My Calorie Boy (2022)

Exceeded expectation

I started this drama with no expectations at all. It turned out to be one of the few dramas I didn’t drop and watched till the end.

The main leads have amazing chemistry!! First time watching ML and I was very impressed by his acting and micro expressions (plus point he is sooo good looking and a cutie :P). I hope he will get more main roles in the future.

The supporting roles (classmates, ML father, FL parents, teachers) are great too. I love that the story didn’t only focus on the main leads and touched on other character’s story (i.e. teachers and classmates). Overall, a drama worth watching and (somewhat) satisfying ending,

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Calories Not Required--Good Youth Drama

Wish this had a different title because that was only the starting portion of the series. This was a good youth drama; I've only seen the ML in one other drama as a supporting character but have never seen the rest of the cast, however I was interested in the plot and for the most part it didn't disappoint.

Pros: Great storyline overall with characters lives interweaving between school and home. Everything was believable and each character evolved properly. Not one was perfect, they were flawed human beings but it wouldn't have been believable otherwise. I really liked both ML and FL's bond as well as their unwavering belief in each other and their friends. How their little group formed, started with 2 girls liking the same completely oblivious to the female population guy and the way that turned around. Also really liked that the parents of the little group were just as flawed in their decisions if not psychotic (XJJ x2's mom with the knife incident; no idea why she wasn't shown seeking out mental treatment for that). Teachers were shown to be just as human with faults like their students. Everything from eating disorders, depression, one track minded parents, quitting school to help family, bullying, sabotage, cramming for exams, cheating; standing up for themselves, each other, and their teachers. It was basically normal high school with a few extra things.

Whether hard times or not, they banded together and helped one another even if it was in a backwards way. But that's what made it so believable and funny, because it was real teenage lives as they moved from 11th grade through 12th grade and into taking their college entrance exams to decide what they wanted to do with their lives. Parents and their relationships plus fights, parties, togetherness. This series had it all. It's an underrated little gem that should be watched. The OSTs fit exactly as they should.

Cons: Mainly, I had problems with the editing. Especially towards the end, it really wasn't believable to me that the trope they used to separate the leads would start with all parents of ML and FL making FL keep that secret about his dad being sick. Here they're preaching that kids need to relax before the college entrance exams and you saddle her with this? She's not an adult; I'm surprised she didn't have a breakdown. That was the most unrealistic.

Also, a bit too much propaganda was chucked in rather randomly and was very unnecessary. Like let's not shove the indoctrination of youth in this nice and easy series.

Lastly, the last episode was beyond bizarre. How does that time lapse happen without any warning? At least write it on the screen that XYZ years have passed; instead it went from her getting her score from the exam and yelling on a bridge to waking up in her own apartment with a job at a design firm; it was a total whiplash. No smooth transition whatsoever. And the reason they had to keep the leads arguing for more then half of the episode is over an internet misunderstanding that he thought she was dating someone else while in college and so he blocked her? What even? HE happened in the last 3 minutes but so much was missing; many scenes including both of them in college, the painting she made for him that she never gave him. In the beginning of the series she did a lot of shrieking instead of talking that it made me almost drop the series but I'm glad I didn't. They need to stop writing FL's as these shrill voiced kids. In any case, editing in the final 3 episodes seemed to be really poorly executed and that's what I had the largest problem with.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it's really a great youth drama. Take away from the editing at the end and I would definitely still watch this again.

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You got a friend in me! Together ewe can!

I also came in with no expectations at all! This is by far the best school genre drama! Definitely a must watch!

Female lead Xu Jing Jing always has gotten the worst scores in the class, because of this she has little self esteem. However she is really good at judo/taekwondon and drawing. She has a loveable and brave personality. Male lead Kang jia wei is a obese, smart , straight A student. Xu jing Jing tries to help Kang jia wei lose weight and Kang Jia Wei helps with Xu Jing jing's test scores.
XJJ likes the straight A student Gao Zhan and kang Jia wei likes the Xu Jing JIng ( another girl in the class that isnt the female lead)

Together they grow through a lot! like losing weight, getting better scores, improving self esteem, re- establish relationships, fighting for dreams , I really like the fact that the story develops not just between the two but in their classroom. I also liked that they supported each other in their lowest times and their classmate's lowest times.

