Sunshine With Me (2023)

This is not for me...especially the Main Romance

I don’t usually write a review of a dropped drama, but I figured this could be helpful to others who feel the same way. Is this a horrible drama? No, not really. But it’s not enough to keep me wanting to continue on and there are elements I don’t enjoy that are central to the plot.

Disclaimer:
I am a romance lover. Romance (whether it is a main plot or subplot) can make or break a drama for me. If I love the main romance, I can overlook some flaws.
Not always a fan of noona romance (older woman/younger man). I want to give this drama a chance because of Xiao Zhan. The only other noona romance I can think of that’s similar and I liked is “The Rational Life”. But I watched that years ago, and I might not like it as much if I were to watch it today.

Let’s start with what I Like:

Strong Female Leads - Stories about women in their 30s can be inconsistent. Dramas claim they are independent and mature, but their actions tell a different story. However, Jian Bing (FL) and Liang Shan Shan (2FL) prove to be the minority. Through their actions, thoughts and feelings within the first 18 episodes that I watched, they are truly mature and independent. They don’t rely on men to provide them with happiness. They live for themselves and are professional when at work.

Acting - There’s really nothing for me to pick on in terms of acting. From what I’ve seen so far, the main and supporting cast deliver good performances. I was especially impressed with the veteran performance from ML’s parents when they were having a big argument. I bet that sequence was done in one shot as the way they yell at each other seems so real.

Make-up - It’s lovely to see a drama without white filters, strong backlighting or white thick foundation on the actors' faces. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Xiao Zhao look so ‘real’. Everyone just looks normal and in character.


That’s all I can think of. And now with the negatives and why I can’t continue on.

Main Romance - As I mentioned, the main romance can make or break a drama for me. Unfortunately, this romance is giving me similar vibes as “Go Go Squid 2”, another drama I dropped. Sheng Yan (ML) is a mature 26-year old at work. He was professional and knows enough to keep his mouth shut and to Fake It Till he Makes it (<-- a little plug of another drama who has an excellent romance LOL). However, when it comes to love, he is a little puppy, always following FL around. And because FL is such a mature woman, his puppy eyes stop being cute after the first few episodes. I dropped “Go Go Squid 2” for this same reason. I like an unrequited love, but for that to last so long, when ML is a mature adult at work, seems off to me. I like a slow burn romance, but not when I don’t feel any romantic chemistry between the leads and when they are so different in the stages of their lives. They seem more like sister/brother or mentor/mentee to me. Maybe the romance develops into something beautiful in the second half of the drama, but at ep 18, it is not motivating me to continue on.

Plot - The pace is also quite slow. 36 episodes are way too long. There isn’t much happening in the first 18 episodes, and nothing different. I do appreciate the story of a female (and badass) director. Everything that happened is predictable. I don’t think this is supposed to be a slice-of-life drama, thus, I expect more from the plot. Are there touching moments? Yes. Is it well-acted? Yes. Does it make me hit the “play” button next? No. As a binge watcher, this is a big indicator of when the drama is not for me.


This review is super subjective and I am sure many love this drama. To me, I was expecting more and it didn’t deliver. It’s not a bad drama, just not enough for me to continue on when there are too many other dramas waiting for me.


Completed: 9/30/2023 - Review #360

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a lil sunshine who beings joy and happiness?

first of all i just want to say thank you to the whole crew who made this work come to life.
this drama is healing as it brings joy to one's life and all the actors made their characters come to life, and especially Xiao zhan. while watching Sunshine by myside i feel like i am watching xz's daily life, before he had joined the entertainment industry, interpreting himself and he NAILED IT. he is a hardworking young man who is trying to achieve great things by working very hard. ❤
So far, i just mobe everything about this series and cant wait for the rest of the episodes ( even tho i wish there were 100 eps of it)

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Plausible reasons why the rating wasn't higher

First of all, the intro music is fantastic, it makes me want to listen to smooth jazz.

