Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact (2024)

confusing drama that dragged on far too long

Caught this drama on iQIYI when it was getting good ratings but was unimpressed.

The CGI and costumes were quite good and on par for other C-dramas in this category but wow was the story bad. Also, found this drama very confusing to follow along. I mean there was a grief tree, but never understood what the grief tree was or what powers it had. The grief tree granted couples wishes, but also had some evil person living inside of it for a while. At one point one of the characters gave their "love seed" to the grief tree (I am not making this up) to help cure it of some ailment. The characters were trying to save the 6 realms even though there were only humans and spirits fighting each other. Not sure what the other 4 realms were. One of the female characters had a school girl crush on some guy Ao Lai, turns out her friend just happened to be that guy all along (what are the odds!). By about episode 25 or so, was completely bored of this drama, just wanted it to be over so started fast forwarding over the filler scenes. The villains were boring and uninteresting, the story was just dragging. There is really nothing worth recommending about this drama.

Zhang Linghe even shows up in the later episodes of this drama to participate in a silly sub-plot about some 7 treasures bark, not sure what the 7 treasures bark is or why it is important but at this point in the drama who reallly cares. After the success of some of his other dramas you have to wonder why Zhang Linghe would take a small part in a bad drama like this but I guess he must have owed someone a favour.

Ending of this drama was confusing as well, some characters who died in earlier episodes were alive and well in the final episode in some alternate reality. Overall this drama gets a well-deserved 2/10.

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The drama has a fairly simple conflict, making it suitable for passing the time.

Okay. Let me start my review of this drama. The drama essentially tells the story of frequent conflicts between a group of humans and a group of demons. It follows the efforts of a female fox demon, Tushan Hong Hong, who is the leader of the mountain demon clan at Mount Tu, and a human man, Dongfang Yuechu, who has divine blood, both of whom share the dream of enabling humans and demons to live peacefully together. These efforts are challenged by power-hungry demons and a group of selfish humans.

At Mount Tu, there is a magical tree that serves as the matchmaking site for various demons, with the matchmaking ceremony often led by Hong Hong. This magical tree is the source of Mount Tu's power and must be protected. Yuechu’s divine blood can be used to protect the tree, making him a target for many greedy groups.

The main conflict in this drama revolves around uniting the love stories of both demons and humans under the Tu tree. While the tree traditionally only matches demons, many cases in this drama involve humans and demons falling in love and seeking the tree’s blessing for protection. Amid solving these various love cases, the characters also focus on fighting against evil demon forces that crave power.

For me, the story is quite interesting. The moral messages it tries to convey are really good, such as sisterhood, love, sacrifice, friendship, loyalty, and equality and justice for all beings, not just humans or demons. Isn't that great?

Additionally, I believe each actor played their role very well. The characters they portrayed were true to their respective roles. So, the question is, why did this drama receive such a low rating? In my opinion, it's simply a matter of taste. In this drama, you won’t find the cute love stories that most people enjoy these days. Another aspect that many consider a flaw is the very slow pace of the storyline. I agree with that and recognize it as one of the weaknesses of this drama. However, for me, that doesn’t necessarily make the drama so bad as to deserve such a poor rating.

After watching the drama a second time, I understand that the narrative seems to require such a slow pace. Unfortunately, that type of pacing doesn’t appeal to many viewers today, who prefer fast, intense, and tightly-packed storylines. So, for me, it all comes down to personal taste.

Aside from all that, I really, really love the OSTs in this drama, which are great, the beautiful costumes, and the stunning CGI. So overall, this drama is enjoyable to watch in a relaxed way, as it contains a simple conflict and lighthearted story, while also letting you enjoy beautiful songs. Another common criticism is about the chemistry between the two main characters, Hong Hong and Yuechu. Again, I think this is a matter of taste. They both have complex roles, so they don’t have much time to share romantic moments in harmony. Plus, Hong Hong’s cold personality strongly contrasts with Yuechu’s cheerful nature. However, as I mentioned before, it doesn’t seem fair to give the drama a low rating just because of this. Fundamentally, they have the right chemistry according to how their characters were designed. So for me, the downside of this drama is that its story doesn’t fit most people’s taste, not because the drama itself is bad.

Summary:

Weaknesses: Slow pacing and a plot that isn't well-crafted, making some parts quite confusing and requiring rewinding.
Strengths: Good acting, beautiful costumes, great OST, stunning CGI, and a strong moral message.

