Moonlight (2021)

"Passion, Sincerity and Hard Work- everything you need to get it done."

"The moon is beautiful tonight."

Moonlight is a rom-com dealing with author-editor relationships, publishing companies and maybe a bit of every c-drama element.

TIP- For some who are hesitant to watch this- I'd ask you to fast forward (not omit) the first three episodes if you're curious, but not willing to risk wasting your time on what seems like a potentially horrible drama.

first thoughts- After watching tedious dramas, and due to the stifling atmosphere created by the pandemic, Moonlight, in its first six episodes of release served as a gift of joy as I unraveled through the lives of the characters. As a regular, consistent drama watcher, I'd only hoped for a decent storyline, fair characters and a plot that doesn't involve unnecessary actions.
Moonlight ticked them all. Introduced to characters that at first glance, fit into the stereotype moulds of an average c-drama, I'd expected many things. To my pleasant surprise, Moonlight took many forms, but it definitely waddled away from stereotypical scenarios and thats what kept me going.

while watching- i didn't binge watch this, so my experience wasn't ruined by constant cringing. The slow-mos were potentially cringe-die worthy and I'd wished they didn't overdo certain moments. But true to its comedic nature, the series had its fair share of chuckle worthy shots and cute scenes. Esther Yu wasn't annoying and childish, Ryan Ding wasn't a tsundere, The second leads weren't completely fools.

Despite appearing to fit into a certain type, I liked how each varied in their own ways. Esther has her pouty moments, but she also shows immense faith and perseverance. Ryan Ding isn't a rude, stand offish guy- he's clueless about human emotions but is willing to learn.

Albeit, the acting as a whole felt a jiffy stiff, especially the romance between the second leads felt WAY tumultuous and seemed irrelevant as to why they were separated in the first place. The last couple of episodes did feel weird and forced.

After watching- it was definitely rushed. I would've expected at least one more episode, or two almost to show a little more progress. But at least we got a nice little gift wrapped with a pretty ribbon and after watching many hyper-realistic dramas, it was nice to see a cute ending.

The leads had their 'main lead halos' but they also had their vulnerable moments. What I liked most about the show is that each of them have their own personality. No character was 'canon fodder' for another and had their own talents. There's a lot of which is unrealistic, but it isn't impossible. There was this perfect balance between both positive moments and negative moments. The pace, in my opinion, in the mid parts were PERFECT. It was natural progress and I loved IT.

Its direct, cutely cringey with some surprising elements and a good story overall. There's a lot of stuff that the series broached about, quietly and shortly.

And that's why I loved it. Watching Rom-coms, in its nature itself is sort of illusion. So I'd rather have a drama like this rather than other unrealistic, head aching ones.

Endline- I'd recommend everyone to watch Moonlight. Watch it when you've finished a sad series, or if you don't wish to connect much to characters too much or if you wish to numb yourself and not want complicated storylines. It's light, carefree, minimum effort to understand series. Perfect light hearted rom-com with a strong female lead and a fun male lead.

Have fun watching!

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A short review (with some little spoilers)

Overall it's a good drama, I think it's great. I personally really liked how the protagonist handles her editor work, and the fact that she is cute most of the time, but also serious when necessary. The couple have good chemistry and the funniest scenes for me are the male protagonist being "a concubine in a cold palace".

I don't know if I already said it, but one of the tags I like the most is the "hardworking female lead", that is, the protagonists who don't live in terms of romantic love. Well, love can be something important, but it bothers me a lot when some characters are defined by the relationships they have with the male protagonists.

I really liked how there is an effort to demonstrate the relationships that exist between editors and authors, as well as the distinction between "good" and "bad" editors. The emphasis given to the importance of books in general is also worth mentioning.


But there are a few things I didn't like, which I listed quickly and not so organized: 1) The way the protagonist got her job was unusual and seemed a little unrealistic, along with the fact that in her first task she took something very difficult to accomplish, which was to sign a contract for the production of the male leader's book; 2) The delay for her to know that the protagonist was her friend on the internet (wechat, I think), and the fact that he used this identity to find out more about her, seemed a little inappropriate, but nothing to stop me from continuing watching the drama; 3) The number of episodes, which could be a little smaller added to the unnecessary drama in the final part, caused in part by a female character interested in the male leader. This made the final part of the drama a bit tiring to watch, I think 30/32 episodes would be an ideal amount; 4) The relationship of the secondary ones who didn't communicate, didn't talk. The chemistry existed, that's a fact, except that the secondary couple's development was a bit boring, with misunderstandings that could be resolved with a simple serious and frank conversation.

