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Manga: Genshiken

From left to right: Madarame, Tanaka, Ohno, Ogiue, Kuchiki, Sasahara, Kugayama, Kousaka, Kasukabe, and Keiko.

"I now call the third 'Is Kousaka Really An Otaku?' meeting to order."

— Madarame

"I don't own a single piece of normal porn."

— Madarame again. Don't ask.

"Those people who say that they can't jerk off to anime must have something wrong with their brains! Either that, or they're just trying to act cool!"

— Madarame again, as tactful as ever.

Genshiken, short for Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuukai (or, The Society for the Study of the Modern Visual Culture), is the story of the members of this ostensibly-useless club. Formed in the past as a sort of bridge between the manga, anime, and gaming clubs, most members of those three are at best indifferent to the continued existence of the Genshiken. The new extracurricular activities board has decided to close all clubs who don't hold any meaningful activities, the Genshiken is among them, and it's up to its members to do something that prevents the club from getting closed.

From obsessing over a favorite anime to buying and reading doujinshi, from playing one's first Dating Sim to attending a convention (the anime's "ComiFes" is a direct play on the real-life "ComiKet", which is held twice yearly), and many other things along the way, Genshiken puts the otaku culture under the microscope for all to see.

Comparisons to Otaku no Video are nearly inevitable, though Genshiken is much more down-to-earth. (No creating a giant one-off Macross that can actually take off, for instance.)

Genshiken also had a companion anime (in the manga, it was a companion manga, naturally) called Kujibiki Unbalance. It was the series that the members of the Genshiken obsessed over, and was the Baker's Dozen for the series' disc release (one episode per disc). It turned out to be so popular that it is now being produced as a separate series in its own right.

A three episode OVA series was released with the Kujibiki Unbalance DVDs, much the same way as the three OVAs of the first Kujiun were released with Genshiken Season 1. A second full season was released in the fall of 2007 and covers some of the remaining plot from the manga, while simultaneously introducing original material, though this meant the entire manga couldn't be animated within the season.

In November 2010, the series is back up again as Genshiken Nidaime (Genshiken: Second Season in the North American release) starting with Chapter 56, which was released as a bonus together with the Japanese Genshiken 2 box-set that covered the start of a new Genshiken headed by Oguie and continuing in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine. Originally Nidaime was intended as a limited-run continuation that was only to last a volume or two, but it has since been picked up for regular serialization and the volume collections are published as volume 10+ of the original series, instead of as a new title.

As of 2013, a new anime has been announced, adapting the Nidaime material. It is unknown what, if anything, will be done with the material from volumes 8 and 9 of the manga.

There�s a Spiritual Successor by the same author called Spotted Flower, chronicling the life a newlywed otaku couple, and is possibly connected to this series.

There is also a novel entitled Genshiken: Return of the Otaku.

This series provides examples of:

Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female on Male: When Angela takes off her top, Ohno punches her boyfriend Tanaka hard enough to knock him out just to prevent him from seeing Angela's flesh. This is Played for Laughs. There is also Saki's violence towards Sasahara (but only once, and she later apologizes), Kucchi (who brings it on himself), and Madarame (who actually likes getting hit by Saki and deliberately tries to provoke her into hitting him at least twice).
The Ace: Kousaka, in a more down-to-Earth version than most Aces. He is good-looking, athletic, and taught himself how to program in a month.
A-Cup Angst: Saki and and Kitagawa, when they see Ohno.
A Date with Rosie Palms: That's what male and female otaku use hentai for, according to the otaku themselves.
A Day in the Limelight: Kuchiki gets his own episode about midway through season two, as well as the episode starring Madarame and Kasukabe alone in the clubroom.
Adorkable: Madarame. "He's actually kind of moe, isn't he?"
Airplane of Love
And Zoidberg: Yajima is... not as skilled with being a manga assistant as the other members of Genshiken...
It's a scene of pure chaos with everyone helping President Ogiue meet her deadline for the 52-page long second half of her serialized story.
Hato Kenjirou, the guy now completely in charge of doing the backgrounds.
The peerlessly steady-handed inker and white-outer, Suzanna Hopkins.
Yoshitake Rika, now capable of cutting and pasting in simple tones!
Yajima Mirei, female.
Anime Accent Absence: While not a foreign character, Ohno spent about 8 years living in the US prior to the start of the series, and shouldn't be nearly as fluent in Japanese as she's portrayed. On the other hand, her English is grammatically correct, but her accent (in the anime) is absurdly thick for having spent her formative years abroad. Of course, this is due to the limits of the actress playing her.
- Not necessarily: though Ohno lived in the US from age 10 to 18, it was because she had moved with her parents, so presumably they spoke Japanese at home. And Angela mentions that Ohno used to spend quite a bit of time with other Japanese people in the vicinity.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Keiko Sasahara to her brother Kanji. In contrast to Kanji the closet-otaku, she's a fashion-obsessed gyaru with an ever-changing list of boyfriends. She is immediately attracted to prettyboy Kousaka, spending the rest of the series trying to steal him away from Kasukabe, and joining the Genshiken in the process.
- Can be seen as a subversion of the idealized "little sister" trope among Japanese otaku, as Keiko is anything but (and Kanji is quick to emphasize this).
Art Evolution: The characters start out drawn fairly realistically, but grow more stylized and cartoonish as the series goes on. By the time the ninth volume rolls around, you wonder if this is how the characters in the first volume would have depicted themselves in a doujinshi.
- The first season of the anime negates this somewhat, as it adapts the early chapters to a roughly mid-series art style. For the full effect, you have to read the manga.
Art Shift: The Dating Sim parody, the yaoi parody, and whenever Kasukabe gets angry.
- And in season two, whenever Ogiue lets her imagination get the best of her.
Attractive Bent Gender: Hato, much to Kuchiki's delight.
- And as as of Chapter 59, possibly Madarame's too.
Bait-and-Switch Credits: The second season's opening is Sasahara dreaming his life as a Real Robot mecha anime.
Bandage Babe: Invoked by Tanaka and Madarame at the appearance of Ogiue, who had previously thrown herself out a second-story window and broken her arm.
Anime Anatomy: When Kosukabe is in teh shower.
Beach Episode: "It's embarrassing to go to ComiFes with a tan."
Beard of Sorrow: Sasahara in the anime, when he believes he will never find a job.
Berserk Button: Ask Kasukabe if she's in Genshiken or if she'd like to cosplay. On second thought...don't ask her.
- Or perhaps you should try disgracing the honor of cosplay around Ohno...
  - Or trying to reveal her preferences for balder and older guys, she'll be going for your throat, literally!
Bishōnen: Kousaka, bordering on Dude Looks Like a Lady.
Blackmail: The first club president does this to Kasukabe to make her join Genshiken.
- Also used by Kasukabe against the club council president to prevent her from closing Genshiken forever.
Bland Name Product: Comifes, plus pretty much every anime or manga series mentioned�apart from Kujibiki Unbalance, which is more a pastiche of otaku-marketed Moe. Also, "Starbooks" Coffee, and "Kujifilm", which is also a pun on Kujibiki Unbalance. And the university itself, which is Chuo University in real life but "Shio University" here. Also, don't forget "Pooky".
