Ossan's Love: Love or Dead(2019)
About Ossan's Love: Love or Dead
The story takes place after the TV drama series Ossan's Love (2018). It's been a year since Haruta and Maki pledged their undying love. Haruta has now come back and receives a warm welcome from familiar faces, his boss Musashi Kurosawa and other colleagues. Justice Yamada, a recruit who has been recently assigned to this branch, welcomes him too. One day, completely out of the blue, the headquarter-based project team "Genius 7" shows up at the Second Sales Branch. Project leader Jin Mamiana orders the Sales team to support them in their big project. Maki, who had been transferred and works now at the head office, is among the project team members with Mamiana. Haruta and Maki grow apart, and Haruta teams up with Justice. Then Kurosawa gets involved in an accident and loses his memory, but the loss of his memory is selective and he has forgotten only Haruta. However, when Kurosawa sees Haruta, he falls in love again.. Hilarious and heartwarming, the final battle of Ossan's Love begins.
The landscape of Japanese television often struggles to successfully transition from the small screen to the cinematic stage, yet Ossan Love Love or Dead manages to capture the chaotic charm that made its predecessor a viral sensation. By expanding the workplace dynamic into a high-stakes feature film, the production leans heavily into the absurdity that defined the original series while maintaining the emotional core of its central characters. Set a year after the televised vows of Haruta and Maki, the film functions less as a traditional sequel and more as an extravagant celebration of the franchise tone, blending slapstick comedy with sincere explorations of unconventional relationships. The inclusion of new corporate antagonists and a sudden shift in the established romantic hierarchy creates a fresh conflict that forces the protagonist to re-evaluate his professional and personal boundaries under pressure.
For those who appreciate the current wave of modern Asian romantic comedies that prioritize character quirks over traditional tropes, this film offers a unique experience. While audiences accustomed to the grit of recent Malayalam or Tamil dramas might find the tone jarringly bright, the film fits perfectly into the growing global appetite for stories that dismantle heteronormative romance. The return of Kotaro Yoshida as the eccentric boss provides the familiar anchor for the madness, delivering a performance that balances physical comedy with a surprising level of vulnerability. The script cleverly uses the trope of sudden memory loss not just as a plot device, but as a lens to view the persistence of affection across different life stages, ensuring that the humor never fully overshadows the sincerity of the bond between the leads.
Directed by Toichiro Ruto, the movie is designed for fans who already possess an intimate knowledge of the secondary characters and their specific behavioral patterns. It functions as a reward for the loyal viewership, inviting them back into the Second Sales Branch to witness how the professional environment reacts to corporate interference. The chemistry between the established cast remains the primary draw, and the addition of new recruits allows for a dynamic shift that keeps the narrative from feeling stagnant. It stands as a testament to how niche television properties can evolve into theatrical events when the creative team leans into the absurdity that viewers initially fell in love with. Ultimately, this production is a must-watch for those looking for a lighthearted, visually vibrant, and emotionally resonant conclusion to a story that redefined the boundaries of the workplace romance genre.
Cast(12)