The relationship of the leads are so good! Such great chemistry. I was starting to think there would be no kissing in the drama , but im glad in happened in the end! Even thought hardly any kissing but there are still those moments of heartbreak and heart strings pulled.

So Good! pleasantly surprised by this drama

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amazing show w/ organic development of a strong friendship (to lovers) BUT with lazy & rushed ending

let's start with the tropes: #friendstolovers #slowburn #inlovewithotherpeople #themvstheworld #bickeringcouple #soulmates #eatingdisorder

this is probably the best youth show to come out this year. it is the most realistic and well-done representation of two people becoming best friends in the most organic way possible. you don't see this a lot, but this show really gives you true friendship without there ever being any romance involved at all (at first). the show has a really interesting narrative structure. it's such a unique experience to watch two people become acquainted, become close friends, and gradually care for & fall for each other in what almost feels like real time. the feelings that are portrayed appear more genuine as a result. i just felt like Kang Jia Wei and Xu Jing Jing's relationship was so sincere and innocent, that their connection was so strong and unbreakable, that they could overcome anything.

some plot lines did bore me, especially around the middle of the show. i didn't like that Kang Jia Wei realized his feelings for Xu Jing Jing way before she did so he kinda had to hang around her and Gao Zhan like a third wheel. those few episodes were tough to get through cause it sometimes felt like she didn't care about him or that their relationship had changed in nature. there were also a lot of times the show wasted screen time with irrelevant and quite boring plotlines regarding the side characters. seeing as the ending was rushed and lazy, i can't not think that those scenes were wasted.

i love Chinese dramas because they are often long and involve slow-burn relationships. if you like watching a relationship's development more than watching two people quickly become a couple and have intimate scenes every second, this show is for you. it's also important to mention that this is a Chinese high-school drama so the main couple doesn't really have skinship or intimate scenes like that. in fact, they only hugged like 2 times and there was one kiss at the very end of the show. but the development is so worth it.

in the end, i loved this show and i binge-watched it in like 3 days so clearly, i wasn't bored or turned off at any moment. however, the ending didn't do this show justice and damn near ruined a great show. i just wish that drama writers can get a grip and not be scared to actually resolve problems in their writing instead of using time jumps as a bandaid and hoping that will confuse things enough to justify whatever ending they choose to portray.

also very important is the fact that the main leads had insane chemistry. the kind i haven't seen in a long time. the scenes where they were bickering, reconciling, fighting, or being playful were all executed so well because the actors simply had great chemistry (and they are good actors obviously). they did it all. props to Zhai Zi Lu & Dai Lu Wa.

THE REST OF THIS REVIEW IS JUST MY RANT RE: THE ENDING -- don't read if you don't want spoilers

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the ending was lazy and rushed. i loved this show and the slow progression of the relationship between the main couple but they spent 29 episodes focusing on irrelevant plot points re: the side characters. Kang Jia Wei had the right to be mad at Xu Jing Jing for keeping his dad’s illness from him. he was really hurtful but i understood his perspective. i get that he just couldn’t face her for a while without thinking about what happened. but for how long? certainly not 4 years.

he fully abandons her, leaves the country, returns her gifts, returns his memories, half-ass apologizes in a letter, saying he doesn’t have the courage to face her even though he understands where she was coming from now and that he probably would have done the same thing for her. he leaves behind Xu Jing Jing, who is paying such a huge price for doing something she was basically forced to do. she loses her best friend before university exams. she still blames herself after 4 years because things never got settled. she still hasn’t moved on. she’s still waking up from dreams where he comes back to her. she still lives thinking that the perception of her is permanently altered in the mind of her best friend and that she will never live down the mistake of keeping the word she gave to a dying man. and then, what do they do?

