Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Hanzi: 狐妖小红娘, Pinyin: Húyāo Xiǎo Hóngniáng; literally "Fox-Spirit Little Matchmaker") is a Fantastic Romance Manhua drawn and written by Xiaoxin (Hanzi: 小新) and was first published in 2012.
The story takes place in a fantastic counterpart of China, where humans and spirits live together and sometimes fall in love with one another. Such a lovely tale sadly only lasts a human lifetime, leaving the long-living spirits alone and heartbroken. But the fox spirits of Tushan have thankfully found a way to reunite those grieving spirits with their reincarnated human lovers through a Pledge of Love under the Tree of Plight and the help of the eponymous Fox Spirit Matchmakers. With the memories of a past life restored, the human and spirit couples can let their love blossom once again.
Tushan Susu, a small and clumsy fox spirit, who despite her shortcomings and failures tries her best to become a respectable matchmaker, meets Bai Yuechu, a stingy but powerful Taoist, who fled from the Yi Qi Dao League, on her first mission. The young Taoist decides to team up with the little fox spirit to make living as matchmaker.
An official English translation of the manhua can be found here
. The manhua had also been adapted into an online animated series in China since 2015. The first four seasons were bundled together as Enmusubi no Youko-chan for a Japanese and international release in summer 2017.
Fox Spirit Matchmaker contains examples of:
- Arc Symbol: The Tree of Plight and its falling blossom petals.
- Arc Words: The Pledge of Love for the reincarnation ritual. The phrase "under the Tree of Plight" or something similar is also repeated in most of the opening, ending and insert songs of the animated adaptation.
- Big Bad: The Empress of the Black Fox Spirits.
- Cut Short: The international release of the animated series only covers the first 48 episodes out of 104.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: of the Chinese variant is the main setting.
- Fall-in Angel: Bai Yuechu's adventures all begin when Susu breaks through the ceiling and comes crashing down on him.
- The Matchmaker: Susu is one of the eponymous Fox Spirit Matchmakers, who are given the task to help reincarnated humans recall the memories of their past live with their spirit lovers.
- Reincarnation: The souls of humans are able to reincarnate into a new body for another life.
- Reincarnation Romance: The main plot and several subplots revolve around the spirits and their reincarnated human lovers.
- Story Arc: Each big narrative arc, which make up the seasons of the animated series, deals with a different pair of lovers.
