What's not to like?
I really enjoyed this excellent production -yes, some of the other reviewers had some valid criticisms but these had little impact on the overall quality. Excellent cast, fascinating journey in first half, admittedly a little more repetitive in second half, but refreshingly free of std palace harem machinations, focusing more on the dynamics between the friends, and different people in the martial arts world. Strong plot mystery which holds its suspense till the end - not who's the baddy?, but what choices will ML make?Well-designed sets & costuming, also Good script (at least in English subs that I rely on). Only niggle is Wuxin receding too much in background towards the end. Maybe another season with him as main protagonist?
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A Freaking Amazing C-Drama
I thought The Blood Of Youth drama was freaking amazing. It was such a remarkable drama. Everything from the plot, score(music), costumes, crisp production quality, and special effects was fantastic. The storyline was intriguing. The costumes were unique, polished, and refined. The special effects were pretty breathtaking.The acting performances were above and beyond. The acting performances blew me away. The actors acting was so compelling and enthralling. The main protagonists were amiable even though they were pretty arrogant at times. Out of all the main protagonists, Xiao Se is my favorite. He was a complex character but also charming and personable.
I don't have any complaints about the drama. As I previously said, the drama was freaking amazing. Every episode hooked me like a fish if you know what I mean. And this is all I have to say about the drama.
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Fan of wuxia genre? A must watch!
One of the best wuxia dramas in recent years. If you are a fan of wuxia, this is legit! It has many of the wuxia tropes; sects, court politics, secret arts, assassin's guide, youths who dream of justice and adventures, and especially; ranking and ranking of swords!! You can sing the national anthem of ‘Dugu Qiubai’ here lol. They certainly did not cheap out on the production nor the choreography, because it was just simply so beautiful. You can tell they spent ALOT of time on it. I saw the directors and checked some of their past works, now I understand why the choreography and sequences are so well filmed, I love some of their past works!The sword names, fighting, and even the details for all of it…hollyyyy crappp, this is wuxia’s fan wetdream. I'm really glad I didn’t watch it when it first came out, because I woulda gone crazy waiting for it. But now, I can binge it. You have to trust me, if you really love wuxia and appreciate great fight choreography and sequences, this show is a must!
Also, Li Hong Yi should really try out for ventriloquist, because for the whole freaking drama the biggest I see his mouth move is to this extent *o* it is like he talks in all lower cases I swear. If you take a shot for any time you can see his set of upper teeth, you can only be drunk after rewatching the whole drama 3 times. Lmaoo
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This review may contain spoilers
An Exciting but Mysterious Drama
This Wuxia drama is one of the best I've seen in a while! Going into this show, I didn't have high expectations and only knew Li Hongyi (Xiao Se) and Ao Ruipeng (Lei Wujie). However, I am truly impressed by the production and acting of this drama. From an encounter with a young swordsman, who would've known that Xiao Se was going to end up where he did?The story starts when Lei Wujie, a young swordsman from the Lei Clan with dreams of becoming a sword deity, ends up destroying a inn while helping the rich innkeeper, Xiao Se, get rid of a few bandits. After seeing his beloved inn being torn up, Xiao Se ends up traveling with Lei Wujie to XueYue City, where he will collect his compensation. On the journey, they meet Wu Xin, a highly skilled monk, and Tang Lian, Tang Clan and XueYue City's best disciple. The duo soon will meet many other talents including the mischievous Sikong Qianluo, the calculated Ye Ruoyi, the talented young divine healer Hua Jin, the young sword deity Wu Shuang, etc.
Overall, the story was very interesting, although it was quite confusing to understand at times. The special effects were very cool and creative, every character had their own touch and style of martial arts. We were able to see character development from each character throughout this drama. Personally, my favorite character was Xiao Se. A smart, mysterious young man who was always another step ahead of everyone else, Xiao Se kept many secrets about his true identity. It was clear that he cared a lot for his friends, even though he wouldn't show his affection physically.
The actors and actresses themselves portrayed their characters very well. The costumes and styling of this drama were spectacular, each outfit matched each character's aura and style. My only complaint is that the romantic aspects of this drama were lacking. Many of the characters did not have great chemistry, although it was clear that they were pretty close behind the camera. Despite this, there were a selected few relationships that were well depicted, one of them being Li Hanyi and Zhao Yuzhen's story.
Each character on the screen was there because they had a purpose. I do like how the production crew left out characters that were not necessary at the moment. However, there were characters that I would have liked to see more of, especially Wu Xin, who got a small amount of screen time for a main lead. After his return to TianWaiTian, he only appeared a couple of times again.
There is not much to say about the music in this drama. It is typical Wuxia music. The songs were good and enhanced some scenes.
