From 2chan to the big screen—again

By kevin on April 13, 2009 at 5:43am EDT

Asmik Ace has been gradually announcing details of the new titles added to their lineup last week. The latest is the impossibly-titled “Black Gaisha ni Tsutometerundaga, Mou Ore wa Genkai Kamoshirenai” (English title: A Man on the Verge at a Black Company). In Japan “black company” is term thrown for any companies that overwork their employees or violate labor laws. The story behind the script was actually sparked on a popular thread on the Japanese internet forum 2chan, and the title was taken directly from that thread. The story was picked up by various media outlets and eventually got adapted to a novel last year. If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s probably because Shosuke Murakami’s 2005 film Train Man (Densha Otoko) started out exactly the same way.

In “Black Gaisha”, a 26-year-old computer geek (Teppei Koike) has spent his first 10 years out of school living with his mom and spending all his time on the internet. When his mother dies suddenly, he’s forced to go out and find a job to support himself. His computer obsession combined with his lack of education or other experience makes him specifically qualified to work in the IT industry, but he ends up working at a company that overworks its employees and pushes them to the brink. Similarly to the plot of Train Man, other 2chan posters offer up encouragement, or in some cases, flames as he tries to muddle through and grow as a person.

Yuichi Sato (Kisaragi, Rookies: Graduation) will direct. In addition to Koike, the cast will include Maiko, Kei Tanaka, Hiroshi Shinagawa, and Seiichi Tanabe.

Filming begins on April 19th and should wrap sometime in August with a Winter release date planned.

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