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Train Man Has U.S. Live-Action Musical Series in the Works
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Vertigo Entertainment, Amuse Group US, and Global Road Television announced at Mipcom on Tuesday that they will produce a musical adaptation of the Train Man (Densha Otoko) franchise. Entertainment news website Variety noted that the adaptation will be a "half-hour series," and both Variety and entertainment news website Deadline noted that it is specifically a remake of the Fuji TV live-action television series. Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Tucker Cawley are executive producers along with Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Step Up), who will also direct.
Vertigo Entertainment's Michael Connolly, Offspring Entertainment's Jennifer Gibgot, Amusa Group US's Tatsuro Hatanaka, and Fuji TV's Satoshi Kubota are also producers. The series is the first sale of a property by Fuji TV for an American remake.
The franchise is based on a popular and allegedly true story that began when an anonymous otaku on the 2channel image board related his story of helping a woman on the train who was being bothered by a drunk man. When the girl sends him a set of expensive teacups, he turns to the message board for help on how to respond and form a relationship with the girl.
The story has been adapted into a novel by Hitori Nakano, multiple manga series, the aforementioned Fuji TV live-action series, and a live-action film. Del Rey published the novel with the title Train Man (seen right) in 2007. Viz Media published Hidenori Hara's seinen manga adaptation, Del Rey published Machiko Ocha's shōjo manga adaptation, and CMX published Wataru Watanabe's manga version.
Source: Deadline (Denise Petski), Variety (Cynthia Littleton) via Hachima Kikō
