General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact (狐妖小红娘月红篇)

Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact (狐妖小红娘月红篇) is a 2024 Chinese live-action xianxia (Chinese fantasy genre of immortal cultivators and magic) romance drama adapted from the manhua Fox Spirit Matchmaker (狐妖小红娘) by Tuo Xiaoxin (庹小新), and the first live-action screen adaptation of the franchise. It stars Yang Mi as the fox-clan leader Tushan Honghong and Gong Jun as the human orphan Dongfang Yuechu, and ran for 36 episodes on iQIYI from May 23 to June 15, 2024.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title / Japanese title	狐妖小红娘月红篇; released in Japan as 恋狐妖伝～ファースト・ラブ～³
Run	36 episodes of about 45 minutes, iQIYI, May 23 – June 15, 2024¹
Directors and leads	Du Lin and Mai Guanzhi; Yang Mi, Gong Jun, Guo Xiaoting⁴
Production	iQIYI, Tencent Animation, and Star Gravity Media; producers Wang Yixu and Zhang Yucheng¹
Premiere performance	First-day iQIYI heat value of 7225, the platform's highest premiere heat of 2024⁵
Reception	Douban about 5.0 for the drama, against 9.2 for the animated Yuehong arc⁶
Franchise role	First of four planned live-action parts: Yuehong, Wangquan, Zhuye, and Qianyan⁷

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set in a world of constant conflict between humans and yao (spirits and demons). Tushan Honghong, the principled leader of the Tushan fox clan, seeks equality and peace between the two peoples. She joins the human orphan Dongfang Yuechu, last of the Dongfang family, in a task of matchmaking, forming romantic bonds between humans and spirits. Successful unions feed the Bitter Love Tree (苦情树), which shelters the Tushan clan, and the pair work together against dark forces that erode the tree and stir up hostility between the two races.⁸ iQIYI's synopsis describes Honghong rescuing Yuechu, who is hunted by a family enemy, and the two growing close at Tushan before joining forces against villains in pursuit of peace between the races.⁴

The drama divides its world into an inner and outer circle of opposing righteous and dark forces, whose contest is fought with "love force" and "hate force." It runs several storylines in parallel, portraying five couples, and its stated themes include saving the world, protecting peace, and the idea that true love can erase boundaries.²

Source material and adaptation

The manhua Fox Spirit Matchmaker centers on the Tushan fox spirits helping lovers reunite across reincarnations, a mechanism called "reincarnation matchmaking" (转世续缘). By December 2020 the animated adaptation had grown from a short-format production into a leading Chinese donghua with total plays above 66.03 billion, and the animated Yuehong arc was among the series' highest-rated seasons.⁹ The Yuehong arc, covering Tushan Honghong and Dongfang Yuechu's romance across a millennium, is regarded as the core chapter of the work.⁶

The live-action version changed this framework. Critics and fans noted that it dropped the reincarnation matchmaking mechanism and replaced it with a plot in which love force nourishes the Bitter Love Tree, weakening the fatalistic core of the original; it also cut major subplots such as the Yu Yao Kingdom and Yue Tixia, compressing the multi-strand story into a single romance line.¹⁰^•¹¹ A China News Service report carried by Phoenix News recorded complaints about characterization, filtering, and story logic from the first days of broadcast, with hashtags about the plot and the heavy filter trending on Weibo.¹²

Production and visual approach

According to the Wenhui Daily, the drama was the first domestic series to apply virtual production techniques, though the same review judged the visuals could not compensate for a thin story.¹³ The production also incorporated traditional Chinese craft techniques into the costumes: Tushan Honghong's outer robe used Wu Luo weaving, her fox mask used filigree inlay (花丝镶嵌), and accessories such as waist bells and earrings were matched to her character.¹⁰ Reviewers praised Yang Mi's styling while judging her characterization softer and less commanding than the manhua's formidable fox leader.¹⁰

Broadcast and performance

The drama premiered exclusively on iQIYI on May 23, 2024, with four episodes released to members on the first day, followed by a staggered schedule of two episodes on set evenings.⁵ Its first-day heat value of 7225 was the platform's highest premiere heat of 2024, and iQIYI's second-quarter report stated the series set a record for IP licensing revenue from an original drama.⁵ It ranked first on the weekly streaming index for the week of May 26 to June 1, 2024.¹⁴

In Japan the series streams as 恋狐妖伝～ファースト・ラブ～ (Koi Kitsune-den: First Love).³

Reception and legacy

Commercial heat and critical reception diverged. The drama won the Most Anticipated Work award at the 2023 Weibo Vision Conference before release, was nominated for Recommended Series at the 2024 edition, and won Outstanding Series at the 2024 iQIYI Scream Night in December 2024.⁵ Viewer ratings were far lower: about 5.0 on Douban against 9.2 for the animated Yuehong arc, with commentary concluding that fans' expectations were unmet and that enjoyment depended on accepting the show as a costume romance wearing the franchise's shell.⁶^•¹⁰ A Wuhan newspaper reported that the weak performance of this first live-action adaptation made audiences cautious about the follow-up Huai Shui Zhu Ting (淮水竹亭), the second live-action entry drawn from the same manhua.¹⁵

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026; Nov 11, 2026