However, these negative points were overcome by the dynamics given by the main and secondary characters. I really appreciated the effort made by the protagonist to help her writers. And finally, I'm glad that Esther Yu's acting has improved significantly.

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Ironically the story is weak even though it is about writers

I made it to 26 and just couldn't fathom how there were still 10 episodes. They drug out some things too long or added more problems where they could have used the time to wrap up existing issues and been done in 24 episodes.

Main CP is fine but could have had some better communication. Not the best kisses but they are cute.

2 CP were both gorgeous and had steamier kisses but their relationship was very weak.

Overall, it is cute just didn't hit the right spot for me. More slice of life for many different people than romance and I was hoping for a bit more romance. If you want slow but warm feelings with Esther Yu then I would recommend A Romance of The Little Forest over Moonlight.

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I have a very big place in my heart for dramas like this. No misunderstadings, no stupid decisions, just growing love, respect and [fun] enemies to lovers. All of this combined with nice second lead couples, very well developed story for supporting characters and nice workplace routine... I couldn't wish for more.

I don't know if you, like me, are looking for something soft and cute and full of accidental kisses and cringe (but good cringe), but this is definetly a worth watching drama.

I must warn you tho (no spoilers) about a few things that may be bad. The female lead is a very childish, even tho she's mature to handle a lot of situations, sometimes I got uncomfortable because of how infantilized she is. But if you can get past this, and if you enjoy the genre, I'm sure you'll fall for every single character (I even cried near the end because one of the supporting characters that appers in 6 or 7 episodes got a farewell).

I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I did.

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not much feels from this drama

after finishing this show, i really don’t feel anything from it, i don’t dislike it, but i don’t like it either, which is rare. while watching, i stopped for a month after watching ep 14, and decided to give it another try and continue it.

the acting of the casts are good, but the plot feels very bland. there isn’t much ups and down, even the part where she found out that he lied to her doesn’t make me feel much, i couldn’t really get into the situation…

throughout the drama i kind of just want it to quickly finish, and i cringed at many scenes. the only interesting part is where the female character’s personality is refreshing. she stands up for herself, has good perseverance, and gags when her partner tries to be romantic. i quite like her as it feels new to the many weak female characters.

overall, i did not enjoy the show as much as others, but if you like a cute and fluff drama, you can give it a try!

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A cute, somewhat realistic look into the world of editing, publishing, and writing.

This drama has a cute little charm to it that kept my attention through all 36 eps.
What I liked:
1. The acting was surprising good. I have seen Ryan Ding in a few dramas before, but he plays the role of Zhou Chuan really well. Also, Esther Yu fits Chu Li really well too. I haven't seen Esther in any dramas before, so this was a good first impression. The other actors and actresses played their role really well, and there wasn't too many over exaggerated scenes.
2. The lessons the drama talks about are really realistic. Many people look at the editing, publishing, and writing industry and think it's easy, but this drama paints it under a somewhat realistic light. The lessons of perseverance, belief, hard work, and many others are well-incorporated into the story.
3. The chemistry is super cute!
4. The OST is so catchy, I had it stuck in my head for so long :)
5. The story was pretty good. I was really glad that the Song Xi situation was dealt with quickly and the leads didn't break up for some petty reason. Most of the relationships were well written.
What I wasn't a fan of:
1. The pacing of the story was a little slow in the middle, and many eps felt like filler eps. Luckily, the story picked up in the last third.
2. I wasn't really digging the second leads relationship, mainly because they glossed over the reason they broke up in the first place. It kind of felt like "drama magic" where someone dies and they magically forgive each other and everything is back to normal again.
Overall, this is a good drama to watch! It's pretty light-hearted and mostly realistic.

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sweet rom com

I’m kinda sad I finished love this drama gonna miss it especially the leads.
If your are into a more complex story line this might not be for you. I wouldn’t say the romance went by super fast but the problems that may have effected the relationship were solved rather quickly and wasn’t dragged too long. What’s different about this from the typical romcom was the female lead was able to solve almost all her difficulties on her own or with little assistance, they went straight to the point and didn’t hesitate to say whatever.
Overall their romance and chemistry was super cute and lovely
Nice warm drama, did get a little slow here and there but totally worth finishing
Acting: Chu li who was portrayed by Esther Yu is pretty similar to Esther herself which I enjoyed about this Drama.
Zhou chuan portrayed by Ryan Ding also love him in Intense love. I think he did a good job portraying his role of being a childish but cold to others ml

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A type of drama that you don't see in a while!

This is a short review!

