Strongly recommend! A must see drama!
It’s an all-round experience of extreme comfort. It's the first time I've seen such a top-notch lineup of handsome actors and beautiful actress in a Chinese domestic TV series. In particular, Gong Jun's Dongfang Yue Chu is marvelous, which is completely different from the previous Prince Han Ye's character performance. You look at every shot of him, there is a strong sense of substitution, and you will feel the charm of the actor. In addition to good looks, every actor's acting skills are very natural online. To put it bluntly, a drama can continue to catch your attention after watching a few screens, so that you have the desire to continue watching, without changing the channel or fast-forwarding, this is a success, and This drama does it. Strongly recommend!Was this review helpful to you?
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When good CGI meets questionable loveline
Having watched the trailer months ago I highly anticipated this drama. Especially with the amazing costumes, high profile actors/actresses and beautiful CGI effects. However my excitement got quickly met with disappointment upon watching the first few episodes and onwards. Not only did the plot fell flat, I also still can't wrap my head around the mainleads loveline.Let me explain: The story starts out with a child (ML) crossing the border of Tushan in an attempt to survive an attack. After this he gets taken in by a seemingly older lady (FL) who could've passed as his aunt. The difference in age, appearance and demeanor had immediately set the tone for me as to what their relationship was: either aunt-cousin or teacher-student. Even though ML grew into a full fletched adult as the story progressed, his personality remained more or less the same to me: playful (even childlike I might say) and expressive whereas FL remained stoic and authorative (haven't seen any expression from her other than the go to pokerface). The lack of character development made it nearly impossible for me to break free from the initial aunt-cousin perception that I had formed at the beginning of the story (I mean hell, she basically raised him, saw him grow up into an adult and from time to time still mentions this throughout the drama). Their love therefore, just felt downright wrong and out of place to me.
I honestly wished that they casted a more younger looking actress for the role of FL. I mean don't get me wrong Yang Mi looks absolutely beautiful for her age but when put next to ML, the age gap can be seen and felt, making it much more difficult for viewers like me to break free from the initial "protective/stern aunt - rebelious cousin" image. That being said, I'll still continue to watch the rest of the story as we're only halfway through. I wanna give it a fair chance though I don't have much hope for it.
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yangmi and gon jún epic couple
finally came a drama that is very interesting..yangmi never disappoints in a drama there are such beautiful scenes can someone tell me how you can make such beautiful scenes and they look so real yangmi is so beautiful in this drama and she is cool i love cold women warm man ,gon jun did not disappoint me either he is quite funny here he is 1000 times better than b legend of anle i love his character in this dráma , story he is very interesting Also little funny there are many famous actors who I love miles wei he is also beautiful and I saw only there is another female my favorite .. this drama will definitely be my favorite I've seen two episodes and it's amazing, definitely watch it, I've only seen four episodes, it's not enough for someone, I'll write a review, but I had the same feeling when I saw the legend of shen li and it's definitely the best drama this year...second in line to the fox spirit master red moon ..love itWas this review helpful to you?
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Enjoyable Fantasy
Gong Jun is captivating and effervescent as the spritely yet fierce DongFang YueChu. I really like how though YueChu's kind and easygoing, he is ruthless against those who has done truly unforgivable wrongs. Yang Mi's HongHong is taking a lot of flack, but HongHong is peak introvert representation. It's certainly weird that male versions of this personality type are beloved and have every minutia of their movements and dialogue analyzed and understood, but when it's a woman, suddenly that ability goes out the window. It's lovely how extrovert YueChu creates moments and opportunity for HongHong's personality quirks outside of her heavy responsibility protecting and running Tushan and it's great the drama lets the humor play out without either character dipping into childishness. It's so refreshing to see a drama actually use screen time to let the relationship of the main couple develop and strengthen organically and have the issues they are helping with also both parallel and explore their dynamics as well. I like the world building and the themes of different and evolving relationship dynamics, both of interpersonal/inter-species relationships and political conflicts. I'm always excited to see the next episode, can't wait till the new ones!Was this review helpful to you?
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not what I expected
I've always loved Yangmi. Watched almost all her dramas.Started feeling a bit bored with the drama since (?) can't remember which episodes lol.
To be honest, I dont feel for any characters in the drama, including Yangmi's one expression.
