On December 15, the last Xianxia cdrama of 2022, “Song of the Moon (月歌行)“, was launched online. The drama is adapted from the original novel “Ben Yue (奔月)” by author Shu Ke, In the drama, Vin Zhang and Xu Lu as the leads, and Wang You Shuo, Zheng He Hui Zi, Riley Wang, and Ma Yue as supporting actors.
On the second day of release, the popularity index of “Song of the Moon” has been soaring, ranking first in the broadcast charts of web dramas in mainland China. The netizens' evaluation of this drama: “fast-paced”, “sweet but tearjerker”, “perfect special effects” all show's production team has put a lot of effort into the production.
The original “Song of the Moon” has a heartbreaking storyline in which the female protagonist, under the influence of several male characters, forms her worldview, values and ultimately chooses to move towards a set ending.
In the episode, while retaining the worldview of multiple worlds of immortal, human and demon realm, the story of immortal love between the male lead Lu Li (陆离, palyed by Vin Zhang)/Luo Ge (洛歌) and the female lead Liu Shao (柳梢, played by Xu Lu) is told, and the sense of chivalry of the characters under the guardianship proposition is presented as the male and female leads progress from immortal cultivation to taking up the heavenly mission of guarding the earth.
The Heroism of Ordinary People
As a child, Liu Shao, the daughter of the Liu family, was not allowed to leave the house under her father's control. But when she was eight years old, she met a mysterious man in black under a pear tree, who offered her a “three-day outing” in exchange for changing her destiny ten years later.
On her eighteenth birthday, Liu Shao's forehead flashed with a strange light, attracting many demons and in a crisis, she was saved by Lu Li, a demon hunter, and her master, Lusheng. Thus the story begins, Liu Shao opened her journey of immortality cultivation. Vin Zhang played four roles, respectively, the demon hunter Lu Li of human realm, the fairy Luo Ge of immortal realm, the moonlight god, and the mystery man.
Lu Li takes the initiative to approach Liu Shao because she is the key to solving the mystery of his birth, but from passive protection to active guardianship, Lu Li witnesses Liu Shao's growth while gradually falling in love with Liu Shao during their common experience.
The love was just about to sprout when it was killed by Lu Sheng (卢笙, played by Lu Xing). It turned out that Lu Li was under a soul-devouring spell and would suffer as soon as he felt the slightest bit of love for Liuzhu.
This is obviously a major point in the love line between the male and female leads, but “Song of the Moon” does not make a long story about it, but uses a clever plot design to bring the two back together.
Although the story of “Song of the Moon” may end up with the separation of the lovers, but in terms of plot handling, it does not consume too much of the audience's patience and is quite pleasant to watch.
The second key point in “Song of the Moon” is “the hero and heroine have inherited the hatred of different deities, and their spiritual powers are mutually exclusive”, which seems to be not only an emotional obstacle for the hero and heroine, but also a key point that may open the mystery of their identities and start the story of the immortal world, which is also an important clue that arouses the curiosity of the audience for the subsequent plot.
Such a plot does not appear out of nowhere, but is a small climax that may occur after the episode has buried many details, which may also become the key for the audience to go back and review the plot later, giving the audience room to explore and dig for information.
Beyond the love story, it is worth discussing the identity and heroism of the heroine. If Liu Shao is a growing heroine, her growth is driven by a sense of chivalry. After being saved by Lu Li at the beginning, and knowing that she was prone to attracting demons, Liu Shao tried to hire the Lu Li to protect herself by spending money in order to save her life. After entering the Hou Mansion, in order to voice her grievances for Xiao Xue, Liu Shao practiced the Flowing Light Chop and beat Axi, completing her first growth.
Liu Shao's upbringing establishes her heroic outlook from protecting her friends to guarding the living. Rather unusually, her persona is different from the usual immortal characters in previous Xianxia cdramas. She is a minor character who grows up from an ordinary person, and her heroic outlook is not formed based on the sense of responsibility that comes with her identity, but rather the active choice to take on the role in the process of growing up.
Through Liu Shao's female perspective and minor character identity, the episode breaks the sense of class in Xianxia dramas, lowering the threshold for viewers to substitute for the character and making the story more accessible to them.
Abundant Side Storylines & Supporting Characters
The love line between the male and female leads of “Song of the Moon” is full of attractions, and the stories of the supporting characters are also very full.
The second male, He Na (诃那, played by Wang You Shuo), is the king of the Ji Shui tribe, who is responsible for the future of the tribe. He feels that Liu Shao has a special status so he deliberately approaches her, which seems like a silent guardian role in a romantic drama, but for the sake of his brother he can cheat the heroine out of the fairy grass that she has worked so hard for.
Through the withered Wannian tree and the conversation between He Na and his brother, it seems that the Ji Shui tribe also has a dilemma to be solved. The character of He Na is not only diverse in character, but also faces the choice and trade-off between love and responsibility.
Chen Yu Qi as Ling Xue Yang (令雪扬) appeared for a short time, but it left a deep impression on the audience. The general Ling Xue Yang and the spirit plant treasure code master Wan Sui (万岁, palyed by Lu Yun Feng) is a typical female strong male weak type CP, one character high cold burden, one playful no worries. The two grew emotional during their time together, and before the battle, Ling Xue Yang gave the key of the boundary to Wan Sui as a hairpin. After Xue Yang die in battle, Wan Sui always regretted not giving the fairy grass to she because of selfishness.
This couple's story is not long, but from meeting and falling in love to bad ending, the whole story is very full, enough white space also let this story has the space to explore and dig, deep emotions evocative.
The relationship line between the main character Luo Ge's sister Luo Ning (洛宁, played by Zheng He Hui Zi) and He Na's brother A Fu Jun (阿浮君, played by Riley Wang) is also worth watching. Luo Ning is carefree and kind, but A Fu Jun is evil and ambitious. He initially gets together with Luo Ning with a purpose, but ends up falling deeply in love with her. This kind of plot design also seems to meet the audience's expectations for romantic immortal drama.
High-Quality Visual Effects and Light-Hearted Plot Rhythm
The creators of web drama seem to have found “fast-paced” as an effective way to extend viewers' viewing time, and the pace of “Song of the Moon” is without any dragging.
In the first episode, the source of the female protagonist Liu Shao's attraction to demons is explained, as well as the reason why they entered the Hou Mansion. And the two meetings between the hero and heroine are completed in one episode, paving the way for a vaguely connected bond between the two.
In the first two episodes, Liu Shao was still an unworldly girl who tried to solve everything with money and revered Lu Li as an immortal. But in the third episode, Liu Shao has shed her previous thoughts, knows the human condition, and has begun to refute what Lu Li said. In the fourth episode, she has got the fairy grass with her personal ability.
As Xianxia drama, in addition to love, special effects are also an important part. “Song of the Moon” has taken great pains in the special effects part, from the construction of the scenes to the production of special effects are very beautiful, human, demon and immortal three realms have their own distinction, very imaginative.
The beautiful visual effects combined with the rich props of the immortal world in the drama bring the audience a strong sense of spectacle, and these unique spectacles in the immortal drama are the only way to create a sense of atmosphere in the genre works.
In addition, the fight scenes are more fluid, through the actors fight scene training footage and the effects presented in the play, you can also see the crew for the action scene is not perfunctory attitude.