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Most of the them are top lead handsome and beautiful cast, amazing costumes and make up, The story is about
A MISSION TO ESTABLISH PEACE AND EQUALITY BETWEEN HUMANS AND MONSTERS & THE OBSTACLES :
In a world where humans and monsters are constantly in conflict, Tushan Honghong (Yang Mi) played a role as the righteous leader of TuShan Fox Clan who responsible to protect all the Fox Clan in Tushan and the bitter love tree of Tushan, and Dongfang Yuechu (Gong Jun) as an orphan of the human from Dongfang family who was rescued by Tushan Honghong, Tushan Honghong gave young Yuechu a shelter and taught him cultivation, Yuechu was very grateful of Tushan Honghong but he couldnt figure out that Honghong original intention of taking him to Tushan because of the bitter love tree was eroded by dark power of the darkest shade, and only Dongfang spiritual blood family could completely solve the problem, he had to sacrifice his blood to the bitter love tree if needed, fortunately the bitter love tree was stable, and not yet needed Dongfang spiritual blood.

LOVE STORY & THE CHALLENGES :
For 16 years Yuechu lived in Tushan and as time passed by Yuechu grew up as a teenager, but Tushan Honghong's face looked as same as the first time Yuechu met her, she was still beautiful and young, and he began to fall in love with Tushan Honghong, even though she was strict and seldom smile, but he couldnt help himself to love her, while Tushan Honghong as the leader of Tushan and the whole fox clan in her whole life just only thought of her responsibility to protect Tushan, never thought to look for a love

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Despite the glamorous budget, the plot is...

Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact aka Yue Hong is the first installment of the Fox Spirit Matchmaker trilogy. IQIYI and Stellar Pictures did spend a huge sum of money to produce the trilogy. While waiting for the release date, I kept searching for information on the manga's wikipedia site and also watched a tidbit of the anime. For your information, I've been waiting this show for a year and even kept fantasizing and imagining what the scenes in the show would look like. But my expectation is cut short when the actual release date is confirmed. Despite the stellar casts, aesthetic backgrounds, exquisite costumes, top-notch CGI, and high budget, the show falls short when it comes to the script. You can see just how disappointed I am. However, I don't want my one-year awaiting turns into a fruitless effort, so I keep pressing on until the final.
(For the synopsis, you can check it out at MDL main page or at justjacky's review. I'm not going to copy it down because this is gonna be a very long rant.)

The plot is simplistic, dull, and bland as if it were an exquisite cake without any icing on top of it. I don't feel any emotions out of the dialogues, instead I just keep a poker face and stare at my screen as if nothing had happened. Moreover, the script is full of typical cliches of a childish rom-com drama like are you injured, are you hungry, try my new dishes, it's late now-go back and rest, and blah blah blah. This cycle keeps repeating for countless times and soon becomes very repetitive. To me, it's like the parents nag to their child to oblige to the rules and do what he/she is supposed to do and not to meddle in someone else's business.

After searching the wikipedia once more, I only discover that the writers ATTEMPT to cram several little arcs into the show in order to prolong the story. However, it doesn't work out because the story becomes more underwhelmed, and those couples barely have screentime of their own. Somehow, I kinda feel that they always prioritize the main couple over the others.

Aside from the bad script, the show also suffers from choppy editing. The transition between every scene is done haphazardly even though the post-production team is given a one-year time. When a certain scene has reached the climax/pinnacle, it will zoom to another random scene which has nothing to do with the previous one. I personally feel that this absurd scene jumping hinders some of the audience to understand the story thoroughly, but all we can do is to ENDURE it!
(Note: The choppy editing is resulted by using panoramic screen instead of the normal green screen, claiming that they wanted to try using a new technology that never existed in other Chinese fantasy dramas.)

As for now, I'm going to explain every couple's arc and the rant will continue below. Here we go...
- Tushan Honghong and Dongfang Yuechu (Yang Mi and Gong Jun)
Honghong is the chief of Tushan and the eldest of the Tushan sister. Being a leader of the Tushan fox clan, she shoulders a lot of heavy responsibilities. She is cold, aloof, and can be authoritative. She has been acting cold because she fears of falling in love and is still guilty of what happened to Dongfang Luo, her childhood sweetheart. Yuechu is the descendant of the Dongfang family and has been hunted since he was younger. He is intelligent, mischievous, and a bit cunning. To him, Honghong is his life savior, and he can't help but to have a crush on her. Despite her objections, Yuechu relentlessly pursues Honghong and never gives up when she rejects her. The two of them have the same wish, which is to see humans and spirits live in harmony. In the process, he melts Honghong's cold heart and she decides to fall in love once more.

