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.
The film’s heroine, Naoko Tanaka (Mei Nagano), is a 26-year-old working for a big company riven with factions among its OL ranks. Three of them, however, give new meaning to the term “corporate infighting” since they consist of yankī, that is, grown-up delinquents brawling for bragging rights as No. 1 on their corporate turf. Among the leaders is Shuri (Nanao), tall and resplendent in long, snake-like braids and scary black eyeliner.