Oosugi Ren passes away due to acute heart failure

Oosugi Ren passed away due to acute heart failure on 21 February. He was 66 years old. According to his agency ZACCO's official website, Oosugi died at 3.53am and his funeral will be attended by his immediate family i.e. his wife and two children and relatives only according to the wishes of Oosugi himself and his family. As for his farewell ceremony, details will be released once the arrangements have been made.

According to TV Tokyo, Oosugi was filming TV Tokyo Winter 2018 drama "Byplayers 2" on 20 February and had returned to the hotel where they were staying at after the filming wrapped up for the day. While having his dinner, Oosugi suddenly complained of stomach pains and was then sent to the hospital via an ambulance while accompanied by Matsushige Yutaka and other staff members. The cast and staff members were by Oosugi's bedside along with his family members when he breathed his last.


Oosugi was born on 27 September 1951 at Komatsushima City in Tokushima Prefecture. After quitting from Meiji University, he became a stage actor in 1973 and made his debut later as a movie actor in 1980 through the movie "Kinbaku Ikenie". Since then, he had acted in many dramas and movies and was especially known for being a regular in Kitano Takeshi's movies. His last post on his blog was just 3 days ago where he talked about his cat asking for its food.

As a result of his current demise, the ongoing "Byplayers 2" becomes the final drama in his illustrious career. At the wishes of Oosugi's family, agency and the cast, the 3rd episode of "Byplayers 2" was aired as scheduled at 9.54pm on 21 February. As for the remaining episodes 4 and 5 originally due to be shown on 28 February and 7 March, there will be an announcement later regarding the broadcast schedule. During the ending credits of Ep 3, a telop mentioning Oosugi's demise and the drama's cast & staff hoping for him to rest in peace was flashed on the screen. The drama's producer Asano Futoshi commented that it was very hard for everyone to accept this because it happened too suddenly. In particular, Oosugi had been actively involved in the production of the second series from the planning stage and taken on the role of the leader for the entire cast and staff. As such, they are especially filled with so much regret and sadness about this drama being his last.

Meanwhile, NTV announced that they will also be proceeding with the latest episode of variety show "Guruguru 99 - Gourmet Chicken Race Gochi ni narimasu!" originally scheduled to be shown at 7.56pm on 22 February after seeking the approval of Oosugi's family members and agency. Oosugi had become a regular member of the programme since January 2017 and won the spot-on award twice in a row for the first time in the programme's history on its 24 August 2017 and 7 September 2017 episodes. As for future episodes featuring Oosugi, the TV station will make a decision which will be announced later. In response to the news about Oosugi's passing, the programme's official Twitter had been flooded with comments by viewers asking for the episodes featuring Oosugi to be shown as scheduled without any cuts and a SP featuring him to be shown.

In response to the news of Oosugi's passing, his co-stars in "Byplayers 2" i.e. Endo Kenichi, Taguchi Tomorowo, Matsushige Yutaka and Mitsuishi Ken released a joint statement as follows:

"As this is an extremely sudden happening, we, the members, are still unable to accept the truth. In "Byplayers" where we play ourselves using our real names, Oosugi-san was our leader and spiritual support. To have lost him in this manner has left us with a huge sense of loss. However, we will stand as actors till the last day and continue making everyone laugh. Oosugi-san will forever be the goal we strive towards and we are proud of him from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you for your hard work. We hope that you will rest in peace.
Ren-san, thank you very much.

The Byplayers
Endo Kenichi, Taguchi Tomorowo, Matsushige Yutaka & Mitsuishi Ken"

Sources: Natalie / Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports 2 / Nikkansports 3 / Sponichi