Blank Face Of Shame: Ogiue, shortly after she's revealed to be a Yaoi Fangirl and shortly before she tries jumping out a third story window because of it.
Blank White Eyes
Blind Without 'Em: Ogiue, when she trades her contact lenses for her old glasses in order not to be recognized at the convention.
Buttmonkey: Manabu Kuchiki; he rather enjoys it, and usually earns it.
Callback: After a botched hazing at Ogiue's expense, it's revealed on video that she attended a doujinshi event, she makes the same expression Sasahara made when he was hazed after he got caught looking at the club's porn magazines.
Captain Oblivious: Once again, Kousaka.
Cat Eared Headband: Ohno tries thoughout the manga to get Saki to wear one. Also, Madarame once put one on her, and she responded by chasing him through the halls with a broom.
Cat Girl: Tanaka claims that wearing a pair of cat ears is the cheapest form of cosplay.
Censor Steam: A strange example, when Angela is shown naked from behind in the bath-house scene, her rear end is obscured with steam.
Celebrity Paradox: Relatively speaking... in the omake for the Kujibiki Unbalance manga, the Genshiken members happen across a new issue of the Kujibiki Unbalance manga. While they immediately recognize the new artist for Kujibiki Unbalance, they have no idea who Shimoku Kio, the creator of both Genshiken and Kujibiki Unbalance, is.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Kasukabe, though she outgrows this more and more as the series progresses.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Kousaka, which causes Kasukabe a world of anguish because, well, see the immediately preceding trope
- "Saki-chan's moe? You don't have any."
Club President: The club goes through five of them by the end of the first series.
Couch Gag: In the ending credits.
Conversational Troping
Completely Missing the Point: Kousaka, all the time (except when gaming).
- Also Kasukabe's reaction when Ogiue shows her the Sasa x Mada yaoi drawings: "...Two-timing?"
Cosplay Otaku Girl: Ohno. Also, Kasukabe the anti-otaku reluctantly cosplays when shamed into doing so. In the last OVA, initially-resistant Yaoi Fangirl Oguie is talked into cosplaying in private.
Covert Pervert: Ogiue and Ohno.
Creepy Child: Ogiue's impression of Sue before getting to know her better.
Cute Little Fangs: Madarame has these.
- Sue as well, but only when imitating Madarame.
Dating Sim: Parodied.
Denser and Wackier: The novel has supernatural elements and a bizarre plot.
Digital Piracy Is Evil: In the fanbook there are some short dialogues between the Genshiken members, and Kuchiki brings up that he downloads all of his software from the internet, which makes Sasahara think "He's such a jerk."
- Sasahara does work in the media industry (as an editor), though, so his point of view isn't exactly unfounded.
Delinquents: Kanji Sasahara's sister is a kogal.
- As a result, since Kanji is an otaku, Sibling Yin-Yang.
- Fortunately, she at least changes a little for the better at the end of the manga.
Demoted to Extra: In the anime, Keiko, Kanji's sister, has fewer appearances after her initial introductions than in the manga, with some of her later roles being filled by Kuchiki.
Double Standard: Kasukabe regularly punches strangers for doing as much as asking her if she's an otaku, but when Kuchiki donks Ogiue lightly on the head for repeatedly insulting him, she screams at him for "assaulting a woman", and promptly decks him.
Doujinshi: Featured very prominently in the series: Sasahara spends the first few chapters getting used to buying erotic doujinshis, they never miss a single Comifes to return with entire trainloads of them, in the first few chapters of the second season they actually create one for the Comifes, and Ogiue later draws another one for the next Comifes.
Driven to Suicide: Ogiue threw herself off the roof of her old school after her "friends" betrayed her and traumatized her crush; her doing so after the Manga Club incident indicates she hasn't worked it out of her system. In later instances it's Played for Laughs, though.
Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend: Poor, poor Kasukabe.
Elephant in the Living Room: Kousaka never realizes you aren't supposed to discuss it.
Evolving End Credits: Each episode has subtle differences on the "Genshiken members sitting in the clubroom watching TV" end sequence, putting in or taking out characters and changing how they look. For example, episode 4 (which ended with Kasukabe going on a rampage after Madarame stuck a pair of cat ears on her) has everyone slumped over the table looking worn out, with Ohno standing nearby still dressed as Jam Kuradoberi.
