Fangs of Fortune

Picturesque Journey of Emotional Wreck Entangled in a Tale of Humanity's Cruel Irony

Fangs of Fortune is, without a doubt, one of the best CDramas of 2024, particularly when it comes to visual storytelling. From its meticulously crafted costume and set design to the strikingly vivid cinematography, every frame is a feast for the eyes. The level of detail in the production elevates the drama into a visual masterpiece, seamlessly immersing viewers in its own intricately crafted otherworldly world.

The cast is another standout element. Whether portraying heroes, antiheroes, or outright villains, every actor delivers a performance as captivating as their appearance. Neo Hou, in particular, commands attention with his nuanced portrayal that captures the emotional depth and moral complexity of his character, proving once again why he remains a hidden force in the industry.

What sets Fangs of Fortune apart isn’t just its technical brilliance but its profound exploration of humanity. At its core, the drama poses unsettling questions about what it truly means to be human. In this world, humans—ironically—are often depicted as more greedy, cruel, and evil than the yaos (妖) they fear and despise. The story doesn’t shy away from exposing the dark side of human nature: the unquenchable thirst for power, the willingness to betray, and the lengths people will go to justify their actions. Yet, amid this darkness, it also highlights moments of compassion, sacrifice, and the fragile hope that goodness still prevails in the end.

Starting in the latter half, the narrative crescendos into an emotional juggernaut. The storytelling transforms into something visceral, pulling viewers into the characters’ anguish and heartbreak. The final episodes though are a true test of the audiences' endurance and feel like a descent into the inevitable, where destiny’s mockery leaves scars that are still deeply felt long after the end-credits dance rolls.

Fangs of Fortune is more than a drama since it's a mirror held up to humanity, reflecting its flaws and virtues in stark detail. And though it has its fair share of imperfections, its unflinching portrayal of sorrow, paired with breathtaking visuals, a hauntingly beautiful narrative, and compelling performances, cements its place as one of the finest CDramas of the year. Few series is as haunting as it is captivating and manage to marry heartbreak and artistry as seamlessly as this, making it an unforgettable exploration of what it truly means to be human.

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Bestttttt

Loved it. From story to acting to visual, everything is so on point. Finally, a villain who is hard to deal with.  After each episode, there is a twist. One good thing about it is the villain remains the same. In this kind of drama, new villains always come in the last 5 episodes, but here it reminds the same.

One thing I have complained about is that, in the end, mainly the fight with villain Zhu Yan was a bare minimum. As an ML he should be the one to defeat the villain or be more involved in it. At least in "My Journey to You", ML was the mastermind in defeating the villain, but here Zhu Yan, involved in the final fighting scene with the villain, was too little. This is why I gave a 9.5 rating.

It has a dark tone but many funny scenes which aren’t clingy & blend very nicely with the plot. I think it’s because the six of them have nice chemistry, mainly Zhu Yan, Zhuo Yi Chen & Wen Xiao. Love the bromance of Zhu Yan & Zhuo Yi Chen. They're my favorite duo.

Neo Hou didn't disappoint me as Zhu Yan. He killed it. One minute he is serious & emotional, sharing his knowledge with everyone, & in second he cracks jokes, passing sarcastic comments. Zhu Yan, with a serious & crying face, says the most unserious, unrelated thing. Neo Hou truly did a great job. Zhu Yan is my favorite character.

In "My Journey to You", Tian Jia Rui's character was immature, short-tempered but here he is mature, clear-headed, smart, tactic. Tian Jia Rui's acting was good.

Loved how Zhu Yan escaped from prison the way he walked toward Wen Xiao uff.

Laughed when Zhu Yan said he could walk by himself to his cell, the experience of Wen Xiao & Zhuo Yi Chen.

Everyone's favorite thing is to criticize Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan & Wen Xiao are always bickering. I like their chemistry. 

It’s cute how Bai Jiu keeps on holding Zhuo Yi Chen's hair whenever he is scared & his screams omg.

Every time I eat Bai Jiu have to vomit

Whenever they insult someone, that person will sneeze.

Laughed at the scene where Zhu Yan & Zhuo Yi Chen slap each other & started arguing in the middle of the fighting.
 
Like the OST.

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???

