[Chinese Drama] Xiao Zhan's 'Sunshine by My Side' (Jiao Yang Ban Wo). The depth of mature marital relationships and workplace vampire boss issues is profound.
I have started watching the Chinese drama starring Xiao Zhan titled 'Jiao Yang Ban Wo' (Japanese title: Sunshine by My Side / English title: Sunshine by my side), which has been streaming on iQIYI since September 1st (includes auto-translated Japanese subtitles).
Initially, I thought this was a modern romance drama about a 26-year-old male lead played by Xiao Zhan falling in love with an older woman. But that's not it. Romance is just one of several themes covered by the work.
■ A manager who drains the achievements and ambition of young employees
The male lead (Xiao Zhan), who grew up in a working-class family, has been at his advertising agency for three years.
He is a quick-witted, organized, and ambitious young employee, but he is not blessed with a good direct supervisor and is constantly being exploited.
Endless menial tasks, unfair pay, and a boss who never says a word of praise but constantly brings up their own past hardships.
The structure where the direct supervisor steals all the credit and motivation from subordinates, as well as the evaluations from "higher-ups," is like what we call "clay layer bosses" in Japan (who absorb all the nutrients from above, leaving subordinates depleted).
It also offers a glimpse into the tough situation faced by young employees in China, where finding a job or changing careers is difficult, and if you quit, you cannot find a new position in the same industry.
■ A too-realistic depiction of a "mature couple's crisis"
Furthermore, this drama delves not only into the workplace environment but also into the depth of mature marital problems.
The male lead's mother harbors a growing sense of victimhood, feeling that she has suffered and endured in her marriage. She believes she deserves more appreciation.
To periodically explode with that dissatisfaction, the mother has become dependent on the phrase, "I'm getting a divorce!" But a couple can never understand each other with such ultimate words, and in the end, the mother's words and actions only escalate. The scenes showing the son, who has witnessed his parents' relationship and has been the one to mediate between them, are sometimes heartbreaking.
How the marital relationship of the male lead's parents, who have finished raising their children, will progress from here might also be a theme of this drama.
—With that said, while the male lead has endless worries at "work" and in his "family," he looks incredibly happy when he spends time with the 36-year-old female lead, who has plenty of life experience.
At first, I felt like, "Why is he so attracted to this female lead!?" but as I continued watching, the reasons for the male lead's unrequited love for her became convincing.
The distance between the two will likely shrink from here on, and I am looking forward to that process.
Just seeing Xiao Zhan, who originally has career experience as a designer, actually play an advertising designer is worth watching in itself.
"Jiao Yang Ban Wo" is currently streaming two episodes a day on the streaming platform iQIYI.In addition to AI-generated Japanese subtitles, subtitles in several other languages are available.
■ Why Fujii Kaze's "Workin' hard" plays in my head as an insert song
As an aside, the idiom "work hard" appears frequently in the drama's dialogue (English version).
There are depictions of the male lead's father, a garbage collector, and his mother, who works part-time at a retail store, having their pride worn down, as well as scenes where their hearts are softened by being acknowledged with, "You've worked hard until now." Sometimes, Fujii Kaze's new song "Workin' hard," in which he dressed as both a garbage collector and a retail clerk in the music video, runs through my head as an insert song.