Japanese TV dramas english synopsis

Here are some dramas that I'd like to translate (hoping that I'll find enough time and that my japanese will improve in the process):

• Shomu Ni: episodes 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 & 12
• Odoru Daisôsasen: episodes 1 to 11 and 2 specials
• Long Vacation: the best dialogues
• Dokushin Seikatsu

I will also temporarily host synopsis for With Love and Koi No Kiseki. These synopsis were originally made by Shuji for his Drama Universe.

Shomu Ni

Shomu Ni (or General Affairs Section 2) is an hilarious look into the world of Japanese companies, from female points of view. Basically, it is about a team of women from different sections of a company who are demoted to General Affairs Section 2. Although Shomu Ni and its OL (Office Ladies) have the worst reputation in the company, somehow the company couldn't do without them. The TV drama, inspired by a manga, is very dynamically shot, and it goes against the traditional perception of women in Japanese society and companies, which are viewed mainly as a man's world.

The players :

• Shomu Ni includes 6 OL, a (male) chief and a cat
• Tsuboi Chinatsu (27) played by Esumi Makiko is the head-strong, unconventional OL.
• Miyashita Kana (24) is a kind of femme fatale : every man is lost in wonder everytime she's around.
• Himukai Rie (25) is a psychic.
• Tokunaga Azusa (34) is the oldest member of the team.
• Tsukahara Sawako (21) is the first newcomer to Shomu Ni. With her big saucer eyes, she looks like a character out of a shôjo manga. She is the incarnation of " naïvety ".
• Maruhashi Ume (22) is the second newcomer to Shomu Ni. Although brainy & hard-working, she gets somehow transferred to Shomu Ni.
• Inoue (46) is their chief.
• The PA team is led by Sugita Misono (27) who is Chinatsu's rival and also the incarnation of " traditional " feminity. The 3 young women working with her are : Mizuochi Satomi (20), Yoshida Hitomi (22) and Kagawa Akane (22).
• The human resources department includes buchô (chief) Terasaki (46) and his shadow kachô Nonomura (35) who are always plotting to get rid of Shomu Ni.
• The international department includes Ukyô Tomohiro (28), an elite salaryman back from Los Angeles and also Tsukahara's love interest, although he doesn't notice her ; and Mitamura Eiji (30) who is smitten about Miyashita Kana.

Episode 1, 3: short summaries

Episode 4: detailed japanese/english

Odoru Daisôsasen (Rhythm And Police)

Odoru Daisôsasen is an original and witty police drama. It stands at the opposite of countless US police dramas, where cops are super-men with big guns, fast cars, etc... Here policemen are more like ordinary salarymen: they are trying to do their job the best they can and with sometimes little means; guns are used only in extreme situations (only in the last episodes). The drama follows the steps of Aoshima Shûsaku, an idealistic newly appointed detective, who thought that being a detective means investigating challenging cases, driving patrol cars, etc ... but along with Waku-san, his mentor who will retire soon, and all the other members of the detective team, he will discover the true everyday life of a detective.

Episode 1: english / Episode 2: detailed japanese/english / Episode 3: english / 

Episode 4: english / Episode 5: english

With Love

Sweet remake of the Hollywood classic "The Shop Around The Corner", starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan: 2 penpals fall in love with each other, but little do they know that in "real" life, they work in the same shop and can't stand each other. In the drama, Hasegawa Takashi (Takenouchi Yutaka) is a former rock star now a CM composer, Murakami Amane (Tanaka Misato) is a bank clerk; they both work in the same building and have a negative impression of each other after various encounters, but somehow they will become friends via e-mails without knowing each other's true identity.

Complete english synopsis: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Koi No Kiseki

What begins like a classic revenge tale between a ugly/kind girl (Hazuki Riona) and a beautiful/evil girl (Kanno Miho) turns into something more complex along the way.

Complete english synopsis: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12