Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

What drama started at the end of 2022 and ended at the start of 2023 that has taken the drama community by storm?

One of our AVV community member, wuxiadrama_lover, shares her thoughts with us!

We also have the Special episode subbed and OST!

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The Blood of Youth Review by wuxiadrama_lover

It has been a very LONG time since I’ve watched a good wuxia drama. Now, I have heard people complain that this drama isn’t really a wuxia drama, but it is! I guess you can call it a xianxia wuxia drama if that is what your heart desires. Either way, it is a masterpiece, and you don’t want to miss out.


Plot

Prince Yong An was disowned and banned from the capital by the Emperor. On his way out of the Capital, he was severely injured by a mysterious man in a mask. After that incident, Prince Yong An disappeared from the world and no one knows if he’s dead or alive. A few years later, a young inexperienced swordsman named Lei Wu Jie wanders into a remote villa where he meets the owner of Snowfall Villa named Xiao Se. Wu Jie helps Xiao Se get rid of some troublemaking bandits, but in doing so, he ruins the villa. Xiao Se asks him to pay up, but Wu Jie doesn’t have money. He promises Xiao Se that after he visits Xue Yue City, he will have the money for him. Xue Yue City is a well-known city with generations of martial art heroes who either live there or pass by to challenge a fight. Xiao Se (who turns out to be Prince Yong An) sees this as an opportunity for him to get back what he had lost. He agrees to accompany Wu Jie. Thus begins an adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, they make new friends, meet many famous martial art heroes, and engage in many battles. Xiao Se and his loyal friends head back to the Capital for the big and final battle.

Characters

There are many characters in this drama, but I will only talk about 3 main ones.


Xiao Se (played by Li Hong Yi) is a mysterious, but very intelligent young man. Like I mean, he knows everything. He is a protector and will protect his friends at all cost. He doesn’t back down and will not beg anyone, even if it will cost him his life. He is strong willed and a leader. Wu Jie likes to think of him as being stingy and arrogant, too. It took a little bit of time for Xiao Se to grow on me and only because in the beginning, he was so mysterious. As his story unravel, I came to absolutely love him.


Lei Wu Jie (played by Ao Rui Peng) is a lovable dork. I mean it in the best and nicest way possible. He is my favorite character. He is very innocent, and like how his friends sees him, a pure good heart. He is the comic relief, even during times when I am on the edge of my seat, he still somehow manages to make me laugh so hard. He is the silliest out of all the friends and he loves to fight. Xiao Se has to reprimand him a couple of times because he will fight with anyone, even if that person is more powerful than he is, and can kill him.
SPOILER >>> In the first episode, Wu Jie receives a death card from a Dark River assassin, meaning they are going to kill him. He was so excited and couldn’t stop smiling! Xiao Se was so confused and asked him how he could be this happy getting a death card.


Wu Xin (played by Liu Xue Yi) is the leader of the Demon World, but he is far from evil. He was raised by a monk growing up. He is powerful, loyal and smart. His sarcasm and smartass completes the trio. You can’t find a better trio. My only complaint is that I wish there were more scenes of Wu Xin.

Acting

I can tell that all the actors and actresses worked very hard. Each of them nailed their role down. I can’t imagine anyone else playing these characters. It felt as though these characters were made for them. Be warned, people have mentioned that Li Hong Yi tends to not move his mouth much when he is talking. Once I saw this, I couldn’t un-see it, but it never distracted me from the drama at all. He is a young actor and he will get better.

Music

The OST is very unique and I like it a lot. It fits in well with the action scenes. My favorite is the ending credit OST. I swear I have been playing that over and over for the past weeks. The lyrics are so unique, I love it.

