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So you may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Well today I marathoned a series known as Genshiken. Yes both seasons and the ova’s. Curious about what I think about the show? Well wonder no more! I’ll be as spoiler free as I can be, and if you see any spoilers they will be very minor.
Lets start off by talking about the premise behind this show. Basically Genshiken is about Universtiy students who are in a club called the Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyukai or Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture. I personally like the idea of using characters that are not in Highschool or Middle School. Really I mean it, it’s nice to see people who are old enough to smoke, drink, and don’t live with their parents. Anyways, this club is basically a club that covers anime, manga, and games, rather than the other clubs at the school that only cover either anime or manga. In other words this show is a slice of life that centers around otaku, and the way otaku live.
In the beginning there are only three members and the first episode shows two new freshmen students joining. I’ll talk about the characters more in a moment. One of the new freshmen characters named Makoto Kousaka has a girlfriend, Saki Kasukabe, who is not an otaku in the least. Well she hangs out at the club to be with her boyfriend, and well since she isn’t an otaku, hillarity ensoues. Ok enough about the premise, I’ll let you discover the show more if you decide to watch.
As with any slice of life shows, the characters are the main drive for the show. All the characters are main characters for the most part in this show, so I won’t bother distinguishing between their roles.
Kanji Sasahara: Basically this kid is a shy, plain, and indesisive. He starts off as the least otaku character but as he starts hanging out with people in Genshiken, he dives further and further into the lifestyle.
Saki Kasukabe: She is the only character who is not an otaku, she dislikes otaku and the otaku lifestyle. She hangs out in the genshiken clubroom for the sole purpose of being near her boyfriend Kousaka. She is short-tempered and is often abusive towards other members of the club and will say what’s on her mind without pulling any punches.
Makoto Kousaka: Kousaka is the character that doesn’t look like an otaku, he dresses fashionably and attracts the attention of women. He is the boyfriend of Kasukabe. He is an expert at fighting games and frequently plays Guilty Gear. Kousaka has no problem playing eroge in front of Kasukabe.
Kanako Ohno: Ohno is soft-spoken girl with the largest oppai in the club. She loves cosplaying and enjoys BL. She has a pretty face but in the beginning of the show it is covered by her hair.
Harunobu Madarame: He is the hardcore member of genshiken. He wears glasses and is the typical nerdy stereotype character.
Souichiro Tanaka: Tanaka is another cosplay enthusiast, but he mostly designes costumes. He is close to Ohno because they both share the same hobby.
Mitsunori Kugayama: An overweight, stuttering character. He enjoys drawing but has no motivation.
Chika Ogiue: The greatest character of the series xD She claims to hate yaoi and otaku. She is also an artist.
Manabu Kuchiki: The worst fucking character ever, so annoying that I was reluctant to even include him in the cast list.
Ok now that we have all of the formalities out of the way, how about I tell my thoughts on the series.
I must say that season one was pretty damn consitent throughout, I laughed every episode. A majority of the characters were great and meshed well, with the exception of Kugayama. He felt like an uneeded character. In the OVA’s we are introduced to two new characters; Chika Ogiue and Manabu Kuchiki. Kuchiki embarasses himself at a welcoming party and decides to not join. The first of the 3 OVA episodes focuses mainly on Ogiue joining and it is pretty good. The second is a Madarame and Kasukabe episode, it was a somewhat decent episode, but I personally didn’t enjoy it all that much. The third and final OVA episode is basically a cosplay epsidoe and it is pretty good but isnt exactly the highlight of series.
In the second season Sasahara is the new club leader and he is now much more confident. The feel of the show is much different than in the first season. It wasn’t so much learning and diving in the otaku culture, but just living it. All in all it was another great season buuut two things sure pissed me off about it. I absolutely hated that they added Kuchiki as a permanent character, he is the most fucking annoying character I have come across in a long time!! Also the fact that they left out
all the Ogiue stuff like when she hooks up with Sasahara. I mean that was the best part of the whole series, Ogiue is the fucking greatest character of the series. I was so glad when they started dating and to leave that stuff out sucks. I dunno if the anime finished before the manga, but you would think they could have wrapped it up in a few OVA’s
Anyway enough rambling this show was a Solid 8 for me. You must watch it, but it’s not a masterpiece. It would have been higher if they hadn’t left out certain things.I would love to see an OVA to wrap some things up but it has already been 3 years so I am not holding my breath.
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