Dashing Youth

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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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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Unexpectedly good

I usually don't prefer to watch prequels after having seen the "sequel" so I've been holding off on this one for a while. Even the Americanized name isn't the most appealing. But I have to say that this one may be the best one of the three. It makes me almost want to re-watch the The Blood of Youth.

For me, the growth of the relationships between everyone in this one was done much better than the sequel. The bonds felt much more natural and believable but in turn, the pacing ends up slower than The Blood of Youth. I didn't bother trying to tick and tie every event between the two series because this just isn't one of those that is meant to be that detailed. They did a good enough job letting me appreciate going "oh hey.. that's the younger version of that character". The standouts in this series for me were definitely Master Li and the ninth prince. I've come across the actor for the ninth prince a few times in other series and he really has a great look for either a protagonist or antagonist role. The scene with Master Li just breezing through his attempted assassinations is pretty epic as well. Then there's Ye Ding Zhi and his tragic life. I'm glad that despite his best friend having grown up in such a different lifestyle of privilege, was ultimately the one who stayed true to him.

My only qualm with the story is how too much is revolved around the females. I'm not against sacrificing for the love of your life but the men really did give up way more than the females did. As for Ye Ding Zhi's love, she was really undeserving for just sitting around waiting to be saved. And because both men were obsessed with this one woman, the war was eventually triggered. The blame lies with the king because he has the greater responsibility in considering the lives of his citizens.

Finally, after having watched all three related series, I don't think they did Blood River justice. While it was also enjoyable, it just doesn't tie as well into the overall universe.

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Waste of time to watch this show as Animation version is awesome; best eg of how you can mess up

I watched about 8 episodes and got lost as to why this story is slow even though the sword fights and story twists seemed to be well done. Then I decided to watch the animation The young brewmaster season 1. Animation is Great.

This is an example of how badly you can remake a well done tv show.

Many important twist / scenes were deleted which if present would have given the interest for the viewer as otherwise the show is boring.

Good things were the screen cast are great looking and fresh deal as compared to any other equivalent Chinese tv show.
However the director messed this up with bad fight scene graphics compared to animation, bad script, deleting important background information, etc.

Overall waste of time and money that could have been well spent.

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Dashing Youth? More like Dodged that disappointment.

Dashing Youth opens like it’s auditioning for a wuxia museum—gorgeous CGI, elegant duels staged like paintings, and enough sweeping landscapes to make tourism boards jealous. But by episode two I was already drowning in the “Eight Young Masters of Bei Li,” plus Sikong Changfeng and Dongjun, and wait—I thought Changfeng was the lead? Apparently, this drama collects handsome young swordsmen like Pokémon. Every time a new pretty boy shows up, I have to pause to remember who the last one was. By episode three, I was already feeling character fatigue: too many sects, too many man buns, and at least four of them look like they share the same wig stylist.

The irony is that the fight scenes are gorgeous, the CGI stunning, and the cinematography chef’s kiss. On the surface, it’s a feast for the eyes. But spectacle alone doesn’t anchor a story. Compared to The Blood of Youth, which kept its emotional core tight around a small group and their bond, Dashing Youth scatters itself across factions before the journey even settles. Instead of intimacy and chemistry, it feels like a parade of entrances demanding their own theme music.

Eventually my patience ran out by the 10% mark, so I peeped reviews just to see if I was being dramatic—and nope. Some of the reviews confirmed my instincts: the spectacle stays high while the plot never tightens, the ensemble remains overwhelming, and apparently the finale ends with…the bad guys winning? Forty episodes of that chaos? No thanks. I curate for resonance and closure, not emotional self‑harm.

So yes, I dropped early — and I’m relieved that I dodged that disappointment. I’ll give it a respectful nod but this one is definitely better admired from afar than survived up close.

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