Japan is a land where the people bow endlessly and make numerous "Please give your guidance" requests. Public respectfulness is very important. It is drilled in to everyone from a young age. It is reinforced in school. They do not lose it in college. It prepares them for a lifetime of bowing at work. People bow even as they speak into the phone.
Japanese people may personally find it tiresome but would never admit it. It is therefore not surprising that a comedy show like Shomuni was popular.
In every Shomuni episode, there is a big crisis and the employees of a lowly section of a large corporation break through the stuffy pecking order and save the day. They show more pluck and ethics than the feuding higher-ups.
The cast
Esumi Makiko plays Chinatsu, the unofficial leader of the General Administration 2. GA2 is a department of the multinational corporation Manpan. Manpan is always in such dire financial straits that it cannot afford the severance pay required to fire employees. Instead, Manpan sends unwanted employees to GA2, hoping that they will quit on their own and save the corporate a lot of money.
The drama begins with a timid girl Sawako Tsukhara joining the international division. Because of a misunderstanding, she gets demoted to GA2 where she is taken under the wings by Chinatsu. In all three seasons of Shomuni, Sawako remains in GA2. She is still in love with Mr. Ukyo who is the most talented member of the international division. This is not unusual because a lot of the female staff are also like that. Mr. Ukyo does not indulge these women and remains chaste throughout the series. In seaons four, all women of GA2 except Chinatsu get replaced with a younger set.
GA2 is tasked with maintenance, supplies and sundry activities. It is lead by an extremely timid person. He is the most loyal employee of the corporation. Other than that, he has no talents. Apart from Chinatsu and Sawako, there are four other women in GA2, each with a different kind of talent. One of them is a fortune-teller. Several episodes revolve around her predictions. Every day, the women of GA2 go around the floors of the corporation changing lightbulbs, distributing memos and other routine activities. They are also free a lot of the time and spend it on gossiping. Their favorite activity is in organizing office events, as they usually have a big reward for the winner employee.
The episodes are not in chronological order and the stores are independent. The only commonality is that Manpan is in dire straits and GA2 women are condemned. Everything depends on the latest deal that Manpan seeks to finalize with some new foreign partner.
Chinatsu vs. Sugita
The women of GA2 have an eternal feud with the secretarial pool led by Sugita. Whenever they pass each other, they lob some biting remarks hoping to strike a raw nerve.
Naho Toda who plays Sugita remains just another pretty face in the first season but she really shines in the second and third seasons. Her confrontations with Chinatsu are TV gold.
Recommended age rating: 16+