Overall, it was a beautiful drama that portrayed the JiangHu well. Definitely would recommend it to others who want to watch a drama that includes a lot of brotherhood and teamwork.
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the bestest wuxia drama out there!
This one of my favourite and the most awed wuxia drama ever, I never could stick to a historical drama plot for longer but this drama... there wasn't a single episode that didn't make me clench my fists in anticipation of the next. Every single episode is packed with so much thrill, new plot twists and the acting, was just spectacular.I love this story so much maybe cause the donghua was one of my favourite and I've also read the novel cause I couldn't wait anymore and wanted to know how the story progressed. and this live-action truly made the novel justice..I can't believe how truly amazing this series it, now I wish I could watch it all over again.
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Wuxia that borderlines on Xianxia; Superb!
I used to watch Wuxia movies before when I was young but as I grow old my orientation to details just can't get past the failures in the props or dragging story.But was I surprised by this series! The costumes, make up, martial arts, and the use of CGI was almost perfect!
And the story connects from start to finnish. As well as the main drive of the main protagonist.
The political battle was also worth it.
And the ending, God, I love the ending! The wit is still there. It doesn't pretend that to be best or greatest you have to be the God of the Universe or something like that. It's about choice! That's why I love the main MC.
I don't know how much is the budget for this series but it was so well done.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is one of the best wuxia dramas I’ve watched.
I loved the plot ,storyline and how it started to make sense . I love how everyone grew physically ,emotionally and also in their abilities . I loved it when I saw some of the cast members from other dramas like word of honor etc. The romance didn’t dampen the story and every episode has something going on .We are introduced to each character whenever they feature . There’s the friendship between the group of friends and that even gets stronger when they become guardians protecting Xiao Se(ie the 6th exiled prince). They were willing to die for him and he was also willing to die for them . At some point ,it gave me word of honor feelings and nirvana in fire feelings especially since Xiao Se lost his martial abilities ( if he used his inner or true qi,it will cost him his life) but he still takes the risk for his friends .
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Excellent Action Scenes complimented by creative use of CGI + Good Pacing
“The Blood of Youth” is an enjoyable watch for it. It has great elements of a Chinese historical drama - good bromance, excellent CGI to complement great fight scenes, an engaging plot with good pacing, and a palace politics plot that doesn’t bore me to death. It’s no wonder it receives such high praises and has a MDL rating of 8.8 at the moment.Comedy - I was initially skeptical as I worried the comedy would not be to my liking. Fortunately, comedic moments were sprinkled throughout the drama and not over-the-top. Thanks to Lei Wu Jie’s innocent and carefree personality and Monk Wu Xin’s sarcasm and arrogance, they brought a lot of fun and lightheartedness to the drama. I actually miss Wu Xin in the second half of the drama when the drama switches to a more political plot. There isn’t enough Wu Xin in this drama!
Fight Scenes - Since this is not a high budget S+ production, this drama is using its money wisely. The best part about “The Blood of Youth” to me is the amazing fight scenes, complemented by some creative use of CGI and fireworks. This might not be a true wuxia drama like “Side Story of Fox Volant”, but I am impressed with the fast-moving sword fights. My pet peeve is slow-motion, twirling scenes, and luckily, we don’t have those in this drama. The wire work by all actors is pretty good, and there's a lot! Most of the action scenes are concentrated in the first half of the drama, and I have to say, I miss the action in the second half until we get to ep 38’s grand finale. However, the CGI for non-fight scenes are lacking. There are a few scenes that were so low quality that I wondered if I was watching the same drama.
Acting - Acting is decent. The veteran actors are great and the younger generation did an ok good job. I do think Li Hong Yi lacks charisma to be the lead. His spoken lines not matching the dubbing bugged the heck out of me for the longest time. It seems like he's mumbling all the time. His acting and line delivery got better in the later episodes but they did dampen my excitement in the first 5 episodes or so. It doesn’t help that for the most part, he was just standing there providing commentary and character background introductions in these early episodes. It also took me a few episodes to get used to Ao Rui Peng’s portrayal of the young and naive Lei Wu Jie. But then, his acting and character grew on me and I ended up liking him quite a bit. I bet Wu Xin is everyone’s favorite character and he’s mine as well. I can’t get enough of his sassiness, even though Liu Xue Yi definitely doesn’t look like a teenager.
Characters - This drama has a very huge cast. I actually think the drama introduced too many characters in the first couple episodes. It was hard to remember everyone’s names, titles, weapons and weapons names, and the different sects. Even though you will see the same 10 or so characters consistently, introducing so many in the beginning is confusing. It’s also nice to see some very strong female characters. It’s about time we see more strong ladies who are smart, brave and can fight. They might not play as big a role as their male counterparts, but at least they are not damsels in distress.