One of my many reason why I watched thus drama is because like the actors. Most of my fav actors acted in this drama, like Zhang Miao Yi, Cheng Xiao and Tian Jia Rui. At the start, I felt like it was a comedy show, but later on, the plot started to reveal itself and it had become clear it’s a BE. Not to disappoint, it is a BE😭 starting from ep 8-9. I was CRYING because of how sad the brother and sister relationship and sacrifices. At the end, bai jiu sacrifice himself and so the zhao yuan zho😭 I WAS BAWLING MY EYES OUT BRO. THE ACTING OF CRYING WAS SO TOUCHING😭😭🙏🙏🙏 I would say I would rewatch it if I want to watch it sad show😭. The visual of the case is so good too! MUSIC IS ON TOP! I learned the dance to it!!! BE is better then OE so I’m not complaining but I really wished it to be a HE. The title of this drama also revealed the ending would be a BE. 大梦归离，the Chinese top translating it means “big dreams belong end” explaining that zhao yuan zhous big dream has to come to an end. The lovelyness of being with a huge group of friends felt like a dream. This isn’t a dream but feels like a dream, sadly whatever that has to do with dreams belongs to an end. This is predicting a BE… (HE meaning is Happy ending, BE means Bad ending/Sad ending, OE means opening ending)

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One of my guilty pleasure this year

When I first heard of this drama, it had a lot of negative feedback. But I gave it a try because of Neo and Chen Duling, Dudu being I rewatched MLCB. I was blown away by the production and the beauty of the two main leads. However, as the story progressed I got captivated by the whole cast, they are a great actor. I’m ngl, the story is kind of mediocre but they are excellent actors so it got carried. I enjoyed this drama immensely. I laughed, I cried, I got super pissed, I felt so much giddiness between ZhaoYuanZhou and WenXiao, the bitterness because it makes me sad at the end. Some folks are bashing FoF because it only has 34 episodes and that it ended abruptly because of the low rating however the other drama w/c they comparing this with ended at 32 episodes. I am not sure about the rating but I will believe IQIYI, that it is popular and some sites that I will not be naming here, that it did well in China and received lots of love.

With all this long review, I can only say that it was worth it and I rewatched it yesterday. I paid for the early access btw that’s how hooked I was in FoF

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Too melodramatic with too much crying....

I am a huge fan of Edward Guo's works and Fangs of Fortune (FOF) did not disappoint. The props, styling, costume, fighting cinematography, music, lighting, choices of actors, etc were excellent and probably a bit better than his last work with "My Journey to You". I thoroughly enjoyed the first 15 episodes of FOF, and could not wait for iQIYI to release latest episodes, but then it was downhill from there. The theme got darker; the storylines got more ridiculous and I felt that the director was trying very hard to get every actor to cry unnecessarily. The last 5 episodes were especially tough to digest - all actors cried almost every alternate scene. The crying scenes were definitely overdone and there were times when I was praying for Tian Jiarui's character (Zhou Yichen (ZYC)) not to cry.

I could not accept the storyline that a demon who has lived for well over 30,000 years, and supposed to be a strong bad-ass demon could turn out to be such a weakling at the end of this drama. Similarly, how could a Goddess be so useless, and in reality a supporting cast in FOF when she is billed as the lead female of FOF. The real protagonist here is Tian Jiarui and not Neo Hou. I thought Neo Hou was much better here than he was in his last drama "Dashing Youth" as the young Liquor Deity, but was not really given the chance to shine. Zhao Yuanzhou (ZYZ) character early on was strong, witty and charasmatic. Unfortunately by the end of the drama, ZYZ was just a side character to ZYC.

Edward Guo's penchant for sad ending was evident in FOF. Some characters are bound to die, just like most characters have their own sad background stories. ZYZ had a miserable life and could not die; Chen DuLing's master and ZYC's brother/father died at the hand of ZYZ; Pei Sijing had to kill her own brother; Bai Jiu lost her mother when he was young; etc. In My Journey to You, Ai Mi's character met an untimely death. Ai Mi was a side character in FOF, and her storyline would bring tears to your eyes, and you could have guessed what ultimately happened to her character in FOF. That is just typical Edward Guo.

Cut down on crying, and this c-drama is definitely worth watching. Will be waiting for the next installment of Edward Guo's work.