- Tushan Yaya and Aolai SanShao/Ah Lai (Cristy Guo and Wei Zheming)
Yaya is the deputy chief of Tushan and the second eldest of the Tushan sister. Yaya has a carefree and reckless personality, which is the reason why both of her sisters prefer to keep her dark of the truth, afraid that her recklessness will bring chaos to Tushan. Aolai Sanshao, disguised as Ah Lai the Poison Boy, is one of Honghong's friends who had been helping her to investigate the black fox. He has an easygoing, cheery, and cheeky vibe. As he spends his days in Tushan, he is attracted to Yaya's carefree nature while Yaya also admire Ah Lai's cleverness and courage.

- Bu Tai and Shi Kuan (Zhu Xudan and Yang Shize)
Bu Tai is the princess of Spirit-Master Kingdom. She is a nice person and also filial to her kingdom. She has a secret crush on her loyal spirit guard, Shi Kuan. She is the first person who confesses her love to a spirit under the Grief Tree. Her love is later reciprocated by Shi Kuan. Unfortunately, Bu Tai was assassinated by Guoguo as one of Shi Ji's schemes. Later, Shi Kuan ascends to the position of Spirit-Master Kingdom's new emperor.

- Lu Jianwen and Yan Rushan (Sebrina Chen and Mao Zijun)
Lu Jianwen is a new constable of the Yiqi Alliance. As far as I know, she is a justice-driven person. She gets entangled in the women abduction case alongside Yan Rushan, also known as Thousand-Faces Gentleman, who is Rongrong's former disciple. At first, they never see eye to eye, but soon they are drawn to each other and stage another love story.

- Yueti Xia and Hu Weisheng (Chen Duling and Zhang Linghe)
Yueti Xia is the descendant of the Yueti Family who possess Seven-Treasures Bark. She has a playful and mischievous nature. Hu Weisheng is the disciple of the Ximen Family who takes part in the Seven-Treasures Bark's hunt. He is a naive guy and clueless when it comes to love. After escaping life-and-death situations and spending time together, they realized each other's feeling and love blossomed between the two.

- Tushan Rongrong (Hu Lianxin)
Rongrong is the third chief of Tushan and the youngest of the Tushan sister. Rongrong is more mature and meticulous compared to Yaya. She is one of Honghong's trusted aids in accomplishing Honghong's missions.

- Shi Ji (Wen Zhenrong)
Shi Ji is the former chief of Tushan and also Honghong's sworn enemy. She is a cruel, manipulative, and egoistic woman. Guoguo is her personal informant.

As expected of the stellar casts, their acting is actually top-notch if it hadn't been the stupid script. All in all, most couples have bare chemistry and the only redeeming quality so far is the fifth couple. I actually like Gong Jun, but his acting as a hot-blooded youth is so-so to me. He's better off to psychopath/unhinged/murderous characters. This is my first time watching Yang Mi. I have to say that she acts as the stoic and cold leader too perfectly - not even a smile appears once. Even if she smiles, it feels rather forced. Somehow, they have master-disciple dynamic or worse mother-son relationship. I keep feeling that Honghong looks like a mom nagging to her child to obey her, seriously?

And what's with the amnesia trope? Logically speaking, after sacrificing the Love Seed, Honghong should've forgotten both Yuechu and Dongfang Luo, but why does she only forget Yuechu? Very illogical, right? Anyway, this shitty trope is played for ten episodes until I'm fed up with it. In other words, it can be simplified as a push-and-pull game.

Another thing is that Yuechu suddenly has a crush on Hong Hong after being raised in Tushan for 16 years!! What on the earth is going on? If Yuechu were still a child, it was more understandable. However, he has grown into a teenage boy and suddenly falls for Honghong at the first sight. It's weird, isn't it?

The villain is too one-dimensional and boring. Unlike JOL Season 2 which has unpredictable villain, this show exposes too much of her true intention to usurp the 6 realms. They should've made her more mysterious to captivate the audience, but hell no! Every time her scenes pop up, I'll remind myself that an I-will-kill-Honghong-and-rule-over-the-six-realms sentence would spurt out of her mouth lol!

Don't get me started at the ending! It's a forced happy ending and the most ABSURD one! It's obviously a sad ending for every couple. However, they make it looks like they've entered an alternate universe and got together with their loved ones. Also, the last scene of the main lead doesn't make any sense. I just can't work out what the writers are thinking about. And we don't need the extra clip either!

Don't expect good fighting scenes - there are only hand-waving gestures and everything is done. I know using CGI in a fight scene is not a bad idea, but they need to combine with weapons too.

OSTs and BGMs are okay-ish, but not enough to hook me up.

I'm settling at the score 7.5. I DON'T recommend this show and will never rewatch again unless I need some brainless antidote after tiring out myself. I feel sorry for the whole assembles of casts who have obviously tried their best, but who knows this is going to be a flop?

For those who are casted in Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Zhu Ye and Wang Quan arcs, I'll wish you all the best and hope you won't suffer the same fate as Yue Hong does. This is the end of my rant and good luck!

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Really disappointed in FSMM execution

Hi I am writing this review and from comments on the page this there is a general consensus that possibly this drama not delivered

I have watched 8 and a half episodes and feel that cannot continue. Not really enjoying watching it and the progression of the story and chemistry is really poor.

The acting I guess is just satisfactory but I am not feeling it from Yang Mi or Gong Jun or Miles Wei for me to keep on watching.

I have in the last 3 days watched the entire anime on YouTube and feel that this version is not sticking to the fundamentals of the story. It is really doing its own thing. The anime series is actually quite simple and friendly for viewers to follow, target audience would be younger viewers.

I also believe that the characters are all suppose to be younger as in the anime they are all teenagers. That really could of been a way to bring in the anime fans so they can relate to the characters. Yang Mi and Gong Jun have been in excellent dramas before but not sure if fans of the anime will accept them in these roles. This last comment is a matter of opinion which I very much could be 100% wrong.

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Not what I was expecting

After watching first few episodes all I can say is that the CGi, costumes, and over all production looks good but...when it comes to story...it lacks a lot. First of all the age difference is giving me weird vibes. I know it is xianxia and age doesn't really matter when we talk about all those immortals and stuff but man... I just can't think of the story with them being a romantic couple, especially after watching that little one with Yangmi's character. (He was amazing by the way). It would have worked great if they were just mentor and disciple...it doesn't have to be romantic to make it more interesting. Their chemistry look forced and Yangmi in her character looks like a beautiful mannequin without much expression, who is just there to look pretty and I am saying this despite being a big fan of Yangmi since ten miles of peach blossom. Gongjun to me has become a sort of actor who really struggles to outshine his earlier roles like the one from the world of honor. Partly it could be the direction or maybe the understanding of the character by the actor himself but I don't feel much emotions from him in any of his recently aired dramas. He looks handsome and all but his acting just doesn't look natural or believable. I am still waiting for him to get back to his game but this one is just okaish for me. Other characters in this drama are not bad but again not the best to keep me engaged. I found myself skipping most of the scenes. I sometimes think CGI looks all good but it takes away so much at the same time or perhaps they overdid it in this one. I am not sure if I would be continuing this drama and I am seriously worried for the other parts as well. This one atleast for me is one time watch at most.

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Not The Best

I guess the disappointment is equal to the hype..

I usually love Yang Mi, I find her face and expressions interesting but not in this drama. In this drama there are only visuals and better side stories. For the people who say she was limited by the character she was portraying which is meant to be stoic and solemn, I think in addition she was limited by her skills/commitment to the character, and most of all limited by the overambitious and overpopulated story. I’m going to focus my ire on Yang Mi’s acting choices, the editing and the storytelling. Actually some of the greatest acting opportunities come out of still/silent/handicapped/emotionless or apathetic roles, the actor is given the challenge to connect to her audience through unconventional use of skill which has sometimes birthed brilliant performances but perhaps Yang Mi was disinterested or uninspired in this particular role because it was giving stolid and impassive throughout. Perhaps the directing also has something to do with this. The backbone of every stoic main character is the storytelling, for every nonplussed reaction of the actor the audience must draw empathy from believing the backstory or inner angst of the character! Flat acting will not lead to this. Overexplaining and underexplaining plot points will not lead to this.

Lucid storytelling that is balanced plus nuanced acting work hand in hand to deliver dramas worthy of applause or plausible enjoyment.

The visuals are beautiful, Yang Mi took my breath away in the promotional artworks every. single. time.
However when I would go to watch, the same YM wasn’t believable enough to draw me into the story, causing the expectation generally to be left cold. The writing is not worthy of the investment, it is just there I guess they needed a script, and a shaman. The editing is also choppy, disorienting and perhaps doesn’t showcase the acting or story to its full merits.

As for the coupling of YM GJ: Yang Mi does her best with her stoic ‘I’m sitting on an iceberg with fire burning inside me’ routines, while GJ is always more lively and expressive but somehow never feels sincere. I’m vaguely curious of the behind the scenes whether any genuine connection or chemistry was captured? Does Yang Mi like Gong Jun? These are my petty questions but I can’t care enough to search.

