There's also a prankish streak: When fast-food chain Lotteria held an online poll asking customers to vote for a new flavor of milk shake, 2channelers stuffed the ballot box in favor of kimchi — fermented cabbage.

However Densha otoko is first about an online community, a community of 2channelers that reproduces itself through the collective production of a heterogeneous narrative and a singular character, “Densha.”

When Densha discovers that he may not need to abandon his treasures, he makes another kind of sacrifice, the decision to expose himself to potential ridicule by coming out as an otaku. We are obviously meant to view this gesture as a genuinely brave act, underlined as it is by the admiring chorus of voices from the 2channelers, who thank him for his courage and praise him for his ability to gambaru, a term that connotes perseverance and endurance in the face of challenges and even potential humiliation.

The reader does not identify with Train Man himself but experiences pleasure and emotion by occupying the role of a 2channeler.

2channelers were infuriated by Fuji Television’s sportscasters, who (in their opinion) weren’t doing enough to denounce questionable calls by the ref in favor of the South Korean soccer team.

2channeler

Meaning

Noun