Overall Thoughts

Let me just start by saying I am a sucker for romance. I never thought there will be a day when I would watch a c-drama where there is very little romance and I would love it. For this drama, I actually prefer it that way. The focus was on the brotherhood of these friends. How loyal they are to each other, the bond, connections and trustfulness among these friends. It was new and refreshing for me to watch. The attention to detail was astonishing. The writers follow through and don’t leave any hole for us to guess. Things that were referenced at the beginning of the drama will be touched on again later in the drama. I was told this drama is an adaptation of the novel and a donghua. I have never read the novel nor watched the donghua, but many people did say the writer followed very closely to the novel. I am really glad they did because we got the full effect of an adaptation. We all know how, when a drama is based on an adaptation, many things get changed, and there’s inconsistency everywhere. Not this adaption. The writer actually gave us a worthy ending. One that left me heartfelt and even some happy tears. The ending was not rushed nor left open ended. If anything, the last 4 episodes were epic! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. In fact, every episode left me wanting more! You can tell that everyone who was involved in this project took their time, did their research, and made it a masterpiece.

There are so many things I love about this drama, but one of the biggest thing is that it never lost its comic relief. You know how sometimes a drama starts out funny, or how the character is a bit silly at the beginning, but then get really serious later on? Well, although the plot does thicken and get serious, it never loses that comic relief. Xiao Se and his friends will be in a life and death situation, and somehow, one of them will still be able to make a joke. You know how there’s a saying that there’s always that one friend in the group? Well, this saying definitely applies to Xiao Se and his friends. One last thing, the fighting is so well done! It will leave you wanting more! Very well done choreography and so good to watch! There are so many fights in this drama that it made me want to break out into martial art moves too, and I don’t know any! I just felt so powerful after I watched them fight, like I could do it or something. Silly me. You will feel like you are on this adventure with them.

This drama deserves all the hype, and I give it a 10/10. I highly recommend everyone to watch it. I promise you will not be disappointed.

The Blood of Youth Special (engsubs) [DOWNLOAD] [STREAM]

The Blood of Youth OST [DOWNLOAD]

  1. 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

    thanks for the subbed special episode guys!!

    great review wuxiadrama_lover!! i love BOY too, even if the title is a bit intense.

  2. 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

    Thanks for the great review!!

    And thanks May, Lin and Kappy for for subs!!

    This drama was great 😍

  3. 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

    Blood of Youth, right? Young people supremely confident of their “indestructibility”. Older generations not forgetting their past, having sense of humor about themselves, and allowing young generations to choose their own paths.

    Diehard novel fans have mentioned a lot of deviations/deletions in both the donghua and drama. Most obvious one is Xiao Se’s love interest ShiKong Qian Luo showing up much earlier. Apparently a decision to balance out male and female characters. (So as to not cause viewers to believe it could be a BL-adaptation? Doesn’t help much because BL-leaning shippers will ship. On the the other hand, there are people who claim being uncomfortable/ unwilling to watch a drama/donghua without definite female leads.)

    Regardless, I’m glad that the drama sticks closely to the intent and spirit of the novel. Same goes for the characters. No one was made more worthy, unworthy or “out of character” to make Xiao Se take the throne as the protagonist’s ultimate prize or make it appears that he would be terribly irresponsible for not taking the throne.

    • 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

      Also, I wish there were a better English translation for mo (魔)than “demon”, because “mo” is often given to something/someone foreign, different, unknown, outside of the establishment, not following accepted rules, etc. They don’t necessarily do more evil/immoral/unethical deeds than the accepted establishment, based on the establishment’s own standards. “Demon” might set up wrong expectations leading to misinterpretations and confusions.

  4. 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

    Thank you for the subs of this last bit of the special to the drama! Love it! Though I wished that it was more (like the full 5 mins). It came short of 4:53 secs…I really wished the 2 at the end said something to each other. But then again Wuxin and Xiao Se doesn’t need to say much – but can tell that they will journey together with everyone as promised.

  5. 6 thoughts on “Series Review: The Blood of Youth (Cdrama, 2022)

    Agree with everything here!! Just 10/10! Also love the extra, thanks for sharing 💖💖💖

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