About Youth

Cute show when having nothing to watch

I was really looking forward to this series since its trailers came out a while ago, and honestly it didn't really disappoint, though I do feel its lacking in certains aspects thanks to how short it is. It was an overall fun watch to kill time and very cute and nice vibes.
The characters are all really likeable (ofc except the parents of Ye Guang but that's what the writers intended). I was really looking forward to seeing how the main and secondary couples developed, which on one side was a bit let down because of how lacking of depth the second couple was, I did felt like it was missing a bit more to get to know their relationship but it's nothing really serious. The chemistry of both of the couples was really great and I was really anticipating the kiss from the main couple, which was really cute as well.
It handles topics that can be heavy to an extent but its nothing too drastic, the characters act with a good level of matureness which doesn't make their conflicts last for long.
It's soundtrack goes hard especially in the intro, and it's rewatch value is great as it's easily digestible and entertaining overall. It's a nice series though I do feel like it was way too short for the story overall, I do recommend though!

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A Cute BL with a couple of plot holes left unanswered that thankfully don't ruin the experience

Now, don't get me wrong, I really do like this series and it definitely has a lot going for it, though sometimes certain points we were left guessing at what happened and it was never fully explored.

The plot occasionally jumped to some strange locations or jumped to another couple in a completely unrelated scene, though in saying that it was fairly straight forwards and didn’t deviate too much from the usual BL storylines and certain plot points were abandoned as the series went along, as well as a few of the characters that you felt would be major sticking points, but in the end were inconsequential, popping up just for a moment, such as the Head Boy line.

The controlling nature of Ye Guang’s family was something that I’ve seen a lot in dramas, but they were even harsher than most, and the sudden reversal of opinion they had seemed a little too dramatic. I felt like if there were more episodes, we'd be able to see a more gradual understanding of Ye Guang's feelings and have a more natural shifting of how his parents would react to situations. You can't unlearn controlling behaviour just on a whim.

The acting I felt was nice and sincere, even if occasionally their reactions felt a little out of place. But I feel like the actors for the two major couples did a great job, I also had no problem with how the music was incorporated into the series, even if sometimes i could be a little bit of a distraction to the scene, but it didn't harm my viewing experience at all.

Overall, I think this is a cute BL, but it could have done with a couple more episodes to allow time to explore some of the dropped plot points, but the acting help cover up some of these problems. Hopefully there could be another season or maybe a couple of extra episodes that go into these plots, such as if Xi Qizhang makes it to be head boy and onto Berkeley and if their relationship could survive such an adventure.

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Completed: 10/10/2022

I slept on it before writing this review, as I think I might be very critical if I write this right after I finish watching. “About Youth” is quite highly rated and has received a lot of positive reviews. However, I just find it “OK”. It’s not bad, but it’s not excellent either.

The drama focuses on two things: romance and familial relationships. We follow the development of the sweet and innocent romance of our two male leads, Xu Qi Zhang and Ye Guang. I enjoy the innocence and shyness of this couple. I feel their chemistry and I am also a sucker for longing and shy gazes at each other. On the other hand, we also witness the more complicated romance between Ray and Ah Jian. This romance provides a good contrast to the main romance. However, due to the limited episodes, this relationship is not developed or explored enough. It could be even more interesting than the main romance, but it just feels a little disjointed to me.

The drama also continues to explore the pressure Asian parents have on their children to have good grades in school. Ye Guang battles (internally and externally) with his parents throughout the whole drama. However, the resolution is underwhelming, considering so much time is spent on the conflict. On the other hand of the spectrum, we have Xu Qi Zhang and his very supportive mother. Their relationship is so much healthier. His uncle’s scenes only provided the vehicle to create Xu Qi Zhang and Ye Guang’s first fateful encounter, and nothing more.

This seems to be the first acting roles for all four main cast members, and it shows. I would say out of the four, Shen Jyun/Xu Qi Zhang might be the best. Li Zhen Hao/Ye Guang got better towards the last couple episodes, but the first few ones were rough (except for acting cool and cute). The acting does affect my viewing pleasure a little. I like the title theme song, but it’s quite overplayed, especially for such a short drama.

Overall, the romance is light and sweet, and the more serious parts revolve around Ye Guang’s parents. It’s not a bad watch if you’re looking for a sweet and short romance and don’t mind the school/grades parts.

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Amazing for such a short drama

Just going to leave my notes here so you know how much I struggled because of Jian and Ray:

AHAHA Wilson Liu never fails on give me butterflies ahahah
I'm already loving Jian, he's so nice and he doesn't even know Ray
Okay hang on... I think Jian and Ray are going a little to fast but when Ray kissed Jian he was all on it too, so I didn't understand that rushed reaction Jian had
I'm seeing myself on Ray's characters I think that's why I like him so much and I understand what he feels
I don't have nothing to say about the main couple so far so good, they're good for each other...
Now about Jian and Ray I have a lot of things to say, they kissed, Jian asked for space Ray gave him that, Jian waits for Ray and apolagies but then again asks him to go have dinner??? Jian, babe Ray is giving you what you want, but with his conditions, you can't ask him for space but at the same time want him close to you, especially when he likes you so much. (I'm kinda pissed with Jian but he's so hot and cute at the same time I can't)
AHAHAHAHAHH JIAN SLEEPING IN HIS CAR BECAUSE OF RAY IS THE CUTTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN
FINALLY JIAN AND RAY MADE OUT YHASSSS I LIKE THEM SO MUCH AHHAH plus I want a Jian for myself
I need to focus on the main characters now ahahah so Xu Qi Zhang likes Ye Guang so much that is embarassing ahaha
AIHHH MY HEART CAN´T TAKE IT, THE PIANO SCENE, THE NOSE KISS AHAHAHA I CAN'T

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Not your average school drama

I want a season two right now I had always smiled when this played, this one is also one of my favorite school dramas because it actually seemed like it was a real life one because each character had as story that some of the viewers could relate to, from Qi Zhang’s father died and he only lives with his mother, but still misses his father. Ye Guang having his parents not really care about him, always tells him how to act, always sends him to his room when the parents know that they are in the wrong, doesn’t even celebrate his birthday with them, and always give him harsh punishments with him either getting hit or having to kneel for a long period of time and cannot sit down. Ray having to change himself in order to be liked by his lover which is making himself dress as a girl to the point he has to wear a dress and a wig because his boyfriend only likes girls, but still got cheated on by his boyfriend with a real girl. I don’t think Ah Jian’s story was bad, but he did help Ray out when he saw his boyfriend cheating on him and helped Ray get over his break up by helping him destroy his ex’s motorcycle, but helped him convince himself that he wasn’t bad like that. Overall all of the couples made each other better and more happier with themselves and their chemistry was on top with both of the couples. My favorite couple was Ray and Jian even though at one point their relationship went down, but Jian made sure he wouldn’t lose Ray even if he wasn’t too sure of dating him because he has trust issues from his ex. I also loved all the ost’s because they were fire. I really recommend this drama it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen and didn’t disappoint at all.

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kinda boring

I have to find every single one of these episodes, oh my god. I finally finished with this; it took me forever. I am going to average it and then explain my rating by episode. 8 stars out of 10.

I started watching because of some sketchy YouTube video, and it started on May 30th, 2023, so it has been a while because it was October 10th. I mentioned that it was short and it shouldn't take me that long because its short. Boy, was I wrong? So very wrong.

Fan Rui Hao started dressing up as a girl, and I was just really confused. There was an extraordinary band thing with Ah Jian and Xu Qi Zhang, and it was really random but a really big part of the show. And Fan Rui Hao was the sexist person in the show. Oh my god, his victims were grogeous, and he is just oh my god. He got cheated on by his older brothers. I don't know why he attracts older men, but that was really weird.

I have a faint memory of watching this because of the dad scene, but then again, there are too many parts that I do not remember for me to have watched this. It's very nostalgic, and I'm enjoying it. I don't remember his name or how to spell it, for that matter. But the guy with the glasses and the dead dad are played by three different people: him with glasses, him without glasses, and him without glasses with wet hair. I am liking this show so far; it's cute and fun and very laid-back. You know it's going to be good when one of the main characters has one dead parent or two dead parents. It was not good, but what can you do? I am copying and pasting stuff from my reviews because I actually cannot remember this show.

The actors look older than they actually are.

Boring episodes. It took me forever to finish, and mainly because this sh*t was really born. I just couldn't really get into it because there was more plotting than actual plotting. Too many sad moments and background filler than actual content. It just got on my nerves. Theres a lot of potential with the misunderstood kid, the perfectionist, the double live kid, and some random musican, less potential for our second couple, but it was not reached, and it made me really disappointed, and its going to take forever to find all the episodes. I have nothing else to say besides that it was bad. That's it. I would not recommend it, but do what you want. Okay bye!

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Good bl but rushed storytelling and abrupt ending <\3

I don’t have much to say about this bl other than it was very sweet. The characters for the most part well written, as well as portrayed just as well by the actors. The emotions of the characters also felt realistic, which I can appreciate because a lot of bls tend to lack a sense of realism. The music was also banger too id listen to that intro song any time of the day

Other than that, the bl felt too rushed for me. The pacing felt too fast at some parts, and it felt as though the story wasn’t giving the characters time to breathe. The situation in the last episode between Guang and his parents also felt that it was resolved a little too quickly to be realistic. We also didnt really get to see much development of Guang’s romantic feelings towards Qi Zhang. If im being honest, the kiss scene at the very end didn’t make much sense to me since the story never took the time to show Guang’s perspective of Qi Zhang.

The ending to it also felt extremely abrupt. It felt like it was missing an episode or two when I finished it. We never got to see if Qi Zhang was able to get the scholarship, we never got to see any sweet moments between Guang and his parents after they’ve become more understanding of him, and the story never told us if Guang remembered Qi Zhang from the first night they met each other, which I know that one is more of a nitpick but it would've been nice to know.

Putting aside the flaws of this bl, I’d still recommend it. The sweetness of it somewhat made up for it, at least in my opinion. It was also a pretty good time killer while waiting for another bl that im currently watching to release the new episode, so there’s that lol

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I guess I'm one of the few people who can't share the excitement for the show. The first hint for me, that a show won't catch me, is, if my concentration starts to suck. I had a hard time finding into the drama, because everything else was more interesting then watching the show. In episode 3 I tried to get my sh*t together and get fast through it. Wasn't that easy. The show is imho pretty boring.

We switch from Ye Guang, whose parents sucks, to Qi Zhang, who has at least a lovely, caring Mom and some nice bandmembers, to Ray and Ah Jian, who are suddenly close to each other and back again - on repeat. (Like ??? I don't even understand why Ray and Ah Jian like each other. What happened? I don't know.

There's no seeable development. They just present things as a fact, skipping all the development they could show us, without telling the story of the whole relationships, so we just have to deal with it as given.) In the beginning there were like two scenes with a little tension, which could've been used to build up more closeness for the outcoming relationship of the leads, but they dropped it right away and just went with: we don't show you any development. We just present the finished product.

There isn't really a storyline. We just see the different people living their life. Ye Guang is either with Qi Zhang, or his parents, who constantly tell him that he's a disappointment. Sometimes we see him with Ray. But nothing exciting happens. The part mentioning in the synopsis just takes a little little little spot in the story.

The acting is okay, but that's it. Nothing more. It's okay to watch. But it doesn't make me feel anything. I just sit through the show and did wait to be finally finished, lol. I felt zero chemistry between anyone. So underwhelming.

My fave character is Qi Zhang's mom, because she's really heartwarming. But the rest? I couldn't care less. I watched the trailer before and expected a cute story with some hardships, but good chemistry and I got nothing. Guess this show is for me what Ye Guang is for his parents. :'D

The music is quite fun. But.. having a sidecharacter as fave and the music being the only thing to enjoy, is a bit too little to have fun with a show. Especially if the same song is played over and over again. Made me a little tired of it.

