Drifting Net Cafe

Drifting Net Cafe
Cover from volume 1 of the manga series Drifting Net Cafe, published by Futabasha
漂流ネットカフェ (Hyōryū Netto Kafe)
Genre	Science fiction, mystery, romance
Manga
Written by	Shūzō Oshimi
Published by	Futabasha
Imprint	Action Comics
Magazine	Manga Action
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	February 28, 2009 – June 28, 2011
Volumes	7
Television drama
Directed by	Hajime Takezono Takashi Fujio
Original network	TBS / MBS
Original run	April 15, 2009 – June 24, 2009
Episodes	11

Drifting Net Cafe (漂流ネットカフェ, Hyōryū Netto Kafe) is a Japanese seinen manga by Shūzō Oshimi that was serialized in the manga magazine, Manga Action. Drifting Net Cafe is a science fiction mystery involving a group of patrons trapped in an internet café, which has become a strange universe of its own. The story focuses primarily on the relationship between Koichi Toki, a salaryman who leads a trouble-free but unexciting life, and Kaho Tono, his first love whom he never forgot.

The manga was adapted into a TBS television series on April 15, 2009, and stars Atsushi Itō as Koichi Toki.

Plot

Koichi Toki is an office worker or salaryman with a wife. He works hard to bring food home and leads a rather simple and boring life. During a work trip, he decides to spend time in an internet cafe, where he meets an ex-schoolmate after not seeing each other for a while. In the same cafe, several clients begin to have problems with their computers and the cellular signal disappears. The group of clients together with the manager of the place, Toki and his partner are trapped, to discover that they are in a mysterious place that is not Japan. The group suffers from disagreements, several escalations of anger and despair trying to survive while Toki and his friend's relationship progresses little by little.

Manga

The manga was serialized in Futabasha's Manga Action and the 63 chapters were compiled into 7 volumes from February 28, 2009 to June 28, 2011. The defunct American publisher JManga licensed the manga and released the first volume in August 2011. The name of the manga is a reference to Kazuo Umezu's The Drifting Classroom, which it is a retelling of. The manga has also been published in Spain by Milky Way Ediciones.

Television series

The series was released in a 4-disc DVD boxset on August 5, 2009. The ending theme「Brave Heart (Remix)」by MAY'S was released as a single on April 22, 2009.

Cast

• Atsushi Itō – Koichi Toki
• KIKI – Kaho Tono
• Reina Asami – Yukie Toki
• Shinpei Takagi – Atsushi
• Masahiro Toda – Osawa
• Mai Takahashi – Kazumi Kato
• Takahiro Hojo – Takashi Matsuda
• Reo Yoshitake – Kameda
• Kazumi Urano – Miku
• Hidekazu Nagae – Terasawa
• Yuko Mano – Sachiko Imai
• Go Riju – Kensuke Kajimachi
• Miyu Watanabe – Saori Mizuno
• Shusuke Tsumura – Satomura

Episodes

File	On Air (Kansai Time)	On Air (Kanto Time)	Subtitle	Ratings (Kansai)	Ratings (Kanto)
1	Apr 10, 2009 00:00–00:30	Apr 15, 2009 00:44–01:14	Drift (漂流)	5.0	3.3
2	Apr 17, 2009 00:15–00:45	Apr 22, 2009 00:29–00:59	To a Forest (森へ)	3.9	3.4
3	Apr 24, 2009 00:00–00:30	Apr 29, 2009 00:29–00:59	Tom Sawyer (トムソーヤ)	2.9	3.7
4	May 1, 2009 00:00–00:30	May 6, 2009 00:29–00:59	Toki & Tono (土岐と遠野)	4.7	2.0
5	May 8, 2009 00:00–00:30	May 13, 2009 00:29–00:59	Seeds of Hope (希望の種)		2.7
6	May 15, 2009 00:00–00:30	May 20, 2009 00:29–00:59	Dead World (死んだ世界)	3.4	2.5
7	May 22, 2009 00:00–00:30	May 27, 2009 01:09–01:39	Crack (亀裂)	3.0	1.7
8	May 29, 2009 00:00–00:30	June 3, 2009 00:29–00:59	Experimental (実験)	3.5	2.5
9	June 5, 2009 00:00–00:30	June 10, 2009 00:29–00:59	McEnroe (マッケンロー)	4.4	2.1
10	June 12, 2009 00:00–00:30	June 17, 2009 00:29–00:59	End of the World (世界の終わり)		2.7
Final (11)	June 19, 2009 00:00–00:30	June 24, 2009 00:29–00:59	I'm Home (ただいま)		2.0

Special Rerun

File	On Air (Kansai Time)	Ratings (Kansai)
1	Aug 11, 2009 13:53–14:55	3.3
2	Aug 12, 2009 13:53–14:55	2.6
3	Aug 13, 2009 13:53–14:55	3.2
4	Aug 17, 2009 13:53–14:55	3.0

Reception

Katherine Dacey of Manga Bookshelf was disappointed in how the first volume of the manga stood in comparison to The Drifting Classroom, saying the horror was not as well-executed, but felt that the manga had better pacing and artwork: "Long-time fans of Classroom are likely to find Oshimi's update slick but soulless, as it relies more heavily on low-budget disaster movies than the original source material for its characters and conflicts." Sean Gaffney of A Case Suitable for Treatment felt that the horror aspect was pulled off well in the first volume, but was turned off by the excessive violence and sex: "It's as sordid as it sounds, and made me feel ill... [It] didn't take long for morality to erode, much like [The Drifting Classroom]."

External links

• Official website: TV Series (in Japanese)
• MBS website (in Japanese)
• Drifting Net Cafe (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia