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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 29 September 2005 00:00 |
 Yamada's transformation from top-grade otaku into alpha male
- well, almost - begins after Saori agrees to a dinner date. Just
how does a guy with no clue go about preparing for a date with the girl
of his dreams anyway? Watch and learn, in a "what not to do" kind of way in the latest episode of Densha Otoko...
Yamada gets through to Saori - although it's only her answerphone, and
he makes a complete idiot of himself when leaving his message.
Never mind the images that run through his head about what she was up
to that stopped her from answering the phone. Saori, meanwhile,
has been fending off her mother's attempts to set her up with an
eligible bachelor. When she gets Yamada's message, she
attempts to return the call, by poor Yamada (cursed to forever see her
as a "missed call" message on his cellphone) always seems to be unable
to get to the phone.
Inconvenient calls from friends, business calls, and flat batteries -
what else could possibly go wrong? Even finding a replacement
charger for his phone turns into an adventure story as Yamada gets
caught up in a SWAT raid. While he continues his epic search for
a phone charger (via dinner with his boss - another disaster of note),
Saori's been telling her friends about him - although since she wasn't
wearing her contacts on the train, she can't really remember what he
looked like, only that she thought he was probably Japanese. Once
Yamada gets home & gets his phone on the charger, he finally
manages to get through to her - at which point his day goes from good
to great, then to unbelievable when Saori agrees to have dinner with
him...
This is turning into quite the 'ugly duckling' story, as Yamada
cleans up quite well. Even his evil sister seems quite
impressed. What he really needs to do, though, is rely a little
less on advice from the chatboard mob, most of whom are in the same
boat as Yamada, date-wise - that is, they've never been on one.
These are not people you want to take advice from..! :)
Still, this series is great fun to watch - there's the joy of seeing
the underdog get his woman (although there are bound to be
complications ahead), while checking the background of just about every
scene for anime and manga references. Hours of fun for any anime
fan!
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