The biggest missteps the writers made for the international market are as follows:

- The ex-husband wasn't punished for committing adulty
his power, meddling, and rightness made me angry because his role just did not make sense

Xiao Zhan- I love him, love him, love him... I loved his character, but he lacked the power to defend himself and her, why? I expected him to have the strength to kick the ex-husband to the curb... with words... isn't this 2021?

We watch movies to escape, but when the subject matter of divorce, younger man older woman, and self employment is beautifully written only 75%, the rest of the world who enjoy Chinese drama would say, WTF happened to the other 25%?
So, as much as I loved watching, Sunshine by myside, I was constantly screaming, why, why did the writer make him or her say such idiotic lines.

That's why the rating was only 8. Your mistake was in giving the ex-husband more power then the hero and heroin, and you forgot your international audiance.

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Série "slice-of-life" and "old FL / Young ML" but with Xiao Zhan (＾◡＾)❤❤

The series follows the daily life (work, family, friends, events), in a subtle and quite realistic way, of our two heroes. One (FL) is an established advertising director who must deal with divorce and its consequences. The ML is a young designer, admirer of the FL, who is trying to make a career and have his talent recognized.
They form bonds, fall in love, and must face obstacles, linked in particular to their age gap of 10 years.

PROS:
+ Xiao Zhan ♡ლ(-༗‿༗-)ლ♡ of course, handsome, moving, so talented that he IS his character!!
+ I really like the character of the FL, mature, decisive, vulnerable but who faces all hardships the life give her. [[I divorced after a long marriage, and the story is very well written, enough for me to recognize myself in this character]].
+ The 2ary characters are well developed. Everyone has their own temperament, their history, their goals, their dreams.
+ The life of urban employees is well described, in subtle details: working conditions, pressure from customers, transport, shopping, meals, meetings, etc.
+ The narration is fast, modern and the OSTs are well suited to the emotions.

CONS:
- I regret that the SMS are not translated, because they have an importance in the story.
- the character of Sheng Fan's mother is excessive, poorly constructed psychologically: overprotective (OK, it's partly the result of the one-child policy), 50 years old but with the soul of a little girl, opposes the his son's relationship for ridiculous reasons, etc. No Western child would put up with being under the thumb of their parents at 26 like this...
- unlike other reviewers, I cannot perceive the charisma of Professor Fang's character, narrow, rigid, full of quirks and OCD.

=> It's a beautiful, comforting series, about perseverance, family, human's connections...
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Série """slice-of-life" et "old FL / Young ML" mais avec Xiao Zhan ( ＾◡＾)❤❤

La série suit la vie quotidienne (travail, famille, amis, évènements), de façon subtile et assez réaliste, de nos 2 héros. L'une (la FL) est une réalisatrice de pub, confirmée, qui doit faire face au divorce et à ses conséquences. Le ML est un jeune designer, admirateur de la FL, qui essaie de faire carrière et faire reconnaitre son talent.
Ils tissent des liens, tombent amoureux, et doivent affronter les obstacles, liés notamment à leur age gap de 10 ans.

PROS:
+ Xiao Zhan ( ＾◡＾)❤❤ bien sûr, beau, émouvant, tellement talentueux qu'il EST son personnage !!
+ J'aime le personnage de la FL, mature, décisive, vulnérable mais qui fait face. [[j'ai divorcé après un long mariage, et l'histoire est très bien écrite, assez pour que je me reconnaisse dans ce personnage]].
+ Les personnages 2aires sont bien développés. Chacun a son tempérament, son histoire, ses objectifs, ses rêves.
+ La vie des salariés citadins est bien décrite, en détails subtiles : les conditions de travail, la pression des clients, les transports, les courses, les repas, les rencontres,...
+ La narration est rapide, actuelle et les OST sont bien adaptés aux émotions à transmettre.

CONS:
- je regrette que les SMS ne soient pas traduits, car ils ont une importance dans l'histoire.
- le personnage de la mère de Sheng Fan est excessif, mal construit psychologiquement : surprotectrice (OK, c'est en partie le résultat de la politique de l'enfant unique), 50 ans mais une âme de midinette, s'oppose à la relation de son fils pour des raisons ridicules, etc. Aucun enfant occidental ne supporterait d'être sous la coupe de ses parents à 26 ans de cette façon ...
- contrairement à d'autres reviewers, je n'arrive pas à percevoir le charisme du personnage du professeur Fang, étriqué, rigoureux, plein de manies et de TOC.

=> C'est une belle série, réconfortante, sur la persévérance, la famille, les liens...

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Leave this woman alone, for f sake!

I did find the premise of a relationship between an older woman and a younger man interesting.
Unfortunately it and the chemistry between the leads are the only aspects of the show that make it somewhat worth watching.
The writing oscillates between surprisingly realistic and restrained to soapy melodrama bullshit, it feels quite inconsistent.
There are scenes I really liked especially at the beginning, but also lots of uninteresting and unnecessary stuff happens to pad the length of the show. As the show went on I started fast forwarding through more and more parts.
The main issue of the story is that Jian Bing is absolutely correct - she should be focusing on herself right after her divorce and balance her life again. And yet! Everyone seems to be pestering her constantly - her ex about work and marriage issues, clients are being awful and into all of this comes Sheng Yang with his absurd childish crush from ten years ago.
And. He. Does. Not. Leave. Her. Alone.
I was sincerely hoping they would not get together in the end, that they become friends, she mentors him or something like that. Because it would be a nice subversion, while still exploring this unusual friendship.
Alas, we get a soap opera romance instead.
I'm a bit annoyed that his strategy of persistently hounding her and constantly doing things for her until she relents is shown to be effective. I guess I wanted more of his character to show through earlier, rather than him just being useful to her.
But the actors do work well together and I mostly enjoyed Bai Bai's performance (which reminded me of Crystal Liu in "Dream of Splendor").
What also hugely drags the drama down are many of the side characters - they are as soapy and annoying as some of the subplots. I super didn't give a shit about the hockey sister, her boyfriend and his dreadful uncle.
And of course the ending is what it is, everyone pairs up exactly as you'd expect.
If they trimmed all the boring side characters and plots and turned this into a 15 episode drama ( and maybe tried to make it less cliched and predictable) I would've enjoyed it more.
In the end it's just sort of average.

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A mature, fluffy "romance" that could have been much better

I must start this review by saying that I watched this solely for Xiao Zhan, and was not particularly impressed with the trope-heavy first episode. Nonetheless, the show did get better till I considered an 8.5 for this show, only to be a bit disappointed with the last episode.

There were certainly many positives. Although the show appears to be a romance it is more a navigating-through-life drama. There are many lessons to be learned, particularly for the young but mature Sheng Yang who has to learn to manoeuvre through his career aspirations, love, and his parents' expectations of and from him. The scenes at work were really well-written and well-done, and all the circumstances and the outcomes made perfect sense. It was during work that the friendship between Sheng Yang, Song Chen and Pan Rou evolved and the interactions between these three made for some of the best moments on the show.

Although falling in love is easier, working with it is the hardest. Jian Bing (Bai Bai He was great in the role) knows this perfectly well, so her reactions and her hesitance are fully comprehensible. Despite the utterly out-of-character Jian Bing in the beginning episodes, what we get is a mature, introverted, solemn and measured Jian Bing whose wisdom and age show in her actions. Her mentoring of Sheng Yang made for some of the best moments on the show- she rubs off on him in all the best of ways, through her words and actions. Jian Bing is a role model, someone to aspire to and such female mentoring is truly wonderful to watch. We should befriend and fall for those who make us better versions of ourselves, and that is perhaps one of the best takeaways from the show.

