Densha otoko

So I needed a pick-me-up after last week, so after a friend recommended I watch Densha Otoko a couple of times, I decided to do so. There's quite a lot of different ways to come in contact with it, the original 2chan postings, the book, the tv show, and the movie. I watched the movie. Basically, it's ridiculously silly, but a nerd (Densha Otoko, or Train Man) saves some women from being harassed on the train by a drunk, one of the women asks for his address, sends him a very expensive tea set (giving her the nickname of Hermes), and he starts to date her with the help/advice of the anonymous internet board of 2chan. I started watching it, but ended up discussing brief bits of it with my friend, so that conversation follows. Note that IM is not the best place to have serious in depth discussions of film. Or anything. It doesn't entirely portray either of us in a positive light, but just think of it as a poorly typed commentary track from two people who go off on tangents constantly, and those tangents are excised, and the film started at different times for each of us. And I'd like to apologize for quoting her in the past without giving her a chance to comment.

me: I'm in the haircut and shopping montage of train man
female friend: awwww
female friend: how's it thus far?
me: I am far too much like him
female friend: well, 2chan is just waiting for you
me: I need to save some women on a train first
female friend: move to Japan
me: I think I'd need a job and an ability to speak Japanese first
female friend: not really, to the latter
female friend: aww, densha-kun
me: I think I'd have a problem using 2chan without knowing Japanese
me: man, she's playing the pronoun game
female friend: oh, no...
female friend: the problem here is that it's REALLY hard to tell the gender of who you're talking about
female friend: because while you have he (kare) and her(kareshi)
female friend: most people will just say person (various forms of hito)
female friend: so you just never know
me: I play the pronoun game with my parents
me: he has a Boba Fett figure
me: yay for him
me: what the hell's up with the army guys?
female friend: oh, hahaha
female friend: they're playing an online game
female friend: and chatting
female friend: in the in-game channel, I'd guess
female friend: actually, it's also a reference to the real dialogue
female friend: for some reason people considered densha-kun's revelations to be 'bombs' and 'assaults'
female friend: so they joke that they have to dig trenches and duck for cover
me: and I do have to stop going too far into movie or music stuff on dates
me: I'm not quite as bad as he is, but I feel that awkward
me: the crappy subtitles are pretty enjoyable though
female friend: they're not as bad as they could be
me: yeah, it's just the poor syntax
me: and misused endings
me: oh man, I want the tea and scones
me: and sandwiches
female friend: the Benoist tea in there is not as good as it says
female friend: and the triple seal is just an advertising invention
me: that's a shame
female friend: in Japan
female friend: the only tea that has that is Twinings
female friend: try some Darjeeling. yum.
me: well, I like lots of teas
me: some of the subtitles are just horrible Engrish
female friend: heh, you might have a fansub
me: someone needs to translate this
me: maybe
me: I just downloaded it from the web
female friend: because the official release looked mostly fine.
female friend: ah
female friend: there's also a television show, which is just played for laughs
me: but there are actual dvds that are terrible as well
female friend: true
me: how could they stretch this out?
female friend: easily
female friend: see: Chinese movies
me: but this is flimsy enough, and I still have 25 minutes to go
female friend: where are you at?
me: just had the big scene of everyone encouraging him to try again
female friend: oh, speaking of which, the parties that the salarymen are talking about are gokon - basically blind date parties
me: I figured
female friend: not sure if it was translated
female friend: I like translator's notes, but few ever include them...
me: well, they said single parties, or something like that, and I figured it was like what it said
female friend: oooh.
female friend: yeah, fansub
me: oh, it clearly is a fansub
female friend: good for you
female friend: I've seen professional jobs that were worse
female friend: the same for the public release, though
me: few are as bad as Peking Opera Blues though
me: I assume it's not terribly translated?
female friend: I need to see that again
female friend: I love that movie
female friend: it's in Cantonese, though, so all is lost
female friend: now I'm rewatching densha-kun
female friend: awwww
female friend: man, those are nice trains
me: oh, the tripping while running and then having to switch into nerd get-up is making this even more nerdy
female friend: it's totally a plot device, but, awww.
female friend: but I'd just read the 2chan logs so I knew approximately where everything went. very linear movie
female friend: Benoist tea sales in Japan tripled after thie movie
me: I would imagine
female friend: Miki Nakatani is one of the top actresses in Japan
female friend: funny thing is...she was cast most in part (or mostly) because the original densha otoko mentioned that Hermes-chan looked like her.
me: well, when this comes up, I always think of His Girl Friday, and the great line about finding the Baxter, played by Ralph Bellamy, "He looks like that actor, Ralph Bellamy"
female friend: heh, yeah
female friend: or in Bringing Up Baby
female friend: Donald the Duck and Mickey the Mouse
female friend: or the reference in His Girl Friday to Archie Leach
me: yeah, that little bit of breaking the fourth wall is great in small doses, and when unexpected
me: ok, I'm getting a little weepy with this kiss
female friend: oh, and the three are in a manga bar
female friend: his hunchedness? it's so awkward and cute.
female friend: you pay money to sit in a place and read manga. the modern otaku karaoke or something
me: why pay money? don't they have bookstores?
female friend: not for the sheer variety
female friend: it's really cheap
female friend: it might be an all purpose rest stop
female friend: with manga computers and curry
me: ooh, curry
female friend: a lot of internet bars and karaoke joints will also include cheap food with the price
me: ASCII ART!
female friend: heh
me: so you read the logs of this?
female friend: yes
me: how long are they?
female friend: she included way too much American channel slang, though
female friend: http://www.rinji.tv/densha/
me: if I start reading now, will I have to spend the rest of the week reading?
female friend: it takes about 1-2 hours to read one. they're pretty long, but some of it is hilarious.
female friend: hmm, shorter. maybe an hour
me: man, I'm such a softie, the Let's See Outside montage is making me a little misty
female friend: I think the bunny guy is a shut in...which would be doubly moving in Japan...
me: well, I know about the shut in culture
female friend: just the way he said Hermes at the beginning. I chortle every time. He sounds so bewildered.
me: so we are to assume that she had been in contact with him before on the train but that he had not noticed her before?
female friend: it's a signal of how far he's come, mostly.
female friend: or just a reminder of how the dream girl is just sitting next you random school girls and you on the train
female friend: Japanese movies are big on unmei (destiny) and en (a soul connection)
female friend: meh
me: you don't believe in that at all?
female friend: I don't know, but they push it
me: ah, and the post credit rising of the otaku against the drunks!
female friend: that's the television densha otoko
me: oh man, he's even more nerdy
me: probably doesn't clean up as well
female friend: no
female friend: OH. At one point one of the guys say MOE
female friend: that's hilarious
me: ?
female friend: look it up on wiki
me: oh [Note: see here]
female friend: yeah