The Story of Mystics (2024)

Fangs of Fortune é um drama de fantasia que conta a história de um grupo formado por seis pessoas bem diversas (humanos, demônio, deuses, seres meio-deuses, meio-demônios), que se unem para salvar o Da Huang (o mundo dos demônios) e por consequência o mundo dos humanos.

Desde o início do drama somos apresentados ao que pode ser o final da história, mas mesmo assim nos apegamos na esperança de não se concretizar. Quase uma profecia que a gente vai se perguntando junto com os personagens se precisa mesmo acontecer porque quando menos esperamos já estamos totalmente apegados a todos os personagens da história.

Mas confesso que achei o início de bem arrastado, pra ser mais precisa os episódios do caso do demônio dos bonecos e da peste. Porém, percebo que esses episódios mais pautados no diálogo serviram para o desenvolvimento das personagens. Pois graças a isso terminei gostando de todos eles, sem exceção. Mas minha favorita é a Pei Sijing, arqueira reclusa, mas fiel. Mesmo quando o roteiro quer te enganar, tenha fé na Pei Sijing! Aliás, a história dos irmãos Pei é muito emocionante. Eles são personagens que deixam uma impressão duradora.

E sobre desenvolvimento de personagens, Zhuo Yichen cresceu muito! No início eu não podia me importar menos com o "pretty boy". Terminei indo as lágrimas com ele quando ele passa ali por um processo de transformação, não apenas "fisicamente", mas também de suas crenças. É uma evolução de personagem muito bacana de acompanhar.

Sei que o foco do drama não é o romance, mas a amizade. Ainda assim senti falta de um beijo. Só UM beijo entre Zhao Yuanzhou e Wen Xiao e eu me daria por satisfeita.

Em resumo é um drama com visual belíssimo, OST maravilhosa, personagens carismáticos. Porém, o ritmo narrativo tem umas oscilações e também tem umas questões de edição que gritavam. Alguns cortes abruptos e sem sentido. Mas, no geral, um bom drama.

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It's not romance... It's BROMANCE!

I've just finished it and still have swollen eyes from crying but... I loved it.

I started watching this drama hoping for some another good romance with Neo Hou as a ML and I could say that this drama is everything besides that. So if you are reading this looking for some passionate love story - you won't find it.
BUT... If you like kind of found family vibes, excellent bromance, absurdly beautiful cast, awesome OST and you are angst enjoyer - you hit the bull's-eye!

At first I want to say that this drama is real eyecandy! I've watched so so many dramas already but it's 1st one where even side characters were so pretty! Sometimes it was really hard for me to focus on the plot as I got distracted by all those handsome actors so much. I can't even tell which character I loved the most but I'm really impressed with awesome acting of Neo Hou, Tian Jia Rui and Yan An. They portrayed their characters so damn well and their dynamics was sooooooooooooo good. But on the other hand - I feel like FL was totally outshined by male leads. Wen Xiao was a nice character but compared to the rest she seemed so plain. At some point I totally stopped caring about her and her 'romance' with ZYZ as I was so invested with our boys (ZYZ, ZYC and Li Liun) and their complicated relationships... ZYZ & ZYC and ZYZ & Li Liun chemistry was just off the chart (maybe I watched too many BLs but it felt as a love triangle between them in some parts, lol)!

Besides that I really liked the found family vibe - it was wholesome! Side characters also gave their best and their stories were really interesting and made me care for them (and weep for them...). This drama was a real rollercoaster of emotions for me - it made me laugh and cry so many times... Additionaly OST was a chef's kiss - so beautiful and well matched.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this one! Watch it, you won't regret this! But be aware - grab some tissues...

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A Beautiful Mess

I'm not gonna lie, writing this review wasn't easy. I had to carefully organize my thoughts because I didn't know where to start. Fangs of Fortune is one of those dramas that either made me gasp because of how beautifully made it is or drove me nuts because of the all-over-the-place plot and contrived writing. It's highly divisive precisely because of that. It's either the fantastical world and its characters endear themselves to you or you hate everything about it with a vengeance. I am right smack in the middle, though. I can't hate it but I can't say I loved it either. I feel that if they had stuck with their bromance plot from the get-go and not added in romance, it would've been better. Or if they had changed it completely and just turned it into a romance drama, reducing the second male lead's importance in the plot by writing out the Ying Long and Bingyi subplot, this could've been better too. One thing is for sure, this drama will forever be engraved in my mind as one of the most stunningly filmed work that made giggle like a schoolgirl and obsess over the characters for days on end.

The story centers around a 34,000-year-old great demon named Zhu Yan (or Zhao Yuanzhou) and how his fate changes those of people closest to him. Like most xianxia and xuanhuan dramas, it's set in a world where demons and humans exist and racism is rampant. The demons are seen as inherently evil, while humans are supposed to be the so-called good guys. But nothing in this world is purely black and white and so both races are portrayed to be capable of doing both good and evil. The struggles and conflicts stem from such xenophobic thinking from both sides.

Zhu Yan was born as a vessel of malicious energy, meaning he absorbs all the excess malice that exists in the world to keep things balanced. But his gentle and kind nature makes him resent this. Even more so when he finds himself falling in love with humanity and the mortal world. This very fascination for mortals draws a wedge between him and his best friend, Li Lun, who has no love for mankind. Their falling out leads to a lot of strife and suffering for those around them.

The story itself is nothing new. As I've said, this has been done countless times before. But what makes this drama compelling for me was how particular dialogues were written and scenes were executed whenever the subject was about discrimination and racism. Oddly enough, my favorite parts of this drama is when characters sit down and just have meaningful conversations about life and such. And I'm such a sucker for the found-family trope that it really resonated with me. It blew my mind how provocative some of the dialogues are and how much depth the drama has when many of the scenes felt like they were hastily and lazily written and things were getting retconned left and right. Writing isn't this drama's strong suit, but there are some gems here and there. And I noticed that the ones that are written and executed well are those that involve the two male leads, Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen, and the anti-hero, Li Lun. Most of the major plot ploints involve the three of them. They even end up fighting in the final boss fight together. What does that tell you? If this were a true romantic story, it would've been the main couple fighting together.

Unfortunately, this was marketed as a romance with a female lead that is criminally underdeveloped and a subplot centering around her that is as mindboggling as her addition to this story. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Wen Xiao or the actress who portrays her. My issue is with her seemingly lack of value to the story unlike the other main characters. First of all, the concept behind the Baize goddess is already iffy to me. Why is there a need for a mortal woman to be given the powers of a goddess to regulate demons and monitor their comings and goings to the mortal world when the goddess herself could've done that? Being human herself, there is a possibility of racial discrimination with her favoring the mortals over demons even when it's the mortals that are at fault. The real goddess would've been a more just judge and a more powerful one to boot, someone who can actually deal with demons and not fall ill from a plague or die pointlessly after being accidentally hit by a sharp object. The function and powers of this mortal goddess are not clearly defined, and if I'm honest, I would say that they keep retconning things to fit the narrative they want to tell. How the next generation of Baize goddesses are chosen is unclear as well. Why was Wen Xiao chosen anyway? Yes, she has compassion for both demons and mortals, but then I'm pretty sure she's not the only one who feels that way, so why her?

And apart from her, all the major characters in this story, especially among the 6 members of the Demon Hunting Team, only her story doesn't quite connect with Zhu Yan's. Zhu Yan's fate directly or indirectly affects the fates of Zhuo Yichen, Pei Sijing, Bai Ju, and even Ying Lei. All of them reach this point in their lives because of Zhu Yan. Zhuo Yichen was only the second son and was not even meant to inherit the Cloud Light Sword but because Zhu Yan slaughters his family, he becomes the lord of the Bingyi clan and the most powerful wielder of that sword for generations. Pei Sijing loses her brother because of Zhu Yan's feud with Li Lun. Bai Ju loses his mother and vows to become an accomplished doctor because Zhu Yan causes a rift in the balance between the mortal world and the Wilderness. Ying Lei is afforded the chance to pursue his dreams of becoming a chef in the mortal world because his grandfather (and Zhu Yan's mentor) feels that it's important to give his grandson the choice that Zhu Yan never had. Even Li Lun becoming a full-blown villain and wreaking havoc is caused by his misunderstanding with Zhu Yan. Wen Xiao, on the other hand, is chosen to be the next goddess for reasons I still don't quite understand. Her fate is more tied with this drama's big bad. The quest to finding the Baize token, it being broken, her fixing it, and it poisoning her are nothing more than plot devices. You take those out and you would still be left with a solid plot that could've been better if they had focused more on Zhu Yan and his relationships.

