A new pair of apprentice chef and a chef in danger is born!
Good Morning, Sleeping Lion 2 is a 2023 web action film, directed by Koichi Sakamoto. It is the sequel to Good Morning, Sleeping Lion. Seiji Takaiwa returns as Kazuma Kujo, a retired Private Military Contractor in his fifties who once again utilizes his considerable fighting (and cooking) skills to help a young woman, food truck proprietress Akane Yuzuki (Yui Oguri), achieve her dream and protect her from the criminal organization Artemis, which members are portrayed by former Kamen Rider lead actors. Meanwhile, Remi Watanuki (Miho Watanabe), Kujo's charge in the previous film, has become a rising action starlet.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- 30 Minutes, or It's Free!: Charlie's pub offers free food if it isn't delivered within 30 minutes. Luckily, Kujo is a pretty agile guy.
- Action Girl: Remi stars in an upcoming action flick, where she's shown playing a Badass in a Nice Suit walking away from an explosion before engaging in a gunfight and hand-to-hand combat.
- Actor Allusion: When an otaku customer suddenly starts taking pictures of her, Akane is initially reluctant as she's not an idol, but then proceeds to strike various poses anyway, as her actress is a top AKB48 member.
- Animal Motif: Kujo is unsurprisingly compared to a lion, and his former rival on the battlefield is Kurotora (Black Tiger). Bear Claw fights using claw-like knuckledusters. Artemis enforcers are called Gundogs (after a term for actual hunting dogs), while the preys are the "deer".
- Animal Theme Naming: The top members of Artemis have animal codenames, mostly based on their real names: Hornet (real name Suguru Hachiya), Bear Claw (Kumami), Vulture (Takano), and Kurotora. Remi Watanuki's name also contains tanuki (raccoon dog).
- Arc Words: Kujo teaches Akane to "cook with the person you're making the food for in mind", as he created the Battlefield Meal to be good enough as a soldier's last meal.
- Battle Cry: Kujo yells "Good morning!" in his Heroic Second Wind moment.
- Behavioral Conditioning: When he hears Remi's single "Hitoribocchi no Kakumei" being played on the street, Kujo unconsciously starts dancing the wotagei as when he was still her manager, which catches the attention of Akane.
- Bilingual Bonus: The Artemis logo features its name in Greek alphabet (Ἄρτεμις).
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Akane calls Kujo creepy for being a Remi Watanuki fan at his age. Her actress is a member of AKB48, known for having many older fans.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Akane yells "Good morning!" when she wakes up in the epilogue.
- But Now I Must Go: Kujo resigns as Akane's apprentice chef in the end, as her father has returned and they can already thrive without his help.
- The Cameo: One of the passers-by Kujo attempts to interview for his market survey is played by Takaiwa's real-life son, Shinta. He lampshades this by saying they must have met somewhere in the past (a double reference as Shinta was also in the first film as a Grim Reapers thug).
- Cosplay: One of Akane's ways to attract customers is by doing various cosplays, including as a cheerleader from Kamen Rider Fourze.
- Courier: In the beginning, Kujo is working as a delivery man for Charlie's pub.
- Crusading Lawyer: Bear Claw is a lawyer who decides to take the law into Artemis' hands, as he believes the justice system is flawed. He's actually just a sadist, as seen from his gleefulness in judging the innocent Kujo.
- Deadly Doctor: Vulture is an anesthesiologist and medical school professor. He joins Artemis to maintain order in society and to make sure the preys don't get killed.
- Deadly Game: Artemis organizes games where "hunters" hunt and beat up "preys" made up of people who have wronged them. Although the leader claims to value fair play and provides an escape route for the preys, the preys are clearly at a disadvantage, being chased by both the hunters and the enforcers and also having to avoid bear traps and other obstacles. Subverted when it's revealed that the enforcers are there to prevent any actual deaths. Played straight with the final hunt, which allows the use of real hunting rifles.
- Dirty Old Man: When Kujo panics as he sees Remi approaching their food truck, Akane accuses him of being Remi's creepy fan, unaware that they actually know each other.
- Disappeared Dad: Akane's father ran away due to his debt, leaving her to deal with it.
- Family Business: Akane's food truck belonged to her missing father. Although her father was just taking advantage of the food truck trend and doesn't have any talent or passion for cooking, she aspires to become a first-rate chef and continue the business.
- Freudian Excuse: Hornet watched his mother being beaten to death as a child, while the lunchbox she made for him fell into a puddle of mud. Since then, he can only see and taste food as dirt, and his hunger can only be satisfied by watching guilty people being beaten up in his "hunts" as surrogates for his mother's killers, who were sons of rich and powerful people and escaped justice. Akane figures out that she should serve him food suitable for the boy within him, who longs for his mother's cooking, instead of for his adult self, and manages to return his sense of taste.
- Friendly Enemy: As mercenaries, Kujo and Kurotora have fought both alongside and against each other.
- Gratuitous English: Kurotora randomly mixes English into his speech (his actor, Kane Kosugi, is bilingual and works in both Japan and the USA). Artemis' preys are sometimes referred to as "deer" in English.
