I picked up a Philips DVP5140 DVD player the other day at Costco for only $49, and it is great! The advantage of this player is that it can play .avi movies directly. So, to watch all the Japanese dramas we have, we can just pop in a DVD+R and peruse the files. Before, I’d have to hook up my laptop to the TV with the sVideo cable. That was kind of a hassle, and something that Mariko didn’t know how to do. It was actually the switching of the monitor signal, fooling with the extended desktop, and controlling the mouse pointer on the tv screen that made it tricky.

Other benefits of the new Philips is that it can automatically read .srt (subtitle) files as long as they have the same name as the movie file. So, you got your avi’s, your .srt’s, and you are ready to go! Also, the player can be made region-free in just a few seconds by adding in a code. The only lame thing about the player is that the video output does not include sVideo, but there are component outs as well as standard RCA. Not a big deal for us at all, though!

Our friend gave us Densha Otoko to watch, and I am totally into it! I was up again until 4:30am last night watching. (I got up to episode 5) It’s even more addicting than Gokusen. The drama is based on a true story of an otaku, Yamada Tsuyoshi (Itoh Atsushi ) who has a chance meeting with a beautiful woman, Aoyama Saori (Itoh Misaki), and how he gets advice from his BBS (Internet chat room) on how to proceed with the relationship. It’s so funny to see all the otaku references, and neat to know that it is a true story. It must be somewhat altered to make it more over-the-top, as most Japanese dramas of this sort are, but still, it’s kind of cool.

There’s lots of funny parts, like when the Imperial March (from Star Wars) ringtone comes on when the bad person calls, or the reactions and expressions of the BBS denizens, including Nasubi! The scenes in Akihabara and all the other otaku scenes are hilarious as well. I like how they capture the feel of the chatroom, where most people are supportive, but there are a couple trolls as well. I like the main actors, and because Itoh Misaki is a babe, even the slow parts in the story are not unpleasant to watch. :). She was in Gokusen 1 as the “pretty teacher”, btw.

Read more:
J-Drama Wiki (nice synopsis there)
Official Site at Fuji TV
Densha Otoko Discussion thread at jdorama.com