My Calorie Boy (2022)

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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A beautiful drama about friendship and school life.

Story: Story is really simple and is same as most of the school dramas. The leads are in same school, they become bench partners, they start helping eachother, a friendship is built between them, the friendship later turns into romantic feeling.

Character: FL: She is really funny, cute, always ready to help others, cares deeply about people around her. Is has a very strong bond with the ML
ML: As FL, he is also really funny, especially when he makes fun of her, is a really good friend specially to the FL, is a good son to his father and cares for people around him
SML: He is a really good guy but is very dense and sometimes he becomes frustrating.
SFL:She is really beautiful and simple girl, she doesn't turn into a bad person or anything when the guy she likes starts liking the FL. She becomes good friends with both the leads and they help her a lot.
Best friends of FL: These two are hilarious when they are with the FL, they also have funny moments with the ML too. They are good friends and have eachother's back.
FL's Parents: They are loving, supporting and really funny parents. They have a good relationship with the FL and they also treat other people kindly.
ML's father: He is a good guy doing everything to make his son happy, he is a great father and don't want to burden the ML. He has a lot of funny and emotional scenes with the ML.

Acting: FL actor: I have seen her in few other dramas and one of them was school drama. She has improved a lot, her her acting is really good, her timing for comedy and emotional scenes are really great.
ML actor: First time watching this guy and he just blew my mind, he acted really well as a 17yr old, had a great comedic timing, really good in doing emotional scenes and has a great chemistry with the FL.

Likes: There are so many things to like her. The best thing is the chemistry and the friendship between the two leads. They started as someone who don't like eachother to later becoming best friends. They were not bestfriends for name sake only but they were always there for eachother, always help eachother whatever the problem was. Other great thing was the friendship between their group, like there is a scene where they all hugged the ML or how they helped the FL or the SFL, how they gave eachother support and many such make you smile moments.

Dislikes: There are very few things that I disliked. The SML got too much of screentime in the middle and also with the FL for certain episode, his character was kind of boring. There are many scenes that are not shown in the episodes which is are actually important. The ending was kind of rushed, they just took one episode to complete it, it would have been better if they were few more episodes to know what happens next and what happened in the last four years.

Overall: This is a great drama, you will laugh, cry, smile, frustrate, get angry but in the end you will enjoy this.

Note: The lead couple are really funny and cute together.
My rating as casual viewer: 9.5
Rating as critique:9.5

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A walk down the memory lane ?

I came across this series accidentally and then noticed he had a supporting role in king's avatar❤️ And I found him really talented there (even though he was there for a short time ).
To be honest , this series has a lot of angst , but at the same time I love how the characters developed. Here , you'll find how people you least expect will be by your side like a rock, and the most important of all, you are the main lead of your own life ❤️ so Never think you're less important than anyone.
The actors were really talented ❤️ you would cry with them, laugh with them , giggle with them , the angst is high but it was worth it ❤️

Do give it a try, it will give you the walk down to the memory lane. What we all faced during our schools, and last but not the least , to survive through it all and live the best of lives and be the best version of ourselves ❤️

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Most Reccommended Drama

Heart Touching high school drama I've ever seen.

[Cast]:- Casting is perfect. Top Notch performances from all the actors. Zhai Zilu's smile and Dailuwa's cute expression is one the major things which will mesmerize the audience. Their natural acting,friendship,love, support and hilarious antics is one of the reason which make you to watch this drama again and again. You can see WangYoujun (fanglie from MGIAA) have a different attitude in this drama, which all mgiaa fans feel unacceptable. But slowly you will accept it. Another notable role was FL's parents and her cute dog. Her parents plays an important role to make this drama more hilarious. And teacher, Ms. Chen , all the audience will surely wish to have a teacher like her. All the supporting roles are super. Played their role perfectly.

[Story]:- As I said earlier, its a heart touching high school story. As each second passes you will feel intresting and want more. This story will make you happy till your tummy aches and make you sad till your heart aches. Priorities are given for all characters. The story tells about every possible thing which happen in a life of a high school student. Only flaws which I found is this drama is too SHORT. It atleast need a season2 or 40episodes or specials. And some many scenes are missing. God knows, whether the missing scenes will be released or not. And main leads have only some romantic moments mainly at the end which makes the viewers sad. As the KJW-XJJ ( main leads) are like heavenly made couples and its really bad they dont have many romantic scenes. You will wish when they will have their romantic time and when will they kiss.

