Japanese message board Cyranos create geek romance

By Cory Doctorow at 6:42 am Thursday, Jan 11

When a geeky Japanese otaku kid saved a woman from a hostile drunk on a Tokyo metro train, he fell in love with his damsel in distress. She even sent him some teacups to thank him. But he was too shy to write back to her -- until the denizens of a sprawing Japanese geek community called 2Channel got behind him and pushed, giving him the confidence to make contact. Now they're a happy couple:

Train Man tirelessly chronicled his courtship. On May 9, 2004, the thread exploded when he reported, "I kissed her lightly, but she said, 'More,' kissing me 3-4 times." Overnight, he became Otaku no Kamisama – God of the Geeks.

In October 2004, a book-length transcript of the 2Channel threads sold over a million copies. Several manga serializations followed, as well as an anime, a live-action film (set for US release on DVD in February), a TV drama, a stage play, and even a porn knockoff. So far, though, Train Man's actual identity remains a mystery.

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