Yoo Jae-yi, with many elements that, to viewers, felt closer to GL;[12] on the other hand, reporter Ha Kyung-heon of Sports Kyunghyang felt that it wasn't a queer story, but not a thriller yet.[25] Ize commented that, unlike the original work, which focused on friendship and growth, the drama focused on fierce competition and tense narratives, highlighting the minor character of Woo Seul-gi's father and developing the story into a more three-dimensional one by strengthening the mysterious elements of medical accidents and suspicious deaths. It also noted that the characters were reborn into more realistic ones thanks to a more complex background and motivation, and praised the acting performances.[26]
Pierce Conran of the South China Morning Post rated Friendly Rivalry 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing "The kinetic energy derived from all the emotional fireworks drives a show that is electrically staged and rhythmically edited. It should be said, however, that while the series thrives on mystery, it has a habit of running out of steam after its many reveals ... After a very strong start, Friendly Rivalry delves deeper and deeper into a mess of drugs, medical malpractice and exam cheating, but more often than not these prove to be distractions from the show’s greatest assets – its characterisations and the titular relationship between its leads."[27] According to Elle Vietnam, the series' story is both realistic and dramatic, and makes the audience ponder the price of success in a society that values achievements while also being a story about the journey of maturity, where young people are pushed into confrontation before they have time to understand the true value of life.[28] The Midgard Times called Friendly Rivalry "a masterclass in cinematic storytelling," a disorienting and unpredictable drama "[that] thrives not on clean resolutions but on the chaos of its characters’ choices," and rated it 7 out of 10.[29]
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References
External links
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