Anyone familiar with the hit Japanese comic and animation Doraemon will likely know the character Nobita. Cursed with terrible luck, the schoolboy receives help from an earless robotic cat sent back in time by his own great-grandson in the future. Nobita is a lovable character, but “cool” is rarely a word that people use to describe him.

Throwing caution to the wind, however, one young man was spotted riding Tokyo’s trains yesterday dressed exactly like the hapless character. Cosplay or just quirky fashion sense, we don’t know, but the Internet had plenty to say about the rare sight.

Sighted riding the subway earlier this week, the “real life Nobita” has been creating waves online, with some going so far as to state that they “don’t how much more of this country I can take…” Is it so wrong for someone to imitate their paper-based heroes? Should we scorn those who decide to think a few dimensions outside the box?

▼Just for reference, here’s the “real” Nobita, complete with takekoputa personal helicopter.

nobita actual

▼And here’s the young man sighted riding the subway yesterday.

https://twitter.com/d9_y/status/323343884400881664

Although some of the comments of derision on Internet message boards are perhaps a little harsh, the sight of a young man in tiny shorts and socks carrying schoolbag and, oh yeah, having a small plastic helicopter affixed to his head may be a little too much for some to bear. Still, you have to hand it to this guy: to wander around in public dressed in this way and not care what people think is pretty admirable, and it speaks volumes for the level of tolerance the average Japanese commuter has. “Oh, there’s a guy dressed as a child from an old comic book. Huh. Anyway, back to Angry Birds…”

Not every online commenter was disgusted at the sight of a man dressed as a schoolboy, though; some Twitter users even called the outfit “unbearably cute” and proclaimed Japan to be “just so lovely.”

It takes all sorts to make the world go round…

Source/Twitter image: Byoukan Sunday

Nobita image via Doraworld