The MLs in Time of Fever grew up together and develop feelings for each other in high school. They eventually separate when one of the ML goes off to college in Seoul. The continuation of their story picks up in the sequel, Unintentional Love Story.
Our Dating Sim starts very similarly. One of the MLs believes he has an unrequited love. They separate when high school ends and they meet again as adults, in the workplace.
Our Dating Sim starts very similarly. One of the MLs believes he has an unrequited love. They separate when high school ends and they meet again as adults, in the workplace.
They are both coming-of-age narratives that focus on two young people who have known each other all their lives and have a fraught relationship (are we friends, brothers, or competitors?) told in similar tones and with a similar level of simmering eroticism. Both have excellent camerawork and make interesting stylistic choices, both have convincing performances that showcase the actors' chemistry together, both are bittersweet, and both are continued in later installments of their respective franchises.
Both are about high schoolers having to confront feelings too big for them in a world too small to trellis them appropriately. The world is cruel to young love, especially young queer love. The exploration of that particular mix of confusion, elation, and fear rings true in both works. Both also deal with the added pressures of internalized and external homophobia in sensitive and realistic ways despite the relatively short runtimes. There's little hope in either production, but it's always there. There is always a fool's hope when it comes to love.