Bromance - The bromance in this drama is definitely a lot better than romance. It was fun when Xiao Se, Wu Xin, Lei Wu Jie and Tang Lian were all together. I love their interactions and bickering, and supporting each other in the first half of the drama. Unfortunately, scenes of them together dwindled in the second half. But then we see more of Xiao Se and his brother Prince Bai. I wish the drama had more scenes of them together and show us more of their frenemies brotherhood.
Romance - They are all underwhelming. There is no chemistry between Xiao Se and Sikong Qian Luo. I understand Xiao Se is more reserved and has bigger plans, but showing more hints of an attraction would be appreciated. Lei Wu Jie and Ye Ruo Yi’s romance is a little better and cuter, but not by much. I am most interested in finding out how Tan Lian and Fairy Lady Rui met and how they fall for each other, but their screen time is limited. The more developed romance might be the one between the two Sword Deities, Li Han Yi and Zhao Yu Zhen. If you are looking for romance in this drama, you will be very disappointed.
Other Random Observations:
1. I was VERY sad when a certain character/guardian died so soon. 🙁
2. OST is ok, nothing impressive.
3. I like the costumes and they don’t appear cheap. They just seem very thickly layered but it also appears to be quite cold.
4. The end of the villain seems a little anticlimactic.
5. I do not like the dubbing in this drama at all. I am disappointed that most of the actors are dubbed.
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A wonderful surprise
Incredibly consistent and engaging. It is a webnovel adaptation so it has a Donghua like vibe to it mostly due to it putting a lot of emphasis on the well choreographed action. If you like shounen anime then this will be a perfect fit for you. It's almost perfect… I can't really think of anything that could make it better than it already is.Warning! There are only really dashes of romance. It mostly focuses on action and politics…. So if you're looking for a romance heavy story then this might not be for you.
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Continuing the saga
Finishing this after second tries. For someone who is new to the series, I was one of the watcher who watched Dashing Youth first and decided to watch TBoY after knowing it was some sort of sequel for DY. I quite love the DY (who wont? what with all the eye candies we were spooned fed with there? lol), but my first attempt to watch TBoY was quite disheartening at first. The first maybe 10 episodes were quite slow and the eye candy were quite lacking compared to the DY. lol. I left the series for a while before taking it up again and I am very glad I did it. Though the first few episodes were quite slow and just like DY, where there were so many characters being introduced time and time again, making it quite a task to continue. At least, coming from DY, some of the characters I actually already know, just needed to refamiliarise myself with the new version from what I know. The plot was fine enough and quite a flow from someone coming from DY.Now, on to the leads. This is my first drama of LHY. Took me some time to get attached to LHY's visual and acting, his handsomeness for me is of the type that, the more you saw him, the more he appears more handsome. His character is also quite prudish and cold at first, so it is getting me a while to warm up to him. But by the end of the series, I was getting quite attached to his Xiao Se character and even though his power seems to getting more powerful without that much effort from him (lol), his final fight with Luo Qingyang was quite awesome. I was laughing when he ended up using Wujie's idea of insulting the melancholy sword after literally calling it a dumbass idea. lol. Wuxin, on the other hand was such a funny shameless brat, and I was quite entertained by his character, though he was quite kinda fade into the background towards the end. It seems like Lei Wujie was a more important character in the series rather than Wuxin. Coming from Lei Mengsha in DY, no wonder everyone was talking about how it made sense Lei Wujie was as he was. lol. He really took after his father (or rather, LMS did a good job acting as he is in DY, making it a fine prequel for TBoY.)
Romance was aplenty with so many characters' relationship but it was only on the surface, it seems that they only like to focus on the martial arts and brotherhood theme for the series, and the romance trope was only sprinkled there as an afterthought. I cant really seem to get along with the romance between Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo that well, the vibe was just wasn't vibing I guess. lol. The whump was also quite nice, though it seems like every one healed so fast after almost losing their lives. lol
Costumes for ML was nice and shuai, I have no problem with that. Though all the other characters got so and so costumes only. CGI was good enough not to appear too cheap, and the fight and battle seems quite believable. Tang Lian's death mourning was quite well done, I would like to be remembered like that as well if it was me. OST was so and so, nothing that stands out too much to me.
All in all, it was a nice (old) sequel in the saga and worth to watch. Hopefully I can see LHY again in something like this.
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This review may contain spoilers
Loved it! Most of the main cast were terrific!
