Run For Young | Recap and Review

A group of friends in their last year of high school together. 
Notable Actors/Actresses

Peng Yu Chang: Lao Gou

Liang Jing Kang: Ma Tian

Zhang Jing Yi: Li An Ran

Chinese Title
風犬少年的天空

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, School, Comedy, Contemporary Romance

Network: bilibili

Year: 2020
Episodes: 5/16

Recap Grade: B
First Impression: 2/5

[Dropped]

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Mini Recaps

[Ep1] It’s the first day of school. The third years are having their ceremony. The principal is giving a typical inspirational speech. However, he’s completely overpowered by Da Zui (eng: Big Mouth) who is confessing to Chen Yuan Yuan. The expressions of this guy was hilarious. Lao Gou (eng: Old Dog) yells back that she does love him back. She doesn’t. At least it’s not obvious here.  

We then get an introduction to four brother like friends: Lao Gou (Tu Jun), Mi Mi (Ding Rong Liang), Da Zui (Luo Chuan Xi), and Da Li Jiao (Zhu Wei Jiao). Da Li Jiao (eng: Strong Jiao) is the only girl in this group who’s more manly than half of them combined. Lao Gou's character card was funny. He's Old Dog because his mother remarried another man and therefore he turned old. 

Da Li Jiao thought Lao Gou was asleep and confessed to him. He starts laughing hysterically. Menacingly, she chases him down the hallway. She runs over another boy. He’s Ma Tian, he’s one of the new transfer students. He asks her if she’s alright. When he makes a small comment about her being a girl, Da Li Jiao sweetly combs her hair behind her ear, “You can actually tell I’m a girl.” Her femininity lasted a second because the next second she’s ferociously kicking Lao Gou’s arse. Ma Tian is in love with her. He admires her bravery. Meanwhile Lao Gou likes the other new transfer student, Li An Ran.  

Students who have no marks on their test are forced to participate in the school’s marathon. Lao Gou is set on participating. When Ma Tian haughtily finishes his test early, Lao Gou doesn’t like it. Can’t blame the guy for being smart though. Lao Gou does the next logical thing. He strips his test from Ma Tian and flees. Ma Tian runs after him. It’s a flight across the city. As they’re running, Lao Gou helps a police officer chase down a thief. Now that both Lao Gou and Ma Tian have no marks on their test, they’re officially part of the marathon. The home room teacher feels bad for Ma Tian but Ma Tian accepts the disciplinary action on one condition. He wants to be the team leader. 

Ma Tian and Lao Gou are punished for leaving school grounds. After they make their apology statement to the school, they’re immediately called back to receive their reward for catching a thief. Lol. Lao Gou starts detailing how they caught the thief. In the process of their heroism, they sang. Ma Tian does a double take. They never sang. Lao Gou starts singing impromptu. He gives the mic for Ma Tian to sing but before he can open his mouth, the mic is already back to Lao Gou. LOL. Lao Gou gives the mic to him a few more times but Ma Tian has learnt. He just glares at Lao Gou every time.  

Lao Gou isn’t happy Ma Tian is the marathon leader. He challenges. Ma Tian accepts (a lot of Ma Tian’s stubbornness to outshine Lao Gou is because he wants to impress Da Li Jiao). Lao Gou and Ma Tian run laps, the first one to finish will be the leader. It’s hard to tell who’ll win the long distance race especially when Lao Gou’s shoes wear down completely. Without a choice, Lao Gou cedes the leadership to Ma Tian. 

Li An Ran purposely transferred to this school to look for someone.  

Liu Wen Qin is another character introduced this episode. He was supposed to be in third year but he quit school. Lao Gou comments that he must have been through a lot this year. Liu Wen Qin is currently barbecuing at this outdoor restaurant. 

[Ep2] Bad students are paired with good students to study for the upcoming exams. Li An Ran offers to help Lao Gou study. Lao Gou refuses hilariously. He can sense she has another motive. She really does but she lies to him that all the boys around her are like Ma Tian. She wants to know what a boy who likes to run in the wind is like. Someone free-minded. He’s like: “Ah so you are chasing me who likes chasing the wind?” The way he said it was really funny that cannot be replicated through text.  

