Dashing Youth

The story starts strong with a classic underdog narrative where the main character works hard to rise in a highly competitive environment, which keeps things exciting in the beginning. Dashing Youth incorporates a nice balance between humor and serious moments. However, as with many historical dramas, there are moments when the plot can feel a bit slow or repetitive, especially when the conflict revolves around political or family-related issues. For some viewers, these sections might be a bit too predictable, especially if they are familiar with the genre.

The chemistry between the leads is another highlight, with their relationship slowly developing into a romantic subplot. The female lead’s character is intelligent, confident, and a good foil to the male lead’s more naive but determined nature. Their dynamic evolves from a competitive relationship into mutual respect, which is satisfying for viewers looking for a bit of growth before romance.

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the journey of a liquor deity.

watching Dashing Youth is like eating a cake with too many toppings on it. it’s a treat for sure - but it tries to squeeze in too many side plots and characters into 40 episodes, all while trying to show our main character, Baili Dong Jun’s growth, and his relationships with our other main characters.

characters are introduced, say a few lines, and disappear for a few, if not, the rest of the show. sometimes people pop up and while my brain is still trying to remember their name and their alliance they have already said their piece and hopped off screen. it’s a pity because many characters here are quite likeable and of course, dashing to look at. we had time skips every other episode (especially at the start and in the last arc), which could’ve been woven into the plot or show differently. the characters also don’t look like they’ve aged at all despite all the years gone by (except the kids who obviously are now teenagers).

towards the end, key plot developments are simply animated and narrated - i get that it would’ve been too much to show everything, but at least show a few snippets here and there instead of narrating everything off screen? this creates a disconnection within the world the show is trying to build. (for example, Yue Qing ends her life completely offscreen when she’s been one of the more important supporting characters? Lei Mengsha is suddenly a General?)

acting wise was done well. weakest link would’ve been Yi Wen Jun. her character was already not written very well, but i think the actress could’ve portrayed her better.

i was quite disappointed with the fight scenes. the first half had solid fight choreographies, but after that it was just CGI after CGI (though done well), and sometimes fights are skipped entirely. i was looking forward to seeing good sword fights here, but unfortunately did not get enough.

the only redeeming factor would be the friendship between Dong Jun and Ye Yun. i loved their camaraderie, and wished they had more screen time together. i also hoped to see more friendship/teamwork scenes where Dong Jun explores and fights alongside his new found buddies.

i would’ve enjoyed this cake more, if it just stuck to a few toppings that help bring out the core flavour.

overall: 8/10 (i rate pretty leniently)

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Dashing Youth - Lost Me Halfway Through

I started watching Dashing Youth mainly because of the two male leads, and even while rewatching, my feelings haven’t really changed. I tend to skip scenes in C-dramas and come back to them later when I have nothing else to watch, which is why I ended up watching this one again. One thing that really bothered me is the unnecessary romance. I don’t mind romance when it’s done well, but in this drama, even though it’s little to none, it still feels annoying because it’s handled so subtly that it ends up dragging down the story instead of adding to it. Ye Dingzhi’s character especially went downhill for me once he started prioritizing his childhood friend. There’s a lot to say about the other characters too. The drama started off really strong, but as I kept watching, it just got even worse. What irritated me the most was the timing, Baili Dongjun finding out about Ye Dingzhi at the same time Ye Dingzhi was dealing with his childhood friend, absoluetly annoying. At first, I feel like it was interesting, but then the romance started to take over, and that’s when I got annoyed. I knew what I was getting into though, but I was really hoping to see more of my fav trio, Baili Dongjun, Sikong Changfeng, and Ye Dingzhi.

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for my self

finished it in August 2024, and made a review now april 2025, honestly the vibe of this drama is similar with Jinyong wuxia's work, has ties to other dramas and each character has its own spin off, so in this drama the details shown for other characters are very less, honestly it's not bad, just for the main characters in this drama look very rushed for the ending, for example Sikong Changfeng,

they bring up too many problems of the support characters, so they have to share more small details to explain them, even though their characters in a wuxia drama like this could have their own spinoffs

so that the details story about the main characters are divided

this is the first version I watched, and I'm grateful I didn't watch blood "the of youth" first, no matter what, it still has similarities with Jinyong's work in the story, and its amazing because I like all the supporting and characters they choose and their acting is very cool, EXPECT Yiwenjun, her character is very annoying and disgusting, her acting is also very disgusting compared to weak, her vibe more like the villain character that usually likes men who like other women, even though in this drama her character is a good person ,

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Hou Ming Hao did a great job in this series as well, so it’s hard to feel disappointed. 😊

There’s just something about Chinese historical dramas that always draws me in. And the fact that it leans into bromance is definitely an extra plus for me.