I started watching the drama after I begun Dashing Youth, so I was looking to seeing the familiar characters and I already found so many. Sadly, Baili Dong Jun's had very little screentime but at least we get to see Sikong Changfeng. I'm sad to see what's happened to Lord Langya and his devotion. I can't believe Yue Yao is dead. Also, we weren't able to find out the identity of Qianlu's mother. It was also tough to see the repercussions of what happens when heroes fail.Li Hong Yi's Xiao Se looked so much like Cheng Yi. And Cheng Yi happens to be my favorite Chinese actor. Before this I didn't really catch the resemblance between the two, but they could easily pass off for brothers! Xiao Se as a character was pretty good and consistent throughout the drama. He had to rely on people but he still survived. However, I was looking forward to his powers coming back and when they did the fight was kind of underwhelming. Tan Lian's fight to death was way better.
Wu Xin / Ye An Shi was not given enough screentime. When we first met him, he was more powerful and later on it seemed like his powers were muted. He kept getting hurt, was stowed away, or controlled. The story would have also flowed better had they kept him in focus alongside Xiao Se & Lei Wujie. Apart from that, he is such a fun guy to have around and grown to be kind person despite the past sufferings.
Lei Wujie was such a blast. I wasn't sure that he was Lei Mengsha's son's until somone spelled it out, before that I kept thinking why is he so similar to Lei Mengsha! He grew so much as the show progressed. However they tried to keep him weak, because someone was always there to protect him. And while that was good, I wanted to see his true potential unleashed. Ye Ruo Yi's character came late into the picture and seemed a bit like an afterthought. The romance between the two was cute and fun to watch. She liked Lei Wujie from the get go and wasn't shy about showing it.
Lin Bo Yang's Sikong Qian Luo was a okay character. I would have liked her more had she spoken with a little more maturity suitable for a women of her stature. I enjoyed watching her take on seasoned fighters and win when the others couldn't. But she lacked chemistry with Xiao Se. As this drama wasn't romance centric, it needed someone who could have sparks flying even with the little romantic moments they had. But ultimately they grew on me because I wanted to like them together.
I kept expecting a bit more from Baili Dong Jun' disciple but Tang Lian was not in the same weight class as all the others. His best scenes were, the very first scene we see him protecting Wuxin's coffin and then the last one where he finally seemed like the drunken master. I wanted to see more of that characters. Here's to hoping we get to see it in part 2.
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Looking forward to season two
I'm two years late to this party and there are lots and lots of reviews here so my review will very probably get buried here. Nonetheless, I do want to write out my review even if very few people will read it. Here we go.Overall, this drama is very enjoyable. Stupid dumb funny at times, with some really powerful moments, a pretty good storyline, extraordinarily handsome cast and incredible acting. I feel dumb for letting it simmer in my to watch playlist for so long, my online friend nudged me to watch it. Maybe it's because she presented this drama to me as "friends roaming the martial arts world with cool martial arts" that I expected something a little different. However, I still think the plot has quite some room for improvement.
I think the writers could've easily pushed this drama for even 60 episodes if they kept the spirit and flow. The storyline felt a little rushed, jumping forward three months here, one month there. I mean yes, we can't have a detailed report as a cut screen, but these fast forwards in the storyline line were put in quite often. Xiao Se, Lei Wujie and Wuxin promised each other to roam the martial arts world together and it lasted for like 5 minutes. I think this part definitely should've been longer. Wuxin and the white haired deity from Tianwantian should've appeared on Xiao Se's journey more often and overall could've had a separate story line which would occasionally intertwine with the main group. Wuxin gave Xiao Se and Lei Wujie two of his martial arts only for those two to use them minimally. Especially the Abysmal Eye should've and could've been used better. I loved the hell out of Mu Chunfeng, this part was really great. I think the storyline should've spent a longer time in the Lei Fortress. How dare they cast such a handsome actor for the new lord of the Lei Clan and give him such a short appearance. The audacity lol. The storyline of Lei Hong and Li Hanyi dissipated into thin air, especially since Zhao Yuzhen died. I think this love triangle was unnecessary. Fairy Luoxia and her disciple storyline felt a little pressured, we could've done without it (or made it longer with more episodes). I hated that we lost Tang Lian, Zhao Yuzhen's death was enough. I think that Tang Lian could've been made into the drugged puppet instead of Wuxin, although it was a very Wuxin thing to become a drugged puppet. But on the other hand, we wouldn't have had the grand scene of Lian's memorial, that scene was mind-blowing and breathtaking. The Tianqi city story and "fight" for the throne felt a little hassled. Twenty minutes ago, three friends wanted to have fun and now we're in an imperial fight, where did the time fly to? And this is why I think this drama would've benefited from more episodes. Just take it easier with the same flow, I'm sure the writers would've made it as incredible. I really loved the last two episodes, no tacky words, no forced happy end and marriage, just really ending on a good note and open for furthering the story. I just hope that if season two will be made into reality, that it will exceed this season. Or at least be equally enjoyable.
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