Shomuni 4

How long
10 episodes

Foreword
It has been 10 years since Shomuni had been dissolved in Manpan Corporation, and the department members have all gone on into retirement. Tsuboi Chinatsu's whereabouts is known to nobody. Due to the long economic downturn suffered by Japanese companies, restructuring is a common occurrence nowadays. Manpan is no different from the rest. How is the company going to survive?

Introduction on characters
1. Maruyama Shiori – Honda Tsubasa
She is an Olympic gold-medal hopeful in the pole vault event. Manpan had recruited her as part of their PR advertising, but due to severe costs-cutting measures, the track and field club in Manpan is dissolved, and Shiori is deemed to have no value to the company anymore. She is very clumsy and makes many mistakes.

In order to make Shiori, who doesn't even have the skills to be a telephone operator, leave on her own accord, the company started tweeting bad things about her. Poor Shiori is now an outcast in the company and no one totally dares to be seen with her at all. No one, except for the team of OL. who appear before her one by one. They make up the new Shomuni unit.

2. Tsuboi Chinatsu – Esumi Makiko
She is a terror to many and thus she is sort of the leader of the group due to her height. She carries a ladder with her and her sharp tongue has never changed. She can be vain to want to outshine herself but provides help to members when they need her.

3. Minami Madoka – Becky
She is a brainy computer expert and a master of languages. She is hurt by the fact that her ex-lover plans to use the software both of them have created to sell to Manpan by claiming that he is the only one having the rights. Giving her no choice, Minami finds flaws in the software and ruins his chance when he has a trial with Manpan to force him to back off

4. Reiko Abe – Sakura Ando
She believes in fortune telling and fate so all go to her when they feel lost or they are in need of help. She will then consult her pet turtle for advice. She feels that it is a pity for her neighbour to despise her own home wine brewery shop to want to get into Manpan so she leads her to discover how precious it is.

5. Misuzu Kojima – Kanna Mori
She is a beauty and is popular with male colleagues. All never fail to see her with different men in different weeks but she is genuine to them. Once, the rest think she has an affair with a senior manager as both seem to have children. The kids turn out to be orphans and they are only meeting them to show them warmth.

6. Fukuda Masuyo – Horiuchi Keiko
She is always very sure of herself and wants to marry a capable man. A matchmaking agency uses statistics to confirm the chances of pairing the singles. Although the man is outstanding and fits all her criteria, she rejects him as she believes in personal feelings instead of relying on a computer to come up with the results.

7. Daisuke Samon – Shohei Miura
He is dashing and is from the sales unit and Shiori carries a torch for him. He is often bullied but works hard to achieve his target. He learns French to upgrade himself. He is initially paired up with another colleague (a manager's mistress) for a wedding commercial due to his ex-girlfriend's cunning arrangement but he prefers Shiori. All feel glad for the two when they are finally in the shoot.

8. Miki Danjo – Nana Katase
She is Tsuboi's rival who is of the same authority as her. She claims to have wooers but in reality, she is often alone when taking leave. Still for the good of the company, she joins forces with Tsuboi's team when Tsuboi's team is posted overseas while her team becomes Shomuni.

9. Koichi Shimoochiai – Kosuke Suzuki
The rest are under his thumb as he is eager to achieve success. He is a bootlicker and is very crafty. Still, he will vent his frustrations at the arcade when he is upset.

10. Kenji Hoshino – Ken Yasuda
Koichi is the other's superior while he is Koichi's superior. He likes to give him the nasty tasks to complete while he can claim credit for himself.

11. Susumu Maekawa – Takeshi Masu
He is the boss who can't wait to get rid of Manpan. However, he is grateful to them when he regains his company due to their help.

Most favourite character
Daisuke, he is hardworking and sets his priorities right. He is nice to Shomuni to help them frequently.

Most hated character
Kenji, he finds fault with Shomuni and looks down on them as they look no better than road sweepers.

Conclusion
It runs in the same manner as the other previous seasons. The cast are good although the Shomuni team work together for the first time. The stories create lots of humour and the cast are witty or swift in their exchanges. Of course, some episodes are blown out of proportion to make you laugh and see how they make a fool of themselves. Still, at the end of it, you will be touched by the employees' persistence to save their own company. They are dedicated to their jobs after all.

Sukting's ratings :

On acting : *** (Scale of 5)

On story : *** (Scale of 5)