I liked both of them, but as Korean dramas tend to do -I've lost interest in both of them more than halfway through. For Moonlight, the suddenly spunky character really lost her flavor and became the typical damsel who's smitten over the guy. Bogum too lost his spunky personality. I mean yes, change can happen and I suppose it was character development to make them more mature, but once their relationship was established the super fun dynamic between them fell flat. There's nothing particularly attention grabbing about them for me anymore, and it's probably because I'm not that impressed by romantic genres after the courting phase. I couldn't even watch it anymore despite the plots growing around them. I do agree they have an exceptional chemistry though, compared to Moon Lovers.

For Moon Lovers, I'm not feeling Junki x IU's character's relationship. It's so... forceful? Once again, spunky female lead grows the personality of a carpet by the middle of the series. I'm not much of an EXO fan anymore, but they married off the most fun character there. Baekhyun!

Both were a let down so I can't quite understand why people are warring over them. They both are good in their own rights. Both had phenomenal starts and a promising cast. Both were very similar. If I had to pick a winner... it'd be Sungkyunkwan scandal.

lmao okay, i agree with you. although i loved moon lovers more, i actually do admit that junki overall saved the drama. iu lacked in expressions and she had a total of three expressions in the drama - overly happy, overly sad, or overly shocked. but moon lovers' plotline is where i bias rather than moonlight's. the latter was exciting for the first episodes and the acting was entertaining, but as the episodes went by i found it a little boring. there was a time where i only waited fof their little romance scenes but that was also a little lacking. but both dramas are excellent in their own little way.

Sorry for the deleted message, forgot about the Enter thing again hehe
Both have their flaws in different areas but I'll still choose Moonlight.
First off plot wise I'll give it to Moon Lovers, eventho they didn't follow the Chinese novel or drama and cut it short by a lot Moonlight is a bit draggy. You'll only get super hyped up nearing the end so that's a bit of a con for Moonlight.
Cinematography is actually a tie for both. Moonlight had just perfectly shot scenes but not much other stuff that are super aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand I felt that Moon Lovers wasted a load of money and more importantly screen time on aesthetically pleasing scenes when they didn't have a lot of time to fit in a whole story to begin with, if it was one of those family makjangs just like how the Chinese one is I'm all for the aesthetics. But the limitations of episodes can't allow that. But my biggest problem with it is the unnecessary filters and the accidental Hangul in there. Srsly why people you legit had 1 job.
Acting.... (I know people are gonna slap me now but I'll say it anyway) I don't like IU's acting. Maybe it's cuz she's trying to be all surprised and look out of place (cuz well she is) but for some reason I'm just not really into it. Idk about the ratings but I'm pretty sure it's not as good as the producers expected considering the amount of money they wasted on the production and considering all the actors had somewhat of a big following. The other actors weren't horrible either but it's just that when you look at it all overall Moonlight's better.
What's surprising is that I went into both dramas as a JunKi and Jisoo(liked him since angry mom same with Yoojung) fan and someone who doesn't understand why people are so hyped up about Bogum and was there for Yoojung and Jinyoung. But ended up liking Moonlight a lot more.

I'll leave a mini rant here tho so u may skip it if u don't wanna read it
The Chinese version of Moon Lovers, I'll just call it bubujingxing is actually nicer than the Korean version. But I know people don't like it cuz the actors are old and aren't pretty idols the age difference is definitely there but it stayed true to the book (well not that whole thing). I'm just a little pissed that people wanna look at the idols but bubujingxing had such a good plot ugh. But the younger generations don't watch it either, they all go for those Taiwanese dramas with idols too...... *sigh* I guess I'll just have to live with it :(
But the book is good. The book is so good <3

I tried watching both. But I dropped Moonlight Drawn by Clouds after the tenth episode. It's not that I find it utterly boring or not. The acting is top notch. Kim Yoo-jung's wonderful at being Ra-on, but her acting sometimes is limited by her age and experience. She is a veteran of historical dramas and can even match other veteran actors. However, she's still young and could gain more experience to polish her acting. That I find her romance with Park Bo-gum could fall a little flat at times.

Personally, I preferred historical dramas that are often heavy and serious. Even Moon Lovers, I watched it for the political machinations and the heavy stuff. Moon Lovers ain't perfect, but once you get pass its flaws and all, it can be pretty addictive. Jut prepare to stock Kleenex.

I prefer Moonlight Drawn By Clouds,,,,I didn't watch Moon Lovers.I agree with u about moonlight drawn by clouds so much.It's storyline is the storyline which we are familiar but the actors did their jobs sooooooooooo good that the drama didn't get boring.I think the actors and the plots all were amazing.I have so much to think about and I'm so tired of my daily life.So I prefer fresh,easy to follow,lighthearted dramas these days.The first two episodes were the best for me.They were sooooooooooooooo hilariously funny that I couldn't stop laughing.

To be completely honest, although I watch both of them, Moonlight got boring as episodes went by. The actors are all good and some of them are veteran actors who play only in historical dramas, but the plot is super mega weak and like so cringy at times?^^' I still watched it till the end and because of the leads, but I'm still on the idea that it was weak... the plot was controlled enough and there were some holes, but yeah, overall it was nice, boring, but ok-ish I guess. But Scarlet Heart, omg! This drama is no joke! I was skeptical and tbh still didn't like the fact that idols got roles in it, but they did their job as good as they could and IU really impressed me. She really improved compared to her other dramas where I couldn't stand here. Her role here is really complex and you can see she put a lot of effort into playing her parts. Of course, Jun Ki is no joke, not even gonna go there as he's splendid! The only think I didn't really like is the fact that they tend to rush things a bit (if you watch the drama till the ltest episodes you'll see what I mean) and the fact that Hae Soo (IU's character) and Soo (Jun Ki's character) don't get a full episode in which they are to be happy together :( That just breaks my heart!

At first I actually enjoyed Moonlight it was funny, had good actors/actresses in it and the plot was something I looked forwards too. Scarlet Heart at first was kind of annoying, it was funny, but the fact that IU was able to happily fit into a time period that she did not belong in confused me. How could she act like nothing happened? However as the dramas both went on, after a little while, I stopped watching moonlight because it kinda got depressing whereas Scarlet Heart got much better until recently I was like WHOA! What happened. But overall I would still say that I preferred Scarlet Heart better, The plot and actors were amazing except for Kang Haneul character and Jonghyuns. If you know what I mean. Ugh!