Creative Staff:
Writer/Artist: Machiko Ocha
Translated by: Makoto Yukon
What They Say
Sometimes, all it takes to find true love is one moment of courage… and a lot of virtual friends. When Ikumi Saiki meets a beautiful girl on the train ride home, she seems to see his hidden hero within. But will he be brave enough to win her heart for certain? Desperate, he posts a plea on an internet message board: “Help me win the girl of my dreams!” Now, everyone in the online world is ready to help Ikumi realize that even he has a chance at true love.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ikumi Saiki is an employee at a commercial firm with no ambitions except to keep up with his anime hobbies and surf the net. Still, he does dream of having a romance one day with someone special. Well, that someday comes in the most unexpected of places.
During a train ride home, an old drunken man begins pestering the other passengers. When the old drunk starts harassing a pretty young woman on the train, Ikumi gets a sudden (and uncharacteristic) burst of courage to stand up against him. Unfortunately, Ikumi’s no fighter, and he has to be rescued from the angry old man by another passenger. Ikumi’s embarrassed by his ineptness, but the other passengers are grateful and request his contact information to send formal thank yous. Afterward, Ikumi posts a thread about the incident on one of his favorite forums, “The Underdogs Bite Back” Forum on Channel 2. While the others on the forum think what he did was admirable, neither they nor Ikumi think that anything will come of it. Until… Ikumi receives a set of expensive designer teacups in the mail. It’s a thank you gift from Mai Kohinata- the pretty lady!
This development instantly grabs the forum’s attention, and with a lot of encouragement and advice from the online community, Densha Otoko (Ikumi’s online pseudonym) achieves the impossible — he contacts Hermes-san (as Mai is known on the discussion board) and invites her to dinner as a thank you for the cups! One thing leads to another, and soon Ikumi and Mai strike up a friendship. There’s one problem. Ikumi’s falling in love, but Mai has a boyfriend! And as Mai’s close friend informs Ikumi, this boyfriend is “Mr. Perfect.” The old Ikumi probably would have given up at this point, but the confident new Ikumi takes this information in stride and decides to keep trying despite the odds.
Regarding the artwork, I am not particularly enamored of Ocha’s character designs. Mai doesn’t really stand out in terms of prettiness, while Ikumi’s otakuness is established more though his coworkers’ comments about his social behavior and a single trip to an anime store than through his appearance (he just looks like an eyeglass character in a suit who needs a haircut) or his home environment. In other versions of the Densha story, it is obvious from the crammed contents of the Densha Otoko’s room (manga, figurines, posters, models, etc.) that he is an anime fanboy. Ikumi’s room has a few figurines and some posters on the wall but does not exactly scream otaku.
Interior backgrounds in general are on the plain side and lack depth. Outdoor backdrops are satisfactory but not particularly spectacular.
Ocha handled the interaction on the message boards with a combination of single frame glimpses of the members’ reactions and responses and stand-alone panels of thread posts/ASCII art. Although many faces pop up, none were particularly memorable, and there was only one character that left much of an impression at all on me.
In Summary:
Got Densha? For those of you who have never heard of Densha Otoko (literally “Train Man”), this is a modern-day Cinderella story with a twist, involving a hardcore anime otaku, a beautiful woman, an Internet chatroom, a train, and a pair of Hermes teacups. To my knowledge, there are four manga based on the Densha Otoko story, and out of the four, the Machiko Ocha story to be released by Del Rey is the only single-volume version and the only shoujo version.
While I find Ocha’s characterization of “Hermes-san” the best of all the Densha Otoko material I’ve encountered thus far, this version seems to come up short in every other department. The 167-page long manga feels rushed and gets a little confusing at times (especially with Ocha’s occasional dream/fantasy inserts). Densha’s transformation from otaku geek who doesn’t even know what to do with a girl to a man that can capture Hermes’ heart moves too quickly to be dramatic. Because all of the events happen right on top of each other, you don’t get the sense that each step of the relationship is a formidable hurdle for the otaku Densha or that he’s relying heavily on the forum’s support to push him to action. Actually, the forum seems more like a bunch of spectators looking in from the outside at Densha’s developing relationship than a key factor in ensuring that Densha actually engages in the relationship. Ocha doesn’t spend a whole lot of effort trying to flesh out the individuals in the community. However, oddly enough, she does use up frame space writing in Ikumi’s slacker co-worker, who doesn’t add much to the story at all.
One thing I can’t figure out is why this manga is classified as the “shoujo” version of the story. I would characterize the artwork in Watanabe’s Densha Otoko manga (to be released by CMX) as more shoujo than Ocha’s. It’s a romance, but all the versions of the Densha Otoko story inherently have romantic elements to them (including the happily ever after ending). And it’s not as if this version of the manga is without its comic elements. There are moments of silliness with Ikumi’s dream/imagination sequences and when Mai’s secret hobby is revealed. By the way, that scene is probably my favorite out of the whole manga as it destroys the image of perfection that Ikumi and the “Underdogs” have built of her, but also shows how her “weakness” actually makes her the perfect person for Ikumi.
For someone just looking for a brief synopsis of the Densha Otoko tale, this manga will do the job. It provides all the major points of the story in a compact form, and the references Del Rey includes are a plus. However, I believe that the main appeal of the Densha Otoko tale is the wealth of opportunity it provides for character development, storyline complexity, and social commentary (especially for anime/manga fans). When compressed into a single volume, all of that is lost, and that really is shortchanging the story.
This title is rated “16+” for some profanity and a glimpse of Ikumi’s naughty doujinshi.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: November 1st, 2006
MSRP: $10.99
