I just finished watching Queerstralia , which is a three-part documentary about the hidden history of LGBTQIA+ people in Australia. It’s hosted by a comedian named Zoe Coombs Marr. To be honest, I didn't know who she was before this, so it took me a little while to get used to her specific style of joking around. The show covers a huge amount of time, starting from when Australia was a prison colony for the British all the way to famous movies like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert . It looks at how being gay was treated as a crime, the stories of trans pioneers, and even "bushrangers" (outlaws) who dressed in clothes of the opposite sex. It also goes into the history of the Mardi Gras festival, drag culture, and how gay marriage finally became legal there. The host starts the show by jokingly saying, "I’m a comedian, I’m not qualified," which tells you right away it's not going to be a stiff or boring history lesson. Over three episodes that are an hour long...
Young, messy and goofy Haruta works for a real estate company but lacks the zest and specialty to succeed at his job. His boss Kurosawa, who is happily married, for some real develops an inexplicable attraction and infatuation for Haruta. When Kurosawa confesses his love for him, Haruta is both confused and disturbed. To complicate things, his room mate Maki, who is his age and also is co-worker is also secretly in love with him. Maki is the reason that some stability has finally come in Haruta's life. Suddenly faced with two romantic suitors, Haruta finds himself caught in a messy love triangle in the middle of his workplace. Things get messier and funnier when the boss's wife finds out about this and also when suddenly Haruta's best friend (a girl) develops feelings for her. Haruta accepts Maki's love and rejects his boss, but deep down Maki feels Haruta is not invested completely. He deeply loves him, yet he decides to break up with Haruta for the latter's happiness sake. The boss Kurosawa sees this as a perfect opportunity to get back in Haruta's life and before you know, slowly he moves in with Haruta, even proposing wedding to him after a year. Maki is still very much in love with Haruta even at this point. We all know how the show will end, but the execution is done nicely.
Trust me when I say, this show is funny. Once you get over the OTT acting and shouting to vent out both love and anger, you start enjoying the absurdity of the whole thing. Don't try to think too much on how Haruta can suddenly be gay and how come in either of relationship he hasn't even kissed, forget even thinking of gay sex. Just focus on love and all the random mess that's going on in Haruta's life. As a character, he is indecisive, so when someone shows love affection and care, he just goes for the person. First Maki and then the chief boss. Yes, he doesn't have spine (or like some say, not man enough); but its ok to sometimes have flawed characters. They get balanced by supporting characters with strength. In this case Maki. Maki truly loves Haruta, not sure why, but is willing to do everything for him. The boss' love and infatuation was borderline creep for Haruta, but like I said before, for a change try not to put logic here and you may actually end up enjoying the show. There are multiple parallel stories here, which add to the fun. Maki's ex in the office, boss' wife's reaction to the whole situation, her younger suitor, Haruta's best friend and her brother and my most favorite the lady in the office, who was always all about gossip and everyone else's business. She was a hoot and my absolute fav character, with whatever limited time she had. I am not saying that the series is not without its problems, but personally I needed some good fun show to watch and not take things too seriously for a change and this series gave me a perfect opportunity for that.
Ossan's love is a cute, weird and fun series, which is silly in a very amusing way. The storyline is neither good nor bad, its majorly over the top yet it is fun. Its a different kind of rom com, yet full of all cliches at the same time> I have to believe that maybe this is how the manga's are supposed to be. Whatever be the case, now I am actually looking forward to watching the sequels. (8/10)
Comments
Too bad the sequels went to "stupidily hilarious" to "too much" and killed it. The show had such a big success in Asia that Hong Kong made its own, longer version. I'll be happily watching this one in a few month. Since it has more episodes I wish there will have more romantic scenes between their equivalent of Haruta and Maki (that was a bit lacking in the original). Anyway, I can't say if it's a manga feel as you wondered, I'll go more for crazy japanese style. And here it's amazing :D