Densha Otoko

Densha Otoko

電車男 (Densha otoko)
Genre	Comedy, romance
TV drama: Densha Otoko
Director	Takeuchi Hideki Nishiura Masaki Kobayashi Kazuhiro
Network	Fuji Television
Original run	July 7 2005 – September 22 2005
Time slot	Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Episodes	13 (including two special episodes)
Movie: Train Man: Densha Otoko
Director	Masanori Murakami a.k.a. Shosuke Murakami
Studio	—
Released	JPN December 8 2005 USA September 22 2006
Runtime	105 minutes (U.S. version 101 minutes)

Densha Otoko (電車男, Densha Otoko^? translated as Train Man) is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23 year old otaku (Japanese geek) who intervened when a drunk man was harassing several women on a train. The otaku ultimately begins dating one of the women.

The event, and the man's subsequent dates with the woman, who became known as Hermès (エルメス, Erumesu^?), was chronicled on the Japanese mega-BBS 2channel. This led to the compilation of the relevant threads in a book, followed by several manga versions, a movie released in June 2005, a theatrical play later released as a DVD, and finally a TV series that aired on Fuji TV from July 7 to September 22, 2005 (with a special episode on October 6, 2005). The series originally aired on Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.

A two hour long TV special, Densha Otoko Deluxe, aired on September 23, 2006.

Origin

Many attest to the truth of the story, including the producers of the television series who contacted the real Densha Otoko, but it has not been proven that the story was completely authentic.

Densha Otoko is a popular example of the "nice guy" class of Japanese geeks (otaku) 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.

In 2004, an anonymous user posted in a 2channel thread for single men to bemoan their woes. According to his account, he had been sitting next to a young woman on the train when a drunken man entered the car and began bothering the other passengers, most of whom were female. When the drunk began to badger a particular woman, the poster took the risk of telling the man to stop bothering the passengers. The two struggled for a short time while the other passengers used this distraction to summon the conductor, who took control of the situation.

Never having done such a thing in his life, the poster was amazed to find the woman thanking him deeply for saving her from harassment. The young woman requested his address, telling him that she wanted to express her appreciation for his act, before they parted ways. The poster, upon returning home, shared his experience with other posters in the thread and was eventually nicknamed "Densha Otoko" (Train Man).

A few days later, Train Man received a package from the woman: an expensive set of cups and saucers made by Hermès. Flabbergasted, the man turned to the 2channelers for advice; he was soon convinced that the tea set was too expensive to be a mere thank-you gift. Following the advice and suggestions of the other posters, Train Man eventually contacted the woman.

As Train Man had never been on a date before, he consistently posted updates on his situation, asking for advice on everything from restaurant choices to what clothing to wear. After an enjoyable first date, they began meeting regularly. Following the 2channelers' collective advice, he got a haircut, updated his wardrobe, and began to emerge from his shell. After several dates, his personality had changed for the better and this culminated a few months later in his confessing his love for her. She reciprocated, and when the 2channelers were informed, there was a mass celebration; posts began flowing in congratulating the new couple, and extravagant Shift JIS art pictures were posted. Because 2ch has an enormous impact on net culture in Japan, this story quickly spread throughout the media.

Television series

A still from the TV series' opening anime sequence

The television series makes numerous references and homages to otaku culture. The opening animation is a homage to the legendary Daicon IV "Twilight" anime short, which was created by the founders of Gainax. Though rival anime studio GONZO produced the Densha Otoko opening and is referenced several times in the series, the producers acknowledged Gainax's work by putting their name in the credits before that of GONZO. The opening sequence is also a homage of the opening for the cult-anime Galaxy Express 999 (1978-81, Toei Animation), in which a poor boy meets the very beautiful Maetel and travels through space on the train Galaxy Express 999, which embarks them into adventures.

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. Subsequent openings play the song "Twilight" by the 1970s Birmingham rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was also the background music in the Daicon IV anime short. The end theme is Sambomaster's "Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobundaze" (世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ, "Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobundaze"^?).

Getsumen To Heiki Mina

Main article: Getsumen To Heiki Mina

The animation sequences for both the opening and series shots of the metafictional anime series Getsumen To Heiki Mina (月面兎兵器ミーナ, Getsumen To Heiki Mina^? Lunar Rabbit Weapon Mina) were produced by GONZO. Both GONZO and the producers of the Densha Otoko TV series put a concerted effort into creating the appearance of a long-standing franchise, from hiring seiyū Saori Koide (to play both the voice of Mina as well as Karin Takeda, Mina's voice actress) to recording an opening theme for the Mina series, "Start Me @ Starting Love" by Missing Link.

Several toys, "video games", custom figurines and other "merchandise" were made specifically for use by otaku in the series. One of the figures, valued at $4000, was inadvertently broken by actor Atsushi Itō during filming. Replicas of the original figure were later sold at the Winter 2005 Comiket.

On January 13, 2007, the real world version of Getsumen To Heiki Mina began airing in Japan. GONZO mentioned back in December 16, 2005 that and that all existing sequences and properties from Densha Otoko would be used. However, the narrative of the real-world adaptation of Mina is different from the version written for the drama series.

