Moonlight (2021)

When Perseverance, Confidence, and Strong-Will Work Together

"As long as I'm working as an editor, I will never give up on any author. That's why I became an editor in the first place." -Chu Li

This quote? Chu Li, the female lead, who is also an amazing editor, said it. I admit I was a little reluctant to start Moonlight, as I was watching other airing rom-coms. But I don't regret my decision at all, because it has just joined my favorites list. I was expecting a cute and fluffy rom-com, but not only is Moonlight cute, but it is so inspirational as well.

Moonlight is a unique rom-com. It's not a love story that takes place in high school or even college. It takes place in work, but it's not exactly an office romance-comedy. It's a cute romance between an editor and an author. Moonlight has made me think more about the powerhouse behind an author's success: The editor. From this drama, I've learned that editors contribute more to a book's success more than most of us think, and even if these characters aren't real editors, authors, and publishers. they've certainly shown us the hard work and perseverance needed to be one.

Story-9.0
As this was an airing rom-com, I was scared as to what would happen in the later episodes, because as we experienced Asian drama watchers know, a drama's later episodes can go downhill sometimes. With this doubt, I continued to watch this fluffy drama, and it did not disappoint. When you're watching Moonlight, say goodbye to the stupid misunderstandings and "I'm doing this for your own good" breakups, because there aren't any! We all love relationships with trust and encourage and love and nothing more, don't we? There are jealous scenes, yes, but when it comes to trust, Zhou Chuan and Chu Li is our model couple! They trust each other no matter what, and help each other on their editing and writing journeys.

Why do I keep on mentioning trust? Well, another female is introduced around episode 30 or so. I was totally unprepared for her, and was terrified that she would cause a huge misunderstanding or breakup, but our strong leads were mentally prepared! 500 second female leads could've stormed in and our couple would probably be left unharmed. Perhaps a tiny bit of suspicion, but nothing more than that. The second female lead was a bit unnecessary, but I like how she found her closure at the end. She deserved hate, yes, but also deserved some understanding.

On the surface, Moonlight is an ordinary rom-com, with a few cliches: Cohabitation, a little bit of Hate-to-Love, Male Chases Female First, but these cliches are used in such a cute manner that this drama was an absolute gem of a rom-com. We do have the online and offline connection, as Chu Li and Zhou Chuan didn't know that they were online friends at first, but the trope wasn't boring at all. Not to mention all the lovable side characters, who never stopped teaching the audience life lessons. If there were two things that Moonlight showed me the most importance of, they would be the importance of mutual trust in a couple and the importance of seeking help from the people around you. It's great to be an independent person, but we all need some help sometimes.

As I said before, I really liked the new environment in this drama. Moonlight was adapted by the Chinese novel "Chu Li is Coming", so most of the story can be owed to the author, but it was refreshing to see a Chinese rom-com set in a different setting. This time, in a publishing house. Chu Li starts off as an intern in the editor branch, but through her hard work through the long nights and many troubles, she proved to everyone just how good of an editor she could be.

The antagonist of this drama shows real life so accurately. Sometimes, jealousy can be dangerous, both to the person we target and ourselves. We shouldn't allow jealousy to overcome us, and take it slowly. This drama also showed the different kind of relationships during work, from friendships to almost-enemies. These relationships are all normal, but we should learn to control these relationships well to not learn these overly take control of our jobs.

Cast-10.0
I'm just going to talk about the dubbing first. Some people had issue with the female lead's voice: Chu Li's voice is dubbed by the actress of the character herself, Yu Shuxin (Esther). Yes, her voice is very high, but that's what I love about Chu Li. She is a perfect example of a bubbly but hard-working girl! Ding Yuxi (Ryan) isn't dubbed either, so you're getting the leads' real voices! I've heard some small complaints about Esther's voice, but I had no problem with it at all.

Back to the cast. No better actor and actress could have been chosen for Zhou Chuan and Chu Li. Ryan Ding gives off that seemingly-cold-at-first-but-actually-cuter-than-a-bunny vibe so well. I did not want another ignorant cold male lead, and Zhou Chuan satisfied my needs. He might be a little cold to total strangers, but he knows when to be polite and when to be cute! From the earliest episodes, I had already decided that he was going to be one of my favorite male leads. Zhou Chuan is a successful author, but there is a rocky path before success. With his perseverance and the encouragement of his family and friends, he made it to the peak of the mountain.

I would not have chosen another actress for Chu Li even if the director gave me a chance. Esther Yu as Chu Li is perfect! She is a real cutie pie in real life, with her kindness, generosity and intelligence, which is why Chu Li was acted so well. You could say that Chu Li is almost an exact version to Esther but in another universe. Chu Li is cute and bouncy, but she is (thankfully), a real strong female lead as well. This tag has been thrown around a lot these days, but you have my word that Chu Li is actually strong. When something seemingly fails, she never gives up, but only stands up from the place she fell down and tries again. And just like Zhou Chuan, her perseverance led to success that no one in her publishing house expected from her.

