Haken no Hinkaku (2007)

Basically you have a superwoman haken (temp worker) performing amazing feats at any moments notice with ingenuity, wits, and mad skills. It's actually quite amazing and at times amusing with some of the events that takes place when Haruko (super haken) is around. Pretty much the whole world revolves around her and her abilities while everybody else is kind of blurred out of the scene because your attention seem to focus only on her.



Note, people spend years developing and honing their skills at doing their job but Haruko does it like it's nothing, which is unrealistic especially considering she has more skills than can be put on her job applications, I found that to be amusing .



All the hakens showed great potential, much more so than the full-time employees, but they seem to always be the target of bullying and ridicule by FT employees. Nevertheless, its the hakens who usually come out on top which angers the FT employees even more - which is hilarious.



Overall this drama was interesting to watch. I really like how this film brought out the important issue of how temp workers are mistreated and viewed by FT employees. Also how corporations all over Japan, if not the world looks down on them as not human beings but as tools to be used until they're no longer useful. In addition, it goes to show how corporations nowadays are pinching pennies to maximize profits, paying big bucks and bonuses to performing executives and managers while demoralizing their employees, especially temp workers with massive work and little pay.

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Apex haken vs office lambs

I'm going to start at the end. ;)

The one thing that strikes me is how timeless this show is. Other than the abundance of clam shell phones and slightly outdated PC's, you will be hard pressed to carbon date this drama. It is mind-boggling to think the Japanese workplace probably hasn’t changed much in close to 20 years!

With that out of the way, let's go back to the nuts and bolts. This show is a 100% Shinohara Ryoko starrer. She is literally all dancing and all typing. She portraits an eccentric S class haken. She is utterly professional, abrasive and unyielding in her ways. You can say that she is a pioneer of work-life balance before the topic is even whispered around a Japanese water cooler.

She is highly valued by employers in the know. Any full-time employees who try to belittle her will be licking their wounds in no time. While you can say her portrayal is one-note, you do sense her inner conflicts some times when she knew her actions are hurting people she is growing fond of. Think of it as a kind of tough love. Her numerous qualifications are a little over the top, but you roll with it as a kind of series-long gag.

As I mentioned before, the office setting is timeless. Being a temp is a tough gig. Our FL does not take it for granted, but she also knows her worth and will not take any crap from her co-workers. Least of all, misogynistic power trippers.

As expected, her presence stirred up a lot of tension between the full-time employees and temps. Even between the hakens there are cliques. Some of the plots are centred around cliché powerplay and group dynamics.

We are drip fed the FL's backstory as the story progresses. Bit by bit, we work out why she is so driven. To be fair, the FL hardly changed during the entire run. Nevertheless, her new co-workers are chipping away at her steely resolve. It is just not enough to alter the status quo before her contract expires.

In that sense, it is the growth of her co-workers that is the core of this show. From the meek supervisor who found his mojo, the yes-man career climber who found his backbone and the green haken who found her calling. There are many subplots that are relatable and endearing. There is even a hint of opposite attracts romance.

I was sure they will leave the ending ambiguous, yet they pulled a rabbit out of the hat to give us a possible path to a sequel. Surprisingly, one was made in 2020, but I have yet to track it down (side note, there is also a k-drama remake). Does this mean the romance of this prickly pair might blossom? ;)

One final thought. The projects tackled by her team feels plausible and realistic. This is a stark contrast to the nebulous business deals c-dramas love to use as fillers.

In the end, it is a solid j-drama. I enjoyed it. When you consider I binged it in two days, it can't be that bad. I doubt I'd rewatch it, but you can do worse if you are between S tier productions.

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