It’s been a while since Dashing Youth aired on Youku , I just had to review it. Dashing Youth is a Chinese drama starring Hou Ming Hao, He Yu, Hu Lian Xin and Xia Zhi Guan. It’s actually a prequel to Blood Of Youth, I just wish they could’ve gave us Dashing Youth before Blood Of Youth. Anyways, let’s get to the review.
From the beginning I was invested in the storyline. Maybe it’s because I wanted to know more about the elders in Blood of Youth and their Youth stories. I remember in Blood of Youth, it was a bit hard to understand the background story of the characters.
This is what happens when you give people the second part instead of starting with the first part. Dashing Youth obviously has all the answers I needed when I watched Blood of Youth. This is the main reason why I watched the drama. By the way, Blood Of Youth season 2 is on the way. And don’t forget the currently filming drama about The Dark River.
Back to the story, I feel like they should’ve named the drama ‘The Legend Of Baili’. Don’t get me wrong, Dashing Youth makes sense and even the dialogues support the name. But then, everything seemed to involve Baili a lot. He was everywhere even when he wasn’t needed. At first, I didn’t mind him because of the built up. New characters were introduced and there was no need to pay much attention to him. As the story progressed, he appeared everywhere. He was mentioned everywhere even when it’s not necessary. Okay, I’ll leave this one here.
As I previously mentioned, Dashing Youth is all about how the old generation in Blood of Youth lived. It also explains how the new generation in Blood of Youth are connected. In Dashing Youth, they’re starting from the beginning with the parents of our heroes in Blood of Youth. It covers the challenges the met in their teenage days. How they started from being a nobody to ranking in the martial artist list. I was only interested in the martial art stuff, the palace sagas were boring. I started paying attention when Wenjun and Ye Yun got caught up in the saga. I didn’t see the need for the emperor to make appearances since he personally didn’t do anything. He should’ve been in the shadows all these time.
Mr Li
One character that impressed me was Mr Li, I won’t mention his other name. Mr Li is one character I wanted to see onscreen in every episode. He never bores me and it’s fascinating how much he contributed to the martial world for all these years.
Two Flops
I have to say, the body costume on episode 23 was bad. I get that they wanted to make the character look jacked but it was unrealistic. The chest looked way bigger and they avoided showing the full body when he was fighting. You could only see the face.
Another thing to mention. There was a scene where Third Lady ordered her workers to beat Baili Dongjun’s first senior. They were supposed to make it look like they’re hitting him with the props but more fake shots were so visible. I saw one or two workers hitting the ground instead of hitting him.
Endless Timeskips
Say whatever you want to say but they’re toying with us on the three year time skip. How can Li Hangyi and Zhao Yuzhen grow so quick in just three years? Li Hangyi was the same size through the first and second time skip which where about 2 years and adding the third time skip, it’s 5 years. She should be around 12 years but she looks like she’s 18 years old. Same goes to Zhai Yuzhen, they grown a lot but these other characters didn’t. What a crazy logic. Speaking of time skips, they had too many time skips I couldn’t follow them.
Dashing Youth Ending
The ending of Dashing Youth? It’s a happy ending, but it’s also the beginning of Blood Of Youth. It all makes sense now, Blood Of Youth takes places 12 years after. By the time Dashing Youth ends, you get all the answers about Blood Of Youth. You get to understand why Wuxin was being hunted and why Lei Wujie is being Lei Wujie… I mean, Baili’s second senior is also from the Lei family 😅.
Conclusion on Dashing Youth Review
My review would have been different if I didn’t watch Blood of Youth first. I do wish Dashing Youth was released first because it’s hard to watch this series in reverse. For those who haven’t watched Blood of Youth, you’re the lucky ones because you will start with Dashing Youth. For me, I spent most of my time trying to connect the links between Dashing Youth and Blood of Youth. Dashing Youth might not be one of 2024’s best dramas but it’s highly recommended.