Is Gong Jun a good leading man in any romance drama with a strong woman lead? I’m doubting this more and more with each drama. Last time I saw chemistry from GJ was WoH (which I dropped because I found the story unoriginal) and Advance Bravely (which I enjoyed him in). He seems to naturally play a naughty boyish character that is the same in every drama I’ve seen him in, but more subtle in Begin Again which I wandered away from by episode 15 and just started watching other things. I think the twinkling boyish vibe in him can mainly suit comedic dramas with bright and breezy storylines and witty heroines which may cover for any lag with chemistry. As for this Fox Spirit drama… not a good pairing IMO. Cheeky characters have always been paired with phlegmatic beings to create magic from contrast, in this case it just seemed bizarre, and that’s coming from someone who enjoys noona, shifu and age gap dramas. I even found GJ’s bickering relationship with Tushan RongRong more interesting to look at in the first few episodes, than his potential passion for the love of his life.

This drama exhausted my tolerance for mismatched couples. I could not wait for Zhang Linghe and Chen Duling to come up, I ended up watching their story on iQIYI YouTube, it just got uploaded and I enjoyed all 26 minutes of it.

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A very beautiful ancient costume drama

I already finish all the updated episodes and I'll give my review for the first part of the drama. To be honest, I really like Gong Jun so I may biased him sometimes. But I'll try to make the review as most objective as possible.
The first thing I want to say about this drama is it's very very beautiful. Their VFX, makeup and costumes are on another level. They can really create a dreamy fantasy world and make you immerse in it. One small note, to maximize your experience, you should open the 4K resolution on a big screen. I swear it looks just like a blockbuster movie.
And about the actors, they're all pretty and have good acting. Yang Mi is much more beautiful in the drama than in some captured photos. Her acting is acceptable to me though sometimes she gives out a dull and tired feeling, maybe because it's the nature of the character. But her eyes are so beautiful and attractive. Gong Jun is as handsome as ever. I must say that his acting has been improved much in this drama. He portrays a very young and lively and youthful character in a very natural way. I really like Dong Fang Yue Chu, he's so cute. His cheerful character is a bright spot that keeps the atmosphere up until now. Many people mentioned they could not feel the chemistry between them but I start to feel their cp sense in the latest episodes. Their chemistry is slowly developing and it's quite cute.
The story plot is simple and fast. You can easy follow and understand since everything is putting on the surface so it's quite boring to some people and this is the weakness of the play. 10 episodes have passed but they still can't create any remarkable climax scenes. But the rhythm really got better and better since episode 6. I really hope you can watch until this episode before making a judge.
And the biggest problem of this play may lie at the editing. Like many people already said here, the play is not bad but still feel missing something. That's really on point. The way they cut the scene is so incoherently and abruptly. When the emotion is about to rise, they cut it and change to another scene. It's hard for the audiences to resonate with the characters and immerse in the story. Also, they don't use their OST much in the play so some emotional or thrilling scenes feel kinda meh. They have such a strong lineup for OST, such a shame they didn't make a good use of them.
And the combat scenes are quite boring. I know this is a xianxia and the combat is more about magic and inner strength, not the real martial art moves but they should at least make some moves. In most of the combat scenes, the characters just stand there and raise their hands and then input some special effects. And... it's done. I mean it's really beautiful to watch but feel very unsatisfactory. I expect to see more real combat with a thrilling BGM, it would be much better. The best combat scene until now is where the male lead fights and kills the 2 bad guys to avenge his parents. It's really nice and powerful.
Okay, so this is my first thoughts about the drama. Despite many not good things above, I think this drama is still good to watch, not as bad as some people say. I feel that there're so many unreasonable attacks on this drama since it started broadcasting and it makes people reluctant to start watching it. But you should really watch and judge by yourself
For me, I'll keep following the drama. The unfolding story behind seems very interesting. I hope the edit is better in the later part.

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aspettavo da tempo un telefilm avvincente, che mi facesse emozionare e appassionare al mondo raccontato in esso.
per fortuna questo è uno di quelli. i personaggi sono ben delineati, tutti gli attori recitano molto bene. la storia è interessante.
effetti digitali spettacolari e ambientazione ben progettata.
Il lato romantico non manca, mi fa un po' ridere perchè si capisce appena li vedi comparire il "chi si innamorerà di chi"
ma resta comunque piacevole.
Cattivi super cazzuti, tante storie si intrecciano..

Ho appena visto l'episodio 9 e.. sono veramente curiosa di scoprire cosa ci riservano i prossimi episodi!!

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