Moonlight

I wasn't expecting this to be so good

This is my first time writing a review so a warning that this review will be a little crusty 🥺

You know that one second lead who is an asshole but is better than the male lead for the girl? The one who never gets the girl although he deserves her? It feels like this show is about that character (and I love every second of it!)

It's so rare to see a bratty male lead which is why I'm so excited that I found a show like this lol

When I started this drama I didn't really expect much out of it, only reason why I picked it up was because I adore Esther Yu & Ryan Ding is good-looking. First 10 minutes of the show were a drag but as soon as they started showing the main couple on the screen the drama became more fun, mostly because both of them have an amazing chemistry together. They're always bickering and making things fun

This drama covers everything that I like:
enemies to lovers? Lowkey ✅
Asshole male lead who's only good to her? ✅
Bratty male lead ✅
Female lead who's determined to get independent but won't take bullshit from her seniors ✅

It's weird how Ryan's character is a bit arrogant yet I just can't get myself to hate him because even though he's arrogant he's always got Esther's back and is willing to bend to make things easier for her.

In terms of the plot, it's a rom-com so it is light hearted as expected, I'd personally say that till now it's one of the - if not the best drama I've watched, I just hope the writers don't ruin it in the last half (Find Yourself writers I'm looking at you!)

Ryan & Esther are adorable here, I like them both so much lol

Oh and he is extremely childish, jealous 24/7 😂 (in a non toxic way till now!)

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Cute & fluffy love story

It’s a cute and fluffy love story between editors and authors. If you’re looking for a really action packed or drama filled show this isn’t for you. If you want a sweet romance with a funny and bubbly fl and a annoying endearing ml than watch this, this is great. I love this, it reminds me of le coupe de flore or touch your heart. I also adore Esther Yu, she makes a really fun and loveable lead. It has more of a comedic lighthearted beat which is a great refresher after watching some heavy shows. I was smiling while watching all the way through. Overall great show to watch if you just want to feel happy.

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Tediously Waay too long- Side stories were just annoying filler

Are you here for the male lead ? well, skip my review & just watch it !
For everyone else I'll be brief :
It's way too long. The second lead's relationship was irritating & took up too much screen time. Female lead was embarrassingly baby cutesy most the time. Side stories & family scenes were just annoying interruptions. Male lead is the only reason to watch & his character was not boyfriend material. Fluffy oversized dog had gross brown stained fur around it's face, like it needed washing. no weddings shown but abrupt happy endings for all 4 leads (AND 2 year time skip at end) Too much tediousness to really enjoy this series.

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This is totally my opinion and preference as a drama watcher

I gave this drama two chances and I still have a hard time finishing the drama for some reason. For the first time that I jumped to this drama, I couldn't bear FL's acting, thus I dropped it as I reached episode 3. Maybe some people enjoyed her acting, but not for me - it's just a personal preference I guess. However, the second time that I tried watching the drama, the story too is just unbearable to watch. I tried, I really tried to hold in and watch the drama. I usually gave up early once I found out that the drama is not to my liking, but since Moonlight has relatively high ratings, I thought maybe I should give it a try and hopefully the drama will progress. But after watching half of the drama, I couldn't bear it anymore.

Firstly, the ML is somewhat "okay". His beginnings are pretty annoying in many ways. I don't like how he take the FL's job for granted. Although I am not a writer, I work as a graphic designer specializes in publishing, so I can empathize how writers carefully selected their editors to publish their work, especially if the writer is well-known in the industry - the pressure might double than the less-known/beginners. However, it doesn't excuse his behaviour of slaving the FL doing housework and stuff just so the FL can edit his work. FL had no choice but to comply - as her job depends on it. After progressing from his "unacceptable" behaviours, he kind of had a slight character development, but that's just as far as he went. Before reaching episode 20, he obviously fell for the FL, and the writers chose to went with the "one-sided love by bullying the female target" - which obviously get very old and overused in every drama.

