Meari21

He played Fu Rong Jun. In the original novel, he was supposed to be in a BL relationship with Xin Yun Lai's character, Mo Fang. I almost didn't recognize him in Dashing Youth. He was so silly and childish in Shen Li but he played a brooding badass in Dashing Youth.

I'm usually not into pairings with huge age gaps unless it's vital to the story and this is one of those exceptions. The king is supposed to be young and naive. He ascended to the throne at a young age, probably in his early teen years. I haven't read the manhwa but I'm guessing he's either in his late teens or early 20's at the beginning of this story. If that's true, then it makes sense that they would cast a much younger actor.

As for Yoona playing an accomplished chef, it would actually be more realistic that she'd be older than 27 because people just don't become a 3-star Michelin chef overnight, it takes years of training, practice, and experience. If they're supposed to be the same age in the manhwa (meaning they're in their 20's), then I'd say that Jiyeong is a genius and truly special because it's rare to achieve that kind of status in the culinary world at a young age. It was also common in history to have these huge age gaps between husbands and wives, especially among royalty. Some kings even married their adult wives when they were still children. Besides, if we really think about their respective characters, the king is technically hundreds of years older than Jiyeong. lol

For manhwa readers, please open a discussions thread where people can ask about the characters and learn how different or similar this drama is to the manhwa. Thanks in advance!

Yeah, Liu Xueyi is practically typecasted in these sort of roles. lol Not sure if he can do comedy though. As far as I can remember, the closest comedic role he has ever had is Wuxin in Blood of Youth. But his Wuxin is just playful, not really funny unlike Ao Ruipeng's Lei Wujie.

Yes. He was really funny in The Legend of Shen Li. But he also looked like a total evil dark lord in Dashing Youth.

I was thinking of Li Yitong for the FL. I found her hilarious in A Dream Within A Dream. She’s also closer in age to Yoona. As for the ML, I think Ding Yuxi would be great. He Yu would also be good imho. He even looks like Song Kang to me. 😁

This is a fun watch and I’m liking it so far. I do like the political intrigue and cooking scenes, they remind me of Japanese food dramas and anime series like Food Wars. It’s based on a manhwa so no wonder. There are some suspend-your-disbelief moments but nothing too farfetched that I can’t forgive.

I think I saw his bandage inside his clothes. They could’ve at least showed someone tending to his wound, though. I kept thinking the arrow head is still buried in his shoulder and should be taken out, the wound should’ve been disinfected too.

Agreed. It's an entertaining drama as a whole and the cinematography is beautiful. But it's a fairly average series. I think the plot is not even close to unique. I'm not fond of the musical genius trope, it's been overdone. Most skilled musicians aren't natural geniuses, they're just very very good at what they do and they work hard to attain their skills. The drama between the male lead and his ex-manager/mentor is too much for my taste and has also been done many times before. Then there's the rivalry between Takeru and Masaki's characters that also feels more like an anime/manga plot than something that would really happen in reality. It's the music that I gravitated towards. As someone who is heavily into J-rock and J-metal, I can definitely see that they based a lot of these characters on real-life Japanese musicians. The music is also very reminiscent of popular rock and visual kei in Japan.

Unfortunately, the only one that looked and felt like a real rocker to me is Machida Keita's character, Sho. The rest felt like they're just putting on costumes and acting what they think a rocker/musician should act. Suda Masaki is an established musician and actor in Japan but he's no rocker and I can see that with how he portrayed his role. It's like he was only cosplaying Hyde and other visual kei artists. I prefer how the actors portrayed their roles in Beck imho. They felt more genuine to me.

This reminds me of the live action movie Beck, which also stars Sato Takeru. The music, so far, reminds me of Nothing’s Carved in Stone, Radwimps, and King Gnu. But Machida Keita’s character reminds me of Survive Said the Prophet’s guitarist.

You're putting words into my mouth. I mentioned specific scenarios in which a woman can beat a man in a fight and scenarios in which they can't. My sources? I was raised among martial arts fighters. There's a reason why women never compete against men in a head to head fight in wushu. I don't need to prove anything to you because I know from personal experience.

I said if he has vastly inferior fighting skills meaning he can barely punch or kick, and he doesn’t based on how she struggled against him despite being a champion fighter. And she didn’t use any tricks to win, she fought him head on. So no, she wouldn’t have been able to win realistically speaking.

That’s exactly what happened to Under the Skin 2. I had to watch it illegally.

Most likely because of copyright restrictions from WeTV. There are certain dramas that aren’t available in my region either like Under The Skin 2. It happens when two major streaming platforms are showing them at the same time.

It’s available

I haven't started this yet but it appears to be a fun and quirky drama. I might have to renew my iQIYI subscription just for this. lol

Tan Jianci claimed that there's a season 3. He just didn't say when it will be released.

"It begins in Osaka in 1945 during World War II just before the bombs fall and the Japanese empire surrenders, ending the bloody war. It tells the story of Sun Ja as she struggles to protect her family, even making dangerous choices to ensure their survival." Fixed it.

Agreed. I just recently started this and I got hooked from the first episode. I think those who find it boring are used to the typical K-dramas that are targeted towards a younger audience. This doesn't follow the same formula nor does it feel like a K-drama because it actually isn't. It's a mature story about a Korean family based on a wonderful book.

That's in wuxia or even xianxia dramas, though. The rules are completely different there because of the presence of qi. In their modern non-wuxia/xianxia dramas, the fight scenes are usually more straightforward and grounded.

That’s more believable. But in the drama it’s like she has superhuman strength. She’s literally a little girl! And the men she dominated are at least twice her size.