Moonlight

A hidden gem meant to be explored

So for those confused the story is about a young girl, Chu Li who has become an editor, a book editor and has managed to get the famous author Zhou Chuan who is supposedly very hard to deal with. The story doesn’t explore much on the editor and her work, rather it focuses on two couples - Chu Li X Zhou Chuan the main couple and the second couple Mr. Jiang also an author and Gu BaiZhi am editor.
The story is sweet and charming with lots of cute and lovely moments, and for people like me who watched this after Love game in eastern fantasy, this drama gives me everything the other lacked. That is a lot of cute moments and kisses.
I won’t touch down on Love game here.
This drama has one of the most peaceful couples in the entire history of Romantic dramas with no misunderstanding, hate or whatever. They are so in sync and the ML is so kind and considerate, it was refreshing to see such a mature relationship, especially after watching the dramas in which the ML sold his common sense for peanuts.
Though the romance was great I wish it would’ve showed us more of the editor’s work. After Zhou Chuan’s first novel is published we don’t see anything about the editor, nor we get to see anything about her office. After the first book the job just disappears and our complete focus is diverted to the relationship.
The drama did try to touch on many things like divorce, second chance, self worth but again it didn’t go too deep on any of these topics. Which will forever be my one complaint from this drama but other than that I would say it a nice watch and a great pic for suckers of cute romance (like me 🤭)

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I say this drama is a good one to watch should you need to watch something while waiting on another drama. I don't think this drama would be a drama I would say you must watch or if there's anything that makes it shine but it does avoid a lot of drama clichés, like no last minute breakups, no evil parents/in-laws, little to no misunderstandings, and I felt like it was executed well that we had a good & happy last 2 episodes that I was very satisfied with how it ended.

So what does this drama feature?
1. Jealousy is considered a tag for this drama and let me tell ya, I never seen the amount of jealously this bad (in a funny way though). The ML is literally a jealous character for about most of the drama. He does tone it down a bit after Ep 24 but honestly, his jealously is what makes this drama funny and I love it.
2. A fairly weak love triangle: Actually there's 2 love triangles, one for our main couple and the other for our secondary couple. I say weak love triangle because the one who doesn't end up with the couple moves on easily. No conflicts, no plot to ruin the couple. I say this is a love triangle I can watch.
3. A villain does persist in this drama. He does caused mischief and is pretty annoying, especially the beginning and middle of the drama, but thankfully the actions aren't as bad as other villains I seen in other dramas, and he doesn't appear on screen as much later in the drama.
4. It centers around a publishing company and writers trying to get back in making their writing known. Now, I'll admit, there are some great scenes around this but there are also other scenes that I just found boring that made me just fast forward certain scenes.
5. The Bro-Ship: The ML & SML as best friends stole the spotlight for me. I just love every scene of them together.

The plot itself is okay. Sometimes it moved at a good pace, sometimes it was too slow that I got bored in a lot of scenes. Music played in this drama was just okay but very repetitive for one of the songs, but I did think the actors and actresses did justice on their character roles in this drama. Overall, a slightly above average drama.

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The best Cdrama ever

I finished all the episodes. I really like Ryan Ding Yuxi’s character in here and looking forward to watching more of his drama series.

I watched Ryan first in the Romance of Tiger and Rose, I also loved it.

Thinking of watching Intense Love after this.

Hope Ryan will continue to choose great drama to act on.

As for Esther Yu, I do not like much of her acting but her character is great in this drama.

I like also the story of the 2nd Female Lead and 2nd Male Lead.

Great Cdrama to watch this year, never a dragging moment in any episodes.

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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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Inspiring, and definitely a slow burn

My favorite part about this was undoubtedly following Chu Li from the second she joined the publishing house as an intern and her development onwards. No matter what your career is, it was really inspiring seeing how she handled entering a new environment, dealing with the ugliness of (very relatable) office politics, and overall just being very dedicated and passionate about her work and persevering to get there.

For the most part I also really enjoyed the romance, but it's definitely a slow burn for both the couples. The main leads took a long time before they even realized they had feelings for each other (which I had no trouble with). The second ship was a case of exes-to-lovers and they also took a long time to deal with the reason they broke up in the first place. Both of these, I didn't have a problem with the pacing because it felt as realistic as the progression of the FL's work was: like life, but just a little more exciting.