I loved the second couple as well. I don't tend to smile like a donkey when it comes to second couples, but I did for Jiang Yucheng and Gu Baizhi. They did have some on-and-off moments, but they never stopped loving each other even when they thought they didn't. Sometimes, jobs can be hard, but when you manage to balance them with your lover, you will get the perfect combination. I also like how this couple was a little older than our lead couple, giving us a different perspective of love and jobs. (both couples had to overcome difficulties and such, but their journeys were a little different)

And the supporting characters were real concoctions of happiness and frustration as well, depicting different kinds of people in our lives so well. There are supporting co-workers, as well as jealous ones, bosses who believe in us, and family and friends that will always be there for you. No, while Moonlight mainly focuses on Zhou Chuan and Chu Li's love story, it shows the importance of friends and family as well.

Music-8.5
Moonlight doesn't have many songs, but they songs it has are upbeat and cute. Both leads contributed to the ost; Esther Yu, a member of the girl group The9, sang "Chu Li is Coming", which is the ending song and is very cute. I didn't know that Ryan Ding sang songs for his dramas, but his "Heartless Poems" was very well-sung and upbeat. There were a few other songs as well, "Niu Niu" by Shuang Sheng, and another specially used for the second couple scenes.

Rewatch Value-9.0
I don't tend to rewatch dramas, but I am sure that I will rewatch certain episodes of Moonlight in the future, if not all! This journey has been so inspirational and it never hurts to take a look back at your favorite characters once in a while.

Overall-9.5
As a person who has watched almost 40 Chinese rom-coms, I would recommend Moonlight for people looking for a fluffy drama in a heartbeat. With two cute couples, no stupid misunderstandings, and such inspirational stories, this rom-com should not be missed! (Not to mention the extra cute and satisfying ending!) We can't be successful in a flash. Success takes years of dedication and confidence in yourself. These characters failed countless times, but what made them succeed at the very end? It comes down to these things: Perseverance, confidence and encouragement from others. And that, my friends, is how an amazing Chinese romance-comedy is made. Enjoy Moonlight!

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A refreshing journey that won't fail to bring a smile to your face.

What a journey it has been! it initially started with 0 expectations but ended up being one of the most memorable rides. And it actually raised my standards much for fluffy rom-com now, as it has nothing which I truly despair or get annoyed by, but lots of sweet moments and cute fluff that will give you absolute pleasure.. and pain in the muscle of cheeks.

If I talk about the plot or the theme of the drama. It's quite simple without any complexity. Bit or I'll say a lot unrealistic coz of the number of coincidences it has.. or should I call 'Fate' that brought our leads together.. not just together but living under the same roof hehe. Having a bit cliche story I actually liked its pace and the direction with perfect execution from character personality development to the story progression. Being 36 episode drama plus rom-com it had the most chances to become draggy or have unnecessary parts but actually, nothing happened like that, it never left its track consistent till the end. So the story is really cleverly written and stick to its main concept until the last moment.

Now let's talk about the soul of the show its characters. Wow, what can I say about them? I liked the characters more than the story itself. Having three-dimensional human-like characters (Which many writers forget almost all the time) who act like humans, can do mistakes, and not fit in the mold of 'Perfection.' Chu Li at first glance you might feel ah another naive, innocent FL are we getting here? I mean drama doesn't have a 'Strong Female Lead' tag not to forget she is such a cutie pie and adorable, but being badass, rude/arrogant, having power, or physically strong doesn't make strong female leads for me. Hardworking, passionate about their work, strong-willed, having their own goals, principles for life and actually working on them this defines a strong character in my opinion and Chu Li nailed it with being cute and having that bubbliness in her what a balance it was!

Zhou Chuan no I'll say, Mr. Fox, okay I love him.. not him his character lol. Mr. Fox was such a sweetheart and MOOD. I mean there wasn't any moment or scene of him that I didn't enjoy or had good laugh at. He just brightens every moment. He can be a jerk for everyone totally arrogant dude but when it comes to his loved ones he becomes a sweetheart lol...His awkwardness, not able to express what he feels in the starting was felt so natural. The writer did a great job in case of portraying his character as a 'Writer'.. like his stubbornness his passion for his work all things were dealt with in the right way realistically.

So when Mr. Fox and Monkey come together it's a perfect match.. they have quite different personalities but they compliment each other. Their bickering, fights, the development in the relationship with being each other's first love it's quite enjoyable to watch. The chemistry rocks, and how can I forget how much they trust each other and form such a strong bond together... Surely the best aspect of the drama.

Talking about second leads... I'm the type of person who actually doesn't care about second leads at all most of the time I'm not even interested, but honestly, I was invested in the plot of the second lead's story too! they had great chemistry having their own interesting plotline which actually doesn't try to overlap with the main concept of the story.. so yeah I enjoyed their screentime too!

How can I forget the sizzling chemistry between our Mr. Fox and Jiang Yu Cheng... I never craved for the screentime of ML and SML together but I actually did here.

In the acting, they did a really good job portraying all characters I don't think I can imagine this different cast.. and yeah another fact I was glad that dubbing was with the original voice of actors.

So I was engaged to the story from the start to end more than that I was much invested in our main leads who never disappointed me or let me down... for me, it was an amazing drama which I loved thoroughly... I don't rate any rom-com 9.5.. actually never lol, but it was worth it!

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