Skimmed Through
Name: Youth Fight
Writer/director:
Date: March 2019
Number of episodes: 24
Genre: Friendship, life, work, romance
Based on book/manga?: no
Why did I press play? The name, promotional artwork, and Zheng Shuang as a lead – it’s a combination I can’t overlook.
Thoughts:
It is Xiang Zhen (Zheng) and her relationship with boyfriend Zhao Cong (Xu Yang) that grasped my attention and kept it. Without those too… the start would be weak. She is an Arts program and him in Computer Science. Their relationship has a few levels. The first, their chemistry and attraction for one another. The second, their support for one another. For example, both working together and will to take the blame for the “jacket-library-incident.” The third, despite sporting a somewhat arrogant attitude, she is naive and heavily relies on Cong to support and help her. She later gets annoyed when he points out the likely hood of her failing start-up – it does fail and he bails her out. When things began heading south with these two, I felt a loss of interest. The other aspects of the story not quite my cup of tea.
The good
- Fantastic acting, you can sit back and relax because you know the actors in front of you can handle their roles with skill and experience.
- Each character is distinct and I didn’t notice any overlap. They each clearly have different personalities, goals, reaction, romances, etc.
- There is a myriad of locations, it perpetually feels like things are happening and then we are following them around in their individual world.
- The friendship between the five girls – it’s not all picnics and rainbows, but they seem to work it all out and support one another and they each DO go through a lot, whether it be good or bad.
- Zheng Shuang is fantastic as always – I enjoy her acting style, it’s natural, quirky and unexpected.
- Quality of production.
The bad
- The plot is all over the place and a few gaps in logic can be found.
- The girls’ heavy reliance of guys for their goals and support is a little nauseating. This lessens respect for the five gals, which in turns creates a detachment to their situations.
All in all, it’s well worth giving a shot.
Themes: hustling
What is it good for? When you’re in the mood for several main characters and an array of plot odds and ends.
Drama Delight 