The Antonym: Good Guy Gets the Girl

Once in a great while a nice guy actually finishes in first. It's a very rare event, however. So rare that it only happens in some foreign country where the first language is not English. It is such an incredible event that it becomes a best selling novel, movie, and tv series.

This is Densha Otoko (Train Man). I have heard that the story is true, and I have heard that the story is an urban legend. I believe it's true just because I need hope. If you don't know, hope is what us have-nots look forward to. On the other hand, the haves don't even need hope because they always get what they want.

Densha Otoko started as a thread on a singles messageboard. It followed the story of one man, Densha, as he tried to win the heart of a lady known as Hermes. She got that nickname because she gave Densha a set of Hermes teacups. The story was later published as a novel, then made into a movie and tv drama.

Here's the movie cover:



And the drama:



Densha Otoko is your average Otaku. Otaku can be roughly translated as Fanatic. There are anime, comic, train, army, etc otaku. They are basically geeks that cool people would tend to avoid. Their Mecca is Akihabara, Tokyo. That district sells any electronic, anime, manga item known to man.



Densha is a nice, quiet, shy guy who is pretty anonymous in his company. He's never had a girlfriend, and never had a date. He spends his days off in Akihabara checking out the new anime and computer games.



One evening on the train, he sees a pretty OL (Office Lady, a Japanese term) sitting across from him. He's smitten. The lady, later known as Hermes, comes from a well to do family. She works at some kind of international company, and is well educated and smart.



However, there is a drunkard on the train also. The drunkard starts to cuss and harass the other passengers. Being polite, non-confrontational Japanese, the other passengers try their best to ignore the drunk, at least until the drunk goes after Hermes.



When the drunk accosts Hermes, Densha steps up and defends her. He struggles with the drunk until train security gets there and takes control. As a token of appreciation, Hermes sends Densha a set of Hermes teacups. From there on, Densha gets advice from thousands of internet fans on how to win the girl. In the end, he succeeds.



Probably helps that he looks like this when he fixes himself up:



Sorry. This pic was taken as a promo for the actor's latest drama about a high school ace pitcher.

So the lesson here is that even good guys can win in life. It's just that the odds are extremely slim. You got one success in a metropolis of about 14 million people. The "good guy" also had star-quality good looks.

Unfortunately, I look like this:



So I may need a city larger than 20 million for me to win just one.