Genshiken Nidaime/Genshiken Second Generation Anime Review

Another series from this past anime season was Genshiken Nidaime, which picked up from the previous seasons titled Genshiken. It features an almost whole new cast, and follows the antics of the otaku club for another season. I enjoyed this show, but I certainly come from a bias that compares it to the original experience I had with the first 2 seasons of the show that aired back in 2004. So here is my review spoiler free.

Synopsis
Whether you’re familiar with Genshiken or not, this season introduces a largely whole new cast of characters, so those previously unfamiliar with the series can jump in. It’s about the The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, which basically breaks down to be a bunch of otakus obsessed with anime, video games, and cosplay. The old crew has graduated, with the only links left being Ohno and Sasahara’s girlfriend who is the new club president, Ogiue. Now the club is comprised mostly of “rotten girls” who are into BL (boy’s love) and are female otakus. The times have changed in Genshiken which used to be almost exclusively male club members, but the guys make re-appearances, with Madarame being the center of attention for a multitude of episodes. Although there’s a large cast, the story focuses mainly on the character development of cross-dresser Hato, and his attempts to be accepted by a group of women. Madarame helps Hato a lot in this regard, and Hato also helps Madarame back, and they end up learning a lot about themselves as they enter adulthood. The students banter back and forth, and get up to some pretty nerdy stuff, which is fun to see for any anime fan.

Genshiken Nidaime Episode 9 Highlights & Thoughts

Another week another episode of Genshiken Nidaime. It’s getting close to the end of the season so things are starting to boil up. A lot happens without a lot said, and we’re left on the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Spoilers Ahead let’s talk about the episode.

Ogiue and Sasahara and Hato

In the intro we get a little banter between Sasahara and Ogiue. Although it’s quick we can see Sasahara’s engaged in making sure she feels good about her work and gets over her own insecurities. We also get to know that he must live up to the fantasies she’s so eloquently drawn out about him. Before he gets to do so though the others arrive. Poor Sasahara.
We also see Ogiue do her best to mentor Hato. She’s not a very deeply developed character (which is disappointing) but you can see her dedication to helping Hato get over his drawing problems. She helps bridge the gap of his association with BL and crossdressing to himself outside of that and how he limits his own abilities when he crossdresses. Her kind words pay off and Hato draws the final sketches for their manga. It seems like Hato’s finally making some good progress on himself.

Kasukabe Returns

Saki Kasukabe talks briefly with Ohno about revisiting the university for the school festival to catch up with the gang. Although it’s a little blurb we can expect Hato to be caught off guard by the relationship he’s about to witness between Madarame and Saki. I imagine he has no clue what kind of woman she is, and he will likely stick up for Madarame as Saki was never easy to deal with. That’s all speculation for next week’s episode though.

Old Friends Return

So with the cultural festival in full swing the club is happily distributing their magazine. Yajima’s friend from high school makes a second appearance, along with Yoshitake’s odd pair of history club buddies. There’s just a lot of back and forth banter that isn’t very important but we also get a moment between Madarame and Hato when he appears. Sasahara’s little sister also makes an obnoxious appearance to Hato’s disappointment and embarrasses him and Madarame. This scene clearly accentuates Hato’s feelings towards Madarame as he not only get embarrassed by Keiko’s comments but he also gets very defensive towards Madarame and protecting his feelings about Kasukabe. The three of them interacting is an awkward scene that lets us see Hato’s more protective side to Madarame.

The Mysterious Trio

Hato has two mysterious friends who go on the lookout for him at the university. Luckily for him they do not catch on to who he is. The pair is very odd with one girl/guy who has the creepiest eyes I’ve ever seen in a casual anime. Seriously what’s with that? Anyway, the episode ends with someone exclaiming about Hato, which is apparently his female doppelganger?! What exactly is the story here? It’s a pretty big mystery making next week’s episode that much more enticing.
The episode overall was pretty bland save for the ending, but at least it gives us something to look forward to. It also introduced us to some new faces that will probably be developed further next week and in the episodes to come. Also, have we forgotten Saki interacting with Madarame? How will Hato deal with not only his own past creeping up on him, but Madarame’s past on top of that? It should be interesting. You’ll hear about next week!
Christina

Genshiken Nidaime Episode 8 Highlights & Thoughts

This was another episode highlighting the inner struggle between Hato and his fantasy counterpart, however we do get a few minutes of banter between Yajima and Yoshitake as well as into Ogiue’s head (if only for a moment or two). But despite the lack of diverse character contribution we still have a nice episode that analyzes the inner workings of Hato’s fantasies. Spoilers ahead, let’s get to the episode!

Yajima, Yoshitake & Ogiue

In the beginning of the episode we learn that Yajima and Yoshitake are going to attempt working together for a piece in the club’s upcoming magazine. I like the dynamic between these two as they banter, it feels like a real friendship between an odd pair. I like how blunt Yoshitake is while Yajima tries to deal with keeping up her own appearances for her pride. Yoshitake is shameless and it’s great. I enjoy how both characters are very relatable as one fully embraces her weird self while the other does her best by attempting to do the right thing despite her impulses. The second half of the beginning is the contemplation of Ogiue about her partnership with Hato. It’s interesting how easy we can feel inadequate when better talent is right infront of our face as Ogiue does. As someone who is professionally published, Ogiue has even more pressure on her than the other girls to impress. I wish we could explore this stress and perspective more but Hato steals the limelight for the rest of the episode. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll return to Ogiue’s anxiety in the upcoming episodes.

Hato’s Split Personality

I really like how this show has the diverse cast it does, as it shows the struggle of Hato, a complex character that we don’t get to see often in anime (or analyzed to this degree). We get to see his split personality; the reasonable person he wants to be externally versus the inner sexual self dying to live out new fantasies. I think we always have the internal voice that wants to live out a life we fantasize about, whether it be sexual or not (sexual just holds more weight). We can see how Hato struggles with his one side wishing to have the life he reads about in his manga/doujinshi versus the person he knows he has to be in order to be respectable and be accepted by the community. I think the ironic thing is that most of this is in his head, as there are characters like Yoshitake who have no filter and have no problem with expressing themselves. I think the Genshiken group would be accepting of him no matter what, but he puts these barriers up because of his fear of coming into his own. However this episode he opens up slightly to Madarame, so I think he will open up to everyone eventually.

Hato and Madarame’s Relationship

I think it’s funny to see these two interact, they both don’t know how to deal with each other but somehow make it work. I enjoy the fact that they can relate on some level, but mostly Hato finds confidence when he is with Madarame alone. Hato finds a ‘trap game’ and instantly wants Madarame’s personal opinion on whether he enjoyed the game or not. Although on the surface it appears as though Hato wants to know for his fantasy/imagination I think he’s also looking for approval from Madarame on his own lifestyle of cross-dressing (as there are cross-dressing characters in the game he finds). Unfortunately for Hato he doesn’t really get the response he wants from Madarame. But it’s probably helpful for him to see Madarame so comfortable with his own sexuality; that perhaps with time Hato will speak easily on his own thoughts. Either way the dynamic between these two makes for an interesting watch.

Madarame’s Bad News & Hato Tries Again

At the end of the episode we get a little blurb that Madarame is considering finding another job. This mostly has to do with the fact that he personally wants to move on from university life and find a new life for himself someplace further away. Of course Hato blames himself for this idea but really I think Madarame is living in the past (revisiting the club, dwelling on Kasukabe) and these are the honest drivers for his choice. Although having Madarame around in the new season of Genshiken is nice, I think it’s true that he needs to move on as his character seems mostly unchanged and he seems generally dissatisfied with himself and his life. But who knows whether he will fulfill this desire, perhaps once Hato comes into his own Madarame won’t be needed much so he will end up leaving. That would probably be a nice closure to their relationship. But despite his bad news he does inspire Hato to try drawing the manga for Ogiue. So we see that Madarame has given him some confidence to reconcile his split personality by stream lining himself into a more respectable person and changing himself for the better. I’d like to see if he can accomplish this, and it will most likely be featured in next week’s episode.
So those are my thoughts and the highlights of this episode. Send me your comments or comment below and we can start a discussion! Thanks for reading.
Christina

Genshiken Nidaime Episode 7 Highlights & Thoughts

This episode had a lot in it compared to last week’s episode. Each character had good screen time and we even get a little bit of Sasahara at the beginning! We also get some more fanservice cosplay! Cue in Ohno as Bayonetta! (Such a good game) We also finally get into Ogiue’s head a little bit, which has been well needed as she’s almost never around. Spoilers ahead! Let’s get into the highlights of this week’s episode.

The show starts with Ogiue proposing a magazine for this year’s school festival. SHOCK NOT COSPLAY THIS YEAR?! It’s a welcomed change to the series actually. Unfortunately the girls don’t work well solo or together on this it seems. We also see that perhaps the stoic Ogiue is a bit jealous of Hato’s drawing skills because Ogiue hasn’t been well received publicly for her manga publications. So instead of working solo on a project Sue suggests that the two work together for the magazine. This could work out well for the two of them, would they have a future publishing together? I’d like to see where they take this cooperative effort.

We also get a small tidbit of Yajima’s past; it’s about a small crush she had in high school. Although it’s not much, it’s nice to see her character as the center of attention for a little bit. Could this be a teaser into perhaps a reappearance of Mr. Mystery? It would be very fun if it is foreshadowing something. She doesn’t steal the spotlight for very long though, as it shifts to Yoshitake grilling Hato about his high school romance.

