mbr0052 When looking into foreign movies they are not originally made for a vast public like Americans. Japanese culture is nothing like American or European culture, its actually the exact opposite. You may not understand everything about that through this movie and you should not judge the movie because you don't understand it. This movie is a great movie, it has decent acting, most can agree the plot is predictable at times. For everyone who did not like the move because it seemed rather strange try to re-watch it with an open mind. Recommendations for people who like Japanese movies include: Tokyo Sonata and The Departures. Two very good movies not as humorous but tell a lot about the Japanese culture and also have great plots.

crossbow0106 This film is apparently based on a true story about a nerdy computer/anime geek who is very shy who saves a young lady from a drunk on the train. Their relationship slowly develops from there. As the train man, Takayuki Yamada does a very good job being angst ridden as he goes out with the very pretty Miki Nakatani. He has a support network of computer geeks who give him dating advice, root for him and sometimes envy him. Its this element that makes the movie a lot of fun. The film is quintessentially Japanese, as Tokyo comes alive, full of bright lights and ultra modern. You want to fast forward to see what happens, but don't. Just enjoy it, its a nice story well filmed and with good acting. I recommend it to any fan of romantic comedy.

ottaky My wife went back to Japan over Christmas and, as usual, returned with a suitcase full of video cassettes that her parents and friends had recorded for her. Amongst the tapes this time was a series of TV shows called Train Man which, so I'm told, is a spin-off series from this film. I didn't watch the tapes because they were sans English subtitles, but my wife explained the plot to me which sounded marginally interesting.My wife enjoyed the tapes enough that she ordered this film on DVD and we sat down to watch it last night.Oh dear - not my kind of film at all. I guess it can best be described as a romantic comedy, but there was precious little comedy to be seen. The romance was of the type I associate with Japanese TV - schmaltzy, twee and hopelessly overwrought. The acting was nothing special - in fact, I found the Train Man character himself to be particularly unbelievable and his hammy mannerisms to be deeply irritating.Overall I find it difficult to recommend this film - it's just a below average TV show stretched out to an hour and forty minutes.

Harry T. Yung Whether it was 40 years or 4 months ago, those who remember their first date will most certainty bath in the glow of empathy with this sweet little movie. It'll be an added bonus for those who are watching it with still the same person.But there's more. To the still uninitiated, this little gem is an eye-opener to the culture of Internet chat room. Through skillful interplay between split-screen and full screen, a group of our hero's best chat mates is shown to be his council of courtship advisors. This comprises a passionate young nurse, a young man (student, presumably) who locks himself up in his room with the computer most of the time, a man and a woman at their late twenties or early thirties (an office worker and a housewife respectively) and a group of three young chaps, the official clowns of the movie. We soon see how they are emotionally very involved with our hero's joys and woes, hopes and fears, which have become very much part of their own lives. There's also one nice little spoiler that is unveiled quite early in the movie.Our hero is a young "otaku", a term (neutral rather than derogatory) used to describe people who are so indulged in the virtual world of comics, animation and computer games that they have lost touch with real human beings, manifested in their acute shyness and inability to communicate with others. All these change when he, with a sudden surge of impulse, helps a lovely lassie that is molested by a drunken passenger on a train. The courtship is innocent and sweet, completely opposite to the other genre where the protagonists jump right into bed an hour after they first met. It's also funny, in a nice, gentle sort of way.One IMDb comment mentions that the character of the girl "Hermes" (nicknamed so because she sent him a set of Hermes cups to thank him) has not been as developed as even the supporting characters, and adds that this is perhaps intentional. I think so. The focus of the movie is on our hero the "Train man" and, to a lesser extent, the supporting characters. Hermes is an idolized figure and her sweet, composed charm contrasts perfectly with his nervous, tantalizing uncertainty. Incidentally, in the stage version of this true story, she doesn't even appear in person but is only a voice off- stage.Starting as a true story, "Train man" has taken Japan by storm, in every media conceivable – Internet story, comic, book, movie, stage play and, last but not least, hugely popular TV drama starring gorgeous Ito Misaki.