“Now is such a tough era for working people. [But no matter what your concerns are,] it’s okay. Because you are not the only one who is suffering.”
Workplace drama either gives us insight into a certain industry’s workings or allows us to live through its characters and subsequently learn from them. And to get its moral lessons, sometimes we need to read between the lines, sometimes they spell it out for us. Haken Uranaishi Ataru is the latter in both cases. With barely any of the former elements.
How come? Because although set in an event planning company, we don’t learn anything (new) about the industry or the work processes. What they show is very surfacey — team meetings, brainstorming, division of work, event execution, feedback or appraisal. As for the lessons, nothing needs inferring as everything is preached bluntly. By the temp staff of the team, at that.
Team D it is called, but there’s nothing team-like about it. It’s only filled with individuals who happen to be assigned to the far-end space of the office. The members aren’t exactly competent, the leader is supportive yet toothless, team morale is low, and being the lowest-performing team in the company doesn’t make them unite to improve their merits.
Kanda (Shida Mirai) is a jittery yes-man who dares not voice her opinions or make her own decisions. Meguro (Mamiya Shotaro) is a happy-go-lucky guy who got in through connection despite lacking the skills and competency. Shinagawa (Shison Jun) is a low-spirited first-year employee who says “impossible” to almost everything and has repeatedly wanted to quit. Ueno (Ozawa Yukiyoshi) is an obnoxious Mr. I’m-Always-Right senior who complains, berates, and orders his assistant(s) around a lot. Tabata (Nonami Maho) is an uptight and rigid senior who refuses any extra work outside her given tasks and leaves work on the dot. Osaki (Itaya Yuka) is a pushover head who’s unable to stand up to her superior or defend her subordinates. Then there’s Yoyogi (Oikawa Mitsuhiro), the smarmy buchou who’s always buttering up the boss, dumping all extra work to Team D, running away when there’s problem yet readily taking credit when things go well.
(Interesting bit: the characters’ names are taken from station names on the Yamanote loop line, one of the busiest lines in Tokyo, although i don’t know know if there’s more meaning to it than that.)
There’s no single likeable character in this drama, making it hard to sit through the back-to-back problems, inefficiencies, incompetencies, blunders, and indifference shown in the first few episodes. Everyone’s left to fend for themselves until they break down… which is when Matoba Ataru (Sugisaki Hana), the-retired-fortune-teller-turned-the-new-temp-staff, relents, sees them through, and gives them a stern talking-to which serves as a wake-up call to change their perspective and gain newfound motivation in their respective role.
That’s basically the trajectory used throughout the series, no surprises there. So we can see where things will go in each episode, and after the second episode, we can already expect Ataru to read all members, one at a time. What’s unexpected is her reading the buchou or her own mother (or that the table would turn for her to be on the readee side)… not only because i don’t think they can change their ways but also because i’m not prepared to like them at the end of the show. This applies to Ueno-san too, which is honestly the most annoying of all. But like typical j-doramas, even when there isn’t much character development, they will manage to give enough backstories of the characters to make sense of their attitude/behavior — or even make us sympathize with them.
Fortunately, there is character development in this drama, even if it becomes apparent around episode 5. Unfortunately, the first two-three episodes were boring with lack of teamwork and lots of error, so much that i was thinking to watch the rest of the series only for the ‘fortune-telling’ part. In the end, however, i ended up semi-marathoning the last 6 episodes; Ataru is definitely more watchable when the characters are starting to change and come together.
As for the readings, the advice given can be hit-or-miss yet is the highlight of each episode. I’m compiling them below:
Kanda-san’s
Q: Do I keep making mistakes at work because I’m not suitable for this job?
A: That isn’t something for others to decide, right? It’s for you to decide.
Q: Why is it really hard for me to make decisions about various things?
A: In short, there is no love in you. The love for yourself. Rather than worrying about your surroundings, you should love yourself more. If you keep believing in lucky color or power stone, it would be thanks to them that you could be happy. Is that okay for you? That it has nothing to do with your hard work and efforts?
You might think that you have nothing you can be proud of about yourself, but that’s not true. Because there’s no single person like that in this world! There’s always something in everyone — something only you can do.
Meguro-kun’s
Q: Is there anything good about me?
A: Your good point is you have nothing inside you. It’s obvious.
Q: Huh? Is that…a praise?
A: I was surprised when I first saw you. ‘How pure this guy is’, I thought. You have no ill intention at all, which others usually have. If you can keep being yourself like the way you’ve always been, you will surely be able to offer a helping hand to someone. Because there’s no single person like that in this world; There is no one who isn’t needed by others.
Shinagawa-kun’s
Q: I have such a bad superior who always bullies me. What should I do?
A: There’s nothing you can do about it. He won’t change anyway. No matter where you work, there will always be a higher-up like that. But you have seniors who are so worried about you and try their best to stop you from quitting, right?
Q: Is this really where I belong to?
