During my Jap drama VCD shopping sprees I often spotted this "Train Man" show with some nerdy looking guy (similar to the style I see everytime I look at my reflection on the train window) on the cover, and from the looks of it I reckoned that it's going to be some comedy.
Read about it on some forum thread discussing about J Dramas, and learnt that it was a comedy indeed, about an Otaku (the Jap term for geeks who stay at home all the time watching Anime) who found his love and set off to court her.
Well, it never harms to watch a comedy huh?
"$12.90 please?"
Hmm... started watching it only recently and it was one of those shows that are unexpectedly good, that touched me in a similar way the Ima Ai Ni Yukimasu (Want to See You Now) drama did.
For totally different reasons, though.
This drama hit me because there were several aspects of it I could relate to.
First was... not the love story, but... OK you know our hero (Tsuyoshi Yamada's the name) is an Otaku right? So he's bound to have lots (and lots) of Anime/Manga collectibles right? And his favourite character was...
Some bunny-girl action heroine called Mina
OK the other one...
...none other than...
...our favourite (cleaning) Specialist from outer space, SGT Keroro!
Practising on how to ask his dream girl out. On him?
Eh why couldn't I find this in Singapore? It's cute!
He even had a shirt patterned after Keroro's belly, haha!
I really won't mind getting this shirt for my next birthday
And the Imperial March music from Star Wars, which was played whenever his nightmare (his job agency client) appeared.
Second was the internet chatroom community story arc. I, as a former crazy online forums user (a moderator, actually) could easily "resonate" ("gero gero gero gero gero") with that!
It began when Yamada joined some online chatroom set up for single men to rant about being single. After the "incident" on the train in which he saved the pretty Saori Aoyama from harm, he started to talk about the encounter and the lady. His account of the later events: Aoyama getting his address (so she could mail him a gift of appreciation), his getting her number (from the receipt on the parcel) and the courtship, were all on the message board, on which he got advices and encouragement from other users.
Not only was Yamada recieving favour from the fellow board users; they were the ones who witnessed Yamada's growth, and so were inspired by it as well.
The basketballer who injured his leg and was thinking of giving up his passion for the sport started to do rehabilation instead of wallowing in self-pity.
The retrenched guy who left his wife out of a feeling of inferiority asked for a reconcillation.
The young entrepreneur betrayed by his partner could no longer trust anyone, so he left his girlfriend without a word and cooped himself up at home (and set up this message board). It was on this message board where he met his girlfriend whom he still could not bring himself to meet (he was probably torn between trusting her and the alternative). He then decided that he would muster up the courage meet her again if Yamada could succeed in his courtship.
The couple (got to wonder what they're doing on a thread for singles) who contributed to the message board together, grew to love each other more at the same time as they saw more and more of the good side of each other.
The abused wife who decided to stop yielding under her husband's blows.
The voice actor (whom Yamada sort of idolises) who decided to move on to the career of acting, ignoring the complaints of her company which fears the possible loss of her Otaku fanbase.
The male Rei...
Fly me to the moon... *Crash*
The list goes on and on, but the main theme, which is a vibrant spirit of an online community growing closer together, is what I... believe to be possible. People like me, who fear being in crowds to a certain degree... Well I hate to admit, cyberspace is where we can find comfort without having to show our face.
I haven't really been an Otaku. Not the stay-home-all-day sense. And I don't mind crowds like those passers-by when I go to town (usually just to buy manga... oops!), but in an organised environment (trying to find words to fully describe), a place where the crowd there is "supposed to be together for a reason", for example joining a new class, new workplace, or going to a friend's church, I do feel a certain degree ot insecurity.
I'm walking out of it now. However, in the next step forward I will not underestimate the importance of cyber communities as compared to... you know what I mean.
