Great concept, poorly executed
This genre of dramas is one my favourites and I was super excited to watch Fangs of Fortune after seeing the trailer for but unfortunately this show just did not live up to what I had thought it was going to be. The first few episodes were great, meeting the characters, and getting into their first case - great right up my alley! But it all started going down hill for me from ep 5.The storyline! It felt as though there were too many side stories that kept competing for the main story line where they just felt like a distraction / filler for the show. None of the stories meshed well together nor did they feel like they had any conclusion. It got boring for me and I started tuning out cos of all the side stories and distraction made me lose interest in what they were trying to achieve. Some of the episodes were drawn out by so much dialogue and flashbacks it felt really unnecessary. I found myself at times saying 'OK I get it can we move on from this now' so I had to skip alot of the scenes of talking.
The romance of the leads felt forced and was unecessary. I really enjoyed the friendship of the whole group and wish the writers had just left it as a friendship rather than throwing in a romantic relationship with the leads it wasnt needed.
I thoroughly enjoyed the visuals, costumes, acting, the comedy (the comedy was awesome), and the premise of demons I just felt the storyline let this down for me and the potential just decreased. A bit disappointing but thats OK will hopefully see more from these actors in future as they were great!
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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.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Worth a watch
*Cinematography*:Spectacular rich, sombre set design. This is the thing I loved most about GJM's works, whatever other criticisms I have for his directing. If you're kind of not into the light airy colours lots of period dramas use and loved the dark tones of My Journey to You's aesthetic, then this is for you. Colours aside, GJM seems to really know what kind of shots and scenes he's going for. Nothing is tonally out of place. Everything could be a wallpaper. I'm not kidding when I say this drama is worth a watch based on cinematography alone.
*Music*: absolutely amazing, almost every song is playlist-worthy. Liu yuning's been deployed once again and producing masterpieces as usual.
*Story*:
Well right off the bat the casting is amazing. You won't EVER catch an actor slipping in their acting, not even when they're the background of a shot. If they act off, it's because their character is up to something. That's how good they are.
As for the actual writing, it's too early to judge them on character arcs yet. What I'll say is that these characters are written as organic human beings with understandable motivations. So no awkward dialogue, caricatures, etc. On the other hand, the 'elite team' that the main cast is supposed to be feature some people who just. can't. fight. So you need to stretch your imagination a bit there. The good of this is that the show generally lets every character be useful, even if you're sometimes left to wonder if they should be running around fighting demons at all.
Thematically, the show does a great job giving it's antagonists understandable philosophical perspectives that conflict with the heroes'. However, it does 'cop-out' too many times by giving them convenient resolutions instead of letting the clash of ideas run its course. So while the heroes have been challenges ideologically pretty much every arc, they've not changed much. Another thing is, while the show is very good at show not telling for establishing personalities, lore, backstories, you name it, it kind of drops the ball on thematic content and prefers to deliver them through long, rambling monologues copiously inserted between climactic fight scenes.
Some very minor points: this show delivers it's lore in bits and pieces (no intro infodump here). This can be fun or confusing depending on how you see it. Next, I really like how demon characters get demon names. Like not titles but mythological names. It isn't something I see often and suits them way more than 'The ___ king of demons'.
Also, even though the plot is technically 'investigations' of demon crimes, it's not really a crime solving show so don't go into it with that expectation. It has the crime show aesthetic of morbid atmosphere and corpses and running into creepy places, but it delivers them to the bad guy's lair without much piecing together clues because that's not what this show is about. Most twists (and there are plenty) are delivered via dialogue, not figured out by the main 'detectives'.
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Crappie and illogical storyline
I'm giving this drama 7 star 🌟First of all let me highlight what I love about this drama.
1) The OST: I'm in awe with the amazing OST which left me mesmerizing, I can say that this drama has the best OST this 2024
2)The Visuals: I love the visual effects of this drama which makes each an every character extremely beautiful and gave them a wonderful visual on the screen. I applaud it for that. And all the characters did a great job.
Here are my dislike and dissatisfaction of this drama.
1) The ml: I feel like the way the ml who was portrayed of being the most powerful celestial creature in this show was overly over hyped.
Reason being because i couldn't feel the aura of a supreme being in him in the screen.
His fight potential as a powerful demon was totally inferior compared to other characters in the show. Like I was rooting to see him unleash that powerful force as he was portrayed to be but was disappointed. Some may come and justify it with many backstory reasons but that doesn't change the fact. We just didn't feel his majestic power in the screen.
Secondly, the ml efforts to cracks jokes when things are getting serious Offs me, like that will just make me lose my appetite of watching for a while or just fast-forward such ridiculous parts.
Thirdly, the ml who is obviously a demon lord being portrayed as a benevolent like Devine-God isn't my cup of tea,
like I'm not into such type of a demon character unless he was portrayed as a devine God.
