I just got finished watching the movie version of Densha Otoko, and I really liked it. It’s funny to see a dorama and movie of the same story, especially since that story is derived from the same source, which is a verbose chatroom log. I watched the dorama first, all 11+ episodes, so the movie seemed kind of short. Or was it just very compressed? The events moved at a quick pace, and there wasn’t enough time to really get into the relationship building. I think even adding a half hour to the movie would have been better to add a few scenes of them getting to know eachother. On the flipside, the way the movie showed the chatroom members was perfect. Nothing too over the top, but much more effective than the dorama. I especially liked the part about the couple who were following Densha’s story separately, and then later, together. That was kind of cool.
Even though the story is generally the same, the overall feel of the movie is, well… more movie-like. The acting is on a higher level, plus the quality of the cinematography and soundtrack are definitely a couple steps up from dorama quality. Don’t get me wrong, the dorama quality has its own unique charms, but the movie does well to distance itself from the small screen. For me, it was the camera work… I might be way off, but I think it shows a difference between the type of camera used for movies and television. Just the control of the DOF in a cinema quality camera is so much more sophisticated than one used in TV.
I really like the actors in the movie version. I have always liked Nakatani Miki (yowza), and I think she was especially good in this role. They made her up to look much more plain in the movie, but she still had that classic beauty. And Yamada Takayuki was great as Densha. His otaku character was the right amount of geekiness and shyness, whereas Densha in the dorama version was quite a bit too whiney and over-the-top. (I guess that what doramas excel at, though) I would say that the movie versions of Densha and Hermes are much more believable than the dorama versions. In the dorama, I often wondered why such a beautiful young woman like Itoh Misaki would even want to spend a minute with the whiney, kimochi-warui otaku played by Itoh Atsushi. A little too unbelievable… the movie, on the other hand, really seemed like it could happen.
I had read that there were lots of cameos of actors between the TV version and movie version of Densha Otoko. In fact, the movie Densha was in the first episode of the TV dorama, for just a couple seconds. But I only spotted one TV actor who was in the movie (Shiraishi Miho)… at first. If you wait until the credits finish rolling, you are in for a surprise! I guess it won’t mean too much unless you saw the dorama first, but it is still cool. And then Yamada Takayuki reprises his role from his cameo in the dorama, but as the movie character, who was different in the dorama… so weird, now I am all confused.
Anyways, it was a great movie, I just wish it would have been longer! I read something that it might be screened here in the US around the holiday season? I wouldn’t mind seeing it again in the theater, as long as it is subbed rather than dubbed.
