Ossan's Love (2018)

Comic Manga Style Pseudo BL

Ojisan means Uncle in Japanese, and Ossan is non-complimentary slang for middle aged men. So Ossan's Love is "Middle Aged Man's Love".

Primarily a farce, this series is in the comic manga style with the usual slapstick and absurd antics. The main character Haruta is loud, course and has poor life skills. So be prepared to dislike him. I found it a delightful mix of over the top craziness mixed with a few tender moments. This is not a typical BL. While it ticks off a few boxes, if you want a tender love story, this is not it.

While the series is a send up of middle aged men and their midlife fantasies as well as society's hopelessly messed up views of romance, sex and gender, the social commentary is perhaps less accessible to non-Japanese audiences. Choko's reactions to her husband are so delicious, especially the scene at the Azalea diner.

What seems like overacting to some is actually the genre. The acting is superb all around. Tanaka Kei was great as the lead (Haruta), Kotaro Yoshida is, of course, superb. Great work by Kento Hayashi, Rio Uchida and Hidekazu Mashima. Ito Shuko does an unbelievable job combining cute with creepy. And I loved Nene Ohtsuka as Kurosawa's wife.

If there is a shortcoming, it is the last scene of episode 7 the transition is just a bit too abrupt. Haruta's romantic voice comes out of nowhere. It needed one or two more seconds to show Haruta changing. I think the abrupt transition is meant to be funny, but its just so out of character and so fast that it is beyond plausible even in a comic manga universe.

Leia Mais

Where do I start?

I realise that this was meant to be comedy - and in many ways it was (at least there were lots of comedic scenes, particularly in the beginning) but there was also a lot of quite disconcerting material presented for laughs.

The pinnacle of that is the chief, who incomprehensibly decides he's 'in love' with our hero and then proceeds to stalk him (he has a whole file of paparazzi style photos) declare his love and grab at/press himself against him at every opportunity.

True, the employee doesn't make it clear he's not interested (though even when he does the chief is having none of it) but neither does he show any sort of enthusiasm. I suspect that if the subordinate had been female there would be lots of uses of the word 'toxic' and 'sexual assault' but somehow its OK because the victim is male.

Our hero - he's funny and nice-looking but also one of the most passive characters I've ever seen in a real drama; things happen to him but he does almost nothing to respond to his environment or the multiple declarations of love he gets. Even now, I think he was looking for a Mum replacement - someone to cook and clean and pick up after him - rather than a lover. He wants to be loved - but doesn't want to love back. He also spends quite a lot of time screaming, often about nothing.

As for the other characters, we have 2 noble idiots, your basic BL bitch, a fat office gossip and a few hangers-on.

Leia Mais

Cute and Funny

The series started out funny and cute. The leads are likeable and have moments. There is a lot of over the top drama and laughter and light hearted romance. I enjoy the chemistry of the main couple and they are cute together over all. There was nice co-stars and a lot of yelling. The series is fun to watch but there were a lot of annoying moments like the lead being straight guy who magically can't tell two gay guys no but i guess that is supposed to be part of the joke and he magically started to feel something for not 2 guys but a girl as well, but yet giving fake hope to three characters not only two. There is moments of confusion and to many love triages which became annoying after a while, it just kept repeating the drama which became boring after a while, with the lead going from partner to partner giving false hope to the girl, and his boss and his co-worker. I found this to be annoying to many possibilities. It felt like he just did not want to be alone, in the end i think he starts t feel something for his co-worker but the ending still did not work for me, especially when he clearly has no care for his boss and sees him as a father/older brother figure then a lover. The lead made me disappointed after a while when you can tell that his emotions just go from one person to the next between the 2 guys and girl. This series is over all fun but felt weak at times. the cast is funny and enjoyable over all but I wish they did a better job with the story telling. I don't understand how he could go alone with stuff just to go along with it, sadly a boy trapped in a mans body. He was ready to marry his boss and waits to the last moment to finally think about it and feel that he thinks he is in love with the co-worker and tried to fix that after a year from the brake up ..clearly he just does not want to be alone and sadly this ending did not give it a nice ending feeling the way i hoped. Store needed a lot more better development and working but over all its funny and over the top drama so i guess that was the real purpose.

Leia Mais

A MUST-WATCH! MY COMFORT SHOW

Idc what others have to say. This is my comfort show. It's been 4 years since the first time i watched it, and since then, i've rewatched it 5 times i reckon. Whenever I am stressed, I reach out for it. It calms me down. And i feel like i can write a whole essay of how this show is great, despite the problematic parts that others have pointed out. So this will be that instead of a simple review, and people will need to watch it to understand.

This will be about the last few eps. I love how Maki kinda has avoidant attachment style so he's always tried to push Haruta away and decided things on his own. He's afraid to get hurt and he's afraid he's not good enough. I feel his pain every time because I also have avoidant attachment style.

Many people hated Haruta because he's indecisive and all. But Kurosawa (the boss) knew Haruta would rejected him. He knew Haruta had never loved him, that's why he never gave Haruta a chance to say no. He proposed publicly, he made the wedding as extravagant as possible so Haruta could not say no because Kurosawa knew he would. In a way, he kinda used Haruta because he knew Haruta's personality (Haruta respected hierarchy, he respected his boss so it's difficult for him to hurt Kurosawa's pride). And while Maki pushed Haruta away selfishly, Kurosawa loved Haruta selfishly. He wanted Haruta by his side without thinking about the consequences like Maki did. He only wanted to be with Haruta, he didn't care about the rest, for him or Haruta. Both of them were selfish, none actually thought about Haruta's feelings.

