A weekly look into American otaku culture

A year ago a major phenomenon hit Japan that completely changed otaku culture as we know it. It went by the name of Train Man (Densha Otoko), and was just a simple story about a nerd turning to the Internet to find advice on wooing over the girl of his dreams. Back in September, I wrote a post about the story behind the Train Man, how it was popular in Japan, and just why I feel it made the kind of impact it did. I encourage you all to read it, since this post is a follow up. The question that this blogger is asking is when the Train Man debuts in the US this fall, will it have the same kind of impact that it did in Japan? I have a feeling that it can, provided that companies make some very smart choices on how to adapt it for the American otaku culture.

In my previous post, I mentioned at how the story had been adapted into a novel, motion picture, TV show, and four different manga series. Today it was announced from Del Rey that they will be the third US manga company to release a Train Man manga series. The previous two companies, Viz Media and CMX, are planing to release their versions this October, followed shortly by Del Rey in November. Three competing companies showing an interest in the same thing should be a sign that the industry is taking this Train Man thing pretty seriously. Could they be considering this to be the sleeper hit that the industry needs right now? I believe so.

Notice how Del Rey is choosing to release their series along side the other two. This is a great marketing strategy. When three different versions of the same story hit the store shelves at relatively the same time, people will notice it. When online review sites receive the three copies, they will most likely compare and contrast each one to the other two. But most of all, when your average manga shopper goes to his or her local bookstore, they are going to see the name “Train Man” written on three different book spines with three different branding labels right next to each other. This is going to catch the eye of many people. The question from that point is how can these companies maintain that interest in the product? That is where the problem lies.

I believe that one of the most interesting aspects is the story behind the story, how this was all created through the collected efforts of the internet community. But even if you tell them the whole story, can the foreign audience understand it? No one in America knows what 2-ch is, not even anime fans. Internet message boards are so vastly different between the two countries that one would need to be educated on 2-ch alone just to be able to fully grasp the story. Otherwise, people will start reading this “Internet Romance” story, and find that it’s filled with vertical smily faces, orz’s, kita’s, and other 16-bit characters impossible to create on 8-bit keyboards. This surely is not the Internet that American users can identify with.

Teaching 2-ch to American anime fans will not be possible by just reading a manga, there needs to be other means of doing so. I personally was able to learn it by watching the TV show. Seeing how the actors visually represented their feelings through the keyboard was a line-by-line demonstration on how and what to write on 2-ch. But even though the TV show is fantastic, there’s no market for j-drama in America. So importing the show does not seem like a good option.

Possibly the best way of introducing Japanese internet culture to the is to import the original book. All the book contained were the message board posts from the original website. These message board posts translate very well, as you can see through this website. And a book completely comprised of message board posts is just as much of a novelty in the US as it was in Japan. The right kind of marketing can have this book not only draw the interest of anime fans, but of normal internet users as well. And as the reader gets into the book, they will start to become familiar with how 2-ch works.

So the hugely successful Train Man is heading for America, and so far seems to have drawn a lot of interests from the manga industry. However, the potential for its success can be ruined if its background in the Japanese internet culture becomes lost in translation. Someone needs to figure out a way to teach America about 2-ch, and translating the book seems to be the best solution. I’m hoping that it is, because I think Train Man is a wonderful concept that more people need to hear about.

Now I’m not the biggest fan of fan-created anime music videos, but I was very impressed with what we were presented with at the AMV contest at Anime Boston last week. But one video in particular made a large impact on me.

Several months ago, I was shown the works of Makoto Shinkai, and I was blown away with this man’s imagination. He is able to use the medium of anime and Science Fiction to convey some of the most realistic human emotions I’ve ever seen on screen. So when I saw that his “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” was going to be the subject of this AMV, I was a little worried on how they would treat such a masterpiece.

As it turns out, the lyrics this song, “Change the World” by Anberlin, not only rightly symbolizes the power of Shinkai’s work, but also of the power of anime itself. As the prime example was being shown on the big screen, my whole philosophy on the medium was being sung out in a catchy tune. I got goose-bumps over it. Yes, I had the same reaction over an AMV as I did with the anime!

The funny thing is that I didn’t vote for the song at all in the contest. I felt that the one point in which the characters were lip-syncing to the song was very cheesy, so my vote went for my 2nd favorite video in the category. But then two days later, I attended the panel where they announced the winners. Thankfully everyone else voted for it, and it won for its category. They screened the video again, and as the goose-bumps came back, I knew I had made a mistake for not choosing this one. I immediately got on my laptop, logged onto iTunes, and downloaded the song right there via the convention’s wireless connection. I listened to the song several times on my way home from Boston, and have been singing the line “We are the lost ones” to myself all week long.

And now, through the miracle of the web 2.0 era, I present to you the AMV:

If you have yet to see “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” or Shinkai’s earlier work, “Voices of a Distant Star”, I strongly recommend you check out these fine works of art and storytelling.

You know, since Blogsome recently turn on their anti-spamming page, I was seriously considering turn off my policy on having to approve all comments from first time posters on my site. You see, one would now have to type in a security code in order to post on my site. I believe that this is an annoyance, so if someone went through all the trouble of going through that, then I should pass their comment through with no problems.

But thankfully, someone reminded me today why it is still good to screen comments from new users:

“Lol anime in usa. fags. You buy your anime, you don’t download it. fu. ”

““I won a Paranoia Agent poster signed by the complete cast of the English version”
You know what? That is _not_ cool. Because everyone knows that english dub = shit sux fagz”

Now at first I thought that this was joke from one of my friends since they all came from the same IP address. But it turns out that the posts actually came from Sweden, and I sure as hell don’t know any Swedish people.That means that this complete stranger would even go through that little extra hurdle to post three different flaming comments on my site.

And so, ladies and gentleman, I orz for you tonight.

I orz not because my Negima was tarnished, or that my believed English dubs sux’ed, or even because all Americans were called “fags” and “fagz” with a “z”.

No, my friends, I orz for you because my faith in humanity is starting to wither away.

So everyone in the blogging community, what have been the biggest orz-inducing comments left on your site?