I've said this before, this is a BL/bromance drama in disguise. This was never meant to be a romance. But for fear of the project getting shelved because of China's proverbial censorship axe, they felt the need to write in a female lead and pretend that there's actual romance. I don't mind slowburn romances, but when the drama ends without even a single kiss between the couple with their sweet moments few and far and between, that's not romance, at least not in terms of C-drama standards. The fans of the main CP can delude themselves all they want, but I firmly believe that Wen Xiao was not supposed to be part of this story at first and the romance is an add-on, like an extra side dish for good measure. Hence, the major events in this drama involve the male leads, and the last story arc and most important part of the series is all about them and their bond. Yes, it's unfair and I blame the writers for this. But let's be honest, there's no way in hell that this drama would've seen the light of day if they hadn't included a hetero romance side story with all the obvious BL elements they added into this. If you're familiar with BL/danmei, you'll see the tropes and signs. If not, then you'll probably just dismiss them as healthy male friendship. I'm pretty sure they cut some scenes down to minimize the “bromance” because I saw some behind-the-scenes photos of the male cast acting out scenes that aren't included in the finished product. If they had just done a purely romance drama, they wouldn't have this problem either. But they can't seem to decide which direction to pursue and so what we got is a beautiful mess of a drama that had the potential to be truly amazing and unforgettable.

Nothing beats this drama in terms of visuals, though. From the first episode, I was absolutely taken by how the sets, costumes, and cinematography looked. The opening fight sequence was so stylistically done that it made me want to watch more. Guo Jingming may be a lot of things, probably a real piece of work in real life, but damn, he knows how to make a stunningly crafted scene from the meticulously curated backdrop to every movement of the actors. I have never seen such a visual feast in a C-drama quite like this! I appreciate how this drama tries to be different and I seriously want to see more dramas like this. Sadly, I don't think this style of filming appeals much to Chinese viewers. I think it would've been better received by international audiences.

The cast, for lack of a better word, is great. I have no complaints about the actors. They did what they could with the material that they were given, and some even went over and beyond. I never expected to become so attached to this ragtag crew of demon hunters, but I did. I sorely miss them, especially the comedic moments in the earlier episodes.

Music-wise, this drama boasts of some of the most memorable songs in a C-drama to date, at least for me. I find the choice of songs very refreshing. I don't hear this kind of music in many C-dramas. My only complaint is the music plays a little too loudly during dialogue-heavy scenes. Whoever edited the sound must've been deaf. Like dude, we can't hear them talk! Turn it down a notch, will you?! It must've driven Mandarin-speakers crazy.

The overall production value of this drama is top notch. I think they used a led screen for the backgrounds which actually looks better on screen and most likely helped a lot with the acting too. The visual effects are some of the best I've seen in a C-drama. The costumes and makeup are so on point as well. None of it looks cheap. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was an S+ level drama.

As a whole, this is an entertaining drama that wowed me with its stunning visuals, elicited emotions I never thought I'd feel watching an idol drama such as this, and left me wondering why I became so emotionally attached to characters that don't exist despite the flaws in the writing. That's why I'm giving it an 8 and that's a generous rating coming from me.

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Amazingly beautiful and very well directed

I waited a long long time for this drama to be out. OMG WOW! It was definitely worth the wait!

Everyone has played their roles very well and the little details in the acting and story was very well designed. All the intricate details were amazing. This drama is definitely different from the spoiled princess dramas out there and all the palace power struggles....all same story line. This drama is definitely different and it's a good different.

Neo Huo has played his role extremely well and the chemistry between all of them are in synchrony which makes puts the drama in a different class of its own.

Very well played 👍

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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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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.

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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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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.

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