Kang Jia Wei decides to come back to China on his own time. decides that things should go back to normal now. decides that it would be perfectly appropriate for him to face his former best friend who he abandoned, blocked, and never contacted for 4 years. i just can’t accept the fact that he blocked her lmao. you were so mad at her that you blocked her from communicating with you, not caring she might’ve been in need, or hurt, or just missing you? he didn’t just let her go, he also prevented her from being able to rely on his presence.

the ending is just so rushed and stupid that it pisses me off because this was such a great show. you can’t tell me i watched these two people become best friends in the most organic way i have ever seen on TV for them to do this shit at the end.
it’s annoying that with the way they ended it, we’re supposed to watch Kang Jia Wei have the audacity to come back, and pretend like he can be jealous of Xu Jing Jing, like he gets to care about her after not saying a word for 4 years. it’s just disingenuous and unlike him. i don't know. then he says, we can’t change the past but what do we do about the present? well, it’s not that simple. and his lame ass excuse doesn’t fix anything. i just think these two had such a strong bond that neither party would ever let this happen. i hate it when endings suck.

i thought the very ending scene was meaningful. it felt like they were given the chance to go back in time and fix their mistakes and give themselves a happy ending. but the thing is, it’s not real. they didn’t really fix anything. it’s just a bandaid. finally, i want to say that it was very disappointing that we never got to see them as a couple, doing couple things, & being in love. still, i’m happy to have watched their friendship blossom despite the underwhelming ending. it was just too stupid to accept as a “meh” ending.

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Amazing Leads Chemistry & Friends-to-Lovers, but disappointing formulaic ending

Subjective Rating - 8.75 rounding up to 9.0 because I love the leads so much.
Objective Rating - 8.0-8.5

It’s really unfortunate that “My Calorie Boy” does not have a better title, otherwise, it would be a lot more popular. I actually hesitated to watch it due to the title, but decided to check it out because of Zhai Zi Lu, who plays the main lead. This drama has the best friends-to-lovers plotline I’ve seen in a teen drama, or any drama.

What I Like:

1. Friends-to-Lovers: This is a very common and popular trope in high school dramas. What’s different in “My Calorie Boy” is that we have two main characters with very similar personalities and you can totally see them as best friends. They are both helpful, friendly, cheerful, sarcastic and funny. Oftentimes, in high school dramas, you would get a cold, genius lead matched with an overly positive and optimistic lead, or a tomboy. Kang Jia Wei (ML) and Xu Jing Jing (FL) might have started their friendship due to a misfortunate event, but we do not have dragged out misunderstanding. They actually become fast friends and help each other out. Their feelings developed slowly and realistically.

2. Main leads chemistry: They are just so fun to watch and I love every scene they are in. Zhai Zi Lu and Dai Lu Wa are so well casted in this drama. I love their bickering but also how honest they are with each other. They might not always agree with each other, and might say some hurtful words when angry. However, they are not afraid to apologize. They really have a very healthy relationship for 99% of the drama. I love the little things that they do for each other, with feelings that couldn’t be verbalized. I love some of the jealous moments, too. They are cute and not over-the-top.

3. Zhai Zi Lu/Kang Jia Wei - I finished watching Zhai Zi Lu in the historical drama “Lost Track of Time” not too long, and was really not very impressed with his acting. His character in that drama is a walking green flag, but his acting was too subdued. I am glad to see him in this drama. His acting is so much better. He is more animated in many of the fun scenes, yet he also did extremely well in the emotional scenes in the last third of the drama. His loving gazes and knowing smiles at FL melt my heart. His character, Kang Jia Wei, is almost a 100% walking green flag except for the last few episodes. What a shame. I love that though he is overweight, he does not have low self-esteem, and has such a friendly and outgoing personality.

4. Dai Lu Wa/Xu Jing Jing - Dai Lu Wa is fun to watch. Her character, Xu Jing Jing, is easy to root for. She’s friendly, helpful and caring. She is smart and independent, and honest with her feelings. She is so adorable! Her Taekwondo moves might not be very convincing, but I appreciate seeing an actress who plays an athlete that is not so skinny. DLW’s acting has come a long way since I first saw her in “Cross Fire”. Her character reminds me of her other role in “Love Crossed”.

5. Acting - The acting overall in this drama is pretty good. There are a couple weak links, e.g. the PE teacher. But overall, the main supporting cast remind me of high school students, and not adults pretending to be students.

