Shomuni
From DramaWiki
Contents
Details
- Title: ショムニ
- Title (romaji): Shomuni
- Title (English): Power Office Ladies
- Genre: Comedy
- Broadcast network: Fuji TV
- Air time: Wednesday 21:00
Cast
- Esumi Makiko as Tsuboi Chinatsu
- Kyono Kotomi as Tsukuhara Sawako
- Sakurai Atsuko as Miyashita Kana
- Hosho Mai as Maruhashi Ume
- Toda Naho as Sugita Misono
- Takahashi Yumiko as Himukai Rie
- Toda Keiko as Tokunaga Azusa
- Ishiguro Ken as Ukyo Tomohiro
- Morimoto Leo as Inoue Koji
- Takahashi Katsumi as Terasaki Torao
- Aijima Kazuyuki
- Ito Toshihito as Nonomura (season 1-2)
- Musaka Naomasa (season 1)
- Hashizume Koichi (season 1-2)
- Yajima Kenichi (season 1)
- Sawamura Ikki (season 2-3)
- Numata Baku (season 2)
- Okayama Hajime (season 2)
Season 1
- Episodes: 12 + 2 Specials
- Viewership ratings: 21.8
- Broadcast period: 1998-Apr-15 to 1998-Jul-01
- Theme song: Sugao na Mama De by Izam with Astral Love
Synopsis
Shomuni (ショムニ) is a comedic TV drama serial based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Gumi Yasuda (安田弘之 Yasuda Gumi).
The stories revolve around the Office Ladies of General Affairs department 2 (Shomu ni, or GA-2) in a large multinational company called Manpan Corporation.
GA-2 is called "the graveyard for female office ladies", simply because it is the place where female employees are dumped should they mess up big time elsewhere. Jobs include replacing used toilet rolls, changing light-bulbs, organizing company outings among other menial stuff. As an added incentive, their department is located in the nether regions of the company - in the basement, and is in fact a disused store room.
Production Credits
- Scriptwriter: Takahashi Rumi
- Producer: Takiyama Madoka
- Director: Suzuki Masayuki
Season 2
- Episodes: 11
- Viewership ratings: 20.3
- Broadcast period: 2000-Apr-12 to 2000-Jun-28
- Theme Song: ONE WAY DRIVE by Esumi Makiko
Synopsis
Shomuni 2 is a sequel from Shomuni, a popular comedic drama serial. It continues where it left off when the female employees from GA-2, deemed "the graveyard of all female employees" for its inane daily job routines of changing light bulbs, used toilet rolls and organising flower appreciation nights, saved the company in the final episode of Shomuni.
However, Manpan Corporation has changed. The multi-national company is now run in a totalitarian fashion. Closed circuit cameras are placed in every nook and cranny of the company to monitor the daily routines of employees. Even the basins in the toilets are not spared (though, obviously, the cubicles are) from scrutiny. This is a result of the Personnel Department, led by the evil Terasaki and Nonomura, who are (again) seeking to find a reason to save up on company budget.
Production Credits
- Scriptwriter: Takahashi Rumi
- Music: Ojima Michiru (大島ミチル)
Season 3
- Also known as: Power Office Girls 3 - The Final Chapter
- Episodes: 12
- Viewership ratings: Average 16.3, with a maximum of 23.1.
- Broadcast period: 2002-Jul-03 to 2002-Sep-18
- Ending song: Taiyou wa shizumanai (太陽は沈まない) by The Alfee
Synopsis
Shomuni Final is a comedic drama serial, continued from Shomuni 2.
Tsuboi Chinatsu, the most hated GA-2 by the Personnel Department, has resigned from Manpan Corporation. During the wedding reception, she asks four of the five female GA-2 employees (all of them except Tsukahara Sawako) whether they wished to have a little bet on whether Tsukahara Sawako would lose her virginity by the end of the month (30th of June). At the same time, Sawako is made the new "de facto" leader of GA-2, and she struggles to fill the boots left behind by Chinatsu.
Production Credits
- Producer: Funatsu Koichi
- Director: Suzuki Masayuki
- Screenwriter: Hashimoto Hiroshi
Review
The format of the story has hardly changed:
1. Shomuni employees do something for their own interests 2. Company runs into trouble 3. Shomuni employees save the company inadvertently 4. Shomuni employees find out that they did not get what they originally set out to do.
This time, though, the storylines have gotten tired, and Shomuni fans must have obtained a feeling that the entire ordeal of "Shomuni" should finally come to an end. There are recycled plotlines and too-similar plot-twists in two of the episodes, and one can almost guess the ending from the start of the show.
Worse, Himukai Rie, the part-time fortune teller, is given a very disappointingly peripheral role compared to the first two episodes, and it appears that the scriptwriters have run out of ideas.
One would miss Ito Toshihito's presence in Shomuni 1 and Shomuni 2, as the new person who replaces him, Okano, is not as charismatic or as good an actor as the former.
Thankfully though, the entire Shomuni saga ended with Shomuni Forever (telecast in 1 Janurary 2003). By that time, it had only generated 14.2% of the television ratings, compared to the average rating of 16.3% for this series with a peak of 23.1%.