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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane Train Man (Densha Otoko), a cultural phenomenon based on a true story, has been through several media adaptations: this tale of an otaku who stood up for a beautiful girl when she was being harassed on a train, and who asked for advice from his online friends as he developed a relationship with her, was first published as a novel based on the events that played out on an anonymous message board. The novel quickly attracted enough attention that the story was made into a live-action movie and TV drama as well as at least three manga versions. This one-volume manga treatment is a sweet, straightforward romance. The title character, named Ikumi Saiki in this version, is earnest but unsure of himself, and the book doesn't really delve deeply into his otaku lifestyle other than emphasizing the central point that he has a hard time talking to people offline. At the office he rarely talks to anyone but a popular co-worker who uses Ikuki's work to shore up his own. But when Ikumi encounters the girl on the train, who he calls "Hermes" when discussing her with the other people on his message board, he's quick to try to adapt himself to what he thinks she might like. For her part, "Hermes" has some quirks and baggage of her own, along with her more mainstream life and appearance. Train Man works so well in this one-shot manga that I have a little trouble imagining it being drawn out (although the longer versions of the story have very successful!); it's a quick but solid read, and it does a good job of developing characters from the little that's known about the real people behind the story. (The essay at the end of the book notes that the identities of the real Train Man and Hermes have never been discovered, so the original message board transcripts are still all that's known about them.) This volume includes a making-of afterward by the manga creator, several pages of translation and cultural notes, and a short essay by William Flanagan. --Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane Comment on this review of Train Man: A Shojo Manga on the Manga Life Forums. |
7 May 2008
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