6. Supporting Cast - We have a very lovable supporting cast with great friendship. There might be a third wheel here and there, but no one is annoying. The second male lead is awkwardly cute. I am glad he is not the usual cold/arrogant 2ML. He’s just…mm.. Not good with anything other than his studies and his interests. But when he finally recognizes his feelings, he becomes really adorkable. 2FL might have a storyline that’s quite typical and predictable in a way. But I am glad she’s not an evil, jealous, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer 2FL. The other minor supporting characters have their own small plotlines but do not take away too much time from the main leads.

7. FL’s parents and ML’s father - Love them!!!! So great to see supportive parents. FL’s parents are hilarious. We can see where FL gets her personality. ML’s father is less crazy but still very understanding and supportive. I enjoy watching him give advice to ML, especially the cryptic conversation they have about love

8. Actors own voices - I believe everyone was using their own voices in this drama. I also enjoy hearing a lot of live recording, instead of post production dubbing. This is especially true for many of the main lead’s scenes, especially the emotional ones.


What I have Mixed Feelings and Don’t Like:

1. Last 5 episodes of the drama - When FL was asked to keep a certain secret, I knew where this was going and was dreading it. The uniqueness of this drama goes down the drain when I could see from a mile away how and when the leads might get together in the last episodes. It’s very unfortunate that the ending is so formulaic, just like many other high school dramas. The editing also seems off. The transition from scene to scene was rough, and it seems like some scenes were cut out. Is it due to censorship or budget constraints? I am not sure.

2. Always that one parent - You know, the one that forces their dreams on their children? Yes, we have one of those parents here. The one that complains about how much they sacrifice for their children’s education/future and won’t let their children follow their dreams? Yes, we have one of those parents here.

3. Lack of fluffiness - Well, as much as I love the leads and their chemistry, from a romance standpoint, “My Calorie Boy” is lacking romance and fluffiness. I wish the ending episode was not so rushed and gives us more romantic scenes. Unfortunately, this follows the script of many other similar dramas. These dramas only give us a few minutes of happiness in the end.

Overall, if you are interested in a high school drama with good acting and amazing leads chemistry, I strongly recommend this. The first ⅔ of the drama is excellent. I do wish there are more teen dramas that are not so focused on exams (aside from “Summer Again” which I strongly recommend).

Other Random Observations:
1. No Taekwondo gear and protection when FL and 2ML are fighting??
2. Best product placement - Integrated frozen meals into the plot lines of FL’s mom bad cooking and ML’s need for food.
3. The fat suit is quite believable
4. Weight Loss is a difficult plot to please watchers. I think it did OK here.



Completed: 1/4/2023

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Worth watching without last 2 episodes

This is a school drama, very interesting and slow pace, usual problems that youth experience. Dreams, mocks, exams, we can do everything attitude and ultimate goal to get into university. The actors are really nice, not stupid FL and playing very well. Relationships and friendships are fun, lots of things to learn, the dialogues are quite good. Parents children relationships and situations through teenage years which are common in our life are described and showed well, some toxic ones, some good ones. Is more of the friendship drama than love story.
The story overall is written very good, but the last too episodes is like a different thing which made the ending cliche. She was wrong a little bit, but if he was in her place, probably will do the same thing for her. He is gone away, came back after 4 years and in the last 10 minutes everything was forgotten. The excuse was so cheap that made me to write this review and mark this drama from 9 to 7. In 4 years the misunderstanding he had is just absolutely stupid. He found all her friends quickly after 4 years and during those freaking years he couldn't ask them the question about her boyfriend???? Really in the era of high technology, where she has updates on whatever social media. He blocked her, but not viceversa. Also the thing that he came back, and guess what he needs the house decorated with her company of course. Shouldn't he come first and talk to her like adults, explain the studpid excuse and not playing this kind of cliche games. I know this is a drama, but i had to say my rant, as i invested a lot of time in time, as i quite liked it.

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Exceeded Expectations

Just saw one of the reviews but I totally agree that this drama did exceed expectations. I started watching this drama because it was one of the few current cdramas that caught my attention (because it was a school drama and I tend to like school dramas a lot). I continued watching this drama because it was a very light and easy drama to watch, but totally did not expect the storyline to be this good.. not just the main storyline but I loved how it touched upon the side characters a lot too! Only one disappointing aspect to this drama is that I wish it was a little bit longer like 2 more episodes at least .. because I really want to see more romantic, lovey-dovey scenes of the leads.. but I guess this ending was good too; at the very least they did give us the small kiss at the end so it somewhat did complete the drama.