[Ost] :- At first, i think its not really nice. After hearing it again and again and lyrics, i felt this drama contain the best osts ever. The opening theme song sung by our hero(ZhaiZilu) and Ending theme sung by our heroine(Dailuwa) makes it even more special. "The Lighthouse" and "Remember Not to Forget" Osts will surely enter on our playlist as we see the best moments of mainleads with these songs on the background while watching the drama. "Lost" ost will make your feet to tap.
Bgm is mindblowing. The Bgm of "Lighthouse" and "Remember Not to forget" will surely make your heart flutter, goosebumps and to ache in your heart.
You can feel the pain of the scenes through this heart touching bgms.

[Rewatch]:- You will definitely feel to rewatch the beautiful moments shared between the main roles.

[Overall]
What are you waiting for? Just go for it. Otherwise you will definitely miss such a beautiful drama. I guarantee this will surely be a treasure in your dramalist.






This is my first review
Thank you

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Meaningful Drama Series

I had finished the Lost Track of Time series and I noticed that Zhai Zi Lu was also in this My Calorie Boy series. I had no expectation of this series and had no clue what the story was about. I figured it was one of those silly teenager school rom-com show. The first episode got me laughing hysterically. After watching the first 5 episodes, it got me hooked. It's such a sweet series that has a lot of meaning. The series does show these parents having certain expectations from their kids, seeing the students having hopes and dreams at that age, and showing the students how they overcome failure and accomplishing their goals. Just letting you know that I had to get a box of tissue on the last three episodes of this series. Zhai Zi Lu played as Kang Jai Wei was perfect for him. I thought he brought Kang Jai Wei to life. Both him and Xu Jing Jing (Dai Lu Wa) characters compliments each other. I found this series was very well script written. Will definitely watch this again!

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Surprisingly Funny

Story is nothing new but this was such a enjoyable watch for anyone that likes school stories. I couldn't stop watching and end up finishing this series in 3 days..... Oops!

Positives:
1. FL / ML chemistry - they are exceptionally cute , one of the best pairings I've seen
The back & forth comebacks are so fun to watch so I hope it won't get lost in the translations
Well done over exaggeration, animated facial expressions in a good way
Well written lead characters with strength and flaws
Relationship development is natural and sweet
2. Good looking school cast - quite a few familiar faces
3. Dialogue - witty back & forth especially between ML/FL & FL's parents
4. Stellar few supporting cast like FL's parents (probably my favorite), Female teacher & Male PE teacher. Her 2 besties
5. Positive friendship vibe in the class. They help each other even through misunderstandings
6. Hope & Idealistic -- some people may not like this but I think it's always a positive for school series
7. Girl power? more like equality.

Negatives:
1. Many negative characters with too much screen time. Seriously they could've shaved off a few episodes. I don't need all that repetitive negativity plus I got other dramas to get to.
2. Jing Jing's character. Could've used an actor with more convincing dance skill set.
3. Gaps in scenes. How come drawing of ML wasn't shown somewhere to him later on? What happened to V day dinner? It literally felt like they just skipped what should've followed. Boom years of gap and no hair change? They could've shortened all those silent study scenes and use the minutes for something else.
4. Rushed ending with minimal romance. Couple's too cute to just end it like that.

Hope to see this pairing again somewhere else!

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Every Episode Guaranteed to Make You Feel Something

Whether it be happiness and laughter or sadness and anxiety, this cdrama portrays emotions astonishingly well. Coming from someone who has watched a million cdramas, despite the very predictable trope towards the end (but not quite the end, I won’t spoil it), it was one of the only to make me sob. This cdrama also had me screaming into my pillow and giggling like an idiot, along with binge-watching this late into the night because I couldn’t stop.

The plot could have been easily shortened, with too many unnecessary subplots, yet that wasn’t too bad and I stayed with every single subplot, hooked.
My one regret was not picking up this cdrama sooner! It teaches so much about high school and youth. The cast were amazing, and I would not have changed them for the world.

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Very good friends to lovers story

This show has become one of the best discoveries of the month. I have to admit that I was not too fond of all subplots but the story of the main character kept me glued. I ended up binge-watching all episodes.

