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
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Manga Action
Original run	February 28, 2009 – June 28, 2011
Volumes	7
Television drama
Directed by	Hajime Takezono Takashi Fujio
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 Shuzo 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.

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.

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

Episode information

File	On Air (Kansai Time)	On Air (Kanto Time)	Subtitle	Ratings (Kansai)	Ratings (Kanto)
1	Apr 10, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	Apr 15, 2009 0.44 - 1.14	Drift (漂流)	5.0	3.3
2	Apr 17, 2009 0.15 - 0.45	Apr 22, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	To a Forest (森へ)	3.9	3.4
3	Apr 24, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	Apr 29, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	Tom Sawyer (トムソーヤ)	2.9	3.7
4	May 1, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	May 6, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	Toki & Tono (土岐と遠野)	4.7	2.0
5	May 8, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	May 13, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	Seeds of Hope (希望の種)		2.7
6	May 15, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	May 20, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	Dead World (死んだ世界)	3.4	2.5
7	May 22, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	May 27, 2009 1.09 - 1.39	Crack (亀裂)	3.0	1.7
8	May 29, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	June 3, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	Experimental (実験)	3.5	2.5
9	June 5, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	June 10, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	McEnroe (マッケンロー)	4.4	2.1
10	June 12, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	June 17, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	End of the World (世界の終わり)		2.7
Final (11)	June 19, 2009 0.00 - 0.30	June 24, 2009 0.29 - 0.59	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 (Japanese)
• MBS website (Japanese)