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Started off different before ending up as a mishmash of other school dramas

OVERALL RATING>: 7.8/10

Watched this drama with some expectations seeing that the rating was pretty high (for school dramas). At the end I felt like I didn’t watch anything very new though. I then realised why - this show is a mix of different storylines from different school dramas.

I actually quite liked the fresh approach it was going for initially - a boy who has eating disorders and is therefore quite chubby. That started off pretty well and pretty cutely. However, the male lead only stayed chubby for about 5 episodes before he changed into a suave and good-looking ML. It was also like his personality completely changed and he became immediately confident. I did like that the female lead was quite strong and not babyish. She held her ground and grew throughout the show.

I thought the show was a bit too long - this should have been wrapped up in about 20-24 episodes at most, but there was too much filler.

As I mentioned earlier, this wasn’t anything very different from other school dramas. The FL proving that she hadn’t copied during an exam is exactly the same as in Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me. The fast forward to the future at the end of the show reminded me of both With You and A Love So Beautiful. The friendship between the leads reminded me of those two dramas as well. However, in My Calorie Boy, the ending came out from absolutely nowhere. The last 4 episodes of the show were a letdown, but particularly the last episode. The ML shows up all of a sudden and feels entitled to step back into the FL’s life after ghosting her for so many years. He shows up at her workplace, and doesn’t even care to ask if she has moved on. He comes in with the full entitlement that she will just forget everything that happened prior to that. And let’s not even talk about the last few minutes where they kiss in front of everyone. It was just so random. Although many people were upset with the ending of With You, the ML didn’t just show up expecting the FL to accept him. He had such a low opinion of himself that he didn’t want to burden her. She was the one who wanted to be let into his life. Sadly, that’s not the case for MCB.

I am writing this review months after watching the show and somehow I don’t even remember that much of it. It goes to show that it wasn’t really THAT memorable. I did like some moments - like when the FL cries seeing how the ML is starving himself, or when we find out that the mean teacher has his own problems (taking care of a disabled daughter). Those were touching moments. However, aside from those, the forced emotional moments (such as the ML’s mother randomly abandoning her son and husband and the ML’s father dying) just seemed there for the heck of it. I felt like it was trying to capture the trauma that the ML had to go through (like in With You), but it just never deals with it in a logical way the way With You does.

Because of this, my actual rating is actually somewhere around a 7.8/10. It had potential to be really different, but unfortunately it squandered that opportunity.

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My Bickering Couple

I love the female lead, and the friends are pretty good... the second male lead had a lot of moments and the male lead has his ups and downs but there is a lot of draaaaag, and I have a bunch of issues with the plot, like a lot of issues with the plot making this drama kind of hard to rate as some parts (especially the female lead) deserve a 10 while others a 2.

So what we have here is the story about the smart boy who used to binge eat a lot and the sporty girl who never studied... Showing us how people are judged based on their grades and looks. Some of this was actually done really well, even showing the very rare fear of eating that can come to those with eating disorders triggered by weight loss. However most of the way this is handled feels off and not very accepting towards people with body fat, even if it seams like they try to say you are valid just the way you are...

The main couple fights about 99% of the time bringing new meaning to the term bickering couple, they do have a lot of fun and sweet moments between the bickering that I did appreciate. However the male lead has a bit of a whiney nature and tone to him so at one point I started finding him annoying and once we passed that point there was really no turning back even if he di have a killer smile and great chemistry and I dare say tension between him and the female lead . The way his character character was written was just not male lead material I guess.... Unlike the female lead who is lovable though and tough she admits to her shortcomings, is strong, fun, caring... and has some of the best parants in all of dramaland as well as a really cute dog.
I also get the feeling that they try to mix in some representation of people outside the able bodied norm but it is done in the worst possible way... using people with disabilities and illnesses as a way to excuse bad behaviour which almost made me drop this drama, if it wern´t for the great parants, two amazing teachers, friendships and awesome female lead and her chemistry with the male lead I would indeed have dropped it

So what can I say it is mostly a good watch but beware there are a bunch of issues with the plot so not expect to be enlightened by the story...

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