A: You were running away when things didn’t go as you had hoped it to be. Then? What’s left? Only regret, isn’t it? If you keep running away like that, there’s no way you can find a place where you belong to.
Q: Do other people know for sure that the job they’re doing now is the right one for them?
A: There’s no way it can be like that. Just like walking through a completely dark tunnel, you have to believe that someday you’ll be able to see the light. There’s no way a youngster like you can understand easily the meaning or the joy of working after all. But by experiencing various things, you can finally understand it. That’s the point, isn’t it? There’s no single person in this world who lives understanding completely what’s right for them.
Ueno-san’s
Q: Why am I being hated by people around me?
A: You need qualifications to be angry, you know. Rather than spending your time lecturing others, you should improve yourself more. If you remain like this, you’ll be digging your own grave and it will be too deep that you can’t get out anymore.
Q: Do i still have that thing called talent left in me?
A: What you’re losing is not the talent. But the feelings you felt that time, right?
Q: What can I do to regain that?
A: First, enough with those Three Sacred Treasures of old people: bragging, lecturing, grumbling. Stop doing those things and face your future more properly. Don’t pursue the glory of the past which you couldn’t go back to anymore, but take a good care of what’s left in your hand now. There’s no single person in this world who can do their job alone.
Tabata-san’s
Q: Why can’t I be happy?
A: It’s pointless to compare your happiness to others. If you think like, “Ah, that person has such a cool partner” or “Ah, that family is so rich”, you’ll just end up cursing your own fate. Just so you know, unfairness is just a usual thing in this world. It’s equally unfair for everyone in this world. That’s why there are so many people died because of terrorism, illness, or man-made disasters. However, we have no other choice but to live in this unfair world! It’s pointless to keep on cursing on your own fate! Because you can’t just reborn to be someone else.
In the end, you’re just waiting for good things to happen while blaming this world’s unfairness for your misfortune. You have neither intention nor effort to be happy. Happiness isn’t something you should be waiting for. It’s something you create by yourself.
Osaki-san’s
Q: I don’t have such thing like originality which I can be proud of. The way I speak, my gestures, the way I do things, I learned them all by imitating others. I’m afraid that someday, someone will call me “fake”.
A: You keep saying that you don’t have originality and that you’re such a fake person. But even though you imitate others, if you frantically follow a good example and continue your effort untiringly, you’re a real one. If you keep doing your best every day to make people around you happy, it will be the originality only you can have.
Q: But, to have a captain who’s constantly worried like me…
A: Then, those people who ignore their subordinates’ feelings and those who wield their authorities, can you call them a leader? Those who leave all the decisions to their subordinates in hard times and blame others when things go wrong, but will proudly say, “I did it all” when things work out, can you call them a leader? They are what you call fake. A true leader is someone who worries more than anyone else.
Yoyogi-san’s
Q: Is it already impossible for me to get promotion?
A: To begin with, why do you want to get promotion?
Q: That’s… if I could seize the authority, I would be able to run this company the way I wanted.
A: So you think it’s okay to do power harassment to your subordinates?
Q: Why don’t people recognize me more?
A: You keep saying that you want to be recognized. But if you really want that, first you have to recognize the people around you!
I know it hurts to be told that you have no talent. But there’s no single person in this world who has no talent at all. Because no matter how hard it is, to be able to continuously work hard without giving up is also a talent.
Although pretty specific to the said character’s concerns, the advices can be quite broad and vague, which is arguably difficult to put a definite end to their troubles. But they did. They, however, are general enough to be relevant or applicable to working people at large. They may be questions you’re pondering at some point in your career, or the people you’ve encountered/worked with, whether you’re a new hire, a middle manager, or a top executive.
One session also feels too short to completely change their mindset, though it kinda works within the episodic format, to conclude each event well. The most interesting part about these sessions is Ataru’s 180, which is oftentimes more satisfying to watch than the conclusion itself, especially when she’s patronizing Ueno or Yoyogi-san. She does explain her reasoning behind it, which totally makes sense but also rather futile given her certain yielding.
Despite the issues i had with this drama — unlikable characters, too easy resolutions, average storyline — the struggles are relatable and it did became a lot more watchable toward the end, as the characters became better versions of themselves. I started this drama for Sugisaki Hana and she is the youngest yet strongest act of the cast. Ataru isn’t her best work, but i liked it better than her last rendora. Hopefully her next one will be even better.
_
Rating: 3/5
Director: Yukawa Kazuhiko, Higurashi Ken, Ito Akinori
Screenwriter: Yukawa Kazuhiko
Production: TV Asahi, 2019
Cast: Sugisaki Hana, Shida Mirai, Mamiya Shotaro, Shison Jun, Ozawa Yukiyoshi, Nonami Maho, Itaya Yuka, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Wakamura Mayumi
Genre: Workplace, J-dorama (9 Episodes)
.BeansSpilled. 