Everyone Can See It: Keiko puts it bluntly that she's very sure everyone knew about Madarame's feelings for Kasukabe, probably even Kasukabe herself.
Expressive Hair: Ogiue.
Eyes Always Shut: Tanaka.
Fake Out Opening: The first episode of the anime actually starts out as the intro, OP and first few seconds afterwards of Kujibiki Unbalance, before revealing that it's actually Sasahara watching the show. It goes on just long enough to make the viewer wonder if they're watching the wrong show by mistake.
Faux Fluency: Ohno's "English" dialogue in the anime. One can imagine Ayako Kawasumi reading off a card written entirely in Katakana, with Yuko Goto and Yuki Kaida (competent and fluent in English, respectively) standing beside her and shaking their heads.
Fish out of Water: Kasukabe.
Fanservice: While the manga has some of this, the anime is rife with this, especially during the episodes covering ComicFes, half of this is supplied by...
Foreign Fanservice: Angela, the fit foreign bird who eagerly takes off her top in the presence of Ohno's boyfriend.
Funbag Airbag: Ogiue running into much taller and bustier Ohno.
Genius Ditz: Kousaka. While he appears to be extremely manipulable and oblivious to most things, he is unbeatable at videogames and manages to secure a respectable career at the end of the series.
Genki Girl: Yoshitake and Susan in Chapter 56.
Genre Savvy: Obviously.
Gentle Giant: Kugayama; tall, huge, fat, and so shy he even finds it hard to talk to a cashier.
Gratuitous Japanese: Most of Sue's dialogue, though much of it seems strangely appropriate for the situation. It might not be an accident.
Hand Behind Head
Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Hato, usually in response to his inner maiden.
Ho Yay: Madarame/Sasahara get a lot of doujinshi and fanart devoted to them most likely because of Ogiue's event in the manga and anime.
- In-universe, Madarame gets involved in both Ogiue's and Hato's yaoi fantasies.
- There's a few moments between Kasukabe and Ohno.
Hot Blooded: Madarame, as voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama.
Huge Schoolgirl: Sort of. Although a university student, Ohno is unusually tall and busty and at the same time shy about her physique. Except when cosplaying.
- Katou, who seems to be friends with Ohno, fits as well, with the other members of the manga club barely reaching her shoulder. She's more of the willowy type.
I Always Wanted to Say That: "Not even my own father hit me." in the manga after Kanji is on the receiving end of a slap by Kasukabe. Kasukabe, being completely out of the anime loop, takes it seriously at first until the other club members congratulate him.
- In Nidaime, Kuchiki uses Hato's crossdressing as an excuse to say, "There's no way anyone that cute could be a real girl," and then says he can die happy now.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode title from the first season is basically a flowery description of the events within the show, and sounds like the name of a research paper.
- Which may reference the first President's research project, having used the Genshiken club as research subjects without their knowledge. Once he's gone (to write his doctoral thesis), the episode titles become much more mundane.
I Have This Friend
Ignore the Fanservice: Kasukabe starts hitting on Kousaka in the most blatant way possible... and he just goes out to line up for a videogame release.
Ironic Echo: Sue goes meta and quotes Genshiken itself in chapter 56, when Ogiue is fretting over the club's eclectic group of new recruits. Predictably, Ogiue panics when her infamous self-introduction is presented out-of-context to the new members, as she screams for Sue to shut up before she gets to the part about yaoi fangirls.
- "How do you know about that?!"
  - Since Sue only speaks in anime quotes, she must've watched the series.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Madarame gives this as the reason for why he does not want to tell his feelings to Saki in the novel.
Jerkass: Haraguchi, also a Smug Snake.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yabusaki. She terrorized Ogiue when they were in the manga club but Katou later reveals that it was just a front. Later on she helps Sasahara to understand Ogiue, at least from her perspective.
Kansai Dialect: Yabusaki, who upbraids Ogiue for slipping into Tohoku-ben when she gets flustered.
Karaoke Box: They go to one to help Kugayama become more outgoing - he ends up interrupting Madarame's performance of the Combattler V theme.
