Quick Synopsis:
Dashing Youth is a story about Baili Dongjun. He’s a rich boy who wants to be poor. He’s not an alcoholic, but he’s into wine. (He’s a total drunk later on, for reasons.) He wants to be free and wander the Martial World. He meets friends and then fights bad people. (Sounds like every other story ever, right? Pretty much.)

Let’s get on with the review. I’m splitting it into three sections. The Good, The Bad and The Verdict.

The Good:
It’s flashy, quick-paced, easy to watch, with lots of pretty. The plot is not too complex, so it’s easy to follow. The soundtrack is nice, and the actors are fairly decent (for what they were given). The action scenes are awesome. (Mostly the first half.) The characters and their interactions are fun when they do get to share the screen. Sadly, this is where the good stuff ends.

Operation Fail.

The Bad:
The story itself, there’s barely any plot. You would think making a prequel to Blood of Youth, one of the best dramas in this genre, would be easy. The world-building is all set already. Yet, for some reason, there’s not enough plot here. And when there is, it goes nowhere, or just simply gets resolved off-screen/through narration/time-skip. It feels like a cheat. Some plots are hinted at just to be abandoned. It all feels pointless.

Oh yeah, this is supposed to be a story about brotherhood/bromance, but there’s barely any, because of the way the story/scene is structured. Most characters just come and go, they barely have time to hang out or share screen time. I’m not sure if this is a writing issue or a budget/scheduling issue. Whatever the case may be, the final product is mostly a letdown.

Also, the color filter is too bright in spots, it’s almost blinding. The costume/design is off as well. It feels like they are gods living above the clouds. Too theatrics? It’s almost video-game-ish. It’s too Xianxia for its own good. It’s a weird aesthetic choice that makes the whole thing feel cheap rather than grand. It doesn’t feel grounded is what I’m saying.

Who wears this while living in the snowy mountain? It’s so intricate and over-design.

Look at this wash-out filter. (Okay, this pic is probably a cheat exaggeration, don’t tell anyone.)

It doesn’t matter if they’re rich or poor, almost everyone dresses like this in the drama.

World’s most terrible mustache.

The Verdict:
I enjoyed it. Plot (Review) Twist. Right?

Despite writing so much stuff for the Bad section, I still enjoyed the drama as a whole. It’s not great, but not terrible either. It’s just a fun watch. I like the characters enough that the poor writing here and there didn’t bother me too much. I just wished the plot was more consistent and better executed. I thought all the main cast did fine. The highlight was the character Ye Yun aka Ye Dingzhi (played by He Yu). He pretty much stole the show for me. Only because he had more meaty parts to work with. Our main character, Baili Dongjun (played by Neo Hou), is just a pretty boy with a chill personality. That’s it. The two female leads are fire, though. Their characters don’t do much in the grand scheme of things. The second female lead character is problematic because she makes poor decisions. But they’re both pretty cute, so as a guy, I give them a 10. For the drama itself, a 7? I’ll go with 7. It’s a decent drama.

A 10 for the ladies. A 7 for the guys. (I have guy-phobia.)

And with that, my review is done. The rent is due, I don’t get paid to write this. I don’t recommend the drama, but I would say it’s a decent watch if you’re interested. If not, oh well. There’s always next time.

Speaking of next time, there’s the Dark River. A drama currently in production starring Gong Jun. He’s gonna play as Baili Gongjun. No, I’m messing with you. He’s playing Mu Yu, the umbrella killer. Hopefully, it’ll be good. It’s by the same director as Blood of Youth. So, let’s look forward to that!

Review done. 7 (6?) out of 10. Go home.

Bye Bye.