In our culture, the closest relative of the Merry Salesman Moguro Fukuzo can be considered, perhaps, Woland.
The almanac contains more than a hundred stories where the Japanese Woland tries to help the hapless sarimen and the lady’s office cope with the hardships of everyday life in Japan. Often, the methods of solving problems offered by a grinning fat man are not trivial, but all transactions with a charming gentleman in a hat contain a double bottom (which he almost always honestly informs his clients about), which sooner or later makes itself felt.
These stories are a great demonstration of the fact that in seemingly prosperous Japan (and the series was released just at the end of the Japanese financial bubble), people are not particularly happy and experience the problems that our viewer has only yet to face (the long road to work, unbearable housing prices, lack of time for rest), there are customers with household problems (some are beaten by his wife, someone does not want to eat mom’s bento, but is afraid to admit it to her – because this is the goal of her life).
All clients “with a hole in the soul” lead an extremely one-sided and unbalanced life, Moguro offers them solutions, but insists on moderate use of them, which causes sincere misunderstanding on the part of his wards. Virtually the entire series is a fable that optimizing and going to extremes is not good.
A good vaccination for those who believe that behind the fence grass green. You begin to feel genuine sympathy for the Japanese and their post-industrial problems.
Another thing that draws attention is the work of the sarimen – most offices are shown as our scams for selling filters to pensioners – the same motivational lines, strange sales plans and very humiliating relationships within teams. So a beautiful corporate life has long been much closer to us than many might think.
To tell further is to spoil. You can join the original series in English thanks to the joint efforts of two release groups Evil-livE and Saizen Subs - you need to look for a release from Evil-Saizen.