Moonlight (2021)

Comedia romántica sobre escritores y editores.

Comedia romántica que pude ver en Amazon Prime, que ahora tienen un montón de series asiáticas.
Como todavía no le he encontrado el gusto a los dramas históricos chinos me suelo inclinar por las series actuales, o por películas, algunas de las cuales son muy buenas.

Luz de luna, o Moonlight es la historia de Zhou Chuan, un escritor de fantasía de unos veintisiete años, que se encuentra con Chu Li, una recién licenciada que desea ser editora, y que debe rondar los veinte dos años.
Chu Li acude a la editorial de sus sueños y después de demostrar su desparpajo es contratada. Ya sabes que para tener el trabajo que deseas solo tienes que ir a esa empresa y decir que quieres trabajar para ellos, porque es tu sueño... En fin, que Chu Li es contratrada pero debe mostrar su valía y para eso le imponen la tarea de conseguir que Zhoy Chuan, uno de los escritores jóvenes más valiosos del país, firme un contrato con ellos. O sea, llega una joven a la oficina, les dice que quiere trabajar para ellos, porque es su sueño, consigue el trabajo y su primera tarea es conseguir a la gran estrella literaria del momento. Es importante porque es lo que define toda la serie, lo que Chu Li quiere conseguir lo consigue, no hay frustaciones, pesares, odios, o nada malicioso alrededor de ella, salvo un jefe editor que no la quiere mucho. El resto es un baño de rosas para la protagonista.
En cuanto a Zhou Chuan, lo mismo, un protagonista que no tienen ningún pesar salvo una visión de la literatura distinta a la de su padre. Él escribe fantasía y su padre literatura clásica china, con lo cual hay una ruptura generacional que nunca llega a ser un gran conflicto abierto. No grandes dramas, la madre de Zhou Chuan actúa de conciliador en todo momento.
Como pareja no dan para mucho. Su relación desde el primer episodio hasta el último no varía, es la misma. Lo más curioso de todos es que puedes verlos como novios, o marido y mujer, porque son tal para cual.
La pareja secundaria, la del escritor Jiang Yo Cheng, y la de la editoiral, Gu Bai Zhi, es un poco mas compleja porque fueron amantes antes, y ahora no quieren verse, pese a que se aprecia desde el principio que ambos aún se quieren. Esta relación es mucho más madura, y hace que la de Zhou y Chu Li parezca el noviazgo de dos niños de secundaria.

A lo largo de los treinta y tantos episodios no hay nada interesante que decir, y siendo sincera si quitara todas las escenas que son copias de otras escenas, o copias modificadas de otras escenas, nos quedaría una serie de dos episodios de una hora cada uno. Y soy generosa.
Le debo añadir que casi todos los secundarios son adorables -salvo claro ciertos compañeros de trabajo trepas- pero en términos generales es una serie llena de buenos personajes. La mejor amiga de Chu LI, es una diseñadora de pelo rizo y grandes gafas que parece tener la personalidad de un pez. Luego otra editora que también es adorable. Su jefa, que ronda la perfección. Su jefe mayor, otro dechado de virtudes. Los padres de ella, adorables a pesar de que su madre tiene un gran cáracter. En el caso de los padres de él, es al revés, el padre es rígido en sus pensamientos y la madre es la adorable.

¿Recomendaría esta serie? Yo la he visto hasta el capítulo 30 y luego he saltado al 35 y al 36. Estos últimos de modo rápido, y la razón es simple. Me gustaba la relación de Zhou y Chu LI cuando no estaban juntos porque él podría llegar a ser bastante simpático cuando estaba celoso, lo que le llevaba a ver a su amigo Cheng para quejarse y pedir consejo. Ella en su modo de lerda, al no enterarse de nada, daba ese toque infantil dulce que no resultaba empalagoso en exceso. Que sean capítulos de cuarenta minutos ayuda mucho. Pero una vez que son pareja, ya no hay ese tira y afloja, y los elementos inocentes que provocaban una sonrisa cuando no eran pareja y no sabían aún definir sus sentimientos, se vuelven estúpidos. Puede que sea porque mi visión occidental sea más explícita pero el pudor excesivo de Chu Li me resultaba muchas veces irritante.

Como nota final algunas consideraciones. Zhou Chuan, o el actor que lo interpreta, Ding Yu Xi, me pareció excesivamente delgado. Muy delgado. Hay planos en los que la delgadez que muestra, sobre todo en la cara, es impresionante. Sé que es un hombre delgado, pero aún así dan ganas de plantarle un bocadillo de chorizo en todo los morros.

En cuanto a Chu Li, o Yy Shu Xin, también es delgada, pero tiene la cara redondada y se la ve más sana. Que su novio de diga que está gorda o que tiene la cara grande no es algo que me haya gustado mucho. Por cierto, tiene una voz de pito -no sé si lo hace ella o no- que se vuelve más irritante a media que pasan los capítulos.
Ma Yin Yin, me parece una mujer muy bella y hace una buena pareja con Yang Shi Ze.

Resumiendo.
La historia es excesivamente larga, si ves los dos primeros episodios y los dos últimos estás servido.
Producción, excelente, Se nota que hay dinero detrás. Los decorados están muy bien, y los actores tienen un guardaropa que es mayor que la ropa que tiene el Corte Inglés en cualquiera de sus centros comerciales.
Interpretación. Es correcta rozando al notable. Para un guión tan pobre creo que lo han resulto bastante bien, aunque hay momentos en que los actores están un poco acartonados, pero puede que sea más problema de direción artística que de talento. Eso sí, no creo que tengan grandes recursos en las escenas dramáticas, aunque si en las de comedia.
Música. Muy bien. Me ha gustado mucho, aunque no hayan sido muchas canciones. Muy escasa la banda sonora, supongo que gastaron todo el dinero en ropa.
Sigo sin entender porque los actores se doblan a si mismos. Hay momentos en los que parece que no hay doblaje, en otros sí. Raro.

En general no ha sido una mala serie, es de esas series románticas amables que están destinadas a ser puro entretenimiento sin ofrencer grandes dramas al espectador. ¿La volvería a ver? No, con una vez es suficiente.

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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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