Throwback to the 90s, where forced happy endings didn't come to save the day

TL;DR at the end with no spoilers.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for happy endings, just like you. This one's not happy, but it's arguably one of the best assets of this show. Hear me out.

I think When We Were Young has a rather weak start and markedly improves as the episodes go by. The main reason for that is the ML, of whom in all honesty I wasn't really a fan early on. He's this Gary Stu that can do anything better than anyone: the first time he enters the classroom they have him run his hand through his hair in slow-mo like the world revolves around him, he tops the school rankings for his year, is kind of a science genius, can play basketball, can kick everyone's ass in a fight, can repair his own house, and can even sing and read sheet music—though, to be fair, this last point is revealed much later on. On top of that, he enters the FL's life at full throttle without regard for personal boundaries, as if he had read the script and already knew he'd get the girl in the end. I realize this tries to appeal to a certain audience, but still.

In the same vein, for the first few episodes the show wasn't really able to get me to suspend my disbelief. For instance, in Ep. 2 the ML carries two iron pipes in his backpack; we're later told that he's building a handrail for his grandma at home, but he gratuitously brings those iron pipes to school and the teachers don't ever acknowledge that—you know, normal student behavior. Later in the episode, the FL is jealous of the ML because he was named the new class representative and sets up a fight between him and some random dudes to teach him a lesson; she's lucky that the whole thing is handwaved with comedy, because it could have gone ridiculously wrong. Again, no one ever acknowledges it. The show has some more moments where the gravity of a situation is clumsily written off via comedy, but these two stood out the most for me as my suspension of disbelief was at its lowest. All that might be perfect for a show like Nichijou, but not if you want your story to be taken seriously.

Fortunately, it gets better. By that point I'd rolled my eyes a few times and was ready for another disappointment, but I don't regret seeing it through. As the story progresses, the relationships between the ML and his new friends settle in and develop, and his personal circumstances start to seep through and give nuance to his initial Gary Stu-like characterization: it turns out he's poor and his only relative—his grandma—is visibly declining due to Alzheimer's, and the plot doesn't give him a cheap way out. I'll admit that one of my worst fears is developing any kind of dementia one day, and that I'm biased by that, but I think the struggles he goes through help make the character believable in the end. Also, kudos to him for not turning into a jealous, passive-aggressive bundle of insecurities whenever the FL doesn't look his way, which was driving me nuts in the previous two dramas I watched.

The FL and his childhood friend, who are the other two thirds of the love triangle, also get their fair share of character growth. I don't have any significant issues with them aside from how the improvement of the FL's academic performance (a key point of her character) was shown on screen; I felt the plot couldn't decide whether she was hopeless or not and that made her eventual success seem a little bit ass-pulled. Excluding that, I liked their evolution beyond the initial archetypes of "stupid but athletic girl" and "unexpressive boy who bottles it all up".

The way the remaining two main characters (it's a group of five friends) are fleshed out is not at the same level, though. The new-rich kid uses his dad's money to help his friends and is kind of a comedic relief, but the show also wants us to take his family hardships seriously while at the same time refusing to elaborate; he feels neglected by his parents but, apart from a couple arguments with his father, a random scene where his mother briefly comes back from overseas when he gets injured at school, and another one where his mother leaves them for good, we don't get much insight on how it all came to be that way in the first place. There are also a few scenes with him and the head teacher that hint at potentially some kind of positive dynamic between them, but that path was discarded too. All in all, he feels like a Doraemon of sorts whose job is to produce unlikely plot devices to serve other characters' own development. As for the girl with overbearing parents, I really thought she would get a nice arc where she made her parents see her as an independent person, maybe by doing things her own way and succeeding, but that's far from what happens. She eventually locks herself in her room for days and then proceeds to fail the university entrance exam, after which her helicopter mother does an absolute 180° and comforts her at the gates and takes off again mere minutes later. And, just like that, her lifelong family problems are officially fixed. I mean, failing the exam due to not studying enough is a fair outcome—even if she was under unreasonable pressure—but the attitude change of her mother comes out of fucking nowhere. For the most part these two characters are fine, though, it's just that for me they lack depth for all the screen time they get.

