The Blood of Youth (2022)

Spectacular display of friendship

When I first started watching TBOY, I dropped it after the first episode as it did not appeal to me. A year later I stumbled upon this show again and decided to give it another try and I am glad I did. Storyline was amazing for the front half of the show but it starts slowing down a little in the later half when politics and palace affairs start playing a big role in the plot. It is still watchable as there are still incorporations of fight scenes and martial arts. There is a balance of humour and seriousness in the show. One thing about the show that I find it amusing is Wuxin is supposed to be around 18 years old in the show but I keep forgetting about it due to the casting of the actor that plays this role. He looked more 28 than 18 years old. Other than that TBOY is a good watch and would definitely rewatch it when I have the time, can’t wait for season 2 to start filming and hope to see more of the group exploring the martial arts world in the second season.

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Entertaining

I finally had a chance to watch this and was not disappointed. I liked the overarching storyline but admittedly had to rewind periodically to understand who some of the new characters and subplots inserted throughout the first half of the series were. But what kept me watching was the entertaining dynamics of the bond/friendship development and humorous interactions of the 3 main characters Xiao Se, Wu Xin, and Lei Wu Jie. I also enjoyed the fact that the female characters were also powerful fighters. Almost every episode was action filled. The love connection between Xiao Se and the female love interest wasn’t very strong. The music matched well with the scenes - there’s a a couple in particular that I really like. Perfect casting of the 3 main ML’s: Li Hong Yi’s calm, cool and elegant demeanor, Ao Rui Peng’s silly, naive, and high-energy, and Liu Xue Yi’s serious and domineering presence.

Overall - very entertaining and will be on my rewatch list.

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Wuxia series lovers will be spoiled with good martial arts scenes

At the beginning of the story, our eyes have been spoiled with scenes of martial arts with cool CGI effects, lots of kung fu fight scenes. The theme of the story is already visible, namely the Power Struggle to become Emperor but the characteristics of the wuxia series are also still highlighted. All Characters from the Kingdom are described as proficient in martial arts Kungfu, this was a combination of the royal world and the martial world, it's a shame between the middle and the end of the episode the martial arts scenes are reduced but the kung fu martial arts fight at the end of the story is quite epic. The series features more friendship than love relationships between the characters, If you are a lover of romantic historical stories, don't expect to see sweet romantic scenes between ML and FL. At first, I thought that there would be a lot of amazing strategic battle scenes, but until the end of the story, I saw that strategy battles were still not that exciting, little bit of plot twist. the acting of all the male actors is good but the acting of all the female actors is not good maybe because of the demands of the scenario. For fans of the Wuxia series, this is worth watching

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Balance well

Drama is good and enjoyable to watch.
Ml is pure and innocent and also have high iq.

Fighting skill is amazing.
CGI is good.
Characters develop nice.
Story is good.
Adventure nice.

This drama is balance about morality and society well.

you can kill a person but you can't kill loyalty and honest and also honour.

This is good drama and it focus on relationships base on value of loyalty and respect.

The ml lose everything but he didn't lose his loyalty so he gain his power back and also lot of friends to journey with him.

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Shonen to its core; rewatchable feel-good show

NOTE: I consider a score of 5 average, therefore my score of 8/10 is very high.

Mostly wanted to write this review after watching the anime, which is apparently closer to the webnovel, and rewatching this for the first time in preparation for the prequel (Dashing Youth). This is only the 2nd show I've ever rewatched, so take that as a very high compliment.

Overall, given the government constraints of 40 eps max, I think the pacing and execution of the webnovel plot (several hundred chapters long) is actually superior to the source material. There are pivotal moment rewrites and rearrangements (Xiao Se's identity reveal, the first time Xiao Se uses his powers again, Wuxin's return, the appearance of important characters such as the 2 other princes, etc.) that are much more impactful in the drama than in the anime/novel because of their timing/writing. Huge kudos to the screenwriter for cleaning up the OG plot and orchestrating everything so much better.

The introduction of the overarching imperial palace plot is brought in earlier and integrated much more frequently, and keeps you hooked through the first half to see how it develops. Because of this early sprinkling, the transition from being mostly wuxia/jianghu-heavy to court politics feels very smooth, and as someone who watches mostly wuxia/xianxia and historical/court politics dramas, this is one of the most well-executed shows that balances the two nicely. I first watched this shortly after watching Nirvana in Fire and craving something that was slightly more wuxia-heavy but still had enough plotting to be satisfying, and although the tone of this show is incredibly different from NIF, the combination of those two elements here satisfied that craving. Also a rare thing to see within the genre is such a well done generationally balanced cast--the young and older generations are equally important and present in the story, and actual older actors/actresses play older characters, which is sorely needed in the idol drama genre.

I think if you approach the show as a live action version of a shonen anime/manga (少年 is literally in the title of the show, lol), i.e. not too grim-dark, where the power of friendship and justice always prevails, and everyone gets their magical cure and happy ending, then you'll be in for a very fun ride. It's true that there are very frequent and fast character introductions of many, many characters, which is why I also rated the rewatch value so highly, as you'll understand and appreciate much better who everyone is talking about and how it ties in with other aspects of the plot.

Minor notes:
- They somehow cast almost everyone to be very similar to their anime appearance, the major difference being Xiao Se. I haven't read the webnovel, but assuming the anime characterization is closer, I'd also say that Xiao Se's characterization is very different in the drama compared to the webnovel/anime. In the latter he's more laid back, expressive, talkative, and extravagant(?)(pretentious?), while in the drama I'd describe him as more direct, impassive/inscrutable, short/reticent, and irritable. I'd say they're both equally sarcastic/quick-witted/judgmental, but just in different flavors. The drama version makes him feel more childish at times but I personally think that makes him more likeable. Just a word of warning so you don't go into the anime/novel expecting the same Xiao Se.