Because  Li An Ran let Lao Gou copy her answers and he convinced her to change her correct answers, Lao Gou has successfully nabbed the class’s first place. Lao Gou promises to play with her now. She was excited but he never showed up where they were supposed to meet. Lao Gou is having a temper because in the notebook she gave him was a note that was yelling at him. It was Ma Tian who wrote it. When Lao Gou learns it wasn’t her, he delivers on his promise and takes her out. She breaks out of her comfort zone and starts dancing. It seduces him. Or not? Because he starts laughing hysterically. 

A lady is pushing a heavy wagon uphill. The boys run to help. Ma Tian joins in too. I think it’s at this moment, Lao Gou acknowledges Ma Tian. 

It’s Li An Ran’s birthday. She invites everyone to her home. However, dad makes fun of butchers and how they cannot possibly raise people of class. Feeling conscious, Lao Gou leaves dinner abruptly. His father is a butcher. Everyone chases after him. Li An Ran finds him. Feeling apologetic for leaving her birthday like that, he buys her a cake. They’re at the restaurant Liu Wen Qin barbecues at. Turns out the person Li An Ran was looking for was Liu Wen Qin. 

[Ep3]  Li An Ran tries to befriend Liu Wen Qin. Lao Gou doesn’t know she likes his friend. He thinks he has a chance with her. However, a fight breaks out and Lao Gou immediately knows who she likes. Li An Ran risked her safety to protect Liu Wen Qin. Everyone scatters from the fight. Da Li Jiao tries to go back for Lao Gou but it’s Ma Tian who saves him first.  

The boys run to a garage and close the doors. They’re stuck inside. Ma Tian makes a deal with Lao Gou that if they can get out safely then they should win the marathon together. Lao Gou, in his loudest voice possible, replies: WHO THE HECK CARES ABOUT THE MARATHON. Ma Tian agrees. But they have nothing else to talk about.  

Liu Wen Qin gathers a bunch of neighbourhood ladies carrying household weapons to attack the thugs. Lao Gou is safe but he’s also very heartbroken. 

[Ep4] After the fight, the school cancels the marathon. Lao Gou asks Ma Tian why he went back to save him. Although they don’t like each other he knew he needed him. 

Lao Gou: Do men have to be this cheesy too?

Although the marathon is canceled, their passion for running continues to burn. Lao Gou and Ma Tian race in the rain. The music/instrumental is amazing. It reminds me of a song I can’t quite put my tongue to.

Lao Gou gives up on his love and helps Li An Ran pursue Liu Wen Qin. It works. Sort of. There’s rose petals dripping on them nonstop. It’s more comedic than romantic. Mi Mi comforts Lao Gou, “No matter what, I’ll love you. Mi Mi knows how heartbroken Lao Gou is. Lao Gou replies, “I love you too.” “Do men have to be this cheesy too?” Yes.  

Liu Wen Qin knows Lao Gou likes Li An Ran. Lao Gou then requests that he should like her for him. Plus it’s Liu Wen Qin she likes. However, Liu Wen Qin frustratingly replies him that she’s in a different world from him. She’s too far. Liu Wen Qin rejects her bitterly and harshly.  

Lao Gou helps Li An Ran get over her heartbreak with the least pain as possible. He lies that Liu Wen Qin wrote her a letter but because his writing is too poor he had ordered Lao Gou to read it to her. Ma Tian validates the letter so that Li An Ran doesn’t read it. However, she knows the letter is fake. 

Ma Tian encourages Lao Gou to pursue Li An Ran. Lao Gou isn’t used to him being nice. Ma Tian clarifies he’s motivating himself. The other person who’s brave with her love is Li An Ran. She’s back at the restaurant. It doesn’t matter how many girls (who she calls prostitutes) are around Liu Wen Qin, she sings him a song to confess to him. She asks him if he ever loved her. Before he can answer, police officers arrive. They arrest him on the spot. Before they force him in the car, Liu Wen Qin says he never loved her. What timing... 

