Densha Otoko

Densha Otoko (, literally Train Man ) is the story of a otaku in his early 20s who saves a beautiful woman ( office lady ), Hermès, from a drunken groper on a train, and then chronicles his subsequent dates with the woman and requests for help on the Internet forum 2channel (in the TV series referred to and remodelled into the semi-fictitious Aladdin Channel ).

Densha Otoko began as a series of threads on 2ch, alleging to be a true story in progress. Its gripping drama led to a compilation in novel form, several manga adaptions, and finally a movie released on June 2005 in film and a television program which aired on Fuji Television from 2005-7-07 to 2005-9-22 (not including the bonus episode on 2005-10-6). Some attest to the truth of the story, such as the TV series producers who got in contact with Densha Otoko, but it has not been proven that the story was authentic from start to finish.

Densha Otoko is a popular example of the orz class of Japanese geeks who wish to lead normal lives, but are too shy to find a girlfriend, or speak openly anywhere but online. The television series uses a large number of computer-bound extras to demonstrate the size of this class.

Besides its computer related side, this story also demonstrates the best side of otaku : they are cooperative, competitive, and honest. In addition, the office lady style girlfriend is the fantasy of many geeks, which is the common target of many tech geeks. This story is composed by many people in the Internet; there is no single author. The content represents all the anxiety, worries, and pure hearts of the otaku, and Densha Otoko is a typical sample of this young generation.

=Television series=

In the television series of Densha Otoko , an anime short was used for the opening. This opening contains a number of references to Daicon IV, an animated short produced by university students Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, and Shinji Higuchi, who formed Gainax. The series also makes use of Shift-JIS art, or Japanese ASCII art during screen transitions and within the story itself. Introductory music from the first episode is Mr. Roboto by Styx (band). Subsequent openings play the song Twilight by the 1970s Birmingham rock group Electric Light Orchestra, which was also the song used in Daicon IV.

=External links=

*[http://www.densha-otoko.jp/ Densha Otoko TV home page] (Japanese) *[http://www.orcon.net.nz/home/entertainment/books/65860/ Internet love-story becomes Japanese bestseller] *[http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Densha_Otoko Densha Otoko page at Drama-Addicts wiki] (Episode summaries, staff/cast, etc) *[http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway-Aquarius/7075/trainman.html ] (The original posts) *[http://www.rinji.tv/densha/ English translations of the original posts] (in progress) *[http://randomc.animeblogger.net/category/densha-otoko/ Episode by Episode Reviews @ Random Curiosity] (Blog) *[http://www.cuhkacs.org/~petersum/blog/index.phpjob=art&articleid=a_20050725_042718 From Daicon to Densha Otoko] *}}