Retail Clerks

Retail Clerks (小売店員) is a 1998 El Kadsreian comedy film co-written and directed by Hiroaki Machiyama and produced by his production company Menokurage Pictures. Inspired by the 1994 film, it stars Hiroki Saitou, Hikaru Fujioka, Kelly Sanchez, Abel Masson, Kagami Ochiai, Świętopełk Wrzesiński and Andy Wilson.

Filming ran around October to December 1997. The film screened out of competition at the 1998 Cicmpillici Film Festival, and was released theatrically in El Kadsre by El TV Kadsre Films on March 27, 1998, followed by a North American release by (which handles international distribution) on April 4. It then received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot
In the prologue, the Copeland brothers, Jack and Adrian (Świętopełk Wrzesiński and Andy Wilson), confront a lunatic cosplaying as from  and wielding an automatic firearm and a flamethrower (Michael Marsh). The unidentified man is destroying cars and shops along a city street. Aside from some comedic value and a reminder to the audience of Jack's marksmanship skills, the scene mainly serves to show the Copeland brothers informing each other of their wives' pregnancies. There, Adrian is in his boxers for distraction of the lunatic, with Jack shooting the napalm valve causing it to go out of control and go flying straight into a nearby gas station, thus causing a tanker truck to go flying and landing on the Copelands' car blowing it up in the process, leaving Jack and Adrian to walk on foot.

A month later, Takuya Shimomura (Hiroki Saitou) opens the Frame, Set and Match convenience store to find that it is on fire; Hidetoshi Kogane (Hikaru Fujioka) had left the coffee pot on after closing the night before. Because Frame, Set and Match and the adjacent Mutō Video have been destroyed, Takuya and Hidetoshi begin working at a Sminster fast food restaurant along with Ben Turner (Abel Masson) and their manager Claudia Kane (Kelly Sanchez).

A year later, Takuya is planning to leave his minimum wage lifestyle in favor of family life in El Kadsre City with his fiancée Harumi Ogawa (Kagami Ochiai), whose father will provide them with a home and a business to run. Afraid of losing his best friend, Hidetoshi becomes resentful towards Takuya and Harumi. Jack and Adrian have followed Takuya and Hidetoshi, and now loiter outside of Sminster. Although they continue to sell drugs, Jack and Adrian have become sober after they were arrested for possession and sent to rehab; they become devout Christians after their release.

Takuya tells Claudia that he is worried about dancing at his wedding, so she takes him up to the roof of the restaurant to teach him some moves. Takuya soon releases his inhibitions and begins dancing. When the song ends, Takuya, caught up in the moment, confesses his love for Claudia, and she reveals that she's pregnant; Takuya and Claudia had a one-night stand at work a few weeks before. Claudia tells Takuya not to tell anyone about the baby; however he tells Hidetoshi, and an angered Claudia leaves when she finds out.

Hidetoshi encourages Takuya to leave Mooby's in search for Claudia, so he can set up a surprise going away party for him. Hidetoshi hires "Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stu," a donkey show, with a fog machine for the party. When Takuya returns, he mistakes the fog for fire and calls the fire department, but upon discovering that it's not a fire, proceeds to watch with Hidetoshi, Jack, Adrian, and Ben. The group discovers that "Kinky Kelly" is, in fact, the donkey, while the man (Bruno Ross), whom Hidetoshi thought to be the pimp, is "The Sexy Stud". When Claudia returns, she admits that she too loves Takuya. As they kiss, Harumi arrives. She throws her engagement ring at Claudia, dumps a cake she'd made for Takuya over his head, and angrily walks off.

Cast

 * Hiroki Saitou as Takuya Shimomura
 * Hikaru Fujioka as Hidetoshi Kogane
 * Kelly Sanchez as Claudia Kane
 * Abel Masson as Ben Turner
 * Kagami Ochiai as Harumi Ogawa
 * Świętopełk Wrzesiński as Jack Copeland
 * Andy Wilson as Adrian Copeland
 * Ronan Fletcher as Fraser Pearson
 * Bruno Ross as Sexy Stu
 * Michael Marsh as Man Cosplaying as Boba Fett
 * Kouki Ueda as geek