At the wedding, Haruta said yes when saying the vow. He also told Takegawa (the glasses senior) that he liked Kurosawa. He prolly did, he prolly meant it when he said yes. He prolly could see himself living with Kurosawa his whole life. He liked him so so much, but just platonically. That's why when the pastor asked him to kiss Kurosawa, he freaked out because he realised he only had romantic feelings for Maki, and marriage has to be with someone you love romantically.

The show isn't perfect at all, but it's my comfort show. It's fun, easy to watch, light-hearted but not shallow or cheesy. I love it so much and honestly, I will do anything for it to have season 3 (sorry I haven't watched season 2 because yeah, hardcore Harumaki shipper here haha).

Leia Mais

OVER- DRAMATIC

I seriously hate immature people specially grown up people. HARUTAN WAS A EPITOME OF IMMATURE ADULT WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE WANTS, JUST GOES WITH THE FLOW EVEN IF IT CREATES A GREAT DEAL OF MESS. Initially, I FOUND IT HILARIOUS, ALL THE SUITORS, CONFUSIONS, MESS AND HIM BEING IN A DILEMMA ALL THE TIME, BUT, EVENTUALLY, IT BECAME IRRITATING.
HARUTAN WAS HIMSELF NEVER SURE WHAT AND WHO HE WANTS, HIS SEXUAL PREFERENCE. EVEN WHEN HE DATED MAKI, HE ACTED ALL DISGUSTED AND PANICKED WHENEVER HE KISSED HIM. HE KEPT SAYING HE WANTED GIRLS WITH BIG BOOBS. HE DIDN'T LET MAKI LEAVE WHEN HE WANTED TO, BUT IT SEEMED LIKE HE WAS JUST USED TO HAVING MAKI AS A COMPANION..NOT BECAUSE OF LOVE. WITH CHIEF, HE KEPT PLAYING ALONG FOR A LONG TIME.
I mean after their break up, HARUTAN went until the point of marriage with chief, just because he couldn't say no. HE DIDN'T LOVE HIM BUT HE WAS JUST PLAYING ALONG. AND AFTER ONE WHOLE YEAR, ON THE DAY OF MARRIAGE, RIGHT BEFORE KISSING, HE REALISED HE LOVES MAKI. DUH! OVERDRAMMATIC SERIOUSLY. ITS JUST TOOO MUCH. AND

Leia Mais

I wasn’t rooting for anyone

I found the acting of the Chief and his wife to be very good. Ironically, I was more interested in their marital problems than the rest of the plots.

I wasn’t rooting for Haruta at all. I don’t understand why so many people were chasing after a man child. He seemed to be looking for someone to cook and clean for him than someone he was actually attracted to. Even knowing how this ends, I was not invested in him being with anyone.

I see the complaints about how the humor involved a lot of screaming. For all the insistence that that’s common in J dramas, it works for me in other shows and didn’t work for me in this one. I think that’s largely because I found a lot of adults in this show behaved like teenagers. Unrealistically, to be honest.

So, not a recommend for me. I’m glad others enjoyed it though.

Leia Mais

A must watch

I went into this series knowing nothing. It was so enjoyable and hilarious I cry laughed almost every episode. There’s twist and turns and I even cried too. this show has everything. I think this is in my top 10 series. I’m definitely going to rewatch it. Watch this series! I don’t want to give away spoilers. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Leia Mais

Horrible

Dos compañeros de trabajo viven juntos. Uno de los dos es gay y le gusta el otro, y el otro se va enamorando de él. Medio que salen juntos. A la vez, el jefe de la oficina está encoñado de uno de ellos, y le agasaja hasta que los otros dos rompen y el jefe consigue vivir con él, aunque el otro no estaba enamorado ni nada. Total, que le dice el jefe que no se quiere casar si no lo quiere, y se va el chico a buscar al otro y sale.

La trama del jefe me parece horrenda, no la entiendo, y hay gente que me dice que le ha fascinado esta serie y no lo entiendo. La historia principal hasta cierto punto me gustaba, pero tampoco entiendo el cinismo y pasotismo del personaje principal, al cual le daba igual tanto quedarse con el amigo como irse con el jefe, con tal de que le hicieran las tareas del hogar? No se.

Y no es hasta el final que ya dice que no quiere casarse, y no es él siquiera el que lo dice !! No se casa porque el jefe no quiere casarse si no le quiere realmente, que eso es otra, si sabes que no te quiere, para qué montas tal circo?!

Pero bueno, hasta ahi me la vi, pero encima la película empieza que el prota está trabajando en Hong Kong y compra un anillo para pedirle casarse al otro, y esa noche bebe y se levanta en la cama con un tio, y de repente, aparece por sorpresa el otro !! Y claro, se enfada, pero ese mismo dia volvía a Japón, y la empresa era controlada por una gente... mira, que me quedé ahí y no vi mas.... No la veais, ved Cherry Magic.

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