I looked forward to these interactions- between Sheng Yang and Jian Bing, between Sheng Yang and his parents (his parents were such beautifully-written characters!), Sheng Yang and his friends, but unfortunately, for some strange reason, the show makers decided to spent a large amount of time on the ice hockey trio- characters that emerged out of a need to showcase this game, and from the game multiple unnecessary interactions emerged. Sadly, I forwarded many of the scenes involving these characters, and was thoroughly disappointed when a large proportion of the last episode was devoted to these characters. By doing so, necessary screen time for the main characters was unduly snatched.

The acting was fantastic throughout- I enjoyed most of the characters (except the hockey trio, although I cannot blame their performances). I really enjoyed Wang Lin and Yang Hao Yu's performance and their characters- they had excellent chemistry with each other and with Xiao Zhan. I've seen Liu Xun and Julia Xiang in other roles and they were great here. Tian Yu's Xue Yi Ming may have been annoying at times, but I am glad that he did have Jian Bing's back and their unaffected friendship was touching. Liang Shan Shan (Zhu Zhu) was an interesting character, and again, her (and Xue Yi Ming's) devotion towards Jian Bing was one of the show's highlights.

The last episode was underwhelming; too much time was devoted to secondary characters and the last few minutes did not seem consistent with the main characters' personalities.

Nonetheless, this is a good watch overall.

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Horas que valem apena

Não dá para descrever como esse drama foi bom, a química do casal principal é tamanha que me surpreende, não esperava uma combinação tão perfeita. O drama trouxe realmente a característica de uma pessoa madura, a protagonista é uma das melhores nesse quesito entre os dramas, soube contornar o antigo relacionamento separando do trabalho mesmo sendo sócios, na minha opinião o ex marido precisava nem de final feliz kkkkk. Satisfação imensa a equipe de som, no episódio com chuva a sensação era realmente de que estava escutando em minha casa, a ost principal é excelente.

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Simple and realistic drama yet emotionally engaging

Story:
The plot is simply slice of life and slow burn romance, around the ups and downs of advertising worker, with addition of their family relationship. Instead, it is the main interest, the realistic side of the story. Made me feel extremely connected and can't stop binge watched it.

Acting:
Gosh, I can't say a lot but imho, every actor give a top notch performance. Can't count how many times I laughed and sobbed when watching those 36 episodes. I have never thought that this drama can be tremendously emotional despite the non melodramatic story. The only negative side of this drama is Jian Bing's sister side story, it felt bland.

Overall:
Not recommended if you want to watch a passionate and sweet romantic drama. But if you like coming of age, light hearted story and spiritual lifting romance, you must watch this. And feel Sheng Yang hangover after that :)

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Sunshine by My Side - Uma Desilusão Dramática

"Sunshine by My Side" é um drama chinês que narra a história de Jian Bing, uma renomada diretora de publicidade, e Sheng Yang, um novato na indústria, cujos caminhos se cruzam de forma inesperada em um restaurante. O enredo começa com ambos passando por momentos de desilusão amorosa e, gradualmente, desenvolvendo um vínculo que os leva a uma jornada de crescimento pessoal e um romance em ascensão.

A trama inicialmente promete uma história envolvente, explorando as complexidades dos relacionamentos e o poder de cura do amor. No entanto, à medida que o enredo avança, algumas falhas começam a se tornar evidentes. A revelação dos sentimentos de Sheng Yang por Jian Bing é um ponto de virada que, infelizmente, deixa a desejar. Sua rápida confissão e a razão por trás de seu amor são apresentadas de forma simplista, tornando o desenvolvimento do personagem menos profundo do que o esperado.

Um aspecto que me desapontou é a tentativa de inserir comédia em momentos que exigiam seriedade. A transição abrupta entre uma cena tensa e outra cômica acabou prejudicando o tom geral da narrativa e diminuindo o impacto emocional de certas situações.

A relação entre Jian Bing e Sheng Yang, que inicialmente parecia promissora, começou a mostrar falhas à medida que o drama progredia. A falta de comunicação e a tendência de ambos em esconder problemas um do outro foram aspectos que prejudicaram a representação de um relacionamento saudável.

A objeção da mãe de Sheng Yang ao relacionamento com base em diferenças de idade em vez de status social pareceu um ponto fraco na trama. Essa justificação não se encaixou adequadamente, deixando a motivação do personagem menos coerente.

O ex-marido de Jian Bing, embora tenha trazido conflitos à história, acabou sendo tratado de maneira relativamente branda, o que me decepcionou e queria uma resolução mais satisfatória para essa subtrama. A persistência dele após o divórcio foi frustrante e parecia ilógica, dadas as circunstâncias.

A tentativa de Sheng Yang de iniciar seu próprio negócio, embora pudesse ter sido uma oportunidade de crescimento para o personagem, foi retratada de forma um tanto infantil, o que, em vez de inspirar empatia, resultou em momentos de constrangimento.

Em resumo, "Sunshine by My Side" tem um começo promissor, mas enfrenta desafios à medida que a narrativa avança. Os personagens, suas motivações e a dinâmica do relacionamento central podem não atender totalmente às expectativas do público. Apesar disso, o drama ainda oferece alguns momentos de ternura e crescimento pessoal que podem cativar aqueles que buscam uma história de amor complexa e uma jornada de autodescoberta.

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Xiao Zhan always acting naturally

Young designer Sheng Yang (Xiao Zhan) meets his longtime idol award-winning director Jian Bing (Bai Baihe). Despite a 10 year age difference he has a strong affection for her and she’s drawn to him as well. He tries to be a little ray of sunshine to brighten her life.
Filmed in the city of Chongking this workplace drama has a movie feel to it. The way it’s shot, the attention to detail, and the great city scapes make for a very artistic urban atmosphere.
In addition to the slice of life story surrounding Sheng Yang and Jian Bing, the drama depicts struggles faced in different generations and stations in life, broaching hot-button issues such as sexism, ageism and bullying.
The acting is natural and on point - cast and crew included seasoned professionals along with fresh faces.
Xiao Zhan is an impressive actor with great range. He has three dramas of different genres in 2023 with three very different characters. The loyal persistent social cow Xiao Chun Sheng, the cool reserved high priest Shi Ying, and now the joyful and warm puppy Sheng Yang. Sheng Yang is so real that after just a few episodes I feel like I know him.
Sunshine By My Side is an interesting and entertaining watch so far. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds! this is very nice drama

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Xiao Zhan very telanted

first of all i just want to say thank you to the whole crew who made this work come to life.
this drama is healing as it brings joy to one's life and all the actors made their characters come to life, and especially Xiao zhan. while watching Sunshine by myside i feel like i am watching xz's daily life, before he had joined the entertainment industry, interpreting himself and he NAILED IT. he is a hardworking young man who is trying to achieve great things by working very hard. ❤
So far, i just mobe everything about this series and cant wait for the rest of the episodes

Young designer Sheng Yang (Xiao Zhan) meets his longtime idol award-winning director Jian Bing (Bai Baihe). Despite a 10 year age difference he has a strong affection for her and she’s drawn to him as well. He tries to be a little ray of sunshine to brighten her life.
Filmed in the city of Chongking this workplace drama has a movie feel to it. The way it’s shot, the attention to detail, and the great city scapes make for a very artistic urban atmosphere.
In addition to the slice of life story surrounding Sheng Yang and Jian Bing, the drama depicts struggles faced in different generations and stations in life, broaching hot-button issues such as sexism, ageism and bullying.
The acting is natural and on point - cast and crew included seasoned professionals along with fresh faces.
Xiao Zhan is an impressive actor with great range. He has three dramas of different genres in 2023 with three very different characters. The loyal persistent social cow Xiao Chun Sheng, the cool reserved high priest Shi Ying, and now the joyful and warm puppy Sheng Yang. Sheng Yang is so real that after just a few episodes I feel like I know him.
Sunshine By My Side is an interesting and entertaining watch so far. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds!

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