The friendship of the main leads was so sweet and authentic. They had their ups and downs throughout the story but it depicted a lot of tiny details of true friendship and compatibility.

The guy was so pictorial and amiable. He was not the typical icy ideal character with a deep wound in the past. He did have a wound but the way it affected the plot was on point to me. I could relate to him and his struggles. He had many flaws, made mistakes and grew like a character. However, his character development wasn't as impressive as the female one's.

The female character wasn't typical as well. Normally, they start the story at the point in time where the girl is really annoying and immature but it was true only partially here. She was immature indeed with her puppy love but I enjoyed watching her growing up and getting a grip on herself. The story unfolds and I did get why some people were jealous of the FL. She was so vibrant that it was hard not to be jealous.

I love when the story makes me inspired. It was the case here as well. While watching the FL learning how to draw, I was about to drop everything to grab a pencil and give it a go, too.

Also, one of the biggest advantages of this show for me is the topic of an unhealthy relationship with food. I was so happy to see that they flipped the table and the guy was the one who had the problem and had to look after his weight. The show sends the right message about binge and stress eating as well as dramatically restricting food consumption.

I was also happy to see only some small cliches here and there. Usually, there are plenty of them in every tv show like unsupportive parents, evil love rivals, you name it, but here it was minimized. Love square wasn't dragged unnecessarily long and transitioned to the slow-burn slight romance.

As I have mentioned above, I didn't like the sidelines. This is my major issue with the show. All side characters and their stories looked so pale compared to the salient mains. I am usually a sucker for good side characters but here I had nothing to look forward to.

Another issue which dragged my overall rating down is the hasty ending. I loved the pace of the story but it left me hanging in there unsatisfied. I wish for another season now.

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Terbaik 2022

Ini drama kocak banget & ngegemesin. Ditunggu2 tiap minggu, bener2 bikin semangat menghadapi hari senin, krn dia nongol 2 eps.

FL & ML chemistry luar biasa dapet. Bener2 larut pas nonton, script juga bagus. Gak ngebosenin, gak melulu ttg FL & ML. Tapi juga org2 sekeliling mereka.

Cast development nya jalan. Jadi bener2 liat mereka tumbuh dewasa dr kelas 2, kelas 3, mau pegi ujian. Ingetin masa muda pas mau UN, stress berat. Blm lagi ditambah ujian PTN yg bikin kelenger.

Bener2 nyata, relate dlm kehidupan kita sbg siswa SMA di indo, gak cuma student di china sana.

Yg disayangkan cm 1. Episode terakhir terkesan dipaksa dan di padatkan. Padahal bisa kalau misalnya di tarik 3-5episode lagi. Jd adegan mereka pacaran nya agak cringe hahahahaha.

Overall, udah nonton 2x. Dan masih pengen ulang lagi. Ohya, ini ceritanya agak beda yah dari novel asli nya. Mungkin di sesuaikan dengan issue issue yang lagi ada di sana.

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The best youth drama EVER

Youth drama never my type. I watched a few but I didnt remember any of them. But this one is definitely will gonna stay in my head and heart forever.

ACTING:
The cast is amazing. You wont find any fault on the acting.

PLOT:
Honestly I like that the drama is totally focus on the leads with some side stories which are not distracting but still potray some realistic about them. Some people might not satisfied that the leads got together only at the end. But I am happy. Their friendship is the best thing about them. Even though they never admitted that they like each other. But it is totally obvious that they only can see each other. He/she is the most important person in their lives. You wont see any cringe and cheesy scenes because they themselves dont like it. The drama finish with them admit their feelings. But I can imagine that they would be chaotic but understanding couple like XJJ parents.

CHARACTERS:
No boring characters. I love the leads so much. KJW personality is usually play by 2nd lead instead of ML while GZ personality is typically a ML personality. GZ is the usual nonchalant and cool guy while KJW is the supportive, sarcastic and funny best friend. So there is no 2nd lead syndrome. You just going to fall in love with KJW even before he lost his weight. Meanwhile XJJ is the usual FL we see in many other drama; brave and kind. But at the same time, she is athletic and hardworking. Dont worry you wont see her acting cringe or awkward in front of her crush. I like that the leads just naturally grow up and 'forget' their crush because they are just that, CRUSH.

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