# Friendly Rivalry (2025)

> Two teenage girls bound by a close friendship are pulled into a brutal school competition that tests their loyalty and their willingness to lose.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/173684

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: mystery, drama
- Created by: Song Chae-yun
- Network: U+ Mobile TV
- Cast: Lee Hye-ri, Chung Su-bin, Kang Hye-won, Oh Woo-ri, Kim Tae-hun, Chae Seo-eun, Choi Young-jae, Kim Sang-ji
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35683421/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, psychological, intimate, anxious, melancholic

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, praising its intense rivalry between close friends and its psychological tension.

## Synopsis

Friendly Rivalry (2025) is a South Korean scripted mystery drama series created by Song Chae-yun for U+ Mobile TV, adapted from a webtoon and produced by YLAB and STUDIO X+U. The series follows a close friendship between teenage girls, centered on Yoo Je-yi (Lee Hye-ri) and Woo Seul-gi (Chung Su-bin), whose bond is tested inside a survival competition that proves far harsher than the entrance examinations it mirrors. Joo Ye-ri (Kang Hye-won) and Choi Gyeong (Oh Woo-ri) add pressure from the rival side, while Yoo Tae-joon (Kim Tae-hun) and Jo Ah-ra (Chae Seo-eun) widen the circle of suspicion. Each episode pairs a contest's cutthroat stakes with a quiet investigation into what really happened, so the puzzle and the personal drama keep feeding each other. Told across a single sixteen-episode season of thirty-minute episodes, the show builds a psychological, tense atmosphere in which loyalty, envy and fear of losing sit close to the surface. Its mood is intimate and anxious, with a melancholic undertow beneath the school setting. Viewers who enjoy Sky Castle's competitive academic pressure and the school-set dread of All of Us Are Dead will find resonance in its layered, character-driven unease.

## Shows like Friendly Rivalry

- [Nightmare Teacher (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59611)
- [Pyramid Game (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/145545)
- [Shadow Beauty (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/113498)
- [School 2017 (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63104)
- [Liar Game (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54916)
- [Hierarchy (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/144995)
- [Night Has Come (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/147900)
- [Summertime (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105106)
- [Revenge of Others (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/130321)
- [The Mysterious Class (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/114418)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt