Tanky Toon

Stretched 18 eps, but my attention only lasted 2.

This drama starts with a strong premise — a man framed, stripped of power, and forced to fight back against a system stacked against him. The tension isn’t about unraveling a mystery so much as surviving each crushing blow, with Jeong U clawing toward justice while the villain sits out in plain sight.

Ji Sung, as always, is magnetic. His intensity and sheer presence make it easy to root for him. But even his performance is not enough to hook me onto this narrative. I prefer thrillers that keep me guessing, challenging my trust and moral compass, and here the path felt too straightforward. Even the reviews I skimmed through echoed my instincts --- the second half grows repetitive, stretching what could have been a tighter 10‑episode arc into 18.

I can see why others might find this drama compelling — the emotional beats and the battle of wits have their audience. Still, my gut told me this wasn’t going to resonate, so I dropped it rather than push through fatigue. Because nine out of ten time when I ignore it, I regret it. I don't want this to be one of those times.

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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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Dropped after 3 episodes. I could not stand the manipulative FL who chases around a guy, like the entitled spoiled brat that she is. I get it that it that she's assertive because that's how successful CEOs should be, but this is not an excuse for someone to continually harass another, especially if that said object of affection has explicitly said he’s not interested. And when she doesn’t get her way, turns around and does exactly what she was asked not to do, and exposes the debt owed to her to the ML’s family, dangling it overhead like a carrot. If that’s not a veiled threat, then I don’t what that is.

Then am I supposed to suddenly believe that, because he finds out that he has known her as a child, that the ML changes his mind suddenly and agrees to said marriage proposal, after lecturing the FL about said morals and principles about not exchanging love for money? I think there’s a word for that…hy…hypo…crite…
Or as his mother said, prostitution.

I also have had enough of those remarks in the first few episodes about how girls needing to get married and have a child to be really considered as a full-fledged woman. Not even Gong Jun's pretty handsome face will convince me to sit through a drama that spouts such outdated sexist ideologies. Plus, I heard later things that happened in the show that did not make a good case for me to continue this without me bursting a blood vessel.

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