Part of the reason why I love Search WWW so much. The friendships between Bae ta mi (BTM), Song ga Kyung (SGK), and Cha Hyun (CH)are just so good. BTM and SGK went from friends to enemies to reluctant allies. BTM and CH went from enemies to besties. Let's not forget SGK and CH, who never stopped being friends despite everything.

Another example is the five leads in Mr. Sunshine. The three male leads and their reluctant friendship formed by constantly "accidentally" meeting at the same pub. Or even the two female leads whose camaraderie started with a fight.

Of course, I agree with the author's AOS, 25-21, and MDBS examples.

Enemies to friends. Friends to enemies. And everything in between. *sigh.

P.S.: I wouldn't mind a few recommendations.

I just finished Ireland and liked how the characters respected and cared for each other even when they were at romantic cross purposes. Same for the show's predecessor, Ruler of Your Own World. Coffee Prince was my first drama with good friends, let's be friends, and collegial colleagues.

Thanks @mistyisles for a great post. So many key relationships mentioned and so many to put on the roll call: The crew in Prison Playbook who end up winning people over Ddolmani and Captain Yoo who were hard nuts to crack but they became embedded eventually. The Go back couple uni friends who kept in touch even as adults with marriage problems. Let’s eat three the Uni years enduring the various student housing nightmares, and stress of assignments during those years studying. Reply 1988, Hospital Playlist, Be Melodramatic, Crash landing on you, I will go to you when the weather is fine, Fight for my way and Weightlifting Fairy all these friendships continued as they transition from students to adulthood. There a few where we see it in the parents’ generation in Hospital Playlist, Reply 1988, Dear my friends, Home town cha, cha, cha. I love this element of K dramas and most of the dramas I like have a group of friends who support each other through the tough times. Even dramas that have not worked out as hoped had a solid friendship group holding it up like Mental Coach Jegal and the Why Her law students/detectives.

Bridal Mask is an excellent example of bromance turned vendetta.
My Country is another one.

This scene in Moonlight! He found a way to save both the FL and the ML but put himself in danger 😭

Love All Play : the both male leads are a badminton player and started as ennemy but ended to be friend.

Mad Dog : the relationship between Yoo Ji-Tae and Woo Do-Hwan was so complicated. They were ennemy until YJT understand they were on the same side.

My Country : stabby couple 😥

I hate to play devil's advocate on a commentary about camaraderie, but I can't help but disagree in certain instances. I hate being a victim of anything, but as someone who has been backed into a corner in my life from bad forced relationships of various types, I respectfully disagree. Of course, there are good outcomes from dramaland, but anything forced makes me recoil in the real world.

These instances in KDramas are great for those specific instances, but I don't live in KDramas so am having a hard time advocating this concept. That being said, I'm always happy with good positive camaraderie in general, especially if they develop naturally.

K-dramas have a knack for creating magnetic, meaningful relationships, and I don’t just mean romantic relationships, either. In fact, sometimes the most compelling K-drama relationships are friendships or familial bonds.

Masters. They are simply masters at this. This is why I am still drawn to them as strongly as I was 15 years ago. The relationships they create are so complex, so heart-peircing, so tangible. The first thing that captures me in any show, good or bad, is the relationships.

Ah yes, Hee-do and Yu-rin, my favorite enemies-to-lovers stories in dramaland.

I've racked my head. A good number of my drama watches have them butting heads right at the beginning and it's bordering on the line of camaraderie. After careful racking and sorting and reflections, I kinda enjoyed the following, whether or not they butt heads to get to where they ended up.

Hospital Playlist - And it's not just our 5 professors. Down to the residents, they had it in action and it was dang good to see.

Through the Darkness - Song Ha-young and Team Leader Yoon Tae-gu. Respects. Solid respects.

Law School - I don't know why it's making my list but it sure struck a cord.
Would You Like a Cup of Coffee - I fondly remember the tense friction between enthusiastic coffee barista in-training and his ready-to-frustrate well-meaning teacher.

Taxi Driver - My trauma for this one aside, Kim Do-gi and Prosecutor Kang Ha-na most surely were oil and water in all definitions of it. Their job descriptions alone is enough to tell you they are moon and sun. They both loved justice, but had different ways of approaching it. I happened to stop watching at the point where I learnt the two began to working together thanks to a tragedy.

Gwangaetto - Sagal Hyeon butt heads with every single one of the king's generals, including the king. It was a nice journey watching them both tear down and sort out thier differences and doubts. Who'd doubt you after you singlehandedly besiege a fortress? It was a journey to get to that point nonetheless.
Gwangaetto is all about the camaraderie journey as a side theme from start to finish, it doesn't end with just one character. If you have the patience of 93 episodes, you know what to expect to enjoy.

This was a great write up. I want to add it is easier for kdramas to do this because they are usually 16 episodes and done. That being said 2521 and School 2013 are wonderful examples of this. So much angst and love.

A movie not drama, but: Confidential Assignment! Typical buddy cop arc, but in the hands of Yoo Haejin as a South Korean detective and Hyun Bin as a North Korean detective, it was so satisfying.

I haven’t watched the sequel for fear of that tension being missing, with them fully buddies at the end of the first movie.

From enemies to reluctant bromance fighting the same enemy in Chief Kim is my absolute favourite team-up. Kim Sung-ryung and Seo Yul. How I envy those who still have this drama to experience for the first time.

Forest of Secrets. Shi-Mok and Yeo-Jin form such an unlikely, endearing friendship! For one thing, they are on opposing sides of the police vs. prosecutor power struggle. And then there’s Shi-Mok’s total absence of interpersonal skills. His personality intimidates, baffles, and alienates his colleagues, but Yeo-Jin treats him like a “regular guy” who happens to have a few odd quirks. She shows him that—despite the brain surgery he believes destroyed his capacity for emotion and empathy—he’s still capable of some very human feelings. (I completely cracked up at those hilarious drawings she gave him of his facial expressions!) It was hilarious watching him looking in the mirror and trying to smile, and so gratifying later when he unconsciously flashes a real grin at Yeo-Jin.

It’s fairly unusual to see platonic male-female relationships in K-dramas. I loved that the writers did not try to force a romantic angle on Yeo-Jin and Shi-Mok’s story arc, which would have been completely out of character for both of them. Instead, they gave us a memorable friendship based on trust, respect, and understanding.

Just thought of another one: Ghost Doctor. Arrogant surgeon falls into a coma, but discovers he can enter the body of a resident he can’t stand. The squabbling duo are forced to work together to save patients’ lives and also try to find out who’s responsible for the (non)accident that put the surgeon in a coma. Rain and Kim Bum had great chemistry—their enemies-to-friends bromance was far and away the best thing about the show!

Beyond Evil was one of the best examples of it in dramaland - both recently and overall. Do yourself a favor and watch it if you didn't already since I suspect we'll have to wait quite a bit before something equally impressive shows up.

Ahhhh yes! I had School 2013 in mind and lo behold, it made the cut with a pic and a mention. My favorite classic besties to enemies to besties again. If only i had the patience to rewatch it 😅

2 movies came to mind: Along with the Gods 1 and 2. Oh my heart, that backstory!!!

I was thinking the leads of Brain Works fit into this category.
Geum Myung Se and Shin Ha Ru are a bickering comedic duo and even come to blows a few times.
Ha Ru couldn't even believe Myung Se was a genuinely good guy or that he was friends with him until he saw brain scans.
Myung Se is often awed by the doctor's intelligence and perspective while also being frustrated with his condescension and cold manner.