Hato of course is hesitant to give anything away, as it opens up old wounds. I imagine we’ll learn of this mystery romance sooner or later, Yoshitake’s probably too nosy to let this story go. Luckily Hato is saved from spilling any details by Kuchiki’s appearance. Who knew that guy could come in handy? We also get one of the funniest moments from this season so far. *Below*

Yoshitake is hilariously devious. It’s also funnily true, despite its horrible implications. Anyone else laugh out loud at this moment?
So that was episode 7! It was a really great episode that left us with a lot of questions, but I’m sure what happened will segue to some answers very soon (or at least by the end of the season). The teaser at the end of the episode showed that Madarame’s coming back next week to give us some more romantic tension. Why do I still feel funny saying that? Anyway, I’m anticipating next week’s episode, this week gave us a lot to look forward to!
Christina

Genshiken Nidaime Episode 6 Highlights & Thoughts

Another episode of Genshiken Nidaime, another episode with some funny moments, but unfortunately not much really happened… Anyone else feel this way? We get to know a bit more about that weirdo Kuchiki but otherwise what do we get out of this episode? Well let’s recap to see where this episode has gotten us. Warning spoilers ahead! With that aside, let’s get to the episode.

The episode begins with Ogiue sympathizing for Hato’s sake. She learns about how Hato embarrassed himself at the Comic Festival, so she does what any good sempai would, she reveals something equally embarrassing about herself. She reveals some Sasa x Mada drawings she made. On another note, why does everything suddenly have a thing for Madarame? He was so dweebish and a big otaku in the old show, he was very funny and likeable, but he’s supposed to be undesirable. I don’t get it really. Maybe as a mature man he’s captured their hearts? On second thought, probably not.

With that aside, Hato experiences a bit of tension with some boys who show up at the club room. Yajima is at a loss to help her so who else appears but Yoshitake’s older brother! Make that sister… who Yajima almost fell for! It seems like they wanted to play a joke on the others but it didn’t last for long. She’s actually Yoshitake’s younger sister who’s still in high school. I imagine she’ll be a returning character at some point, whether it be cosplaying or otherwise. She doesn’t dress as a boy because she likes to, but merely to trick the other girls there.

The episode ends with the two Yoshitakes trying to peek on Hato showering, just to have Yajima be the one who ended up getting a full frontal. Her embarrassment is pretty funny. I’d like to see the show explore her motivations a bit further, I think she’s got a lot of personality and potential to explore. Who knows what the future will bring! And that wraps up the episode, pretty uneventful, not much character development but rather a quick introduction for a potential newcomer. I hope we get to explore other characters and learn something new about them, but only time will tell on that one.
Christina

Genshiken Nidaime Episode 5 Highlights

This series gets more and more interesting as we go along. This episode definitely had me excited for the next one! I didn’t expect Madarame to become such a prominent character but it seems like he’s becoming more and more important to Hato-kun as well as the plot in general. If you’re worried about spoilers then don’t read ahead! This post will be covering the general plot of the episode along with my thoughts about what happened. I haven’t read the manga so I’m just going based off of what I’ve watched thus far.

The gang is off to the Comic Festival again but this time they’ve recruited some of the old guys with them. Despite the resurrection of these club veterans they don’t seem to have a big influence on the direction of the story, it seems only Madarame has a bearing on the plot by his presence. This is all because of Hato-kun who seems to be quite involved with his life. It’s obvious he likes Madarame, but he’s reluctant to admit it to himself. The other side of it is that he wants to see Madarame happy, which is an endearing thing to do so we as an audience want to see a happy ending come of their friendship/relationship?

Hello fanservice! Madoka Magica cosplay in one of my favourite animes this season? It’s nice to see that they’ve done this, and it makes for a fun episode that balances out the seriousness of Hato-kun’s problems. Too bad Hato-kun didn’t cosplay! He was supposed to be Madoka. It would’ve been cute to see a group, so I share in Kanako’s tears. However, I never thought I’d see Yajima cosplay like this!

I love the references to current pop-culture. On the note of these characters cosplaying, I find Angela’s presence a bit silly. Her character has no depth, and she doesn’t seem like a believable character at all. I know she’s a temporary character but I wish they wrote her a bit better, maybe the manga rectifies this better? Also a personal gripe, why don’t they get native English speaking voice actors for their English characters? I understand that they’re probably few and far between but as a Canadian watching this, I cringe just a little. The funny nonsensical English conversations do make me chuckle though.

I’d like to see how Hato-kun deals with Madarame so I’m looking forward to the upcoming episodes. Something I’d like to see more of though if the other characters! I wish they’d develop them further, it seems like the anime is mainly focused on Hato-kun (as made obvious in the opening). However, more of Madarame because of Hato-kun is never a bad thing. Madarame is awesome!
Christina