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"I hope that life give you a lot of false alarms and fangs of fortune"

"But after he left, i finally understood. It was the base color of his soul, like a broken song, vast, distant and desolate. I used to be like him, looking at a small pool of water that only reflected a lamp, the moon and my shallow hatred. I always forgot that he lived for 30.000 years while i only live for 30 years. In his eyes, i must have look like a child, waving my fist angrily in the air. Zhao Yuanzhou, i'll definitely find the shred of your soul that i extracted myself. I'll search every mountain and sea both in the mortal world and the Wilderness"- Zhuo Yichen ended his journey looking all over the world for Zhao Yuanzhou's soul and that is how we also ended the drama (As Li Susu did trying to find Tantai Jin's soul in "Till the end of the moon").

There is so much i want to say about this drama. So i will start apologizing because this is going to be long lol.

I'm going to talk first about the three negative point i got for this drama. Very little because i really love it:

-It is true that the editing in some scenes was weird. There is this one scene where Wen Xiao was going to hug Zhuo Yichen that suddenly it got cut. But it was more evident when we got Bai Jui's back and we didn't see him greet any of them besides his mom, we see him already talking to them like days have passed which created some disconnect with the viewer in a very important close arc (Bai Jui no longer possed by Li Lun).

-Wen Xiao: This character was so very badly written. It is said a lot about how little she did in all the drama that she didn't appeared one single time in episode 33, the one before last. I was able to not be bothered a lot by it because all the other character were really well developed and i was caugh up in the rest of the relationships but it is always sad to see this kind of FL.

-I didn't found really any plot holes but i don't think i fully get what happened with the second Fei. It can not be him, because he died on episode 13 and he did it taking out his inner core so no chance to be back. So i guess this back a demonic human taking in his appereance but, hor it was his blood able to give the plague, like Fei's did? so i'm a little confused with this point but nothing too big.

Let's get on the good parts!!!:

-Ying Lei and Bei Jui: They started being the comedic relief and end up being the unseen heros. Ying Lei (Using his own free will, the main theme of this drama) decided to die yo save Bei Jui and Bei Jui did the same to save his own hero, Zhuo Yichen. We got also good backround stories from both of them, so both their deads were completely heartbreaking.

-Pei Si Jing: She is prove that this creator can make a good female character. She was fierce and badass and queen all the drama to end up being as the leader of the Hunting Demons Bureau. Her story was paintful, and all her interacctions with her brother get you to the soul, but she make her own choice too: She will keep fighting for the people, to help those who can't help themselves. She also give us one of the best fighting scene in the latest episiodes, holding more like her own against his former partner, Zhen Mei. ABSOLUTE QUEEN.

-Li Lun: I will say i consider him the character with the best development of all the drama. He was the villain (And a charismatic one at that) but, the more you know about his story, the more we could see he was not as bad as we though. He was someone broken, who saw how his partner in life choose humans before him and also lost his freedom. So, on his own free will, decide his rage to guide him. But, after all what said and done, he got the best redemption arc in the story of redemption arcs: He stop his much needed cultivation to protect Zhuo Yichen and Zhao Yuanzhou and fight with them side by side. When he saw they were all going to die, he decided to him all his demonic energy to them both (half/half) and make himself the target of Wen Zhongyou so Zhuo Yichen could kill him. When he gives the "truth eye" to Yichen and said "This was never mine in the first place. Now is yours" in my mind there was an echo of his voice saying "and him too".

-Zhou Yichen: What a fantastic character. Like i read long ago in another post he really is like Lan Zhan from "The untamed": Sheltered, unable to lie and hard to socialize with others but also a sword master and loyal to boot. His journey is probably the hardest one. Being able to understand the killer of his family, to change his black and white mindset and still being the hero the world needs. His change from human to demon give him a whole different view of things and he took it in stride with his soulmate by his side. I love, love, love him hard.

-Zhao Yuanzhou: Our dearest monkey ML demon. You know, he is probably the one that had less develoment between them. He already love humanity so much he was able to choose them before his partner in life. Even when he was blame and accused of things that happened out of his control, he still went to meet the people that hate him the most to be able to save the mortal world. He gives his all, fights tooth and nail and, in the journey, found friends and his soulmate. And he still give his life for the greater good. As a true hero will do. Fantastic ML.

