Moonlight

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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Nice Doesn’t Mean Weak!

I’m a total book nerd so a love story between a kind-hearted editor + a best-selling author totally piqued my interest when I read the synopsis. And while it was a bit more fluffy than I was expecting I still really enjoyed their story.

I found the FL to be quite relatable (though a bit too “cutesy” at times) with her bubbly personality, enthusiasm for her writers, & optimistic nature. She showed a lot of spunk for a girl who was just starting out in her career. She quickly learns it won’t all be easy since several colleagues seem intent on seeing her fail, but she’s determined to prove that she has what it takes to succeed. To do so, she sets out to sign a contract with a difficult & reluctant author.

I admired her character throughout the show. She faces a lot of challenges as she embarks on this new phase of her life, but she never lets the pressures or failures keep her down. She’s a sweet girl who others often underestimate. But we witness her inner strength when she stands up for herself, for what she believes in, & for her authors multiple times. It was refreshing to see a FL who’s friendly & kinda quirky not let anyone push her around. Like hey - we can be kind A N D strong, ya know? 🙌🏻

The ML matches her energy well as he’s also a combination of strong & dorky. He doesn’t care what others think of him or his writing, he stays true to himself despite any negative reviews. It’s only when his loved ones are threatened later in the show that he considers bending, though they refuse to let him do so. He’s a bit of an eccentric character, whom I found both entertaining & frustrating in equal parts for the first half of the show.
Let me explain: I’m not a fan of the hidden identity trope so that lessened my enjoyment of both him & the drama a bit. Him not admitting to the FL that he’s her online friend (even straight up lying to her about it) was confusing. I didn’t at all understand his reasoning for this. I know he explained it to her later amidst their fighting & reconciliation scenes, but I still don’t get it. IMO, the FL was fully justified in her anger towards him. So while, yes, I did love the ML, he wasn’t without flaws.

Back to his good points, though. He’s not at all lacking in self-confidence, but when it comes to the FL he’s a bit out of his depth. He likes her but he’s not quite sure what to do about it since she likes her online friend (the ML’s jealousy over this “love rival” is funny since he’s knowingly jealous of himself, haha.) His attempts at wooing her are clumsy & tend to have the opposite effect, but eventually his efforts pay off. And we get to experience how adorable this duo is as a couple in love. 🫶🏻

Together, they’re precious. They’re both very loyal & refuse to be swayed by others’ opinions. They don’t give outsiders any room to cause misunderstandings between them (I LOVE how they both handled the delulu girl - she didn’t stand a chance at breaking up these two). They’re fierce in their defense of one another & they make each other/their relationship a top priority. They’re a solid couple with great chemistry. They have lots of cute, swoon worthy moments & many sweet kisses. 🫠

Apart from the greatness of the Leads’ relationship, I also enjoyed the “business” side of things. If you’re a word-lover like me, I think you would as well. Taking a peek into the world of authors & their editors was a fun delight (even if it’s a fictional look in another country). There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes for the books we love to wind up in our hands. I wasn’t at all bored by this aspect of the plot line or the many scenes focusing on their careers. And I liked that the Leads were able to separate their personal relationship & their business dynamic. They handled that very maturely. Same goes for their interactions with colleagues - they never let work negatively impact their friendships. Healthy relationships all around!


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-⬇️ S P O I L E R S 🚫 B E L O W ⬇️-


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The things I always want to know 😏😉…
- First(real)Kiss : ep.19 💋
- Together : ep.21 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻
- BreakUp : Nope 💖

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The unofficial sequel to Love Game In Eastern Fantasy

Plot Summary:

Chu Li is a finance major that somehow shifty’s her way into becoming a book editor, Zhou Chan is an author. Actually they’re online friends that have developed crushes on each other but neither of them knows the others identity at first and they butt heads constantly. Shenanigans abound.

The Second leads for me is actually the better relationship to follow. But they don’t get the screen time for it to feel satisfying. Which is fair since it’s not really their story.

Esther Yu, as Chu Li is an adorable well meaning and competent book editor. Ding Yu Xi, as Zhou Chuan is an arrogant, proud and dumber than his success would lead you to believe author.