I wouldn't even recommend it, because it was just so boring to watch, if you can't care about the characters, because you literally don't get to know them. They have no personality. I know literally one thing about each character and that's it. Nothing more to build on. Geez. How should I connect with characters when I don't get to know anything about them, expect one stereotypically characteristic?

After episode 6 I just wanted to drop it so badly, but having only 2 more episodes left, made me sit through it...

There were a few scenes I actually enjoyed, because the actors are really pretty and seeing them kissing each other is still fun, even when the rest of the show was just exhaustingly boring to me. Overall it was more a flop for me.

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Fantastic series, but too short :(

PLOT: Qi Zhang is an "ordinary" high school student, raised by his mother who runs a restaurant, and who plays music in a band. He has a crush on Ye Guang, the elite high school student, trained by his parents to be the best at everything (but he has no life). To be able to study music abroad, Qi Zhang must become the Student Council President. Ye Guang's father forces him also to become the President . The two high school students will grow closer, appreciate each other (maybe even more), and gain confidence to face their problems.

+++ The two leads, Li Zhen Hao and Shen Jyun, are fantastic, subtle, expressive, and moving. It was their first drama, but they managed to bring these young adults discovering love, confidence, and more, to life with intensity.
+++ A very cute second romance, with well-developed and endearing characters.
+++ An intelligently written story, with sensitivity and humanism.
+++ Flawless direction: pacing, sets, emotional shifts, costumes, etc.
+++ Amazing OSTs

### Lots and lots of clichés (accidental fall, poor but loving mother VS rich, absent but super demanding parents)
### It's a great series, but much too short. Viewers will be left frustrated if there isn't a season 2.

=> Cute, but it leaves you wanting more :)
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Fantastique série, mais trop courte :(

PLOT: Qi Zhang est un lycéen "ordinaire", élevé par sa mère qui tient un restaurant, et qui fait de la musique avec 1 gpe. Il a un crush sur Ye Guang, le lycéen élite, "dressé" par ses parents à être le meilleur partout. Pour pouvoir aller étudier la musique à l'étranger,Qi Zhang doit devenir le Pdt du Conseil des élèves. Le père de Ye Guang lui impose de le devenir aussi. Les 2 lycéens vont se rapprocher, s'apprécier (voire +) et se donner confiance pr affronter les pbs.

+++ Les 2 leads, Li Zhen Hao et Shen Jyun, sont fantastiques, subtiles, expressifs, émouvants. C'était leur 1e drama, mais ils ont su donner vie à ces adulescents découvrant l'amour, la confiance, ... avec intensité.
+++ 2nde romance très cute, avec des personnages bien dvlpés et attachants.
+++ Story intelligemment écrite, avec sensibilité et humanisme.
+++ Réalis° sans défaut : rythme, décors, alternance des émotions, costumes, etc.
+++ OSTs géniales

### Bcp, bcp de clichés (chute accidentelle, mère pauvre mais aimante VS parents riches absents mais super exigeants)
### HE mais bcp trop courte. Le spectateur restera frustré s'il n'y a pas de saison 2.

=> Cute, mais on reste un peu sur sa faim :)

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THIS IS A MUST WATCH TAIWANESE BL

Got bored and searched some series/movies to watch and I saw this ‘About Youth’. You'll definitely know that I love this series very much when Istayed up late just to finish the whole series. I love the actors, the scenes, anything in this series, 'couz anything is at point. I love how the main character are both so cute likeee, I badly wanna see them on A SEASON 2, here me out director Tsai Mi Chieh this is your latest project and we're giving you a lot of time to think about it. I love you for directing this one and of course to the whole team, y'all did great and I just hope that you'll meet soon to make another masterpiece entitled “Abouth Youth Season 2”.

AGAIN, for those who have read this review and is trying to read some comments about the series, you don't even have to do that. All I can say to you right now is that, you'll DEFINITELY GONNA LOVE THIS TOO LIKE THE WAY I DO.

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