I only accept a gray demon character and not some sort of God-like character who will be a sacrificial lamb to save the world.
Even if he wants to do so is fine but his character should always maintain gray vibe and not always act all time Holy like a Catholic priest hahaha.
2) The storyline: I think the storyline fails to differentiate the difference between mortal and immortal being. Like I will just get confused when a lowly humans can easily subdue demons who has a supernatural power.
This drama Over hyped humans abilities and limitations against a celestial being.
Secondary the parallel world in this drama sucks, I was expecting the Wilderness to be a distinct realm of demons which is different from human realm and also a place where living human can't go while still alive.
Overall, this drama fails to separate the difference between men and immortal being by giving a mare mortal the ability to subdue and precide over immortal being which is totally ridiculous and illogical to me.
I know I should accept the plot as it is but such an illogical stories are meant to entertain kids and insult Adult IQ and I'm not passive about that.
In this drama, human and demon were just mixed that you will now wonder which is immortal being lol.
I know this is xianxia genre drama but the drama direction was obviously defining Xuanhuan genre which is why everything was contradicted.
In most xianxia genre, only human who was possessed by celestial power can come in contact or challenge demon. And most type of demon in xianxia are human who are possessed by demon. Or some sort demonic Godly weapons and sword.
Unlike in Xuanhuan that portrays direct demon or god.
This whole theory was why this drama fail woefully in this aspect.
Chinese dramas in category of "Wuxia, xianxia or Xuanhuan" revolves around chinese culture and traditions and if any Director or writers who change this definition to something scientifical theories and logic with morden norms, then is no longer a Chinese drama but a Western style drama.
That's my take I hope that helps.
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One Of The Best If 2024
I am all in with this drama. I see some people are disappointed because it has humor and wanted it to be dark the entire show. You HAVE to have the relief from the darkness to enjoy it when you are traveling through it. Genius director and script writer(s). Episode 9 had me so enthralled that I got irritated at my dog for wanting to go outside to relieve herself. Thankfully I can push pause and miss nothing. The title is misleading because I thought this was about vampires and almost didn't watch it. I can't rave about this drama too much. The guest actors are so great to watch. The leads and 2nd leads including the young boy, make this drama worth your time. I have laughed, I have cried and I want more episodes than just 2 per day. Don't miss this one.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Too depressing for me
I am probably 1 out of 100 people, but Fangs of Fortune didn’t work for me. And I really wanted to like it - I had been looking forward to it for several months - but unfortunately I couldn’t.The main reason FoF didn’t work for me is that I could not handle its everyone-and-everything-is-doomed vibe - the story is packed with heartbraking events with very few comedic moments that interrupt all the pain and that give the viewer time to breath. If you are into emotional pain, heartbreak, angst and desperation, FoF will be a feast for you and my following complaints regarding storytelling (pacing and character development) will merely be a little nuisance. But for me this drama was simply too depressing to enjoy.
Storytelling-wise my biggest complaint is about the pacing of this story because something about it was off. There simply wasn’t a rhythm I could flow with - I perceived the whole drama as a mere succession of more or less connected events without narrative arcs to guide a viewer through it.
Apart from that, I also had issues with the character development or better the lack of it. At some point I felt that the lead characters had morphed into a collective of more or less interchangeable units that were all willing to sacrifice themselves for the whole entity. I assume the story provided the moments where those characters reached the emotional turning points where they formed a deep bond of love but for me these moments where either so fleeting that they never stuck with me or they drowned in an ocean of heartbreak. Therefore, the bonding of the lead characters was something that I just had to accept eventually without emotionally understanding it from a storytelling perspective. FoF relies heavily on the self sacrificing trope and the majority of the characters have martyr syndrome. However, I felt that for very few of them their martyrism is based in the narrative.
So, why did I torture myself and hate-watched all 34 and 1/2 episodes instead of dropping FoF eventually? The answer is Hou Ming Hao. He‘s magnetic. I have no better explanation. He pulled my gaze to the screen and locked it there, so I had to watch every single episode of FoF, no matter if I wanted to or not.
And there is one thing that I loved about FoF - the closing credits. This madness of letting the actors, fully in costume but NOT in character, break the fourth wall while performing a happy group dance appeals to my taste.
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Lo aspettavo, mi sta deludendo
Ero partita a guardare questo drama con tutto l'entusiasmo possibile di un cast stellare e un impatto visivo degno di un colossal, ma la bravura degli attori non è sufficiente per tenere in piedi una storia lenta, visuale ma non emozionante, priva di vero conflitto tra le parti e dove neppure il gioco di sguardi tra personaggi fa la differenza.La scelta di far recitare tutti a bassa voce, con flemma e a frasi brevi è l'emblema di come le premesse si stiano frantumando una dopo l'altra, come la mia voglia di arrivare alla fine.
