(side note – this has been sitting in my drafts for almost two years!!!)
I have wanted to write my review of this drama for a while but never got around to it. When I found out about it last year and learned that the main character is an accountant I got excited – well, I’m an accountant too! She’s not quite an accountant but more of an accounting technician, but that’s by the by, it’s still finance.
Our main character is Sanako Moriwaka (played by Mikako Tabe, who I loved in the Kimi ni Todoke live action film), a twenty-something accountant working in the finance department of Ten-Ten Corporation, a company that makes things like soaps and bathing products for hotels, spas and the public. She is your stereotypical accountant, doesn’t take any excuses from people and carefully inspects every expense claim to check that it’s recorded properly. The sales department are her frequent target as they’re pretty bad at filling things out, and the head of sales and head of finance often clash, and hilariously so!
Each episode, for the most part, follows Sanako as she investigates expense claims that she deems to be suspicious. She tries not to get involved (she often says うさぎを追うな！Don’t chase the rabbit!) but her curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up stalking and following the claimants to get to the bottom of the claim. In some cases she sees that something like a theme park visit can be categorised as an expense, but as entertainment as it is to build a relationship.
I really warmed to Sanako as a character; she comes across as methodic and can come across as cold, but at home she’s pretty normal and loves nothing more than eating, doing her nails and watching movies. Her regular routine is interrupted by Taiyo Yamada, a colleague working in sales who becomes interested in Sanako and tries to persue her romantically, with limited success. She keeps trying to avoid him but eventually decides to give dating a try, a risky move for someone so risk averse. Their relationship is a slow one but very cute, with them both having very different personalities. She also gets along well with her Finance colleagues, who appreciate her blunt honesty and dedication to the job.
The supporting cast of characters also work well together, and when a new team member, Mika (played by Noriko Eguchi, also in 俺の家の話, another I started watching and loved), joins things are really shaken up. Initially I didn’t like the character as she often throws in English words for the sake of it as a point of showing off about how much she knows and I found it really cringey, but eventually she supports Sanako in her investigations and together they find out a secret that threatens everyone’s jobs at Ten-Ten Corporation. Eventually I liked the contrast between the two and thought they made a good duo.
The ending leaves you waiting for a second season as Taiyo goes to China for a year long business trip, leaving Sanako on her own. I won’t give too much away but I want to know if they continue their relationship or not! I was sad to hear that the second season was cancelled due to actor commitments and coronavirus, as I would have loved to see where this picks up. I do have the manga, which I got immediately after finishing, and the novel but that’s way beyond my level of comprehension. The novel version is ongoing I think, so one day I will read it to see how it compares (and hopefully find out what happens next!).
This is another I will probably rewatch to pick up more vocabulary, and I’m currently reading the manga. Definitely one of my favourite series and I can’t wait until my Japanese is good enough to read the novel version.
アマンダの勉強 / Amanda Learns! 