Anyway, this is getting long, so I'll wrap up with the original point I raised: the ending. By the end, all the main characters must make difficult decisions due to either their own actions or their circumstances. It would've been tempting to force the stars to align for a cheap happy ending, but luckily it didn't go down that path. Now, it's not spectacularly sad nor ground-breaking, but it does a good job of tying together everything the show had been building up emotionally. It doesn't come up with last-minute time skips that throw away an entire season's worth of storytelling, or force incompatible people together because the script said so. Here, the main cast part ways with each other and they know it's the best (or only) option they have, and make peace with things they can't escape. Regardless of whether you like how they got to that point, at least it follows through with the consequences. This alone is more refreshing than I'd like to admit.

TL;DR:

Gary Stu ML transfers into the FL's school and makes friends with the rest of the cast while steamrolling everyone with his talents. As the story progresses, the character gets more nuanced and the show improves as a result, which is relevant if you're less than impressed at the beginning. Three of the five mains have the most focus and development, but I expected more for the other two, which is a bit of a shame. Their interactions are fun and interesting to watch, although some situations they're put in felt a bit unlikely to happen. The ending is bittersweet but coherent in that making it happy would detract from it, and I like that for a change.

Leia Mais

Nice slice of life with some touching moments, but annoyingly jealous ML

TL;DR at the end with no spoilers.

I've been debating with myself for the last couple days over whether I liked this one or not. You know that feeling when you generally like what you're watching but there's something about it that really, really bothers you? Yeah, that's me with this show. But let me start with the good.

For the most part, the characters are likable and their interactions are entertaining enough, although it's kind of episodic in that not a lot of things carry over from previous episodes. It feels like it tells you bits of their lives while it's implied that significant time passes in the background. It's mostly events that seem to be contained in the episode where they take place, though; relationships between characters do evolve. Also, some episodes focus on particular (secondary) characters and, for me, those are the highlight of the show because of the way they portray relatable situations. I tend to value stories much more when they make me feel something, so this one gets points for that. The plot is secondary in character-driven stories like this, so I won't get into much detail. If you like the dynamics between the characters, you'll probably like the show.

However, in my opinion that part is also the problematic one. To be exact, I'm talking about the dynamics between the ML and the FL. I don't have much issue with the rest of the cast, since they're pretty normal people with their own quirks, but the ML gets particularly bad. At first, the ML and FL have kind of a quarreling relationship, which is not ideal, but many people do this to some extent growing up and they stop when they mature. Okay, mildly annoying if you're not into that, but bearable. The issues I have with the ML start when he realizes he likes the FL. From that moment on he becomes an overbearing, jealous prick that defaults to sulking whenever anything to do with the FL doesn't go his way. Some things that come to mind:

- When any guy her age attempts to touch her or display any kind of physical affection, he immediately separates them. This includes their male childhood friends from their own group, who have no interest in her.
- There's an episode where students are told to pair up with other students that complement their weak subjects. He doesn't have the guts to put down her name, so she gets assigned to a random guy. Of course, he gets jealous and forces his presence on them in their study session and treats the other guy like shit.
- There's another episode where she gets chosen to participate in a writing contest in another city, and the guy from the previous point appears for only the second time in the show because he's going to the contest too. The ML takes it upon himself to convince her parents that it's dangerous for her to go alone and that he should escort her as her guardian. During the trip, he treats the other guy like shit again, interferes with their conversations, fakes illness to get her attention, and groans when she dares to do her own things.

Now, don't get me wrong. He does have his good side with his friends and also treats the FL well when things go his way. It's just that, with all the cold-shouldering, belittling of her and other guys, and overall obsessive impulses, the times when he behaves himself around her look more like a manchild atoning for his sins rather than a well-intentioned but insecure teenager being his ordinary self. There were some episodes where he was so damn insufferable I had to pause many times to take a break from his antics. That might be only me, though, but you get the point.

You could argue that it's legitimate to portray unlikable characters because the world isn't just made up of perfect people, and I'd totally agree. But the show doesn't even acknowledge that he might be wrong; in fact, all the characters are enablers who brush off his bullshit and ignore the contradictions in the excuses he makes up for his actions. You could argue that it's still legitimate to portray unlikable characters with enablers, and I'd agree again, but it irks me to see it onscreen anyway and I'm leaving this warning here just in case you're like me. The happy ending just doesn't feel satisfying when you don't believe in the process that was supposed to bring it about.

I'm also not sold on the strategic appearance of guys who like the FL and girls who like the ML at the exact moment the plot needs them to move forward, but that I can live with. It's just something I noticed and you'll notice too after reading this.

Finally, to play the devil's advocate for a brief moment: I don't have the absolute truth, and I'm sure I must've also breezed through shows in the past that other people found unwatchable. It's up to you, really.

TL;DR:

It's a show with entertaining characters, some touching arcs, and some romance (that doesn't fully take off until they turn 18 and graduate high school because apparently liking people before that is a bad look in China). It's no masterpiece, but if you like character-driven stories, you'll probably dig this; if you want plot, not so much. Also, the ML turns into a jealous, obnoxious mess whenever he feels threatened by the presence of other guys in the FL's life, so bear that in mind because that was my number one reason for writing this review.

Leia Mais

Great introduction to the genre and to dramas in general, but rushed ending wastes its potential

TL;DR at the end with no spoilers.

I stumbled upon My Calorie Boy by chance three months ago, and up to that point I had never shown much interest in dramas, to be honest. After all, I already watch anime and that alone eats away at my limited time on this planet more than I'm comfortable acknowledging in public. Now, from all these years lost to anime, I've gotten to know my tastes. When I read the synopsis and saw the poster, this looked to be exactly my thing. I'd managed to hold off until a few days ago, but boy was I hooked as all hell the moment I gave in and clicked play. The outcome is that I created this account to come here and write this. Why, you ask? Well, with your permission, I'll begin talking my way through this coping mechanism of a review while I wait for the feeling of existential emptiness to wear off.

I've been wondering for a long time now how would I go about fleshing out characters and the relationships between them, were I to write a story. When it's well done, you can feel it, but it's hard to pinpoint why. I still don't have an answer and wouldn't know how to do it myself. However, shows like My Calorie Boy have helped me realize one of the keys: it's all in the small things. This is a story about normal people, and normal people don't face life-altering challenges every day; a great deal of substance is hidden in the mundane. You can tell that the writers handled this aspect with care, sprinkling details, actions and passing comments that are later remembered or brought up by other characters. The main actors in particular also convey the progress in the leads' relationship very well through their body language, their use of personal space and their everyday banter. This gives the show a down-to-earth feel: in the real world, you can't help but leave tiny traces of your existence in other people's lives, for better or worse. My Calorie Boy excels at keeping daily life interesting, like any good slice-of-life should do. Now, you may be asking yourself why I'm spending so much time on this part. This is one of my favorite parts of the show as I love over-analyzing these things but, that aside, I believe it's important for the next point.

In a character-driven show like this one, the plot is less about external forces taking over the lives of the characters and more about giving them smaller prompts and exploring what they feel and why they react the way they do. For their actions to be believable, especially when they make mistakes or objectively bad choices, you have to understand where they're coming from. This is where the subtle development in between subplots is crucial. Now, I won't claim every choice is equally realistic even with the characterization, but it works very well for the most part. For the most part, because the ending is a painful exception. I'd like to group my spoilers together and keep this section clean so I'll just say that the ending throws away a lot of character and relationship building. It's not a sad ending, though; it's rushed, poorly-executed, and happy. You have to accept it because we have nothing else, but you're probably in for some disappointment. If I had to say something positive, it's that by the end all the relevant characters had improved as a person, achieved some of their goals, or formed more meaningful relationships—which is the bare minimum, I know.

