Air Dates: April 9th to May 28, 2022 on WOWOW, Saturdays at 10:30 pm
Subs were done by Deedlitmurata at DA, episodes are 25+ minutes in length
Also can be known by the title Young People Nowadays....
Main Cast: Wrote much of this up after only viewing the first show, some characters we didn't get to meet or know too well so will be updating this as time goes on.
Takashi Sorimachi as Hajime Ishizawa.... Chief of the Sales Department A at Mitsuhashi Shouji Trading company. He's a man close to fifty who is a bit quiet at the office yet the employees there dread Ishizawa and go out of their way to avoid him..... save for the rookie worker Ayumi! Ishizawa doesn't understand the younger generation so well which is a reason he's too quiet even though he's the chief of sales. Ishizawa has been with the company for almost 25 years and he also started out as a regular office worker.
Haruka Fukuhara as Ayumi Mugita.... Has only been at the company for a month and wonder why she's there? Ayumi went to college for Humanities and said she's very bad at numbers which she's proved over and over which in the beginning infuriated her senpai Funaki. But Ayumi never stops trying and the chief Ishizawa for some reason has grown a bit fond of her.
Kaito Nakamura as Shun Funaki.... Works a bit closely with Ayumi at the office and at first was always upset with her performance until Ishizawa set him straight. Funaki's problem is that he's a perfectionist and expects others to be too, will his ways come back to haunt him?
Takashi Fujii as Ryoji Ebisu.... Chief of Sales Department B who had been trained by Ishizawa twenty years ago. He's a very strict man to work for and most employees dislike him though Ebisu does try to help everyone hut has a hard time communicating.
Masato Hagiwara as Hiroshi Kazama.... Is still at the company but unsure what his current position is, he was Ishizawa's best friend for many years.
Ayame Misaki as Sanako Inukai.... Female worker at the office.
Atsushi Shinohara as Hideki Kora..... Older male worker at the trading company who refuses to ever work overtime.
Ami Tomite as Hitomi Mugita.... Ayumi's older sister who also lives in Tokyo but the pair seem to have grown up far from the city.
Karen Otomo as The Mysterious Woman.... That's what she's called as she may never have a name? This woman is in her early twenties and Ayumi was wondering is she having an affair with her boss?
On the right is Funaki but the more important person is Ishizawa on the left, that saying "Jeez, young people these days...." is one he utters quite often in an episode.
In the second screenshot above is Ishizawa's old work mate and best friend Kazama. He did make a brief appearance in the beginning to congratulate Ayumi on making her first trading deal, didn't see him after that though. These first five minutes were a continuation of what took place at the end of the second episode. Ayumi had been assigned her first solo project and did so well on the proposal which her senpai(senior) Funaki had helped her with. Kimura Industries was the name of the company which made coil products, the older director Tanuki was pleased with Ayumi's sales proposal so said he would sign a contract. Back at the offices of Mitsuhashi everyone was ecstatic for Ayumi, especially her chief Ishizawa who had confidence she could pull it off! But in a very heartbreaking moment during that celebration a call arrived for Ayumi from the director Tanuki. He told her the contract would be cancelled for 'No particular reason' and to say Ayumi was devastated would be an understatement!
The office mood went from the heights of euphoria to such a gloomy atmosphere in seconds as everyone realized what the call was about. Ishizawa was extremely shaken up though didn't show his feelings but he knew Ayumi's proposal was an excellent one. At the beginning of this series Ayumi's mentor Funaki was such a demanding person, he still is but has changed his ways of communicating to be more positive. On the company's roof Funaki gave Ayumi quite a pep talk and what just took place has happened to every trader in the office. When a client says no particular reason there is at least one and so often it's easier to cancel a contract over the phone. Perhaps the company had a better offer with another trading outfit or something else could have popped up, it's terrible when a contract gets axed but if you do a solid job then the end result is out of your hands. Hiding in the shadows listening to Funaki's speech was Ishizawa and it brought a tear to his eyes(!), as usual his response was 'Young people these days....' and on a positive note it was a learning experience for Ayumi as these things do happen.
In that top screenshot is Ayumi's older sister Hitomi, we heard her voice a few times on the phone but its the first we've seen of her. The sisters had gone out that Sunday for a brief lunch as Hitomi also lives in Tokyo working as a freelance designer. According to Ayumi's thoughts Hitomi is an expert at love but has never been married, like most of Haruka's characters Ayumi has never had a boyfriend. Hitomi was asking about possible suitors at the Mitsuhashi office but Ayumi said all didn't appeal to her, how about her chief then(?) asked Hitomi. That would never work as Ishizawa is old enough to be Ayumi's father but after that conversation she began to look at her boss in a different light. Should Ayumi somehow make a move on Ishizawa and that following day Ayumi was slightly prepared to do that.
She showed up much earlier than usual to clean the office and to get the courage to make the move on her chief! Which was a complete flop and had the slight feeling Ishizawa may have known what was going on, soon after Ayumi's 'hidden advances' he rushed out to a meeting! Much of Ayumi's inane conversation was overheard by the rest of the office who kept quiet about the whole ordeal. That is save for one unnamed secretary who later on told Ayumi that Ishizawa was divorced and was known to be a bit of a playboy. That brought back memories from the first show when Ayumi saw Ishizawa with a much younger woman, we haven't heard about her since but to me she's probably Ishizawa's daughter. A young worker having a crush on their boss could be common and think Ishizawa realized that. He still has faith in Ayumi and has assigned her another project, in that bottom screenshot above you can see the term she uses which will be Ayumi's first meeting with this client.
Corporate Entertainment is an old term which at one time was so common in Japan but it doesn't happen all that much these days as it could be considered a form of harassment. The term means to go out drinking with a client(s) to talk over the details of a deal or contract which these days is seldom done. But Ayumi didn't know that so at that first meeting she brought her older office mate Takara who has the nickname of Kora. He's a burly man but can't hold his alcohol as he passed out after just a few drinks. So it was left to Ayumi to discuss business with this older man named Takenaka but in the end run nothing about any trading or deals was discussed. During this drinking session we learned how much alcohol Ayumi could consume which is a vast amount and she doesn't even get the slightest tipsy! But this man Takenaka did and she had to send him home in a taxi, what about the trading deal?!
Takenaka contacted Ayumi again the following day to set up another of these corporate entertainment sessions, Ayumi agreed but was very reluctant to go. But peering over her shoulder reading that e-mail from Takenaka was her chief Ishizawa and he gave Ayumi another lesson in the world of business. Ishizawa explained how at one time that was the norm to make deals, going out to get sloshed! But not in present times and Ayumi is under no obligation to attend another drinking session with this man. If he can't do a deal the regular way then he may not be a client worth having and Ishizawa recommend talking to someone about these drinking meetings. That person is Ebisu who is right above and when he joined Mitsuhashi twenty years before drinking was a requirement for business meetings even though he hated alcohol. We didn't see much of that get-together as it ended the episode and Ayumi still has made zero deals thanks to a pair of bad breaks. After this post is the one for the fourth episode which I haven't viewed yet and so far am really enjoying this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment