MovieChat Forums > Densha otoko (2005) Discussion > In your honest opinion, do you think thi...

In your honest opinion, do you think this story is true?

posted 17 years ago by the_critical_mass
4 replies | jump to latest

As the topic says, do you honestly believe that this story ever happened? Given the anonimity the internet gives and the wide reach it can give, there could be the possibility of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a very clever "storyteller" who took advantage of the environs mentioned. The participants in the original message thread in which Densha Otaku was based upon attest to the validitiy of the story. The makers of the book & TV series says that it was based on a true story. But skepticism tells otherwise & these people might've been exposed to, and been convinced by, probeblyl one of the biggest fraudulent stories of all time. No offense to those who really like this wonderful story, BUT DO YOU REALLY & HONESTLY THINK ITS TRUE as it claims to be?

Please, your opinions will be greatly appreciated ^_^ .

[–] KBeee 17 years ago

The way I figure it is this -
The original 2ch thread is genuine. It ran from 14th March 2004 to 9th May 2004 (about 2 months), which is a long time to keep up a hoax. Of course the original Densha poster could have been lying or fantasising, but this seems to be disproved by the makers of the film or the series (I forget which) stating that they'd been able to meet the original Densha and Hermes, after a promise of anonimity, and that they were still together.

The "fleshing out" of the story in the TV series is almost totally from the imagination of the makers.

[–] the_critical_mass 17 years ago

A hoaxer could maintain his/her scam for that long. All it takes is a PC, whether a rented one in an internet cafe or a portable laptop connected wireless to the Net, and a lot of time. Knowing that otakus in Japan have that much, anything goes.

As for the producers/filmmakers attesting to meeting the real "Densha" & "Hermes", I still have my doubts. It's very convenient to say such things as a "smoke screen" to de-fuse the skeptical, and even if what they say is true, the people who presented themselves as the genuine protagonists of the show could have been posers.

[–] ong1980 16 years ago

If the drama or movie is tagged as "Based on a true story", no one will be asking around who is the real Otaku or Dermes or whether the story is even real but since the producers knows that this story they are coming out with is no Titanic or the unlikely happenings of what is potrayed in Texas Chainsaw which is loosely based on the killer named Ed Gein, they decided to call it a true story instead of Based on a true story because Densha Otaku is indeed highly believable if thats what happen in the film and forseeing that people will want to know and find out who is this real Otaku and start stirring up topics on this Real-life fairy tale thus gaining "free" advertising for the film. In my opinion, Ch2 forum posts on this Otaku might be real(I don't know but since people witness these posts.) but as someone said, it might just be his fantasy or hes delibrately lying and cooking up stories to everyone so that he can continue to feel the satisfaction of many people helping him on this non-existance project of his. Besides, there are millions of post in millions of forums on "help...how do I get this girl". So why such a daily chore stuff like Densha Otaku becomes a phenomenon? Answer is because everyone likes "Real-Life" fairy tale. Me too would really like to believe this is real and it would be beautiful should it be but the truth is, we are living on earth. Maybe we should all post more love helps on the internet from now on using nicks like Busstop Man or Taxi Driver...anything to do with transport, hollywood might just email you one day for your story because these days, they are really desperate after almost squeezing out all possible Asian remakes.

[–] ferofax 14 years ago

it doesn't matter as to how true or how made-up it is, i enjoyed it nonetheless, and that's that. the same could be said of My Sassy Girl, which I also enjoyed a lot. I do however, hope that for the most part it's true. That would've :)