With that being said, there were some parts with the romance that was either frustrating or simply confusing. First, it was like they kept telling us that there was a love triangle but then hinted that there wasn't and then went back and doubled down on it; either way, I kept trying to understand what the characters were feeling and kept feeling this disconnect.

Second, I wasn't a huge fan of the way the male lead acted sometimes — meaning that sometimes the reason the drama was a slow burn was because the male lead was being pretty dim and immature; there's some things I would definitely change with how some arguments were "resolved" but overall the character development is there (albeit slow).

Nevertheless, I was glad that the romance never got overdramatic and that once the main leads got together, there were no more annoying break-ups or misunderstandings.

One thing I also liked about this drama was that there are few purely evil and obsessive characters — there are annoying people in the office, but anyone who has ever worked knows that you'll really run into those kinds of people and seeing Chu Li (who I really liked as FL) deal with them was almost cathartic.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this drama for any cdrama rom-com lovers out there.

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dropped at episode 27

I was excited about this drama. I meet these actor for the first time in "love game in Easter Land" and I was anticipating seeing them in a modern "set".
This drama started really well. I was looking for something light hearted and funny and I wasnt disappointed until about half way through.

The gimmicks between the characters start to get repetitive, and the cliche are numerous.
The 2 main character are basically in their late 20's but they are so childish. Sure, 2 conventionally attractive people never had a crush... Sure sure.
I know this is light-hearted but it's a pretty unrealistic drama.
This unknown girls starts working as an editor and everything goes so smoothly she lands contract after contract.
The "forced roommate" is a well known trope but why is she supposed to live with a stranger even after she gains some money? No pride girl?
Even after the main conflict arises, she basically forgives him after a week. Girl, you said it yourself, he manipulated you, lied to you and after hearing 2 sweet words you are alright back. He basically drags her into his house against her will.

Speaking about the second couple... They had good moments and bad moments. At episode 26 we don't really know what happened in their past. The editor is really annoying and ready to do anything to save her ass at work. I get she is stuck between a rock and a hard place but she always prioritizes her work even after being so obsessed with the same guy she betrayed. I don't know . Should we root for them or not?

The drama starts with more underlying plot lines that basically disappear after episode one. We are introduced too a nepo baby which is supposed to be a rival to main protagonist... It went nowhere.
The Direcror is supposed to be "scheming" to grab power in the publishing company.... He does very little to get anywhere..
And can we please stop creating "tension" by merely making the FL literally fall into the ml arms... It's not romantic, it's poor writing and this drama overuses this trope.
A Xiang..poor girl. The FL best friend has no plot line at all. She is basically a mail man delivering news to the FL.
Episode 27: I am dropping it. It just too boring.

the FL wouldn't basically go anywhere in life without her boyfriend saying her ass.

I would recommend this drama if you are looking for something not too demanding or full of fluff.

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This drama is about 50% sweet romance, which I would rate at about 9/10 and 50% is about working at a publishing house, which is at most a 5/10. I realize that the end result being 8/10 doesn't really compute, but ultimately it comes down to me enjoying the romcom parts a lot & tolerating the business related things.

The romcom part is close enough to realistic cdrama perfection, I guess I would have loved a bit more comedy and faster progress in the OTP's relationship. The production team did a good job maxing out fluff & sugar, no complaints there. It's really nice how the bromance/weak live triangle thing was handled.
The leads are a match made in heaven, I found them a pleasure to watch throughout the entire drama. Also their love story is nicely written and even their short mini breakup felt well executed & timely. I'm extremely happy they did not do that in the final episodes, I hate that!
I did not like the second couple's story very much, there was too much push-pulling. I liked the characters & the actors though..
The cast in this drama is very good overall, right now I cannot recall a single weakly cast supporting character.
Also there was a crazed bitch character trying to take away ML from FL, she appeared nearing the end of the drama. I think that plotline was completely unnecessary, but it was still tolerable, she was rebuffed at 100% efficiency every time.

As for the life at a publishing house, it's easy to criticize many work related happenings, the story is not all that interesting and there are all kinds of villainous, or semi villainous characters. If I look at this having seen many carrier oriented dramas before, then it's still pretty okay. Corporate scheming & infighting are almost always total garbage in other cdramas, here it's not so bad. The biggest issue is that the adversaries had weird & meaningless motivations and they have often done really arbitrary illogical things. The characters themselves are okay, we don't quite reach the cartoon villain territory. The largest annoyance I've had is the biggest crisis plot in the drama, involving ghost writing claims & lots of unreasonableness. I think it would not have been very difficult to come up with a better, more realistic plot involving Asian cancel culture.

I think people criticizing Esther Yu's voice are in the wrong. However around episode 9-11 perhaps there were too many scenes involving childish temper tantrums & fake baby talk :p I don't think it's fair to blame the actress for that though!

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Really good is u like a good cute drama

I loved this drama a lot it’s cute has a nice storyline and the actors as expected of Esther and Ding Yuxi are absolutely amazing they could not hv done a better job. The eps itself were just the right amount and perf to binge.
Only complaints would generally be with a few things in the plot this is spoiling so if u hvnt seen yet just letting u k
I hated the fact ml best friend liked fl eventually as well that really irritated me as not only did it put strain on their relationship the fl obvs seeing ml friend as an idol of hers didn’t see much about going to get coffee or stuff with him if it came to work stuff which sort of developed to normal life which I didn’t quite like as it made ml feel jealous and annoyed I think if they just didn’t put the best friend liking her and everything if would hv took out a lot of the aggravation I had during the drama. Another would be the annoyance that the ml did not tell fl that he is her online best friend it was so annoying and could hv been admitted much earlier which would hv cause much more cuteness and closeness between them.
I wish there were more cute scenes of them but not too much to like a sickening point since it did lack a bit of it however I truly loved this drama and would rewatch some eps defo hope u guyz enjoy ❤️

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Don't miss a masterpiece guys!!!

If You want to watch a drama that's perfect in everything, Just give it a try. I am pretty sure after watching this drama, You'll be craving for a boyfriend like Zhou Chuan. Our First Male lead Zhou chuan is perfect in everything, a little childish, very caring and a jealous boyfriend. Oh no! i fell in love with him. Though it is my second drama of Ryan ding, He is going ahead rapidly. He can be childish but and the same time he's very supportive for our lead girl. And there is an enthusiastic chemistry between them. Not only male lead, our female lead is also very cute and mature. Her character development will impress you.

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Cute rom-com with a slice of life about book publishing

This drama tells the story of a female lead who begins working at her dream job as an editor and a male lead who is a promising new author. Male lead decides to accept the female lead as his editor when he discovers that she is the online friend who he has been talking to for years.

The first 20 episodes were fantastic and engaging but afterwards the drama got a little boring and draggy, mainly as they focused too much on the book publishing and not enough on the romance. The work conflicts felt very similar, the characters didn’t have much development and the romance died down. I feel like if the drama was shorter, these things wouldn't have been such an issue. Despite all that, I still enjoyed the storyline, characters and romance.

Many comments say the male lead is childish and I agree. In real life I would have been annoyed but in the drama it was the perfect comedy relief and I absolutely loved him (I might also be biassed because I love the actor and he is the reason I watched this).

The second couple was a nice watch but very typical and cliche storyline. I feel like it would have been a stronger storyline if they ended up with different people.

POSITIVE:
- Great insight into the book publishing world. As a book lover I loved seeing that and the plot felt very realistic regarding that.
- Cute romantic scenes between the leads and second leads.
- Good balance between comedy and slice of life maturity.
- Hard-working, career focused and independent female leads.
- Light-hearted for the most part.

NEGATIVE:
- Too much about the book publishing in the second half of the drama which made the romance die down.
- Not much character development.
- Female lead was a bit too focused on her career and sometimes I felt she didn’t care/love the male lead.
- Too long and draggy. Drama would have been better if it was shorter.

OVERALL:
If you are a big fan of the book publishing world and want a bit of romance thrown into the mix, you will definitely enjoy this light-hearted, slice of life drama.

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