She would always tilt her head slightly down with her eyes looking up looking stoic or serious.
Wanted to drop few eps back but I persisted.......Until their kissing scene lol....I just can't. hehe.
She practically took him in as a kid (8 years old?), and watch him grew up.
Did I miss out any kind of emotion development?
Gosh...I just can't. This is not even a noona kind of relationship.
It's aunty/ahjumma with young boy relationship, despite him growing into a man (although childish acting), it's still quite difficult to convince my mind. Maybe if the drama started differently, it would have been easy to accept this.
So finally..I have to say goodbye to Yangmi.
This drama is not for me.
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Another 'Noona' drama
I really wanted to like this drama since I like many of the main leads but I've lost interest at 14 episodes in due to the simplistic plot is and how one dimensional the characters are. YangMi is playing the older woman to a T so much that basically she's just a staring monotone emotionless beauty (ok, the costumes and her makeup are great) and Simon Gong plays the naive smitten young guy since he can pull it off with his boyish looks but it's so obvious he's acting not-his-age--which is rather funny in that he really is younger than her in real life, but here, the age/maturity distance is even greater (hence my reference to 'Noona' which is what younger guys call their older female crushes in Kdramas). The relationships and roles are so obvious and the plot progress is so linear, that there is nothing to anticipate to challenge your expectations of the story..Basically it seems all of the actors are too mature for their script--the dialogue/interactions are like what you get in a high school dramas.
So if you are fans of the leads, it's fan-fav fluff, but if you're looking for a clever, engaging story with twists/surprises, this does not seem to be it.
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All style, no substance.
I began this due to the costumes and CGI, which seemed much more creative than usual. And yes, they did go all out because this one of the most beautifully made xianxias I've watched in CDramaland.I've never watched the donghua or heard about the source material. Moreover, the cast, even the supporting characters are well known for their own works.
The summary is exactly as the MDL page. I'm not exactly the best person to talk to about scriptwriting and directing, but for once, I could actually see that something was just missing with the whole plot.
My major issue, and the reason why I'm dropping this, is because I do not actually care about the leading characters, particularly Dongfang Yue Chu and Tushan Hong Hong.
Heck, even the villains are two dimensional to me. (At one point, it seemed as if someone was forcing me to accept their indestructibility and fear them, but I did not care about their scenes or strategy.)
It's an endless cycle of rinse and repeat upto EP19.
I didn't care much about the Spirit Kingdom arc because it was pretty much ‘served’ on a plate because the plot required it. I didn't connect to Bu Tai's and Shi Kuan's love story.
This drama could easily wrap up in a minimum 24 episodes if someone wrote a shorter, yet stronger script. FSM drives the viewer around in circles with the same conversations and fights on repeat.
It does get better after Spirit Kingdom and the initial enemy, but I lost all connection to the characters and nothing manages to capture my attention, save for a few conversations between the Tushan sisters and maybe A’ Lai.
About A’ Lai. He was introduced out of nowhere and still has mysteries shrouding him, which is why I'm curious about his character. His romance is pleasant to watch, too – Tushan Ya Ya is the opposite of his calm and composed personality and I love their banter, even though it's not earth-shattering or as tumultous as the supposed love story of Hong Hong and Yue Chu, which I frankly don't care about.
If it wasn't for them, I would've easily dropped this.
About acting… Someone mentioned how Yang Mi had one expression at the beginning, but now? Either the directing or script was very poor because there is not a single scene of hers I find particularly memorable save for a very few close up shots of her eyes. I understand that she is the Chief, but I've seen colder characters depicted better than this.
Dongfang Yue Chu… I'm sure that Gong Jun gave his best shot with what was given to him, but to be honest, I don't find him much memorable.
I didn't care about their romantic progress, either.
The fight scenes… the leading characters’ fight scenes are boring. The one scene I do remember is that one in EP15 or EP16, that too, because of the song 回还 by UNEKO being played as the BGM.
But, the scene itself (which should be a heart stopping moment) was offscreen that I had to rewind to see if I've missed something. Plenty of dramas don't shy away from bloodshed and pain, even if not directly portrayed.
A drama from last year had a very similar scene and it got trashed for being ‘too’ fake, but at least the actor performing the scene had expressions which conveyed the intensity of the moment perfectly.