[Ep5] Liu Wen Qin and Li An Ran had a love story. He saved her from a fight in their first meeting and it was love at first sight for both of them. The next time they meet he was having a basketball match at her school. Among the audience, he was able to locate her immediately. The music in the background can make any man good looking. Their romance here does look cute. From then on she continuously sneaked out of her school to attend his matches. That’s why she’s so good at climbing walls. 

The two begin to date but he starts noticing their differences. She buys him an expensive pair of sneakers that he can never imagine buying on his own. To her, that money is nothing. She invites him for a date on Christmas Eve. She asks Ma Tian what present she should get for Liu Wen Qin. Ma Tian warns her to not buy an expensive gift. It’s too much pressure for the guy if he’s thinking of getting her a return gift. Thus, she settles on writing him a letter for his Christmas present. 

Ma Tian was right about Liu Wen Qin. He’s trying to earn money to buy her an expensive necklace. He accepts these dangerous basketball games and ruins his only chance at university. He’s too beaten up to perform well to be accepted anywhere. He also couldn’t give the necklace he bought for her because she ended up winning the exact same necklace from a random lottery the buffet was hosting for a Christmas event. He asks her if there’s a difference between the shrimp that’s raised in the ocean vs the lake. Li An Ran replies that of course there is. They’re very different; they cannot be raised together. Without giving the present he risked his future for, he leaves her. He has no future and no love now.  

Lao Gou had comforted Liu Wen Qin a year ago. A year now, Lao Gou comforts Li An Ran. Well, that was a bitter love story. Love ruined Liu Wen Qin.

[Ep6]
[Ep7]
[Ep8]
[Ep9]
[Ep10]
[Ep11]
[Ep12]
[Ep13]
[Ep14]
[Ep15]
[Ep16]

Remarks

[First Impression (Ep1-5)] I have an urge to call this "Run for Youth" instead. Anyways. This channels a sort of relatable high school vibe. The main characters are country bumpkins, rough on their edges. It focuses on the life of the poor (four/five buddies who grew up together) and the meeting with two new transfer friends who are in another social class. Their two worlds collide. 

Run For Young is weird. It's not quite anywhere for me. One thing for sure is it's comedic. Peng Peng (Lao Gou) has a dramatic performance that I like because I know his variety character but if I don't know him I might not like him at all. He's so loud. And he actually spits when he delivers his lines. I guess that's being in character? I still like him though. He brings out a lot of humour. I don’t know how accurate his dialect is, all I know is I cannot understand without reading the subtitles. 

It's more romance heavy than I thought it was going to be. But it’s not the romantic kind of romance (at least not where I am). The guys are crushing on the girls but the girls either don't like them or have someone else they like. 

I wasn't planning to watch this for the romance. I had hoped it would be more friendship focused. I do like the growing bromance between Ma Tian and Lao Gou. There's a class disparity between them. Ma Tian is upright, smart, and composed.  Lao Gou is rowdy, dumb, and a plain country bumpkin. Through the marathon, they start to narrow that gap and see each other's worth and each other's similarities. 

Liu Wen Qin and Li An Ran’s story is the epitome of social class disparity. It’s like they squeezed in a mini drama in Ep5. It reminds me of “Tatta Hitotsu no Koi” all packed into one episode. It was a fleeting and bitter romance that I wish never happened for Liu Wen Qin. 

The identity of this drama confuses me and hence my “weird” comment. I have all these soft spots for all sorts of dramas but this drama doesn’t hit anywhere square on. It misses the bulls eye. It’s not relatable. The characters are too out there for me. It’s not romantic. Is this trying to make a social commentary on social class? If it is, does this really have enough substance? I hope it doesn’t dilly dally in the middle where it’s not serious enough and yet it wants to make a social commentary. Honestly, I was looking for a chummy relatable high school drama about youth, dream and passion. 

What I love about this drama: the ending song and the instrumental of it. It turns any guy handsome and any moment touching. 

[Dropped] After a week of not thinking about this drama at all, I’m not in the mood to pick up where I left off.