Best of OST:

Esther Yu on the OST. Cute… 😍
https://youtu.be/4thQ92s26BU?si=IGNrJmEEiEkV_7Fc

Overall, this drama doesn’t really have a comprehensive OST, relying a lot on the above track. But it gets the job done.
https://youtu.be/dghP0XCF8eI?si=YF2Rj5uYXcDSV6SY

Gripes:

The pacing is a bit slow, I would have liked to have spent more time with the relationships, but the story got bogged in the minutia of the publishing industry, which I guess is exactly what they were going for.

Re-watch:

Would I watch it again?
Yeah, it’s cute enough, but I’d probably be skipping through a lot of it.

Would I watch it with my brother?
I might be able to convince him to watch it as a sequel to “Love Game In Eastern Fantasy”, but this is exactly the type of show he avoids watching.

Would I watch it with my kid?
I think when my daughter get’s older, I’d like to watch it with her, if only for showing her that this is a possible career path.

Final Thoughts:

The drama was cute, the romance was satisfying, but the publishing industry remains kinda boring.

Rating:

7.6/10

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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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DRAMA HACK: Watch this AFTER Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

Wound up watching Love Game in Eastern Fantasy last month and it left a lot to be desired. The drama hack is to watch Moonlight AFTER you watch LGIEF because then you can just pretend that Ziqi and Miaomiao's relationship just continues in the real world ;P Even the bunny shaped apple slices make an appearance in both!

Actually, in all fairness, I do believe that this drama is good all on it's own. Ding Yuxi is such a dedicated and talented actor. He has one of the most expressive faces in cdramas. While I didn't care for LGIEF story that much, his acting is undeniably great in both of these dramas. You can tell he definitely puts his all into his acting and truly became Zhou Chuan and Mu Sheng. As for Esther Yu, I really love her singing voice and her comedy is always spot on. No one else can deliver the funny scenes the way she does. She just falls short in the emotional scenes in every drama for me. I think it's because she does so well in the funny/silly scenes that I don't take her seriously when she's trying to be sad. But her chemistry with Ding Yuxi is undeniable and I love watching them together all the same.

What surprised me with this drama is how engaging it was. The workplace story wasn't boring to me at all. I had no prior knowledge of the publishing process before and how intense of a job being an editor could be. The writing and pace were both perfect in my opinion. Every character's growth was both substantial and realistic, especially ZC and his father. Their ending scene almost made me cry. The balance between the comedy and romance while also portraying their career stories was done really well.

I also credit the actors for keeping it interesting. ZC starts out as a grumpy, immature introvert but I felt myself siding with him. He hated most people but loved his dog. I think a lot of us are like this! To me, his reasons for disliking the people he did were actually justified because a lot of people in his industry were just trying to take advantage of him. I also really liked that Chu Li came off as sweet & silly but she was actually pretty straightforward, fearless and intelligent. Watching their love grow was so sweet from start to finish. The more you see them together the more it becomes apparent that they are made for each other. When Chu Li is in trouble at work or sad about anything, ZC scrambles to do anything he can to make it right and make her feel better. Throughout most of the show ZC is pretty strong and independent when it comes to his career but when the ghostwriting scandal comes up you can see how much Chu Li loves him because she cries more than he does when she sees him breakdown and become sad and vulnerable. Neither of them are perfect people but they really do make a perfect couple.

It's also nice to see that there are no other serious competing love interests for either of them. ZC only has eyes for Chu Li from the beginning and rolls his eyes at any other female attention. Chu Li only gets excited over the small things with ZC and gets so giggly when he does anything for her. Although his best friend seems to find her cute and interesting and openly confesses to wanting to date her, he's really doing it to agitate ZC and scare him into showing his true feelings. Also, Chu Li's reaction is more horror than her being happy or flattered and she quickly tells him she likes someone else.

Side stories: It's very rare that I don't find the side stories boring but I actually didn't fast forward these scenes. They perfectly weaved in Chu Li's efforts at building her career into the story and made it relevant to her relationship with ZC. The second male lead is also lovable and his love story is just as sweet, that and his bromance with ZC. I actually found him more likeable in Moonlight than as Liu Fuyi in LGIEF. He was adorable, caring and way more expressive as Jiang Yu Chueng imo. Liu Fuyi was too stoic for me to really care about.

