Densha Otoko - Reception

Reception

Densha Otoko novel sold 260,000 copies in just three weeks and 500,000 copies in two months. Following its popularity, "Chikan Otoko" was produced, the story of a man who is accused of being a groper on public transport, and Napoleon Dynamite was retitled Basu Otoko ("Bus Man") for its Japanese release. The Japan Times' Janet Ashby commented that the book felt like an "otaku wish-fulfillment fantasy: Someday I will magically meet Miss Right, rescue her like a knight on a white horse, be transformed into Mr. Right, and we will live happily ever after. The reaction of Miss Hermes when Trainman belatedly shows her the log of his postings about their private affairs was particularly unbelievable to me. Far from being hurt or angry, she is impressed by what good friends he has!"

Mania.com's Matthew Alexander commends Densha Otoko: The Story of a Train Man Who Fell in Love With A Girl for being realistic, saying, "right after session with a hair stylist, his hair is standing up in the right spots and looks good. Then, just like in real life, a couple of days afterwards his hair is back to looking like a shorter version of his hairstyle before it got cut. A very small part of the story I know, but I really appreciated the effort at displaying realism." Coolstreak Comics' Leroy Douresseaux comments on Densha Otoko: The Story of a Train Man Who Fell in Love With A Girl, saying, "Watanabe understands the visual metaphor of the comics medium, which allows him to deliver his story with a force that captures the quiet awkwardness of two shy people". IGN's A.E. Sparrow comments on the artwork of Densha Otoko: Train Man saying, "Hidenori Hara brings an old school style to his illustration, and there are moments where the complex panel layouts (particularly when several online people are offering advice at once) recall some of Will Eisner's best work." A later review by Sparrow comments that Hidenori Hara's "work seems the most cartoonish of the bunch, with some of the characters looking almost like afterthoughts, but it's that scribbling style that really sets this version of the story apart." He also comments on Hermess looking "like a slightly more pixie-ish version of Lisa Hayes from Robotech". Anime News Network's Carlo Santos' review of Train Man: A Shōjo Manga commends it for its "unique character viewpoint and a sweet, lighthearted mood". However, he criticises it for "skimping on plot and character development; sometimes awkward with Internet humor."

Watanabe draws a Hermess that is among the cutest female manga characters I have ever seen, making her the perfect object of affection for Train. And the facial expressions that he captures throughout this volume are very appropriate and revealing, giving us a great insight into their heads. Plus, not to be outdone, each character looks unique, which is something that many manga artists have a problem with. —Robert Murray, Manga Life, review of Densha Otoko: The Story of a Train Man Who Fell in Love With A Girl

On October 25, 2005, Japanese television drama, Densha Otoko was awarded six prizes at the 46th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Drama, Best Supporting Actor (Atsushi Itō), Best Supporting Actress (Miho Shiraishi), Best Director (Takeuchi Hideki), Best Musical Arrangement and Best Opening.

Densha Otoko movie was ranked 14th in the top movies in Japan in 2005, staying on in the box office's top 10 movies for 10 weeks, grossing ¥3,532,525,613 as of January 2006. It grossed over $35 million since its release. Metacritic gave Densha Otoko an aggregated score of 60%. Pop Culture Shock's Erin Finnegan comments on the Densha Otoko movie about its Shift JIS art (Japanese ASCII art), which made the "strange transition from computer monitor to silver screen". She continues, "you might be familiar with emoticons in English internet-speak, but the Japanese use totally different emoticons. Thankfully, these symbols are clarified in the film. The bowing man art is usefully overlaid with an image of Densha Otoko bowing." Manga Life's Michael Aronson criticises the film, saying, "It's understood that he lacks all social grace when he trips and falls in the train in the beginning, but he does so over and over throughout the film. Furthermore, the length could easily be cut by twenty minutes if Train Man could keep from stammering all the time and actually spit out a word or two. His inadequacies translate into a crippling experience for the audience who just wants to see him get the girl and call it a day. Lastly, the characterization of the girl is so bare-bones that it's bewildering why she would be attracted to him at all." San Francisco Chronicle′s G. Allen Johnson comments that Train Man "fable ups the ante on depicting modern communication". He also comments on the chat-room messages, saying "chat-room messages are texted right onto the screen, sometimes narrated in voiceover, with such frequency that a real person saying something in his real voice to another real person can be startling". The New York Times′ Jeannette Catsoulis comments on Train Man: Densha Otoko, saying, "though its appeal may be limited to the socially awkward, the movie is unusually perceptive about the attractions of online communities while gently insisting on the superiority of flesh over fantasy. "Train Man" wants us to get off our computers and get out of the house; in a country as technocentric as Japan, the suggestion that it may be time to replace the cyber with the real is not just subversive, it's downright revolutionary." The Village Voice's Drew Tillman criticises the film for its "annoying split screens" when " turns to his chat room buddies for advice on how to win over". TV Guide′s Maitland McDonagh criticises the film for its ending that "drags on, and the fantasy sequences are bluntly obvious (though Train Man's nightmare vision of meeting Hermes' parents is pretty funny)". However, she commends the fairy-tale romance is grounded in authentic detail.