Shomuni is a 1998 J drama introduced to me by Kelvin Khor and I know why he loves it! It's a comedy which imparts good values to its viewers through unconventional means! In short, it is a drama about the office ladies in General Affairs Section 2, deemed the 'graveyard for office ladies'. Female workers rendered useless are transferred to this section where they are expected to quit within 3 days because of the boring and meaningless tasks assigned. To be honest, I find the work they do important because it ensures that every other office worker can focus on their job well without worrying about menial stuff. What do these ladies at GA 2 do? Overlooked duties such as fixing and changing the light bulb, refilling toilet paper, delivering company's mail to each dept, etc. Of course, what would a drama be without the antagonists? Enter the HR team, composed of two men who are always devising new schemes to get rid of the GA 2 ladies in an effort to reduce the company's budget. However, their ingenious plans tend to go awry and it is comical to watch these office ladies battle their way out, sometimes, unsuspecting the true intentions of these HR men when their true goal was to achieve something else. There is also the Secretariat, a team of 4 secretary ladies who looked down upon these GA 2 ladies for doing menial jobs. Their interactions and squabbles made the entire drama premise engaging and hilarious to watch!
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| Chinatsu Tsuboi |
Chinatsu - Head of the GA 2 ladies, she is a tall and confident lady who does not tolerate people with an ugly character. Hiding her true self behind stories about herself which she herself spreads, she takes charge in most situations and speaks up when needed. Her motto of "A woman's worth is determined by the number of men she conquered" may not go well with most women but she has a high level of integrity. She usually delivers her 'good values' sermon and this is where viewers get a dose of character building.
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| Tsukahara Sawako |
Tsukahara - The fifth member of the GA 2 ladies and the most innocent. Due to her naivety and simple-mindedness, she is usually clueless and blur but at times, she knows what to do. She appears to be a very pure character but she sometimes made remarks which makes both the office ladies and us wonder, really? As Tokunaga once said it, she is ambitious! She had some character development as she was a small worm in the beginning but she learns to be assertive over time.
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| Rie Himuka |
Rie - She is the fortune teller of the group, highly skilled in reading fortunes. She can be seen going through her tarot cards or otherwise staring into space. Her expression is usually deadpan when she 'sees' the future. Although her forecasts are usually accurate, it is usually the interpretations that makes the story interesting. We get to know a little bit about her during an episode where Chinatsu asks her to take care of her own destiny as well instead of others.
Yoshina - Playgirl of the group and sometimes dubbed, the Devil, she is excellent in seducing men with her charming/flirtatious glances and smiles. She has been tremendously helpful in situations where they needed the men to co-operate. Although she has many lovers ( most of them are top executives of the company), she doesn't settle on a serious relationship though the humanity side of her is reflected briefly in an episode.
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| Azusa Tokunaga |
Tokunaga - The eldest of the ladies, she has been an employee of the Mapan Corporation for as long as they can remember. She may be older than everyone but she certainly still has her feisty ways! She will compete fiercely if one takes over her role and she is usually the one reading out announcements. I really enjoy her announcements as they are seriously funny. She is so passionate and steady!! Her goal is to look for a rich husband and she has been going through matchmaking agencies.
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| Maruhashi Ume |
Ume - The sixth member of the group, she is a highly arrogant girl who wants to be the first woman director of the company. As ambitious as she is, she still has her moral integrity intact and she is continuously working hard to increase her skills and show that she has what it takes, including taking up Arabic?!
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Secretariat
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the Secretariat - Yoshiharu and gang forms the elite secretary group, who thinks highly of themselves. Yoshiharu is constantly belittling the GA 2 ladies and is always engage in a verbal confrontation with Chinatsu whenever they happen to meet in the hallway.
Ikami - Section Chief who is passive and idles his time away taking care of his cat. He does not really seem to do much but his absence is sorely felt by the girls.
Ukyo - Bright, talented, and having returned from LA, he is a hit among the girls, especially among Yoshiharu and Tsukahara. Honest and righteous, he is a good kid who may be too workaholic sometimes....
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| Chinatsu and Yoshiharu in a verbal assault session |
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| HR : Nonomura and Chief Terasaki |
All in all, a good watch for someone who prefers to have a good laugh while revisiting some good old humanity values!