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Not as good as I hoped

I couldn't wait to watch this show after the wonderful The Blood of Youth. Unfortunately, Dashing Youth didn't meet my expectations. It was okay but not as good as I hoped.

Cons. Quite poor acting and not actually interesting characters. Baili Dong Jun is really boring and pathetic, especially in the last episodes. But if in TBOY, Lei Wu Jie was mocked at for being pathetic, Baili Dong Jun was taken seriously like it's a normal thing to speak by slogans. Yue Yao, who was quite bright and bold at the beginning, became shout down and quiet like a ghost closer to the end and totally lost on Baili Dong Jun's background. I wish I could empathize Ye Ding Zhi and Yi Wen Jun more but I couldn't.

Pros. This was a great idea to invite the actors from TBOY to act in Dashing Youth. It was amazing to see Bai Shu Yu, Fan Jin Wei, Yan Jie, and Li Hong Yi appearing there. I love the main theme of Ye Ding Zhi and Yi Wen Jun, their soundtrack is very beautiful. Some guest roles were much more likable and intriguing like Sheng Mo [Demon] and Jun Yu [Ji Xia academy’s first disciple]. Each Sheng Mo's appearing was enchanting, and I wish he played more significant role in the show. I also liked some other supporting characters like Xie Xuan, Su Mu Yu, and Li Chang Sheng.

I hope that The Tales of Dark River will not disappoint.

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Great story, but riding on Blood of Youth's tailwind

Watching this after BoY gives it an interesting perspective as we know what these characters will turn out to be like in the future. But I feel that this series is relying too much on this fact to make the story interesting.

To start off, the plot is your generic wuxia with great friendships, amazing fight scenes, romance of course (though I feel they went too far with this). The plot was really slow to begin with and felt like there was not really a main storyline, this would especially be the case if one has not already watched BoY. I felt that I was only interested in continuing watching Dashing Youth because of my knowledge from BoY, and I was intrigued to find out what led them to become as their future selves. If not for BoY, this would have been a generic wuxia series, albeit with many many dashing youths.

For bromance lovers, this is a must-watch. I must say, I did not feel a lot of genuine tension between any of the couples, and yes, this includes Ye DingZhi and WenJun. The tension and relationship between YDZ and BLDJ, on the other hand, is top-notch, as are BLDJ and SKCF. It feels to me like all the men in this series are good at two things only - 1. fighting, 2. love at first sight. And I must say, they really do fall head over heels purely with one glance, with YDZ as an exception of course. YDZ and WJ's romance might be the most authentic, but then again I do not love this couple since I am quite annoyed at WenJun and her indecisiveness and lack of ability to think things through most of the time.

Now let's talk about some characters - the 8 young masters from the Academy are all unique and quirky characters, which makes sense with it basically being a criteria to be accepted as a disciple by Li ChangFeng. LCF himself probably is my favourite character from the series, he's snarky and funny, yet damn powerful and intervenes at the perfect times. We never did find out how he was doing, but assuming that he has rid himself of his immortality, he would probably be growing old with his lover at one of the corners of the world. BLDJ, ML himself, in my opinion, is morally perfect. He is able to see between the black and white sides, and has the ability and courage to forge his own path. He is an admirable character, which makes this series even more exciting to watch. I also enjoyed watching Prince LangYa himself in action - there have often been mentions of his valour and bravery in BoY, so it was intriguing to finally get to see how he earned his admiration and title.

Things I was looking forward to but didn't quite meet my expectations - there still seems to be some gaps between the plots of DY and BoY which has remained unsolved. I have also put this in the discussion as a topic, but how exactly did YueYao and Lei MengSha die? How did BLDJ end up as he was in BoY, an irresponsible drunkard who wishes constantly to forget his past? Honestly, of the 3 city lords, only SiKong ChangFang is actually doing the work, poor guy

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This is a Badly Directed Drama of Zhou Mu Nan

I finally decided to come back to this drama and complete it after I finished Blood River. I am a huge fan of the Blood of Youth which introduce me to Zhou Mu Nan's wuxia universe. I loved it so much that I rewatched it multiple times that I lost count back then in 2022. Even though I can't read Chinese, I bought all of his books, Blood of Youth, Young Brewmaster, Dark River, whatever was printed and I can get my hands or eyes on (anime wise). I watched all the anime of Zhou Mu Nan's shared universe: Blood of Youth anime, Dashing Youth/ Young Brewmaster anime, Blood/Dark River anime, and Jun You Yun/ A Gentlemen Says anime (Bili Bili's not Youku's. I even paid the official Bili Bili account on Youtube to watch it back then.). It was the first time I started watching Chinese anime and I had to get used to the Chinese anime style. All of the anime felt like a production of Zhou Mu Nan's work, lives and breaths his style of wuxia (new wuxia). All his main characters and all side characters seem to embody Zhou Mu nan's youthful energy and vigor. When I watch his anime, I get so enthralled and excited like I was a teenager again and your blood boil in excitement. And that is Zhou Mu Nan's theme and intention and trademark. But ... the big But... Dashing Youth (live adaption of the Young Brewmaster) was absolutely dreadful to watch. I don't know if it's the director or the combination of a bad directing, editing, and/or scriptwriting the plot is so dull and flat like a piece of paper. I mostly want to blame it on the bad directing, editing, and CGI (which replace most of the fight scenes). Most fight scenes people just stood there or hang in air and CGI did the work. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense that I liked the anime of the Young Brewmaster but something went so wrong with the live adaption... The only saving grace of Dashing Youth were mostly important side characters, like Li Changshou/Nangong Chunshui (loved both actors who played this person. Two different actors were able to make the audience believe they were one and the same person), and Sikong Changfeng which is the character I fell in love with in the Young Brewmaster anime loved his intro and his name. The rest of the main characters were so hard to follow or connect with, Yue Yao, Baili Dongjun, the later half of Yi Wenjun (the script killed this character's soul lol), and the list can go on. I’m not sure why they couldn’t get Yin Tao to directed Dashing Youth if he did I’m sure he could have kept the author’s intentions. With how well the Blood of Youth and Blood River did, as long as Yin Tao is paired up with Zhou Mu Nan the world of wuxia can be lit up yet again. Because this is what it mean's to be wuxia.

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Zhao GE can't out but this drama can release come on chinese gov

This drama fighting is completely ridiculous. it look like shooting instead of fighting. they should create gun fighting in ancient chinese instead of using sword.

story is completely stupid.
characters broken and act like no one else beside them. try to be on spotlight.

why this drama which promote theft, absurd, alcohol , misbehavior, can be release while drama like zhao ge can't be release.

look like chinese are unfair to good drama and promote only bad drama.

Fate general which can't release also.

at least those drama which can't release far better than this drama and even putting youth.

base on chinese's eyes is youth mean drug, stupid, spoil, clueless and theft?

truely stupid and extremely disappointed.

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Drink responsibly even if you are a Liquor deity

I've seen this drama around on social media and after reading through the summary and seeing that this is a prequel to The Blood of Youth, I decided to check it out.
The first two episodes were a real banger, absolutely amazing fighting scenes and the exact atmosphere from The Blood of Youth with the light hearted humour and friendships. Lots and lots of parallels to The Blood of Youth which I loved to see (like the coffin/chest transport and everyone fighting for it and for the main character, the two main characters meeting in a tavern/Inn etc.).

Then the following episodes up until episode 10 lost the energy of the first two episodes, it was a little difficult to stay tuned. But the episodes from ep 10 onwards are redeeming this so far. There are things which I found a little and quite obnoxious, especially Lei Mengsha's laugh. Like, yes we get where Lei Wujie had his genes from but no need to pull it until grotesque in my opinion. In my opinion, the casting choice for Lei Mengsha could have been Gao Hanyu, he can embody dummy cute characters very well. The other thing I found quote obnoxious was Baili Dongjun's drinking in episodes 3 - 8ish, I know that he wants to become the liquor deity but come on, the drinking was a little too much at some points.

I highly appreciate the casting of Xia Zhi Guang as Sikong Chanfeng. Overall, Dashing Youth and Blood of Youth characters and back story are very nicely tied together, so far I think and feel that nothing is missing, nothing was omitted which I love to see. As far as prequels and sequels go, it's definitely on the very to exceptional good side and I'm enjoying it so far.

As for what you should watch first, Blood of Youth or this, I think it does not really matter but then again if you watch Blood of Youth first it will be easier to understand the relationships between the characters in Dashing Youth.

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