Essere belli non è sufficiente e, considerando che il cast è fatto di attori bravi davvero, sta ammazzando il poco pathos rimasto: perfino il dolore più intollerabile è gestito da seduti a gambe incrociate.
Non sto dicendo che i personaggi vadano torturati, ma che lo spettatore possa sentire le loro emozioni è la base per un coinvolgimento che rende un'opera indimenticabile. E qui non c'è.
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Give me more of this please, but...
I dont even know where to beginYeah the story is good and very easy to follow. The acting is all spot on and well cast, besides Baize goddess. It’s all really good stuff. Even with the little mishap, I enjoy the show. Still a solid 9/10 or 8.5/10. I really enjoy the bromance. I won’t forget to mention how visually pleasing and pretty this show is. Its a gorgeous show with a gorgeous cast. Anyways I would love to see this type of show without the forced “romance”, idk if I can even call it that honestly. Give me more of this please, but without characters that seem to have no purpose besides having the plot on their side.
Bainze Empress is not good imo. She takes me out of the scene, her acting is not believable in the slightest, I cannot take her seriously. She really struggles with one-on-one scenes with her counterparts, she drowns; the other lead just will steal the show. For instance, her and mr demon Man are already is a fun light-hearted, deep backstory character
I really do not know what her character is supposed to be, is she serious, is she supposed to be a baddie, is she supposed to be tragic? I mean all she is in the show is just pretty. She plays the same expression in every episode, literally jusst :), and then she gets bonked or something and then it is :( or :0. I guess she is good at having tears in her eyes, but I see nothing in her eyes, like no emotion at all. LIterally for a whole episode girl was on the ground, like on her side because mr demon man was acting upon his demon ways (he can’t help it, he really is babygirl), anyways she’s in that same position, with the same expression on her face, saying his name repeatedly… I cannot.
Also, are we supposed to ship her with mr demon man because I really can’t tell. Personally, I do not ship them, I do not think we are supposed to because they have no romantic chemistry. I see them as friends, but because of fate or something they have to fall in love, but that just seems so forced. Mr demon man will tease her but she just gives the same expression of :), there’s not banter. On the other hand demon and Mr.Zhou have loads in my opinion. Demon is constantly teasing him, almost every scene they have, and Mr. Zhou really gets flustered, like he can’t take it but in a tsundere way; it is quite good stuff imo.
In short I ship either demon with Mr. Zhou or him with Li Lun (other hot demon, aka his past lover). Why?
Starting with Li Lun, they go way back. They’re back story is really good, we see more and more of it as the drama progresses. They are good friends, both understanding the misfortunes of being demons, but they both have a different outlook on life. They are foil characters I’d say, demon man sees the good in people, even when humans fear, and want to kill the demons, he has sympathy. Whereas, Li Lun is full of hate, he has no sympathy and is really at odds with all humans, they have a falling out. The show is pretty much Li Lun reaking hovic, trying to get demons to be integrated in the human realm, but in a way where demons would take over everything. Demon is part of the demon hunting troop or something, so they cross paths, but it’s so complicated. They’re feelings for eachother clearly are complicated. They have really good diaologue, and the visuals both go hard. It is tragic that they came to be on different ends of the same stick, really it is. Anyways, I could go on and on, but yeah, they have boatloads of chemistry, with the whole past life brotherly bond thing, to the recent “hating eachother” and trying to get one to understand the other.
Mr. Zhou is a great character. Maybe we are supposed to ship hiim with the Baize goddess? Idk they bring it up a bit, how they have known eachother since childhood and he is her protector or something, but honestly, you can’t really tell, like I can’t see it with the relationship that is being presented to me. Anyways, he’s great, a scene stealer. Ooh and I just got to a part with him and Li Lun! They really have great tension! I think they are filming a show together and I WILL be tuning in. They’re trying to kill eachother and its just really good.
Cheng Xiao is actually really well fit in her role. I’ve seen her as the lead in a few dramas and like Baize goddess, she can’t hold up to her opposite. In this show though, she’s a strong, quiet yet compassionate fighter. The history she has with her brother is beautiful (they sing an ost together i think) , yet tragic, and I actually enjoy watching her here. She’s really good.
Now for the little doctor (Xia Siniaka baby chu wanning for immortality). He is one of the top 3 actors here I’d say. His performance is spot on. The kid keeps up with the adults, and adds something to the show. LIttle doctor and Mr. Zhou have a great dynamic. I love the little brother, big brother thing going on. Teen mountain god is good too. His costuming is so fun. I want to watch him in some other stuff too. He’s great as well.
