Train_Man (Densha Otoko)
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streaming sites: none that I know of

This came out in 2005, in Japan (2006 in the U.S.) And I guess I read about it in Anime Insider. But I didn't see it until 2017. It's based on an online conversation wherein someone nicknamed "Densha Otoko" (Train Man) related a story about having met a woman on a train. There was a drunken salaryman harassing a few women, and "Train Man" came to the rescue. Well, it doesn't seem as if he actually did very much, really, but doing anything at all was more than most people do in such situations. And it was particularly brave for him, since he was an extremely shy, nervous, geeky guy. Subsequently, one of the women sends him a thank you gift (a set of teacups made by a French company called Hermès). And Train Man gets advice from various people on the internet forum 2ch, where he shared his story. And with their encouragement, he timidly, and rather slowly, pursued a relationship with this woman (who is referred to as Hermes on the forum). The whole story became very popular in Japan, and it spawned not only this movie, but also a book, a TV series, and four different manga series. This movie is the only version of the story I've seen, and probably the only one I ever will.

It's unclear how much truth there is to the original story, let alone any of the adaptations. But at least I can say I really liked the movie. It's incredibly funny and cute, and I guess kind of romantic. I mean... by the time Train Man and Hermes declare their love for each other, I still didn't see that there was much reason for either of them to feel the way they did. But afterwards, Hermes says some things that actually made her feelings make a bit more sense than I expected. I still thought her reasons were a bit thin, and I still thought Train Man's only reason for his feelings was that she was literally the first woman who'd ever displayed the slightest interest in him. Even so, I'm always able to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good story. And I really could feel all the feels, at different points in this story. All the highs, and all the lows. So, it was fun. But beyond just the developing relationship itself, much of the fun of the movie comes from other plot points, like how deeply invested Train Man's online "friends" were in his story. (It was pretty clear that most of them had just as little experience in matters of love as he did, and they were living vicariously through him. He was giving them hope that they might find love someday, themselves.) And there were fantasy elements, sometimes in the form of one particular trio of guys who were following his story imagining themselves in some kind of combat scenario, and sometimes in the form of Train Man imagining how encounters with Hermes might transpire. (And it wasn't always clear until after the fact that certain scenes were just in his imagination.)

Anyway... I guess that's pretty much all I have to say, except that of course there's a happy ending. (I mean, obviously... I did already say they ended up declaring their love.) Also I should say there's a post-credits scene. And... yeah, that's all. It was just really fun. And stuff.