The ending: The ending was beautifully done as well. I won't go into detail but they did a great job with closing every character's story. I also love that Er Gou stayed a relevant character in every episode and they didn't phase the pet out after some time like I've seen in other dramas. This drama was tasteful, heartwarming and satisfying from start to finish. Definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the two leads and definitely recommend watching it AFTER Love Game in Eastern Fantasy.

-----Favorite moments:
- when ZC gets drunk the night before and Chu Li teases him the next morning, making him think he proposed.
-also the following scene and how mad ZC gets when JYC is confessing to Chu Li
-when ZC finally gets his revenge on Chu Li when she gets drunk the night before and he makes her think they kissed. The scene in the living room is comedic gold and just spectacular acting from both of them.
-ZC & JYC's "big fight". Their friendship is as hilarious as it is endearing.
-ZC internet searching how to apologize LOL
-ZC internet searching how to not break up on vacation LMAO. He's so emotionally inept but his efforts are too adorable.
-ZC is doing research at Yuan Yue and Chu Li tasks him with listening to pitches from new writers. His reaction to the 1st horrible writer had me in tears. Needless to say the task was taken from him after that.

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light and fluffy but skippable parts

Overall this was a fairly easy going show, no over dramatics that couldn’t be resolved despite the fact the writers attempted a few cliche efforts at this. When it happened it was pointless and added nothing to the overall development of the plot. The MLs are silly and childish for far too much of the show and often the 2nds just plain show them up - seemingly like the only adults actually acting like adults. The friendship between ML & 2ML is the most satisfying thing about this series and they are adorable and funny. Overall it ended satisfyingly, but I skipped so many scenes that dragged and felt boring to watch. Clean up the writing (needs a major edit, which is kind of funny when this show is about editors and authors 🤣) and we’d have something that trundled along at an engaging pace. Instead we have 36 draggy episodes. One to watch if you need something light and you aren’t irritated by baby voice from FL’s which happens far too often in Cdramas. Not a fan personally- I think strong female leads can ditch the baby voices, pouty faces and childish comments. The 2FL in this show shows how its done, classy, professional independent adult. That is how to portray strong female behavior.

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two words: CHEF'S KISS. This drama is literally diabetes in media form, I love how trusting the lead couple were with each other and Chu Li persisting and persevering to prove everyone's assumptions about her wrong were very relatable and I wish this drama was a little longer. The storyline is a little cliche but the nuances within the plot enhanced the storyline and made it better than I originally expected. Also, PSA but I will not be moving on from this drama because one it's too good and two no other drama will ever be able to match up with what Moonlight gave the audience.

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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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Beautiful Rhythm of Romance, Goals and 2nd Chances.

I am so lucky I've decided to binge watch this after watching the series Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. I just could not get enough of these two lovely main leads. They were so lovely and their chemistry is insane!! This series, is such is lovely! Did I say lovely again, Let me repeat and reiterate, LOVELY! This series helped me relax and its such an easy watch, and I'd recommen to watch this specially if you are stressed (like me!) LOL. I definitely enjoyed it and be transported to their wonderful and funny world.

Characters
Characters are well thought out and the actors had fleshed them out so wonderfully. The friendships and dynamics are well entertwined. The characters are acted so well, that you don't see the actors but rather their personas themselves.

Gems
I love the fact that the male lead is such a green flag! SUPER DUPER greenflag! Once the male lead had decided to pursue his feelings its green light all the way! I also love that there is no annoying love triangles, b-chy villains, misconceptions, prolonged misunderstandings. And this show is so healthy that it didnt let the viewers suffer on the misunderstanding but instead promoted how the characters are very proactive with maintaning their connection and healthy communication. Yes! healthy communication! I LOVE LOVE this about this series. Plus the male lead is not your STUPID male that blindly believes a woman's statement at face value, but instead can see through their intentions. and not put himself in a situation where he could be misunderstood. Another plus is that the female lead is very confident and secure that you don't get that noble idiocy syndrome, like I will just go and let you be happy kind of move.

Story
The story is weaved of which it highlights character's goals - it might discovering love, understanding important truths, seeking succesful careers, rekindling one's craft as well as exploring a 2nd chance at love. I hope I didn't divulge too much but instead let this be an encouragement for you to see for yourself and enjoy this wonderful series!

The rewatch vallue is 10! I can totally watch this again and again! And laugh to my hearts content!

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