cilly

viki usually doesn't get the rights to iqiyi dramas unfortunately

based on the gallery, seems like it was around august 5th of last year

I started watching this early on and then put it on hold so I could binge all of it later 😤 the wait is finally over. very excited to continue this

Love Under the Feuding Blossom Tree has a nice ring to it 👌

Love of the Feuding Blossom Tree 🤣🤣

"Lament" is an angsty word too, but in a more sorrowful context. I loved that title, I'm sad they changed it 😔

this drama is based off the "sequel" novel, which takes place maaaaaaaany years later. however, this drama is not directly following the novel plot. there are some copyright restrictions related to Ancient Love Poetry, so they were forced to change some things from the novel, which is why the backstory is so different.

this is pretty much a standalone with its own backstory, so there is no connection.

I looooooved the last arc so much. I was pretty mixed on this drama overall, but those episodes really pulled me in.

the epilogue was actually filmed quite recently compared to the rest of the drama, which could explain why you're feeling that way 😅

oh for sure, LGIEF premise is very popular in cnovels, so in that sense it's not anything "new". but compared to the more classic xianxia dramas they keep putting out, you could argue that it feels different.

I know there have been some other adaptations of the game/system style of novels, but they usually just pull out the whole system element or neglect it so that it's not super relevant. LGIEF really leaned into that element and it easily became one of its strong points. they also just had good production choices & a fairly strong script 😅

I have a few thoughts on this.

Last year, Love Game In Eastern Fantasy did extremely well domestically, and that drama is still technically an idol xianxia/xuanhuan. It definitely had its slower and tropey moments, but it brought a new freshness to the genre, so the issue is definitely partially related to overdone/tropey xianxia idol dramas. I did enjoy Moonlight Mystique, but it had every xianxia trope imaginable and didn't necessary have that same "freshness".

The other problem is with iQiyi itself. They had a total disaster of a year in 2024, all of their high budget costume projects were just... not great. I'm willing to bet they lost a lot of trust with their audience because of their constant mistakes 😅 9.5k heat is quite high considering the mess they had last year. MM had some really great high moments, but still had some of the same script & production problems as their other costume dramas last year.

this drama adaptation is not directly following the novel/source material, especially regarding the history between BS & FY. because of copyright restrictions, it's not their same history from the "prequel" drama, Ancient Love Poetry. you should be viewing this as vaguely related, but overall a standalone with distinct differences

I would recommend this one! Are You The One is also a good watch, but in my opinion, it definitely loses its momentum around the halfway point

in my opinion, MM is suffering from the same problem that all of the other iQiyi costume dramas had last year. too much focus given to aesthetics, not enough on the plot/script. too many side characters/stories, not enough time spent on the main leads. it seems like we're about to go into a new arc about the ML, so hopefully it starts picking up a little more 😅

he was dubbed by a voice actor, specifically zhang fuzheng ^^

made me laugh so I wanted to share 🤣😭
https://x.com/afterrnoont/status/1879774244118339709

it's funny that you mention this, because at the beginning there were some people saying ARP doesn't have the "demon lord" look like Dylan, and I'm like... what.. but they have such similar vibes 🤣😭

they're up on the US iqiyi website for me: https://www.iq.com/play/moonlight-mystique-f8690g8hoo?lang=en_us

she's not the 'main character', but I was introduced to her from Word of Honor and she was great there ^^