The OST does have beautiful songs, but the background score as a whole is forgettable and unimpressive. Even poorly written dramas can be hits if the music manages to enchant us.
These two reasons might be why I'm impatient with the pacing.
6.5 - 7/10 -- I prioritize characters and a lot, and this one falls far off the mark. For a drama that has two other stories lined up and a hypeworthy cast, this just wasn't it for me.
Once again, the story and the editing does get a lot better. [It shifts to the human realm by EP19, but I found myself bunny hopping through scenes instead of watching it as a whole.]
But, they raised the stakes far too late for me to be interested. As far as I had watched, it was aesthetically pleasing, but tragically snooze worthy.
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Great production value. Boring plot.
The cast is strong, so I thought this one would be good. Well... the production values did not disappoint - the CGI, costumes, props - everything is top notch. Really well done. Unfortunately, the good points kind of end there. The actress, while not my favorite, is usually competent. But here she played "cool and aloof" to the point where I get zero chemistry or any sense of feeling that she cares in any way about the male lead. I realize she is supposed to be hiding it - but she hides it too well. because there are zero emotions from her 26 episodes in. And literally zero chemistry between the leads. She likes the roast chicken in the drama way more than the poor ML. The writing and direction fall short as they fail to give us an interesting plot that would let us hold on despite the epic romantic face plant. Dropped at episode 26. Just too boring to continue.Was this review helpful to you?
Fighting for Win-Win situation
I am not a fan of fantasy drama. Some fantasy dramas make me nauseous due to the exaggerated effects. I like how Fox Spirit Matchmaker Red-Moon Pact has done so well that the effects are appropriately balanced. It is quite magical at times, reminding viewers they are living in fairyland.I love how the relationship between the male and female leads are woven into the building of the world between humans and the Fox Spirits. Most of the time we are constrained by having a set mindset of “either or”. However, this drama will demonstrate how to achieve a goal that benefits both humans and Fox Spirits.
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Really disappointed in FSMM execution
Hi I am writing this review and from comments on the page this there is a general consensus that possibly this drama not deliveredI have watched 8 and a half episodes and feel that cannot continue. Not really enjoying watching it and the progression of the story and chemistry is really poor.
The acting I guess is just satisfactory but I am not feeling it from Yang Mi or Gong Jun or Miles Wei for me to keep on watching.
I have in the last 3 days watched the entire anime on YouTube and feel that this version is not sticking to the fundamentals of the story. It is really doing its own thing. The anime series is actually quite simple and friendly for viewers to follow, target audience would be younger viewers.
I also believe that the characters are all suppose to be younger as in the anime they are all teenagers. That really could of been a way to bring in the anime fans so they can relate to the characters. Yang Mi and Gong Jun have been in excellent dramas before but not sure if fans of the anime will accept them in these roles. This last comment is a matter of opinion which I very much could be 100% wrong.
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Story in overall series
Fox Spirit Matchmaker YuehongStory, because I've seen the animated version. The storyline is not much different, but in the drama it is smoother and neater, apart from that there are still humorous scenes.
The romance is already starting to emerge, wait for the middle eps for sure...
Acting, there's no need to doubt it. Here, overall, all the players are famous, Gongjun also appears here.
Visual effects..... GG can say the words... Sophisticated, spectacular, and really pleasing to the eye. It's amazing... because it uses new CGI technology.
Production 👍👍👍👍 thank you for meeting expectations.
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The Most Awaited Release of 2024
Adapted from the manhua “Hu Yao Xiao Hong Niang” (狐妖小红娘) by Tuo Xiao Xin (庹小新), “Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact” is one of the most anticipated releases in 2024. The first part of the trilogy, starring Yang Mi & Gong Jun in titular leads premiered to high expectations. Whether the expectations were fulfilled or not? That remains to be seen, the show seemed quite intriguing from the trailers that IQIYI had been stockpiling for a month or so. The promotions were in full spring and the show hit high reservations even before its premiere. The show was kind of slow paced in the initial episodes so there were many comments about the lack of intrigue. Frankly, I felt the same but it seemed to pick up recently. There isn’t much mystery involved when it comes to guessing the main antagonist. But the characters themselves are quite riveting and each have their own backstory. Let’s sit down and rewind through the initial episodes that are streaming on IQIYI!Read the complete article here-
https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/fox-spirit-matchmaker-red-moon-pact-first-impressions/
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