( there are some spoiler )

This is truly an amazing drama, where it follows a somewhat realistic path. There are moments where you think this will actually happen in real life. But also moments that are like "What?!" / "This can never happen" / too fake" This drama has a balance of workplace life and its romance. The main leads get along really well when they are in their relationship and there is no misunderstanding, in contrast to the other drama you see. Where they get in a fight and break up... As for the second lead couple. Their relationship was more complex than the leads, which was really nice to watch. Since I would be frustrated when watching. The mains leads/second leads acting was great. The OST in this drama was so good. Some of the songs were sung by FL and SFL.

That is my comment on this drama! I love it!

WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING!!











HAPPY ENDING

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Funny and delightful

I generally don't like it when the FL has a high annoying voice. HOWEVER, Yu Shu Xin does a great job in this drama and is so funny! She's got some sass to her. Ultimately, the actress is perfect for her role. Her bubbly demeanor suits the character well. Her bantering comes natural and I think she brings out the contrast between the ML and FL well.

Ding Yu Xi is a great actor. Some parts felt a bit over the top, but then again, that's kind of his character.

I think the relationship between Zhou and his father is painful to witness. However, it is very honest. I had a similar mother/daughter relationship. I like how the drama resolves their issues.

Overall, the drama was well paced, well developed, and a joy to watch.

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A cutesy rom-com drama

If you are looking for a fun, rom-com drama, enemies to lovers romance, then this one will pretty much check all the boxes for you.

A lot of people probably will start the drama because of Ding Yu Xi and personally, he is hit or miss for me. I thought he was fine in The Romance of Tiger and Lilly, I liked him in Intense Love, but he was okay in Moonlight. I think it’s because his stature is really feminine and small and so it’s hard to see him in a domineering ML role, but I know it’s a C-drama cultural thing.

This drama has mixed reviews depending on where you look. If you look at the Viki site, it’s a little lower, but if you look at MDL then it’s higher, so I guess it depends on what type of drama you are looking for.

This is a 100% You-have-to-be-in-the-mood-kind-or-drama.

You won’t get much substance, but pretty actors and cutesy rom-com troupes and that’s okay. Sometimes you just need to zone out and watch some rom-com C drama angst. The ML can be funny or annoying to watch depending on what kind of viewer you are.

Some found it problematic when the ML was being kind of mean to the FL in the beginning, again a very typical C drama troupe, but sometimes it can be a little over the top.

I overall thought the drama was okay and I liked it. I did fast forward here and there depending on how frustrating or over the top storyline was, but I did have a smile on my face for the cute scenes.

So, if you want to zone out or are a fan of the actors, it’s a good one to watch.

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A story of two halves

This is one of few Dramas I've dropped that I have given a score greater than zero. That's because there was a lot to like about it, or at least one half of it.

That half is the half that focused on the FL's work. The FL was shown as competent, mature and realistic in her work environment and VERY god at what she did, while also realistic about the challenges and limitations she faced in her working life. The excellence of that part of the storyline, and especially its focus on capable, competent independent female professionals. was why I endured to episode 24 of 36.

The reason I had to drop was the indefensible behaviour and attitude of the ML. Yet another in the seemingly endless line of man-child MLs that China's romance Dramas keep churning out, his petulant self-absorption was very hard to handle at the best of times. But coupled with his penchant for physical violence, dragging the FL by the wrist, and hitting or slapping his "best friend" whenever that friend told him unpleasant truths, was just inexcusable. The ML lied to and deceived the FL for more than half the entire Drama's length, but instead of genuinely realising how wrong that was and sincerely apologising, he turned up, said "I'm sorry" and LITERALLY dragged her back to his house. THAT scene was my breaking point, when I knew I had to let go.

The message conveyed by Dramas like this one and My Fated Boy is VERY toxic - it's OK for men to act like selfish children, women need to accept and adjust. No, it's not ok.

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just another chinese rom-com with better characters & actors

I was really excited for this drama to air, mainly because of the actors. I have been a huge fan of Ryan Ding and Esther Yu. When I heard about pairing, I was excited and they didn't disappoint. The chemistry between the leads, and the second leads was spot on. The characters, in itself, were well thought-out and weren't superficialized for the drama's sake. I felt home with the Zhou Chuan's character, as i could relate with all his emotions and actions. Chu Li was an adorable softie, but she knows how to stand up for herself and the people she cares about.

The story and the direction had few flaws. For example, when chu li's parent just walked in to the house while they were making out? Doesn't make sense, how could they access the door? how did they find where she lives? and many more like that. Moreover, the story felt a bit dull for the second leads, as i find myself skipping scenes as I was bored out. I, however, liked the entire publishing company set up, it was something that i found interesting and could understand.

The reason i said that it's like other rom-com cdramas, because it has just the similar typical elements and the flow of the story isn't anything unique .

Overall, a nice fun watch for rom-com, but don't go looking for more.

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