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.