There's a live action too?!- Train Man

Train Man or Densha Otoko, has two live actions, a tv series and a movie. I decided to watch the movie. I did it mainly because the movie came first. I might revisit the tv show at a later time. The film was released in 2005 and was a big hit in theaters across Japan. It is based on a novel, that has been turned into three different manga series.
The plot fallows the life of Yamada after a chance encounter with Saori, when he rescues her from a drunk man on the train. Saori sends him a set of Hermes tea cups as a thank you. Relying on advice from users on a website he is able to find the courage to start dating her.
I really like this story, mainly because it takes you a little out of your comfort zone when you watch it. It's not in a bad way, you just feel embarrassed for the characters. You Yamada change and grow as he starts to have a realationship for Saori. If you saw him from the first time he talks to her on the phone to the end of the movie, the person is unrecognizable. But, he doesn't give up his love of anime, manga, and video games. Saori accepts him for who he is, just the way he is. She doesn't want him to change just for her because he's the person she fell for.
This movie is a little more topical for Japan, since there is a whole group of people that just stopped leaving their rooms. This is starting to happen more here in the US and around the world, but because of the culture of Japan it is more prevalent. People find conversing on the computer easily then in real life. They hid away in their obsessions and don't interact with other people. In Train Man, Yamada steps out of his comfort zone so that he can help Saori and then must give up solitude to have a relationship with her.
I do really like the message that you shouldn't give up your self to be with an other person and to just be your self and you'll find the right person. What I do not like about this movie or this story is that when Yamada saves Saori from the drunk man, she then becomes his girlfriend. It's a story that I'm tired of hearing. Boy saves girl, girl thanks boy by dating him, sleeping with him, or marrying him. She becomes this reward for him and men and boy come to expect it when they do some thing for girls and woman. Just because a man saves a woman she has no obligation to give him anything except her thanks. This idea is what is in bedded into our culture and many cultures around the world. This idea is a very old story, a story that has not changed for men or boys. You are guaranteed a reward if you save some one. For women and girls, their story has changed, you don't have to stay home you can be strong and independent. You can fight your own battles, you don't need a man to do this for you. I just don't understand why the stories for men or boys have not changed yet. That is what I really want to see, a story for boys and men were they aren't guaranteed a reward when you save the day. You do it because it's right.

~^.^