Lastly, the character of the drama itself, the main demon. He is great. I love how charasmatic he is. The comedy he brings is great, bouncing from character to character with his teases. He has a tragic backstory. Simply, he can’t help it when he torments others, something possesses him it seems and holds a lot of guilt for that. He’s misunderstood, but still brings a smile to the team. A scene stealer of a character and oh so interesting. The actor’s portayal of this character is spot on. He knows when he’s not supposed to be taken seriously, yet has a nice balance when we do need to take the guy seriously. I will have to watch more of the actors in other shows, cuz he eats this role up!
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THREE GOOD MAIN LEADS
This is the best drama of Neo Huo - character that bring the best of him. The 3 main leads are amazing, they're good looking, great acting, beautiful costumes, great setting, excellent cinematography, facial movement is spot on with the emotion/feeling that very moment. The best part is Neo Huo character did some trick that hasn't much done on C-drama "blew his finger and puff.....people fall down". This is the kind of drama that physical excises (fighting scenes) without sweat. Surprisingly I like this drama.Things that I pay attention to:
Although this is the kind of genre that's not my favorite but I like Neo Huo, Chen Du Ling & Tian Jia Rui characters; very subtle, little humor, nice collaboration. The three of them has chemistry. Neo Huo has mesmerizing eyes, mix of amuse and kill intent and a smile that can charm a snake. Tian Jia Rui has the innocent air while Chen Du Ling has quietness of superiority.
The boy Lester Lin (Bai Jiu) is acting fake and very squeaky, jumpy, scream like a little girl, wearing heavier make up than the other 2 female actress with so much dangling head-pieces. His character doesn't speak volume....just a lot of squeaks and hide behind someone else. I think he's ruining the whole drama.
Darker site of settings, probably it's a paranormal genre. Slow motion scenes and sad music inducing emotion from demon's recollection past memories as to why/how/when they committed killing sprees. Like those demons want to justify their crimes so far it's all about reconcilable love.
Guess Stars are equally beautiful/handsome and good. This drama is calling in all talented people to support (maybe they came from the same production/agent?); Riley Wang, Ryan Cheng, Wang Duo, Peng Xiao Ran. They're the addition characters that help with development of story. Very nicely done.
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Not All Demons are the Same
So far this has been a captivating drama and I recommend it if you want something different from the run of the mill dramas. The cinematography and production is excellent, it feels like you are watching a big budget movie even though its a drama series. It is DIFFERENT and breaks from any box that I tried to initially put it in. The female lead characters are not the cutesy ditsy ones you typically see in Xianxia fantasy dramas. It has an eye catching young cast who are doing well with the character portrayal that has some grown up themes. They each carry the weight of the character's burden of loss and regrets. You feel like you are watching something that is digging deeper emotionally where the characters are forced to look within to grow in their journey together. There isn't much romance so far although it is alluding to it with the demon ML and the goddess FL. It focuses on the fantasy mystery of a group of individuals who are as diverse from each other as they can be who have conflicting goals and a camaraderie that develops with the life and death situations as they fight demons and unravel the mysteries in the demon and mortal worlds. The one thing that I am kind of meh on is the comedy they try to inject in, sometimes its a bit jarring when they switch from a moment where it seems serious to one where its supposed to be funny.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Where is the platonicness?
A review that's been sitting in my drafts, so I thought I would post into the world since I've rewatched this again.I started to this for the found family, sismance and bromance, but good god the bromance has me on a choke hold. This show has kept me up at night like nobody's business. I LOST SLEEP OVER THESE CHARACTERS. Zhuo Yichen and Zhao Yuanzhou genuinely had no right to have as much chemistry as they do, and my delulu mind could not see anything platonic.
This was a beautiful story about loss, letting go, forgiveness, giving family in the most unlikely of people, finding one's place in the world. The ost, cinematography and visuals were absolutely out of this world. The actors were absolutely fantastic in their jobs, and I couldn't get enough.
But that being said, the start of this show was lowkey slow, and it took me a while to get into it. But the moment I did? I WAS HOOKED. OBSESSED. CHOCK-HOLD. But my girlie Wen Xiao? Nah, what they do to her. I don't even care that she was weak, I care how they butchered her character. The way the writer utilised her character was ridiculous and stupid. Like Ying Lei was weak, but damn, boy was a side character and he was utilised so much better. They actually did her so dirty in this show. I love Pei Sijing. That's my girl. And Li Lun had no right to be that hot. If villain why hot? If evil why sexy?
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Un capolavoro
Il miglior drama in assoluto. Cast spaziale, con un Yan An super hot, per tacere degli altri. Costumi, musiche, scenografie ed effetti speciali di altissima qualità. Coinvolgente la trama, a volte tragica ma anche comica. Grande cast anche grazie ai cameo di attori famosi. Bello bello bellissimo. Consigliato e assolutamente da rivedere. Il balletto della sigla finale è una vera chicca. Il finale è abbastanza interessante, e soddisfa sia chi ama i lieto fine che chi ama i finali tragici.........Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