Now, let's jump to the FL, which I think is one of the biggest reasons why I dropped the drama. This is just totally my preference and my taste as a viewer, but I prefer Female Leads that are eloquent and mature in terms of how they speak. They don't have to be a girl crush or savage, but I would appreciate Female Leads that acts their age. Moreover, I find it kind of creepy for a mid-20s grown-women or older who do baby talks, or acts like a 5 year old girl having an episode in front of grown men. I don't see any good purpose of women doing that nor do I see any bright side from those actions.
Now, you might be wondering, it's just Yu Shu Xin's natural voice, what can she do about it? and the answer is, no, she intentionally made it like that in this drama. I've seen her other work, "A Romance of the Little Forest", where she got serious and confront the bullies, and I live for her doing that.
Now the baby-like actions that annoyed and cringed the heck out of me so much that I can't get it out of my head - is the scene where FL and ML doing what seem like editing ML's new book in ML's office, and ML somehow got annoyed at FL, so FL got scared and immediately faced towards a wall and acts like a 5 year old girl who wants to buy a barbie doll but rejected by her mom. --> if you're still confused to what scene this is, it's the scene where FL walked barefoot accidentally in the house, and ML reached her sandals and gave it to her.

I've seen the ending, since I wanted to see the ending before completely dropping the drama. The ending honestly seems rather great. I think FL got a huge character development, and so does the ML. I love that both FL and ML got the happy ending, I think the viewers who watched all episodes deserve that. In conclusion, I think the drama's original plot seems interesting, but it's just how the actress/director/writer portray the FL, which honestly irks me. Too bad that I dropped this drama, I really want to like it.

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Even with 8.4 rating yet third class level

If god bless me with one wish definitely I will use that to check what is inside the Chinese director’s head whether is there something called brain or just a empty space. Till now what are all the cdramas I have seen in that almost 95% has same ML character, not even a single percent difference in the character, except in some dramas ML is a CEO, VP, Director of a very reputed company or either he is a superstar or some celebrity or most popular doctor or surgeon, only for namesake ML’s profession is change but his character and story(irrespective of the genre or profession, ML courting FL is the most agenda of the drama profession is just for a namesake) is same in most of all the drama. In all the drama ML character has common thing, which is most annoying, immatured with multiple personality disorder, cold hearted to everyone but to FL, only FL looks like a human being to him but treats others like a trash(in some dramas even to FL also treats in the same), overly obsessed.
Only in Chinese dramas we can see such cheap ML character,
1. Day and night keep on calling or texting to FL irrespective of her busy life, even after knowing she is busy.
2. If she is talking with someone (with any male characters) go and standing between them, if someone wants to greet FL avoiding them to shake their hands.
3. When FL has dinner or lunch appointment with someone, going with FL uninvited, sitting in between them and covering the FL so that the other male character couldn’t see or talk with ML. In some dramas worst than this, when FL went for some blind date ML also visits and sits in the same dining table and disrupting them to talk with each other, if they went to some movies going to same movies and sitting in between them.
4. Faking illness, asking or begging to take of him even though without any such problems. Unnecessary calling as emergency for silly reasons.
5. If FL didn’t listen to ML and go out with her male friend, simply keep on texting and calling second to second unnecessarily without reasons.
6. ML won’t give any privacy to FL and won’t respects FL decisions in any situations. Etc etc rubbish attitude.
Because ML has feelings on FL( not mutual) he tries to make FL total outcast from mens world.
Except in China, in all other countries we call this kind of character as sadistic mentally retard third class persons, I don’t how come Chinese enjoy such kind dramas. Really it’s shocking even this rubbish drama has 8.4 rating.

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Wholesome, no misunderstandings drama

Ryan Ding deserves an award for this. He was able to pull off the childish and rude caharcter of a famous writer while making us relate to his emotions. The FL voice was annoying sometimes but it is her batural voice, no dubbing. I also really like how mature she was and how the couple handles all hardships together. Most poeple do not understand the importance of editors in the literature world, and this drama gives a great inspiration for people seeking suchvlesses known careers. In short this drama is like a combination of Full House, Romance is a bonus book, and Love 020. If you liked any of these, definitely watch this!!! If you know "the moon is beautiful tonight" you will love this drama for sure 😉😜❤.