Before going into spoiler territory, I want to talk about something I only noticed while writing this review: I'm not sure the ML evolves in any significant way beyond not being fat anymore—which happens pretty early on. From then onwards, he has good looks, good grades, and a brand new entitled facet to his personality. Don't get me wrong, he does plenty of good for the FL and for his friends, and he's cool most of the time, but sometimes he displays a mix of entitlement and insecurity about the FL that he never really fixes. At some point during the last third of the series, when his petty jealousy was getting on my nerves, I asked myself if it was poor writing that broke character or simply character development that I just didn't like. I'll leave that up to you. In contrast, the personal growth of the FL is stronger and more readily apparent. Nonetheless, I have the hypothesis that something forced the writers to give up some loose ends, perhaps among them a solution to this guy's biggest personality flaw. Let me explain.

SPOILERS BELOW

As stated previously, this show pays attention to the details. Several things from earlier in the story go from filler to meaningful because they have some kind of influence at a later time. Some of them you can guess they're not random right away, some of them you can't. But, anyway, the show makes it clear that it's deliberate by doing it multiple times over the thirty episodes. You can call it foreshadowing if you want; I don't feel it's exactly the same—not always.

However, there is one object that doesn't get used and, without a doubt, was meant to: the FL was painting a picture of the ML which she planned to give to him as a belated coming-of-age gift. Several scenes feature her either working on it or looking at it. They made a point of highlighting it, only for it not to come up ever again. Based on what I said before, I don't think this is an oversight, nor do I believe the writers would make the plot go this route without even showing her regretting the lost opportunity. You can't just squander your limited money by abandoning plot points like that and, given the rest of the writing, I suspect they didn't want to either. My bet is on budget or time constraints.

But the element that took the biggest hit from the lack of resources is also the main argument for my hypothesis. Episode 29 ends just after the graduation ceremony (by that point the ML was already gone) and episode 30 starts with a 4-year time-skip. The ML moves back home from overseas, waltzes into the office where the FL works and proceeds to talk to her with his same old attitude like four years of no contact whatsoever didn't happen. As the episode goes on, it's revealed that she missed him too, then their friends help the ML to get her to stop being cold to him, and he reveals that he blocked her because of something he misunderstood during their freshman year. Finally, they reunite at the gathering of their former classmates and they kiss after theatrically telling each other what was on their minds the last day they saw each other before the time-skip. There's the happy ending you were made to expect from episode 1, but gloriously underwhelming.

I mean—it shits on everything that made the story great for 85-90% of its run:

1) It forgoes the opportunity to use a relevant plot object. Though, to be fair, they do feature—never thought I'd use these words in the same sentence—an important dog from before the time-skip, which is how we're informed that the ML somehow still has his chances intact with the FL.

2) It fails to fix the entitled yet insecure side of the ML, who's also still unable to communicate important matters assertively and has a tendency to instead write a letter and call it a day unless the situation is already one step away from too late and he decides to finally express himself out loud. Well, that was one long sentence. This was okay-ish before the time-skip, when the leads often got around to talking things out early and they weren't expected to be emotionally mature, but now it's aggravating on top of his other actions. It's not a crime to be this way, but people won't put up with that indefinitely.

3) It handwaves off the zero communication in four years by stating that the ML misunderstood from a social media post that the FL was going out with another guy from her university and he didn't want to bother her. It's idiotic in its own right, but more when we remember that their friends had already helped them out in the past with other misunderstandings and conflicts. There's no way the ML wouldn't have asked them about it even once. He may be insecure and an occasional prick, but he knows what he wants.

