Bullet Point Review: Oh My Boss! Love Not Included

Also translated as ‘Oh My Boss! Love is a Separate Volume’, ‘Oh My Boss! Love is a Bonus Book’ or in romaji as Oh! My Boss! Koi wa Bessatsu De’.

Spoilers Ahead…

Oh My Boss! Love Not Included is simplistic. The goals are achievable, the messages, straightforward and the characters, uncomplicated. It is formulaic no doubt, yet irresistible.
Or maybe, that’s how it looked to me, as I watched this show during a turbulent period of my life. It cheered me up and gave me solace, and for this reason alone, I am just going to mention the things that I liked about the show (much like my review for A Girl & Three Sweethearts).

The show isn’t flawless and definitely has its issues, but for now, I am going to put that on the backburner, and just concentrate on the positives.
Maybe someday I will discuss what didn’t work for me, but until then…

• After following her first love to the hospital in An Incurable Case of Love, here, in Oh My Boss! Love Not Included, Kamishiraishi Mone follows her first love to Tokyo. Now, for some, this is a frivolous point to base a story on, and I agree. If this was a story of an obsessive lover or stalker, this wouldn’t be touted as a romantic gesture but as creepy and frankly, terrifying. But the way I see it, Sakura Nanase (there) and Suzuki Nami (here), just use this love for/attraction towards a certain man to work themselves towards a goal. Nanase decides on a career as a nurse, and prepares for the exam only after meeting Tendo Kairi and Nami takes up a job in Tokyo, only after her crush Ken-chan (Inukai Atsuhiro) moves there.
  Just like how money, a new position at our job or a chance to move to a new city, can incentivise us to push past our comfort zone and take on new challenges, love does the same for Nanase and Nami, specifically the latter, who has been raised to strive for a stable, ordinary, average life, by her mother. Her desire to be with Ken-Chan pushes her to find a job and move to the big, bustling Tokyo. Besides, whether she gets the guy or not, she will definitely gain a skillset, employment and some new friends.
• For once in a rom-com, the rom is a subplot, while the com is the main storyline, concentrating on the growing relationship between our two leading ladies. The crackling chemistry between Kamishiraishi Mone’s Nami and Nanao’s Horai Reiko, (the new editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Miyavi), is the highlight of the drama, as their back and forth banter was hilarious to witness.
  As much as Nami has to step up her game and learn about a job she he has no knowledge of, Reiko too has to learn from her — such as communicating her ideas more openly to the team and asking for help and relaying on others when required.
• Despite the obvious The Devil Wears Prada parallels, Reiko is a good boss. She plans and works for the bigger picture, appreciates and compliments her team when required, isn’t ashamed to take her assistant’s opinion, and takes responsibility when things go wrong. We also get snippets of her, early on in her career, having sacrificed her loving relationship with her father to pursue fashion, and then working as an assistant to a top chief editor, just like Nami. These montages make us aware of how hard Reiko has worked to be where she is now, and her cold attitude then doesn’t seem so snarky after all.
  But at the same time, this doesn’t mean that Miyavi wouldn’t survive without. Her passion for fashion is shared by all her subordinates, and making a magazine has always been a team effort, so in the climatic finale, Miyavi still survives without her.
• Similar to the relationship/friendship between Nami and Reiko, I loved that many of the other female relationship/friendships didn’t involve any jealousy, sabotage or hate.
  Nami’s seniors help her navigate her job, give her different opportunities to grow at work, and never mock her lack of interest in fashion. An instance of a potential love triangle too is smoothened over by a civil discussion. Even rivals, Reiko and Takahashi Asami (Takahashi Maryjun) don’t resort to any schemes to bring each other down, but rather use their rivalry to maintain a healthy competition.
• Oh My Boss! Love Not Included is well paced, with the right doses of humour, wisdom and feels. The romance did feel a little side lined at times, but I liked that the drama also focused on Horai Junnosuke’s (Tamamori Yuta) passion and career path and wasn’t just focused on the fact that he was rich and attractive.