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May 20, 2021
The OL, or “office lady” (female office clerk), has long been pop culture fodder in Japan. Back in the glorious bubble era days of the late 1980s and early ’90s, manga artist Yutsuko Chusonji had a hit with “Sweet Spot,” a comic in the male-targeted Spa! magazine whose heroines were so-called “
oyaji gyaru” OLs who played golf, swilled whiskey and enjoyed other pursuits then considered the purview of
oyaji (middle-aged men).
Though the oyaji gyaru had some basis in reality, Kazuaki Seki’s comedy “Office Royale” zooms off into a two-fisted fantasyland that makes Chusonji’s cheeky creations look like tight-skirted wimps. The result is often hilarious, though the gender politics can be dubious.
May 20, 2021
It’s early May and actress Mei Nagano, 21, is at Tokyo’s Hanazono Shrine doing publicity for her similarly named action comedy, “Jigoku no Hanazono” (literally, “Flower Garden of Hell”), titled “Office Royale” in English.
It’s an appropriate place to have an interview, the shrine is said to be a favorite spot for businessmen to pray for success, and it’s just a stone’s throw away from Kabukicho, an entertainment district that has long been a stomping ground for underworld types (who are occasionally known to stomp each other).
“Office Royale” is based on an original script by the comic Bakarhythm, and it stars Nagano as an OL (office lady) clerk working at a big company and leading a mundane existence. Among her colleagues, however, are