“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.