- If I could, I'd rate the costuming as 10/10--some of the outfits stick closely to the anime for good reason (e.g. Lei Yun He--PEAK), but other times it surpasses it.

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the Drama are so perfect

First of all… Im not a fan of wuxia drama.. I love.. the romantic comedy.. but since lots of the actor is so eye catching.. and of course li hong yi, ao rui peng and liu xue yi on it i try to give it a try.. episode 1 i still try to figure out their character..but the story made me want to watch next episode…
i watch it on Youku apps..
I Cry When tang lian Died…
I love it when Wuxin always showed up when xiao se and wu jie in trouble.. but yet My tears cannot be hold when tang lian died..
I hate Xiao Yu so much..
Since the genre is not about romance so the ❤️ between the actor and actress not the main purpose on this drama.. Im not that disapointed about that..
i love that each character given are so perfect..

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Adventure for the ones tha have a justice mind

This was one of the best things I ever watched, it felt like the first time you enter a fairy world, it’s so magical.

Great things:

- The characters have such a good development (you can see how their mindset changed)
- The are a lot of plots and side plots that had me crying, laughing and being amazed
- The fights were made with such care, everything came together and you can feel like you were there
- The main character is so smart! I think that this was what made me love so much from the beginning
- The music, omg the music is sooo good, the intro is one of my favorites of all time
- The finale was fair, you can see the heart of the main character and realize that the decision was correct

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One of the best modern wuxia to come out in a long itme!

There is something weirdly addictive about The Blood Of Youth. I usually hate “video game” wuxia with the flying sparkling kung fu, but the characters are compelling. Doesn’t hurt that Li Hong Yi (Xiao Se) is so pretty ?

One thing I like about The Blood Of Youth is that no matter how powerful Xiao Se, Wuxin and Wujie are, they still behave like young men who are impetuous and yes, childish! This makes for really funny moments between the trio, especially between Xiao Se and Wujie.

While most CDramas lose my interest after the 20th episode, not this one! The Blood Of Youth was tightly plotted, the characters so interesting.

Although the “magic” martial arts took some getting used to, this was a classic Wuxia tale. So, you have the themes of brotherhood, loyalty, chivalry and honour that the genre is known for.

The storytellers were brilliant, ramping up suspense in seemingly innocuous events to great heights. For one, who knew a banquet can be such a suspenseful and tense affair? And when the curtains finally parted and the truth of the banquet is finally revealed, you feel a whoosh of emotion at what it signifies. Now, that’s a fine piece of storytelling there.

When the show ended, I had a hangover because it ended “too soon” and I didn’t think I could watch anything this good in a long while. ?

Fortunately, 2023 turned out to be a great year for wuxia dramas, with Mysterious Lotus Casebook, The Ingenious One and A Journey to Love following soon after. Now, with season 2 of Blood of Youth just announced, I hope to enjoy more of our gang in the future!

Note: This is a condensed review of my longer review on my blog: https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/01/01/the-blood-of-youth-review/

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Too many unnecessary characters

The story and the acting is good but the introduction of the crazy numbers of random characters and sects are all thrown in at once. The crazy numbers of characters then lead to lots of fighting scene. These fighting scene were actually very good if taken individually but often thrown together without any good reasons. The plot is good but there really is just far too many random introduction of characters even 8n the last few episodes for absolutely no good reasons other than to show some fighting scenes which again is random with zero reasons. The few couple that developed were all juvenile in their style of "chasing"totally one sided with zero friendship or chemistry

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More hype than watch value

Blood of Youth offers to the viewers, can't blame the high rating of 9.7 stars when many have watched less than episodes and given 10 stars. I'm reviewing this drama after completing watching the 40 episodes. Here's my rating and thoughts:

Plot: 9/10 ? Apparently this drama has it's twists and turns and keeps driving the viewer to watch till the end. Things rounded off well, viewers can see the ML is a stubborn man who makes his own decisions and it's this ending which makes them to crave more.

Characters: 6/10 ? This rating is for the ML, Xiao Se. I liked that he was this confident man who strategically worked towards his goals. What I didn't like was that in the martial arts world, the ML barely fought, even when he was treated of his injury, he continued to feebly (not my but Lei's words) wrap his hands in his long sleeves and never practiced. Of course I rolled my eyes when a shaft user, all of a sudden wants to own the tianzhan sword.
Other MLs did justice to their roles, Wuxin and Lei kept me going.
I can't say anything about the FL when she's basically treated as a side character in the whole drama.

Comedy: 9/10 ? Yes this drama will make you laugh, especially Wuxin and General when he first meets his future son in law, Lei.

Romance: 0/10 ? seriously if the director and scriptwriter chose to focus more on the fight scenes, then romance shouldn't have been added at all, however, couples were formed with zero thought to romance. First of all, Xiao Se's pairing with Quinlou wasn't great, zero on-screen chemistry, no moments between the leads happened.

Screen effects/fight scenes: 10/10 ? Amazing CGI during fight scenes is the best of this drama. Hats off ?

Background music: 5/10 ? Introductory music gave an okay feel but throughout the drama it lacked the goosebumps moments music when a great action happened.

So overall it's a good drama worth watching.

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