#Neo Hou

[ajaxbell]

Fangs of Fortune (Bai Ze Ling): perfect on pure aesthetics alone, but also it will tear your heart out while being very gay.

I was lured in to this show by Tumblr gifsets and friends on Bluesky talking about how queer and poly this show is. I'm old and I've been in fandom more than half my life. I know how to read queer subtext. I'm also pretty well versed in cdramas, so again, I know how to read subtext. So I went into this ready to, well, read the subtext.

But no this show is just puts the queer it right there in the text. The vague information we have about Chinese censorship repeatedly left me asking, 'wait how are they getting away with this?' Like some of these jokes and implications are just so blatant it seems incredible this show ever made it to being broadcast. It just feels very much like queer media made for queer people even if t's more subtle than something western like Queer as Folk.

Even without the heavy coloring of gay this show is incredible and so much more than I expected from the title and the promo. The premise is essentially the death of the goddess, who governed relations between humans and demons, leads to an influx of demons in the human world. This brings together the goddess's disciple, Wen Xiao--seeking to restore the goddess's power. WX's childhood sweetheart, Zhuo Yichen--seeking to restore the demon-hunting bureau after the powerful demon Zhu Yan killed his father and brother. It opens on Zhu Yan, in human disguise as as Zhao Yuanzhou, volunteering to help the imperial court restore the demon-hunting bureau to quell the chaos. They are joined by Pei Sijing, a retired female general from the rival demon hunting sect, and a very young doctor (and comic relief) named Bai Jiu. It starts off as a sort of monster-of-the-week with a grim Scooby gang doing detective work and fighting monsters. Each major demon has a mini arc that relates to the larger case (restoring the power of the goddess to balance the realms), and they are repeatedly blocked by either the demons or the rival demon hunting sect. Each mini arc also acts as a mirror or parallel story to slowly revealed backstory of all the main characters as well. In true cdrama fashion it's a mix of adventure, intense emotional drama, romance, and comedy. And queer and poly jokes and romance. It also has a kind of manga vibe in the way the comedy is woven into the more serious story, and in the fantastical depiction of the characters and how the story unfolds.

It is also just insanely beautiful. Every single shot is lovely. The costumes, make up, and hair are incredible. The casting director made all the major demons inhumanly beautiful. The sets are spectacular. The effects are nicely done. Every bit of has the vague surreality of a fairytale. The perfection of each shot ads to the manga vibe, as if we're seeing each critical storytelling panel come alive. There's recurring water-based special effects that are just gorgeous. Based on aesthetics alone this show would be worth watching to me. That it is combined with a complex, very emotional story is a spectacular gift to the watcher. A lot of the negative reviews of this complain about the staginess or that it's overly contrived in how each scene is shot. But I think it's gorgeous, works perfectly with the storytelling, and if we criticize art on whether it achieves the goal it intended then this show is doing exactly and perfectly what it means to do and doing it beautifully.

Additionally the acting is also very good, but Neo Hou is the stand out for sure. I enjoyed him in Back from the Brink, especially the later part of the story, but in Fangs of Fortune he's transformed, utterly embodying the role, the way Dylan Wang is Dongfang Qingcang in Love Between Fairy and Devil. Neo Hou has the right look, a slightly uncanny beauty perfect for a gorgeous immortal not of this world. The show does incredible things with his styling between the various looks and personas the role requires. But in acting he somehow manages to utterly transform his face and demeanor to manifest each aspect of the character as story demands changes from him.

There is a lot of crying in this drama. Like early on I joked that there was going to be a character crying a single perfect tear in every ep. Lol nope. Multiple single perfect tears per ep and many outright full on sobbing scenes. This show is just waiting to rip your heart out and you see it right from the beginning. But it was such sweet pain all the way through. Just a truly engaging and utterly wrenching set of intertwined stories.

My only criticism is that the pacing falls apart in the last 3 episodes. But overall the story is solid through the end, though like so many cdramas, it's saved by the epilogue.

You should absolutely watch it if you want the chaotic bi polycule (it's her, her girlfriend, her boyfriend, her boyfriend's boyfriend who is also her boyfriend, their two idiot sons, and her boyfriend's ex-who is also eventually sort of his boyfriend again), or if you want your heart torn out and stomped on. Or even if you just like really gorgeous cinematic things. Also if you watch, please don't skip the ending credits, as they change as the arcs change, and the radiant joy Tian Jiarui has as he dances is an excellent antidote to the emotions of each episode.

[ilevio]

大梦归离 fangs of fortune (2024)

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Fangs of Fortune (2024)

He had been badass until the ML teased him, pretending that he was gonna k!ss his doll.🤣

Watch this video on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@candymalin/video/7431336077002132754

[xiaobaosnoona]

oh :(

[divineandmajesticinone]

FANGS OF FORTUNE (2024)

– What's this? It looks pretty. – This is not a hairpin.

[trendingdrama]

FANGS OF FORTUNE 大梦归离 (2024) dir. Edward Guo, Luo Luo, Wei Nan

[zhoufeis]

BREAKING NEWS: 24-year-old demon hunter meeting 34,000-year-old demon at the playground

大梦归离 FANGS OF FORTUNE dir. Edward Guo, Luo Luo, Wei Nan China, 2024.

[dreamingsnowflake2013]

EXCUSE ME?! The mpreg meta joke! Wen Xiao and ZYZ's nonplussed looks full of anticipation, that's like a pregnancy reveal straight out of a telenovela.

I will never understand how Edward Guo got this approved and this show hasn't ended up buried in the deepest darkest vault in the CCP censorship office.

[mostlyfate]

FANGS OF FORTUNE 大梦归离 · 2024

[zhouyes]

wasn't the dream beautiful? the nightmare is when you think it's over, it's just the beginning. the grand dream will end, only the feelings will be remembered forever.

fangs of fortune, 大梦归离. [ TRAILER ]

[itagakimizuki]

FANGS OF FORTUNE 大梦归离 (2024) ep. 32

[yingtan]

It's thanks to you that our collaboration can be this flawless. Thank you, Ms. Pei.

Zhao Yuanzhou & Pei Si Jing FANGS OF FORTUNE 大梦归离, 2024

[ilevio]

still thinking about the fact that zyz could've killed zyc and he DIDN'T. he just patted his head, walked past him, and left.

[morweneledhwen]

For those among you who find it as hot as I do, here's the fight scene between Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen from episode 1 of Fangs of Fortune.

[xiaobaosnoona]

[hyog-blog]

A moment of appreciation of the BEAUTY that is literally everyone in the show. Starting with Zhu Yan, of course, he's like a walking demonic deity with those sparkly eyes and a thousand micro-expressions that are incredibly nuanced and pleasant to watch. Neo Hou dug deep into his very soul to bring us THIS, and he's gorgeous on so many levels (also, the high-quality expensive-looking movie-esque shots don't hurt a single bit :D)

And don't forget the demon-esque form

Zhuo Yichen is pretty like a fairy :3

He rarely smiles, but when he does - it's a treat

Under the influence of malicious energy - even prettier XD

Our girl Wen Xiao is also gorgeous

Li Lun in all his viciousness

Fei is also ethereal (especially for a plague-boy) and so is Qing Geng (the girl IS pretty like a goddess, no wonder people would worship her).

Qing Geng, the little goddess

Not to mention A-Heng, Pei Sijing's little brother. This really IS a demonic glow-up, he looks sublime.

The Fish Demon

Cheng Huang, the doll-maker

Original Bai Ze Goddess

Everyone else is also oh-so-pretty, it's just that my screenshot gallery is a bit biased XD