Real TV Shows From the East You Should Watch: Densha Otoko

Table of contents for Real TV Shows From the East You Should Watch

Real TV Shows From the East You Should Watch: Densha Otoko
Real TV Shows From the East You Should Watch: It Started with a Kiss
Real TV Shows From the East You Should Watch: Full House

Summer is here. There’s not much on TV. Boring, right? There’s always reruns, but what’s the point of watching something you’ve seen in the winter? Well, I have some suggestion of what everyone can watch–if they’re up for the challenge. What’s so special about these TV shows that I’m about to explain? The spoken language of these television shows are not in English. So, stop watching Lost reruns! I present the readers a three part series of Real TV Shows From the East You Need to Watch: TV melodrama series from Japan, Korea, and China.

The first drama in the series is the best Drama that everyone around here can relate to:

Series: Densha Otoko (電車男/Train Man)
Original Air Date: July 7-September 22, 2005
Episodes: 11; including 2 specials

Main Cast

Atsushi Ito as Tsuyoshi Yamada

Misaki Ito as Saori Aoyama

Synopsis:

The story of Densha Otoko is actually based on a real life event that took place in 2004 on a 2chan board on a thread for single men to let out their frustrations of finding someone special. It all started with the man on a train witnessing a drunkard harassing passengers on the train, including the female riders. When the drunk man goes too far, the soon to be hero steps in and defends a young woman who was being harassed.

$Saori asks Tsuyoshi if he\'s alright.$

The drunk gets into a fight with the young man, but the passengers attempt to break up the scuffle while calling for the train conductor. Later at the police station, the young woman thanks the young man for his help. Retelling the story on the 2chan thread, he earns the nickname of “Densha Otoko”, or “Train Man”.

The TV drama, including a feature length movie, two manga books by two different illustrators, was inspired by this event. While keeping true to the incident, the extra features are added, such as Densha’s geeky, otaku friends, and the rivaly between Kazuya-san, an old aquitance of Hermes-san; the young woman on the train.

My Thoughts on Densha Otoko:

This is the best–and my first–Japanese drama (J-Drama, or ドラマ) series, ever. Everything about this series stands out to those who can relate to Train Man. Not just the collection of figurines and posters that a typical Otaku has all across the room, but everything. The support he receives from total strangers on the 2chan board brings that special feeling that you rarely see in any other TV show.

The constant twists in every moment of each episode keeps the story flowing, such as the aforementioned support from Anonymous from 2ch, Densha Otoko’s love of Anime–and the social problems from those around him–and Kazuya-san’s plot to keep Densha away from Hermes-san, and the hilarious dream sequences surrounding his plans.

The show is great, even at the very end, which I won’t spoil for those who have yet to see Densha Otoko. That’s not all of Train Man. There’s also a full length movie that inspired the TV drama (available in the US from Viz Pictures), plus two versions of the manga: one version is illustrated by Hidenori Hara (available from Viz Manga) and the other one is done by Wataru Watanabe (available from CMX manga). All of them is done by the same creator, Hitori Nakano, but the story flow between both versions are a bit different. There’s plenty of Train Man around to enjoy, but watching the TV drama is a start.

Stay tuned for next week’s installment of Real TV Shows From the East You Need to Watch!