
The day after being dumped by the boyfriend to whom she was going to give her virginity, Sawako Tsukahara (Kumiko Endo), an office lady in the accounting department of Manpan Trading Co., is dispatched as a helper to General Affairs Section 2. General Affairs Section 2, nicknamed "Shomuni," is the company's cesspool department where underachieving office ladies are gathered. The members of the General Affairs Department are Chinatsu Tsuboi (Reiko Takashima), who is in charge of the department; the femme fatale Kana Miyashita (Michiko Kawai); the self-disciplined Yumiko Maruhashi (Asako Kobayashi); the boastful Kayoko Tokunaga (Mari Hamada); the unremarkable Section Chief Inoue (Masao Komatsu); and the stray cat, Butcha.
Directed by Takayoshi Watanabe, Shomuni leans on a strong ensemble — Reiko Takashima, Kumiko Endo, Michiko Kawai — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.
The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about comedy titles of 1998.
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Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
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