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.Was this review helpful to you?
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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An Epic Story
When The Blood of Youth ended, and Dashing Youth was announced, the hype surrounding it was really stellar. We were promised adventure, a lot of fight scenes, and more importantly the answer to the question we all had while watching Blood of Youth, "How did we get there? Why did Xiao Ruofeng die, What happened that made Baili Dongjun agree for his best friends son to be taken hostage?"And lo, and behold, the drama has not disappointed us. The cinematography, the cgi, the costumes, the dialog, is up to perfection. I love how it's not too heavy and how paced it is. It's an incredibly well made show.
As fans, we can only hope that" Tales of Dark River" will be just as good.
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One of the best modern Martial Arts series of all time!
Must see for anyone who grew up watching and loving Martial Arts series as a kid, and enjoy it well into adulthood.Its a great balance of dialogue, costume, canon, with amazing visual fx, and sound.
Each Character developed in this series is distinct, which if you watch alot of wuxia etc, sometimes differentiation is challenging.
The series is based on alot of canon (characters, dynastical references, forms of martial arts) , and i feel it pays homage and also adds to the richness to it. Its not a simply a retelling. I feel its been a really well crafted modernisation.
Highly recommend watching it. Its on par with Game of Thrones level production value, with good story telling.
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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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Plot: Ordinary, not outstanding but still able to watch
Advantages: Many handsome guys
Disadvantage: The worst martial arts scene ever
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This review may contain spoilers
Its truly Dashing Youths everywhere ?
I'm currently on Ep 19 and I'm so glad I started watching it! With so many handsome actors, and Masters and those fight scenes! I absolutely loved all the fight scenes. They are so majestic and awesome! The storyline, cast, crew, everybody has done a wonderful job in the drama so far!Even with these many characters, the drama itself doesn’t seem confusing and that's a huge feat in itself! You can watching without needing to watch Blood of the Youth, cause this is a prequel to it after all.
The pacing is good, the cute bromance moments between our little Spear Diety and Baili Dongjun and Ye Dingzhi is so cute! Loved the brotherhood these three have! And let's not forget the Eight handsome masters of Juxia Academy! They have done a great job! Our talkative Mr Li and Mr. Zhuomo and all the others too! I just can't get enough of this drama!
THE SWORD PLAY AND FIGHT SCENE CHOREOGRAPHY is really good! Shoutout to whoever planned it all! Be it the first time Baili Dongjun gets his lotus sword, fight scenes between him and Ye Dingzhi, and the others! Everything looks great on screen! Give it a try people! You won't regret it!
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Youthful costume drama
Special effects: The special effects of this drama are beyond words, full marks. Especially the peach blossom scene at Gu Chen's part is so amazing.Story: The meeting of BDJ and YDZ was brought forward and changed to knowing each other since childhood, which makes the drama more fateful.
Appearance: The protagonist and supporting characters are all very good-looking, I like them very much.
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Stunning VFX, Flawed Execution
This is just an initial review of this drama based on the released episodes 1-7.Based on my first impression, the most impressive aspect of this drama was undoubtedly the VFX. It's clear they invested heavily in this area, elevating the wuxia genre. However, the cinematography, particularly the color grading, left much to be desired. The overly saturated colors, especially the blues and pinks, along with the maxed-out brightness and contrast, gave it an old-fashioned wuxia look that wasn't visually pleasing.
Despite the awesome VFX, there's an over-reliance on it during the fight sequences. While visually impressive, the VFX can be distracting. The actors often make movements where they are only standing or floating in the air, and then pointing their swords at opponents, which diminishes the impact of the actual martial arts. This imbalance between physical fighting and VFX makes the action scenes feel less engaging.
As for the characters, they were somewhat disappointing. The performances felt unnatural, from the facial expressions to the delivery of dialogue. Each character seemed overly animated, reminiscent of a live-action adaptation of a Japanese anime, with exaggerated expressions and dialogue that felt out of place and unnatural.
I'm still giving it a chance, keeping my critical eyes in check, lol. Edit: I just dropped it...
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DISAPPOINTMENT
easy!My review would be too much romance for a coming youth drama..and not enough friendship... aka boring after ep14
What would the script writer thought when they made the story, we all know the ending and almost all the plot of the story, at the very least make the story telling process engaging, but It just lost the charm after shallow and unnecessary loves are included... far from the previous main story The Blood of Youth... the acting is mediocre at best, the female actors once more, NOTHING special, just a sappy eyes acting at every occasion LOL...
THE END
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This review may contain spoilers
A Friendship That Fought Against Fate
Baili Dongjun was the kind of person everyone admired—dasing, free-spirited, fearless, and full of life. He had talent, charm, and a heart big enough to carry the world. But what made him truly remarkable wasn’t just his skill with a sword or his unshakable confidence—it was his loyalty. And no one tested that loyalty more than Ye Dingzhi.Ye Dingzhi was his best friend, his brother in everything but blood. But fate wasn’t kind to him. He was pushed down a path of no return, turned into something terrifying, something that cost countless lives. And yet, no matter how far Dingzhi fell, Baili Dongjun never stopped trying to save him. He fought the world, defied reason, and risked everything because he believed in his friend.
But belief alone can’t erase the weight of bloodshed. Dingzhi had killed too many, and someone had to answer for it. No matter how much Baili Dongjun tried, no matter how hard he fought, some things couldn’t be undone. That’s the cruel reality of life—you can love someone with all your heart, but you can’t always save them.
And none of this would have hit so hard if it weren’t for Neo Hou’s incredible performance as Baili Dongjun. He didn’t just act—he lived the role. His charm, his energy, and the raw emotion he brought to the screen made Baili Dongjun feel real. Every moment of pain, every spark of joy, every desperate attempt to save Ye Dingzhi felt genuine. It’s no exaggeration to say that Neo Hou was born for this role. He captured Baili Dongjun’s dashing heroism and heartbreaking struggles so perfectly that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else doing it better.
As a huge fan of Neo Hou, watching him bring Baili Dongjun to life was an unforgettable experience. His performance made the story hit even deeper, making every victory sweeter and every loss more painful. This wasn’t just another wuxia drama—it was a masterpiece, and Neo Hou was at the heart of it.
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