-Zhou Yichen & Zhao Yuanzhou: Their relationship was the best point of the drama for me. Like a said before, a bond than trascent even the romantic meaning: Together by a blood feud that shape itself in friendships and doubts, that change completely with Yichen transformation and his completely loyalty to the great demon. The last fight was epic for a lot of reasons but the understanding between them was the most important one. That spell that give Yichen wings (This was so awesome, i can't), Yichen giving Zhao Yuanzhou all his demonic energy to kill the villain, that moment of anguish and doubt because he through he will kill him too. But, in the end, both did it. Both killed the other if that means to save the world even when their souls were breaking inside. What makes their story even greater is the parallels with the ancestors, Binyi and Ying Long. Ying Long end up being a star and Zhao Yuangzhou end up being rain. It is all amazing and beautiful and i'm grateful to have enjoy this.

So final throughts: The main theme of the drama it what moves it from episode 1 till episode 34: Free will. No matter what you are, human, demon, god, semi god, you have the right to choose your own path to get exactly to what you want to be (As our favorite ML demon will say). And we see this in all the Main leads stories but also in the supporting stories. Everything that happened is because we have free will and we used it and that is important. We can have regrets but we can fix those. There is always time (As our sword master will say).

I will recommend it? Yes. It is beautiful, it is funny, it is heartbreaking, it is exciting. It is so worth the watch.

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My Favorite Fantasy CDrama this Year!!!

The show has ended and I still haven’t gotten over the wild vibes!

Guo Jing Ming’s directorial always have a set tapestry- the characters are as queer as they can and the cinematography is at another level. With sumptuous locales and luxurious settings, he always commands stories that will take up every minute of your existence. His characters are so endearing, that you wish to join them on their journeys. It could be a 34000 years old Great Demon, who is both hilarious and flirtatious, a proficient Demon Hunter from an illustrious family line, reserved and highly disciplined, a Goddess from the Wilderness, who is sweet, frail yet courageous, an erstwhile Commander of the Martial Camp whose only concern is protecting the said Goddess, a childlike physician who loves to scream and a Mountain God who loves to cook. The similarity between them- they all love each other and are a huge family. The storyline wraps these characters tightly into a bond that is unbreakable and unbelievably strong.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/11/19/fangs-of-fortune-series-review/#more-1336

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A disappointing series

TRASHY REVIEW ALERT - Fangs of Fortune failed to impress this cdrama fan. The plot was difficult to follow, with side stories back ones especially blurring the lines between the real plot and the sub plots/ I have also never seen a series where so many people cried so much or had so many tears in their eyes - what was the purpose of all that water ? cos it was a poor attempt at invoking emotional response time after time after time after time...it was that tedious. Just when I was going to be forgiving the story line would revert to another backstory about a sword, a pot of almond cheese event, a plant, a walnut that dropped on the ground like OMG, back stories galore in this series that deviate from the main plat ONCE AGAIN. The actors and actresses played their roles OK, could have done better with a more solid storyline that viewers would follow with them and that the characters could be developed over the 34 eps. THE GOOD - the CGI backddrops and effects were splendid, as with the more darker tinged cinematography - and the costumes splendid as well, however despite all that finesse of the series, the lack lustre storyline and purpose frsutrated this seasoned viewer. Neo Hou, Chen Xiao, and co did the best they could to make the series work with their co-stars Chen Du Ling /Tian Ja Rui ... Yan An surprised me as the gorgeous evil one of this series, he played it so well but Overall , a disappointment for this viewer.

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Beautiful Melancholy

Let’s face it, there’s so much loss and sadness in this drama. Yet it’s balanced by the effective use of light humour so it is never a heavy watch. Even with so much pain and darkness in this drama’s world, light still pierces through giving us viewers relief, powered by unselfish love and loyal brotherhood and heroes who fight for what is right for those who cannot. Some scenes were painful to watch, (spoiler alert), like the final moments of Ah Heng, and Bai Jiu’s final courageous act and Zhao Yuan Zhou fighting himself walking away from his love to his destiny.

Beautifully acted, with a seriously gorgeous cast, and the makeup/ costume department needs to be given an award. How can a forehead accessory on a man look so good (aka Zhuo Yi Chen)?!

This drama felt whole, even without the special episode although the special episode helped ease the pain somewhat. The ending that was hinted at right from the start didn’t fall short of expectations. I’m looking at Neo Hou with new eyes. He was the standout actor for me.

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