Anyway, there are already excellent rants about the ending in this review section, so I'll just end mine here and encourage you to check them out. I hope my arguments about money and/or time being the culprits are also clear by now. To me, it's obvious the ending needed more episodes to prevent the improvisation of an unfortunate mess whose main purpose was to wrap everything up within 45 minutes. It can also be argued that other content could've been cut to make space; however, in my opinion, that amount of cutting would've caused the story to fall apart in other places.

SPOILERS ABOVE

Moving on to the music, luckily I've run out of rants so it'll be short. I like the opening and ending a lot. The FL sings the ending and the ML sings one other song—I found out after the fact—, and it's a sweet, sweet touch when they're used as insert songs. I've listened to the tracks and I can tell from the vocals that neither of them is an accomplished singer, but it's actually better this way because neither are the characters they portray. What I found a bit jarring was the go-to 'problem time' piano track, which evokes impending medical emergency in a hospital-themed drama even if the actual situation is two teachers arguing about school policy.

Speaking of school policy—and to leave more visual safety margin between the spoilers and the TL;DR—, I was surprised to learn that dating while in high school can get students expelled in China. Here I thought Japan shared the top spot in the ranking of academic pressure with countries like China and South Korea, but it turns out it can be taken one step further.

I really liked the theme of freedom of choice for students about to decide what to do after high school. Here, on the other side of the world, parents don't usually force their children to follow pre-determined paths in life. Be it for better or worse, the emphasis tends to be on deciding for yourself—though we've become a bit complacent lately—, so from this point of view it's satisfying to see the kids being allowed to figure that out by themselves. I must say, however, that over here it's easier to let your children experiment more since we don't stake our futures on a single, mind-bogglingly competitive exam like the gaokao.

By the way, that fat suit for the ML was quite convincing, though I can understand why they had him lose 30-40 kilos offscreen in one go during a school break. It's unrealistic, but progressively thinner fat suits would've gotten expensive and would've eaten up—no pun intended—a bigger chunk of screen time. It adds a bit of depth—again, no pun intended—to the ML, yes, but what sells is a hot actor.

Anyway, this is not an in-depth over-analisis but a review and the length has already gotten out of hand. I'll wrap up now with the scores.

Story: 8.5. Despite the considerable wall of text I've devoted to my complaints, they're only about 10-15% of the story and I had a blast during the other 85-90%. Don't worry about the ending, you'll get over it. Keep in mind, however, that it's my first drama and the overused clichés of the genre might be flying all over my head. My review won't warn you if that's the case.

Acting/Cast: 9.5. These people have some serious acting skills, especially the two leads, and more especially the lead actress. They also fit their characters quite nicely. All from the point of view of a newcomer, of course.

Music: 8.5. I like the opening and the two songs performed by the two leads. The soundtrack works well in general, but the 'piano drama' insert track has a vibe that sometimes clashes with the actual drama it's paired with. You'll know what I mean.

Rewatch Value: 9.0. This is the most subjective one. For me, it boils down to my willingness to tolerate the ending, since stopping at episode 29 would be even worse with no resolution at all.

TL;DR:

Though I'm biased toward this kind of show and I'm new to the clichés of the genre (and of dramas in general), I honestly think it's really worth it. For the first 25 episodes or so—maybe a little more—we get smooth, meaningful character and relationship development for the main cast and the most relevant of the supporting cast. The plot is a bit secondary to the characters, although there are relevant events slowly building up in the background that come up in time to make the characters evolve; there's a coming-of-age feel of university being just around the corner, but it saves some learning and some drama for the adults too. Around episode 25 the biggest subplot starts to unfold, and it features a complex dilemma for one of the characters that, by its nature, affects the ending. Unfortunately, by the last episode they had probably run out of money or time, and we're left with an unsatisfying and rushed attempt at a happy ending that also has a negative impact on some loose ends that it was meant to address, including the consequences of the subplot I just talked about. Such a shame, really. You can still love the rest of the show like I did, because it's great at what it does best, but be warned about that.

Leia Mais