General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Why Is He Still Single? (他为什么依然单身)

Why Is He Still Single? (他为什么依然单身) is a 2025 Chinese urban romantic light comedy about Yu Yu, a picky, eccentric interior designer near forty who declares himself opposed to marriage, and his encounters with the general physician Gu Yejia. It was directed by Qie Guowei (郄国伟), stars Wallace Huo (霍建华) and Zhu Zhu (朱珠), and is adapted from the 2006 Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko (不能结婚的男人, The Man Who Can't Marry).¹ The series ran for 16 episodes of about 45 minutes each, premiering on Tencent Video on November 16, 2025, airing on Dragon TV from November 18, and concluding on November 21, 2025.²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	他为什么依然单身 (Ta Wei Shen Me Yi Ran Dan Sheng); earlier title 不能结婚的男人 (The Man Who Can't Marry)¹^•³
Basis	Chinese adaptation of the 2006 Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko¹
Lead roles	Wallace Huo as Yu Yu, an anti-marriage interior designer; Zhu Zhu as Gu Yejia, a general physician⁴
Broadcast	Tencent Video from November 16, 2025; Dragon TV from November 18 at 19:30; 16 episodes, ended November 21, 2025²^•⁵
Production	Tencent Video, Mengyang Culture, Xiongdi Yinghua, and Beijing TV Art Center; filmed in Shanghai from November 24, 2023 to January 31, 2024¹
Reception	Tencent Video in-app heat passed 20,000; topped Netflix's daily chart in the Taiwan region on November 26, 2025; Viki user score 8.9⁶^•⁷

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The drama follows Yu Yu (俞瑜), played by Wallace Huo, a successful interior designer close to forty who proudly claims to be single and has built a comfortable life around it. He is fastidious to the point of eccentricity: before going to the cinema he measures the sound field and sightlines in advance, and he twice insists that Gu Yejia change seats, leading her to judge him a difficult oddball.⁸ His declared "anti-marriage" stance and repeated romantic entanglements earn him the teasing nickname "the one who could snap even Cupid's steel wire."³

Gu Yejia (顾叶嘉), played by Zhu Zhu, is a general internist in her early thirties, professionally capable but regarded by her family as a "problem daughter" for delaying marriage; her father even pushes her into a group video blind date connected to six men at once.⁸ After a chance encounter, the two trade barbs in everyday settings such as cinemas and supermarkets, and the series uses the clash between a sharp-tongued designer and a rational doctor to explore differing views on dating among contemporary urban Chinese, presenting a theme of "compatibility-based love" in a light comedy format.⁹^•³

The supporting cast includes Fei Qiming as Shen Wu, Yu Yu's assistant; Li Kaixin (Eleanor Lee) as the neighbor Xia Xiaoman; Zhang Yao as Lin Sa; and Fan Jingyi as Wang Xiaoxiao.³^•⁴ As the plot develops, Xia Xiaoman connects Yu Yu and Gu Yejia, and Shen Wu and his girlfriend join them, expanding the two leads' relationship into a friendship circle across ages and genders.⁹

Production and title change

The series was jointly produced by Tencent Video, Mengyang Culture, Xiongdi Yinghua, and Beijing TV Art Center Co., Ltd., with Bu Xiaofeng as chief screenwriter and Gui Dongming among the screenwriters.¹ Filming began on November 24, 2023 and wrapped on January 31, 2024, with shooting in Shanghai.¹

The working title was changed under regulatory review. On September 10, 2024, the Television Drama Department of the National Radio and Television Administration reported adjustments to key web drama production plans, in which the original title 不能结婚的男人 (The Man Who Can't Marry) was changed to 他为什么依然单身 (Why Is He Still Single?).¹ The drama was nonetheless listed under the old title on some international platforms, such as Viki, which pairs it with 不能结婚的男人 as an alternate name.¹⁰

Release and performance

New episodes went up on Tencent Video at 6:00 pm China Standard Time, with members receiving two episodes daily, three on the first day, and SVIP users one episode ahead.¹ The finale aired on November 21, 2025.²

Viewing figures were strong for an urban light comedy. Tencent Video's in-app heat value passed 20,000 shortly after the premiere, reaching 22,231 on the first day and topping the platform's urban drama chart; total views across platforms passed 50 million within 24 hours, and the main Douyin topic reached 310 million views.⁶^•⁹ On November 26, 2025, the series topped Netflix's daily chart in the Taiwan region and opened at 8.0 on MyDramaList.⁶ On Rakuten Viki, where it streams with subtitles in English and more than 20 other languages, it held a user score of 8.9 from over 7,000 ratings.⁷ Clips such as the "cinema seat-change argument" and the "old car scrapping dispute" spread widely on Douyin and Bilibili.⁸

Adaptation and critical discussion

The series adapts Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, the 2006 Japanese drama starring Hiroshi Abe, whose original character answers questions about his unmarried state with "I am not unable to marry; I don't want to marry."¹¹ The Chinese version shifts the protagonist from an architect to an interior designer and, unlike most traditional urban romance dramas, focuses on older unmarried people: both leads have formed mature values and are not easily swayed by parental pressure to marry or by peers' marriage and child-rearing expectations.⁹

Critics divided over what the adaptation does with its subject. A commentary in Guangming Net credited the series with brisk pacing, dense jokes, and strong social-media spreadability, but argued that its highly labeled characters reduce singlehood to personality and luck, converting "why is he still single" into "he is just like this" or "she has not met the right person," while structural pressures such as high housing prices, job insecurity, and generational care obligations are brushed aside at the edges of arguments.⁸ Beijing Daily's review took a warmer view, describing a story about how a quirky but kind man is accepted by the world, in which the drama never simply answers what marriage means but slowly moves its leads' views through events such as Gu Yejia's father's remarriage.⁹ A Xinmin Evening News commentary framed the show's message as neither "you should marry" nor "you should stay single," but that either choice should follow one's own heart rather than settling under pressure.¹²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Sp to Z

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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