Genshiken Review
Genshiken. A comic for the otaku in you. It has everything an otaku could want. Cosplay, videogames, toy models, manga drawing, doujinshi conventions, school life, and even love. Genshiken is a masterpiece...for the first half, at least. More on the later, but for now, let's get down to business.
The story follows a college club for otaku. The characters include an average guy, a full-blown dork, a cosplayer, a costume designer, a manga drawer, a cool guy, and the cool guy's girlfriend. The goal is to simply live everyday life as otaku.
The cool guy's girlfriend is only there because her boyfriend is an otaku and she wants to be with him. She has no interest in the group and is actually counterproductive at time. Sometimes, she reluctantly jumps into group activities, but she's best when she's being a bitch (which is roughly 97.5% of the time). It was so rewarding (and hilarious) when she got her just desserts by tripping and hitting her head on a PlayStation (yeah, seriously). She lived, unfortunately.
The rest of the initial cast is generally likeable and entertaining. There are a few antagonists mixed in, including a fat guy who acts like a big shot and an ugly girl with athlete's foot. Later in the first half, they add some more characters in the form of the average guy's little sister, a straight-up pervert, and (my personal favorite) a girl with hair that looks like a paintbrush. The two girls are okay, but the pervert was off-putting. They also add some minor characters such as a fat girl who doesn't like the paintbrush head and a foreigner girl with bad manners. In one of the most hilarious scenes in the whole manga, the foreigner girl just blurts out, "Quit whacking off!" in the middle of a group of strangers for no reason at all. Bad manners, indeed.
A lot of things happen from there. The group tries to get a doujinshi drawn before the convention (things get real for a moment). The average guy and the paintbrush head fall in love. Friendships and rivalries form. People graduate. This all may sound mundane, but it's actually pretty entertaining.
The second half starts and things go downhill quickly. It had so much potential. The paintbrush head is now the main character (yay), the foreign girl is now a regular cast member (double yay), and they added a crossdresser (yay?). How could things possibly go wrong with paintbrush head now at the helm and the foreign girl in a steady role? The tone completely changes. That's how.
From the jump, the second half goes all-out gay. The pervert is back (boo) and he just up and decides he likes guys out of nowhere. There aren't any hints that he might turn. He just does. WTF? Also, almost every chapter, all you read is "boy love" this and "gay sex" that. There's also the ever looming question of whether or not the full-blown dork will get together with the crossdresser. Much like the with the pervert, there are no previous hints the full-blown dork may swing that way (still not entirely sure he does). These changes in tone were so sudden and so jarring that I quit reading at issue four of the second half.
To be sure, first half had its fair share of suspect (if not outright gay) things, like paintbrush head fantasizing about the average guy (the man she loves, mind you) and the full-blown dork getting together. However it was balanced and did things in such a way that you could go with the flow and it didn't take away from the other elements of the story. The second half changed things so drastically, it was like riding a motorcycle into a brick wall. It just wasn't as well written as the first half, because the changes weren't explained well, if at all. The second half still had some good gags, but the change was too sudden to hold my interest.
To sum it up, the first half is great and is recommended. If you can get over the sudden (and I mean SUDDEN) changes, check out the second half, too. It's still good.
The story follows a college club for otaku. The characters include an average guy, a full-blown dork, a cosplayer, a costume designer, a manga drawer, a cool guy, and the cool guy's girlfriend. The goal is to simply live everyday life as otaku.
The cool guy's girlfriend is only there because her boyfriend is an otaku and she wants to be with him. She has no interest in the group and is actually counterproductive at time. Sometimes, she reluctantly jumps into group activities, but she's best when she's being a bitch (which is roughly 97.5% of the time). It was so rewarding (and hilarious) when she got her just desserts by tripping and hitting her head on a PlayStation (yeah, seriously). She lived, unfortunately.
The rest of the initial cast is generally likeable and entertaining. There are a few antagonists mixed in, including a fat guy who acts like a big shot and an ugly girl with athlete's foot. Later in the first half, they add some more characters in the form of the average guy's little sister, a straight-up pervert, and (my personal favorite) a girl with hair that looks like a paintbrush. The two girls are okay, but the pervert was off-putting. They also add some minor characters such as a fat girl who doesn't like the paintbrush head and a foreigner girl with bad manners. In one of the most hilarious scenes in the whole manga, the foreigner girl just blurts out, "Quit whacking off!" in the middle of a group of strangers for no reason at all. Bad manners, indeed.
A lot of things happen from there. The group tries to get a doujinshi drawn before the convention (things get real for a moment). The average guy and the paintbrush head fall in love. Friendships and rivalries form. People graduate. This all may sound mundane, but it's actually pretty entertaining.
The second half starts and things go downhill quickly. It had so much potential. The paintbrush head is now the main character (yay), the foreign girl is now a regular cast member (double yay), and they added a crossdresser (yay?). How could things possibly go wrong with paintbrush head now at the helm and the foreign girl in a steady role? The tone completely changes. That's how.
From the jump, the second half goes all-out gay. The pervert is back (boo) and he just up and decides he likes guys out of nowhere. There aren't any hints that he might turn. He just does. WTF? Also, almost every chapter, all you read is "boy love" this and "gay sex" that. There's also the ever looming question of whether or not the full-blown dork will get together with the crossdresser. Much like the with the pervert, there are no previous hints the full-blown dork may swing that way (still not entirely sure he does). These changes in tone were so sudden and so jarring that I quit reading at issue four of the second half.
To be sure, first half had its fair share of suspect (if not outright gay) things, like paintbrush head fantasizing about the average guy (the man she loves, mind you) and the full-blown dork getting together. However it was balanced and did things in such a way that you could go with the flow and it didn't take away from the other elements of the story. The second half changed things so drastically, it was like riding a motorcycle into a brick wall. It just wasn't as well written as the first half, because the changes weren't explained well, if at all. The second half still had some good gags, but the change was too sudden to hold my interest.
To sum it up, the first half is great and is recommended. If you can get over the sudden (and I mean SUDDEN) changes, check out the second half, too. It's still good.
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