TV series cast

Saori Aoyama – Misaki Ito
Tsuyoshi Yamada – Atsushi Itō
Misuzu Jinkama – Miho Shiraishi
Kaho Sawazaki – Eriko Sato
Yūko Mizuki – Misa Sudo
Keisuke Aoyama – Mokomichi Hayami (Saori's younger brother)
Aoi Yamada – Maki Horikita (Tsuyoshi's younger sister)
Tsuneo Yamada – Shirou Kishibe (Tsuyoshi's father)
Yuusaku Matsunaga – Gekidan Hitori
Shinji Kawamoto – Eiji Sugawara
Karin Takeda – Saori Koide
Munetaka Minamoto – Shun Oguri
Kazuya Sakurai – Kosuke Toyohara
Yuki Aoyama – Kumiko Akiyoshi (Saori's mother)
Ryoko Hashizume – Chizu Sakurai
Sadao Ushijima – Seiji Rokkaku
Susumu Ichisaka – Youichi Nukumizu
Tominaga – Tatsuya Gashuin

TV-series crew

Directors – Takeuchi Hideki, Nishiura Masaki and Kobayashi Kazuhiro
Producers – Wakamatsu Jisashiki and Kawanishi Migaku
Original Story – Nakano Hitori
Screenwriters – Mutou Susumuware and Tokunaga Tomokazu

Movie version

The movie version, Train Man: Densha Otoko, starred Takayuki Yamada and Miki Nakatani was a big success at the box office, making the story of Densha Otoko popular. In a small movie theater in Tokyo, anyone who said that they were an otaku got a discount on tickets for the movie. ^{[citation needed]}Atsushi Itō and Miho Shiraishi, who both played Densha Otoko in the television series, has a cameo appearance as another character in the movie. Yamada also appears in the TV series, in a cameo in the first episode.

VIZ Media, through its Viz Pictures arm, gave the film a limited release in the United States on September 22, 2006, with a DVD release scheduled for February 6, 2007, and an accompanying manga series. [1] The movie had previously screened at Anime Expo and Otakon 2006.

Movie cast

Takayuki Yamada -(Train Man / Densha Otoko)
Miki Nakatani - Hermes
Eita - Hirofumi (parasite single)
Tae Kimura - Michiko (housewife)
Ryoko Kuninaka - Rika (nurse)
Kuranosuke Sasaki - Hisashi (business man)
Yoshinori Okada - Yoshiga (geek 1)
Hiroki Miyake - Tamura (geek 2)
Makoto Sakamoto - Muto (geek 3)
Naomi Nishida - Hermes' friend
Momoko Shimizu - schoolgirl
Ren Osugi - drunkard

Movie crew

Director - Shosuke Murakami
Screenplay - Arisa Kaneko, based on the original book by Hitori Nakano
Executive Producers - Minami Ichikawa, Hiroyoshi Koiwai
Producers - Yoshishige Shimatani, Yoshikazu Seki, Yoshiro Hosono, Yoshiro Yasunaga
Co-Producers - Akihiro Yamaguchi, Tomoyo Nihira, Hideki Inada
Line Producer - Hiroto Takeishi
Associate Producer - Kuga Maeda
Planning - Genki Kawamura, Kei Haruna
Visual Effects - Hirofumi Yoshikawa
Cinematography - Yoshihiro Katayama, Shigeki Murano
Art Director - Kazuo Yanagawa
Lighting - Masamitsu Hanaoka
Editing - Junosuke Hogaki
Script Supervisor - Hidemi Kawano

Casting - Yoshiyuki Maejima

Original Music - Takayuki Hattori
Ending Theme Song - Orange Range (Sony Music)

Produced by Toho Co.Ltd, Fuji Television Network, SDP INC., Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Inc.

U.S. premieres

Sept. 22, 2006: Imaginasian Theater, New York City, New York
Oct. 13, 2006: Clinton Street Theate, Portland, Oregon
Oct. 20, 2006: Facets Cinemateque, Chicago, Illinois
Nov. 10, 2006: Grand Illusion Theater, Seattle, Washington

Manga versions

Volume 1 of Hidenori Hara's manga adaptation (English Version)

There are four manga adaptations of Densha Otoko:

Densha Otoko - Net Hatsu, Kakueki Teisha no Love Story (English version - Train Man: Densha Otoko) - a 3-volume seinen series by artist Hidenori Hara, published by Shogakukan. It was licensed by Viz Media in the United States, translated by Cindy H. Yamauchi & Mark Giambruno, and released on October 11, 2006. (see box)
Densha Otoko - Demo, Ore Tabidatsuyo - another 3-volume seinen series by artist Wataru Watanabe, published by Akita Shoten. It was originally planned to be four volumes but due to lackluster sales of the second volume, it was truncated to three volumes. Licensed by CMX in the United States.
Densha Otoko - Ganbare Doku Otoko! - a 3-volume shōnen manga series by artist Daisuke Dōke, also published by Akita Shoten.
Densha Otoko - Bijo to Junjou Otaku Seinen no Net Hatsu Love Story (English version - Train Man: A Shojo Manga) - a one-volume shōjo manga by artist Machiko Ocha. Licensed by Del Rey in the United States.

External links

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