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A meaningful and bubbly love story

This drama will not only show you a cute and sweet romance, but will also make you appreciate the effort poured by authors, illustrators, and editors into their work. It teaches us the art of writing, the fruit of hardwork, and the beauty of helping people in making their dreams come true.

Moonlight opens our eyes to the writing and publishing industry as a heartfelt love story forms between the main leads who works as an author and an editor. They gave us a couple with a wonderdul chemistry that brought as butterflies and laughter.

Watching this drama is really inspiring and pleasing. The main lead's acting was spectactular, he managaed to portray an arrogant yet kind and charming guy that caprures the heart of viewers. His childishness and stubborness is my favorite aspect of him becuse depsite of his imperfections, these personality is the one that made him lovable and stay true to himself even when faced with criticisms. The female lead was also like a ray of sunshine filled with compassion and perseverance. Her bright character makes this show interesting and enjoying.

The storyline of this drama was simple yet captivating. Despite not having plenty of twist and turns, it managed to keep me watching and stay tuned on each episode espicially with the wonderfust cast, OST, and production.

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In my top 5

If you want a nice and easyfeel good story with a good laugh, great plot development and fabulous acting then story is for you. There is something for everyone in this drama and the phrase ‘karma is a bitch’ definitely comes to mind with at least one of the bad guys.
Ding Yuxi and Ester Yu work really well together and although I often find her characters a bit too sweet somehow it works for this plot. The ML & FL have great chemistry even though at certain points it’s clear that none of the male characters really know what they’re feeling or what to do about it. The female characters are a bit more emotionally mature… Don’t worry though it all works out in the end.
The support actors are excellent and as usual initially there’s a love triangle to add to the chaos caused by emotional immaturity.
What’s not to like

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I highly recommend giving it a shot!

Moonlight is a romantic comedy with a charming couple, heartwarming romance, and hilarious moments. Although the drama has some common clichés, it was used in a unique and adorable way that made it thoroughly enjoyable. At first, I thought it would be a light and easy watch, where you could simply ignore logic. However, the drama turned out to be well-crafted and also very inspiring. Moonlight offers a closer look at the publishing industry, particularly the editor behind a successful author. The actors were well-cast too; Yu Shuxin played Chu Li perfectly, and although I was hesitant about Ding Yuxi's character at first, he eventually grew on me! The drama is one of the better romantic comedies made in recent years, so you should definitely give it a try!

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Feeling disappointed with the plot and characters

I started watching "Moonlight" after finishing Esther Yu and Ding Yuxi's LGIEF. I loved their chemistry in LGEIF so I was eager to see more of it in this c-drama.

The first few episodes were intriguing and I liked how we were given tidbits about the publishing industry and what being an editor entails. The ML and FL's online friendship was also one aspect of the story that I loved. Plus the ML and his best friend's bromance of course.

The ML blushing and acting like a schoolgirl with a crush made me giggle and swing my legs too lol.

However, since I expected the ML to cut down on the cold rude love interest persona I was left annoyed and rolling my eyes at his behaviour. I thought he would cut down on it and show more tender vulnerable parts of himself to Chu Li (FL) after she moves into his house. But he doesn't. Instead he keeps demanding her time and attention, acts immature and petty when he doesn't get his way and is pretty one dimensional as far as episode 13.

Scenes where the ML showed more sides to his personality than the whole tsundere thing were far and far between. I can't see what the FL sees in him to be honest. Most well written dramas with cold and jerk MLs start to the 'thaw the ice' (generally speaking) after the ML and FL sort of become friends or tolerate each other's presence in some cases lol. This maintains the intrigue and keeps the watchers invested in the story.

I think the only time I felt invested or even mildly interested in the ML was to see how things will play out between his father and him. Both father and son have a superiority complex although the father's also a raging asshole to his son and has an even bigger superiority complex than ML. As the ML's exasperated mother rightly pointed out, both of them are like dictators. Poor woman is tired of their bullshit.

Another issue with the drama was that there were no ups or downs even by episode 13.

The good looks of the cast and their acting skills were the only things which kept me watching the show and spending 13 hours of my life on it.

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