- Heel–Face Turn: Akane's father started working as an Artemis enforcer to collect money to pay off his debts, but after he learned of what they actually do, he escaped and hid a memory card with evidence of their crimes in his food truck as an insurance policy, putting Akane in the organization's crosshairs.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Artemis claims to be a way to bring justice to those who escaped the law and take care not to let the preys get killed. In reality, they are willing to make up excuses to justify putting anyone in as prey, including Kujo, even though he hasn't done anything wrong, and invited Upper Class Twits who want to kill people as sport as the hunters, instead of people who are victims of the preys. Hornet becomes not so different from his mother's killers, a wealthy man who can have others beaten up into a pulp with impunity.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Nominally Akane's apprentice chef, Kujo's Battlefield Meal proves to be a big hit with the customers, and Akane reluctantly makes it their main offering.
- In-Series Nickname: Although she knows his name, Akane always calls Kujo "Ossan" ("old man"), indicating her lower middle-class upbringing (a more refined young woman would at least use ojisan).
- Instant Sedation: Kurotora brings Kujo down with a dose of sedative stored in a ring.
- Loan Shark: Akane's father is in debt to a loan shark. Fortunately, the group happens to be the yakuza gang Kujo defeated in the previous movie, so he easily scares them off from intimidating Akane.
- Meaningful Name: Artemis was named after the Greek goddess of the hunt.
- Money Is Not Power: After she made the dish that satisfied Hornet, Akane only takes 20000 yen as payment for the impromptu catering service and leaves the rest of the 20 million yen she's rewarded.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Former mercenary Kurotora's name means "Black Tiger".
- Nobody Can Die: The Artemis henchmen discuss that they're around to make sure the hunters don't kill the preys, and one of them is even a doctor to keep them alive. Subverted when they do the Kujo hunt with real hunting rifles.
- Non-Action Big Bad: While Kujo fights Hornet's Co-Dragons and other minions, Akane confronts him in a food-tasting showdown.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Akane gets a catering job for Remi Watanuki's film location shooting, and when Remi arrives to get her food, Kujo finds a Kamen Rider Fourze Rocket Form mask lying in the kitchen and puts it on to avoid any awkward situation. He later helps her practice a throw for her action scene. It's heavily implied that Remi does know who's actually behind the mask, as she flashes him the bracelet he gave her in the previous film, and while resting after the practice session, she tells him a story about "her former manager" and how she's grateful that he'd helped her get to where she is now; in return, Kujo offers a "possible" explanation on why "that manager" left, which Remi accepts.
- Plot Hole: Remi claims to have learned how to do action scenes from a person who used to be close to her. If she meant Kujo, she only saw him fight twice (he even wore a mask the first time) and is unlikely to have picked up anything useful.
- Power-Up Food: In the final battle against Kurotora, Kujo is knocked unconscious and almost dies... but that's simply because he was confined all night and hasn't eaten. After Akane gives him her Battlefield Omurice, he proceeds to curbstomp Kurotora.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Before fighting the Gundogs:Kujo: Are you ready for a world of pain, or will you walk away quietly? May I take your order?
- Recycled Premise: Once again, Kujo helps a young woman abandoned by her father improve her skills to be able to move towards her dream, while battling a criminal organization which holds Deadly Games along the way, and leaves after she becomes more established in her pursuit. They also help another person struggling with a childhood trauma, and he again fights an Elite Mook played by an Ultraman suit actor.
- Retired Badass: Kazuma and his friend Charlie are retired mercenaries.
- Sequel Hook: In the epilogue, as they leave Akane to her work, Charlie apologizes to Kujo for not helping much, and Kujo tells him to do better next time.
- Shout-Out: Remi Watanuki is shooting a movie titled Roar! Youth Hurricane, a reference to 1981's Roaring Fire starring Hiroyuki Sanada. Her co-star is also named Hiroyuki and wears a costume similar to one in the real-life movie.
- Snooty Haute Cuisine:
- Akane's goal is to become a first-rate chef, and at first she equates that with haute cuisine and insists on using premium ingredients, which results in high prices that scare away potential customers. She's upset when Kujo's humble Battlefield Meal sells like crazy.
- Hornet can't enjoy gourmet food due to his trauma, but his loss of taste is cured by a simple omurice.
- Supreme Chef: Akane aims to be one. However, it's Kujo's Battlefield Meal recipe that becomes popular among their customers, which makes him already one since his mercenary days. In the climax, Akane becomes one as she modifies Kujo's recipe into an omurice dish, which manages to return Hornet's sense of taste.
- Took a Level in Badass: Remi Watanuki, the first film's Damsel in Distress, has become an action star and is set to appear as the leading lady in an upcoming film.
- Training Montage:
- Kujo's training regime to prepare Akane to make his dish includes running, weight training, and practicing tennis swings with a frying pan, in addition to actually preparing and cooking the ingredients.
- There's also a short one during his reunion with Remi.
- Villain with Good Publicity: To the public, Artemis is the name of a successful health food company owned by Suguru Hachiya, who's also known as a social activist and a gourmet (despite his inability to taste food).
- Woman Scorned: An Artemis game has several women hunting their husbands' mistresses to then violently punish them.
- Worthy Opponent: Kurotora is an Artemis henchman and becomes Kujo's final opponent. There's no animosity from either of them when it's over, as Kujo still offers to make him a Battlefield Meal anytime he likes.
