Meari21

Probably because you don't have specific expectations and you have nothing to compare it with. Most of those who criticize the drama are those who went into this expecting it to be like The Blood of Youth. But some of the criticisms are valid, too. The Blood of Youth's plot progression is much faster and you can tell from the get-go that it's politically driven, whereas Dashing Youth doesn't really start to pick up until several episodes in. But it's a different drama, it's more lighthearted in tone and the main character has a more boyish and cheerful personality. Also, if you've seen TBOY first, you'd more likely to pay more attention to the characters in Dashing Youth because you know they'll play significant roles in the sequel. That's why I would recommend watching the sequel first. It's like the OG Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings, you know. You watch them before the prequels.

I understand that The Blood of Youth is the standard and that many fans of the drama are comparing it to its prequel. I also get the tendency to compare the two. But the truth is nothing will ever beat TBOY, not the prequel or even its future sequel. Recreating that magic is not easy or even possible sometimes. How many sequels/prequels have you seen that are actually as good or even better than the original? Just few and far between. I think the reason I'm enjoying this prequel is I came into it not expecting it to be like The Blood of Youth but to find out what happened to the older generation and what started the whole mess. My only real complaint is that the writers of this show wrote it expecting the viewers to already know these characters. So, I wouldn't recommend this show if you haven't seen TBOY yet. That should come first even though it's a sequel.

And Dashing Youth's director is basically a newbie. He hasn't done anything notable yet. This is his biggest break if I'm not mistaken.

Finally, proper subs!

Nah, the English subs are the same ones from the Youku app. Just machine generated. I'm guessing they couldn't find proper subbers this time.

Still waiting for proper English subtitles for episode 14. They still haven't fixed it!

It's not available in other regions, though. That's why I hope they'd release these shows globally so more people can access them. I think these shows will become more popular if they were more accessible.

I hope they also release this and The Blood of Youth globally on Netflix so it can be more accessible worldwide.

For real?! I love that song! I can't wait to watch the episode!

That's what I said when I first saw him.

I actually don't understand the criticism. This is supposed to be a fun and youthful drama about a bunch of teens who know nothing but cause trouble. Their goal is to become famous in the martial arts world but they know very little of this world. The politics and drama will come later and they will learn what Jianghu is really like. I agree that there's a huge disparity between the direction and acting, but that's because many of the cast members in The Blood of Youth are already established actors. You can't compare Hou Minghao's acting to Liu Xueyi's for example, they have vastly different calibers. Xueyi, in my opinion, is one of the best actors in China, period. Li Xinze is also of a similar caliber. Dashing Youth, however, has a much younger cast consisting of mostly up and coming actors. The Blood of Youth's director, Yin Tao, has an impressive resume so he's a veteran in this industry, whereas Dashing Youth's director is practically a newbie. Xiao Se is a strategist who is seasoned in politics with genius-level martial arts prowess, while Baili Dongjun is a sheltered spoiled brat who barely learned martial arts. They are practically opposites! Dashing Youth is more of a coming-of-age story, whereas The Blood of Youth is more about the older generation giving way to the new and the new generation righting the wrongs of the old. To those who have watched The Blood of Youth, we all know how things will turn out so we expect to see major character development from these youngsters. I, for one, appreciate that they're giving these newbies a shot at fame. Among the main cast, only Hou Minghao has been in the business for years but he started as an idol and only began acting some years back so he's not exactly a seasoned actor either.

Thank you! Found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvufQNC1tss&t=7s

Thank you! Will check it out.

Ao Ruipeng guest starred in this?! Which episode? lol

Me too! I wonder if it's from the same guy (Yu Zhao Yuan) who did Wind for The Blood of Youth. It sounds like him. I hope it is. I really liked that insert song.

I can't find it either, not even on YouTube. I think it was performed by the same artist who did the insert song, Wind, for The Blood of Youth. I could be wrong.

Holy smokes! This guy is awesome in Dashing Youth! Sikong Changfeng is now one of my favorite characters in this universe. I didn't like him much in The Blood of Youth, but this young version is dope!

Exactly my thoughts! Network TV J-dramas still use the same camera equipment and visual styles from 20 years ago with only slight improvements. I don't get why they can't move on from that because I've seen what they can do with better equipment, direction, and overall production. Most Netflix-produced dramas have better production quality. Just look at House of Ninjas and The Journalist or even Makanai and those series didn't even have the budget that Vivant enjoyed.

Wu Jinyan is actually almost 12 years older than Wang Xingyue. She was born in 1990, she's turning 34 in a couple of months. Wang Xingyue looks very mature in this drama, I was actually shocked when I found out he just turned 22 and was born in 2002. His Xiao Heng is definitely the biggest draw for me. He plays the cold, dashing, and brutal male lead to a tee. He has a captivating screen presence I don't normally see in C-dramas and definitely not from someone his age. I don't find the romance all that engaging because it's practically non-existent until the last episodes. There are barely any kissing scenes, too. So if you're not a fan of that pairing, it won't bother you that much. It's the plotting and scheming that made me finish the drama. I say give it a go. You might like it.

Yep. The last episode was just released for Youku VIP subscribers so I'm guessing they will release several episodes per week. New episodes will be released on Thursday.