Lampshade Hanging: Well this IS a series about an otaku club, this sort of thing is bound to happen at least once... or a few dozen times.
Language of Love: Angela and Madarame.
Last Episode New Character: Ogiue.
Left Hanging: The second season of the anime doesn't cover the final arc of the manga, leaving about two and a half volumes' worth of material un-animated. Though a new series has been announced, it's an adaption of Nidaime.
- It's even lampshaded, as the preview for the last episode has Madarame stating proudly "INCOMPLETE ANIME ARE THE BEST EVER!"
Limp And Livid
Loudspeaker Truck
Lovable Nerd: Pretty much the entire cast.
Love Confession: Madarame tries to confess his feelings for Saki in chapter 53, but is unable to and just ends up "thanking" her for putting up with the club for four years. He finally confesses in chapter 80 of Nidaime, and is turned down.
Manipulative Bastard: Although many circles admit that Haraguchi is very capable of making a plan to sell 3000 copies of doujin at the price of 1000 yen in a single day without any of them doing any work, they all know none of them would see a cent of it.
Necktie Leash: Just the thing to set Ogiue's fujoshi imagination alight...
Nerd Glasses: Madarame's regular glasses. Also Ogiue's old glasses. Good thing she changed for contact lenses.
No Dialogue Episode: Chapter 54 covers the rest of the current school year (several days) without any dialogue and still manages to focus on Madurame's lingering crush on Kousaka. The only sound heard is Madurame laughing, and we know why.
Noodle Implements: Yoshitake is badgering Yajima, saying they can ask Hato all the things they couldn't ask before they knew him. Suitably primed, Yajima finds a strangely suggestive piece of plastic left in the clubroom and both their imaginations run rampant.
Noodle Incident: Exactly what Ogiue said to the girls of the Manga Club before she joined the Genshiken is never revealed, but it was bad enough to split it up into warring factions.
- Also summoned when they discuss the difference between a scene from the Kujibiki Unbalance manga and its anime counterpart: while the manga has the girl just saying "If I stop being a crybaby...", the anime also has her saying "... will you be my bride?". The club agrees the manga did better by leaving it unexplained.
Not Helping Your Case
Not Now, Kiddo: Kuchiki notices someone stealing costumes, but nobody will listen to him...
Occidental Otaku: Angela and Sue.
Official Couple: Kasukabe and Kousaka of course, Tanaka and Ohno, and later Sasahara and Ogiue.
Older Than They Look: Everyone speculates just how old the Prez actually was after finding a box of his old manga 'zines, all of which dated back to 1987.
- Yoshitake is past 20 despite her teenage appearance. To confuse the issue further, her sister is herself Younger than She Looks and looks like the older one.
Omake
Onsen Episode: While the bath is more of a semi-outdoor furo — much to the characters' disappointment — they nonetheless self-consciously treat it as an onsen episode, complete with lampshading, when Ohno prompts Kasukabe on the lines she's supposed to say as the two share the bath.
Otaku
Out of Focus: Since Nidaime, some of the former Genshiken members have pretty much disappeared from the radar, save occasional appearances. Not too surprising for Kasukabe and Kousaka, a bit more for Sasahara since he's Ogiue's boyfriend. Actually, even Ogiue seems more and more absent in the latst chapters, the story being increasingly focused on Hato.
- Which was explicitly the point of Nidaime, to show what was happening with the new Genshiken membership. However, a drifting focus has been built into the series from the start as leadership has changed hands and the group has added and lost members. Kasukabe and her struggles with understanding otaku took much of the early focus; it drifted more onto Sasahara for his tenure as president; Ogiue grabbed the focus once her backstory started to come out, and now it's drifted towards the new group with Hato. Meanwhile, the other characters have moved in and out, retaining a secondary focus and sometimes losing it. It's remarkably alike to the feeling of watching a real college club evolve over several years as membership changes and the social circles rebalance.
Parody: The OVAs opening title parodies the opening theme of the remade version of Kujibiki Unbalance: See Here.
Phenotype Stereotype: Ohno's two American friends (and fellow Otaku) Angela and Sue are both pale and blonde, the former being blue-eyed and the latter green-eyed.
Plotbunny: Ogiue just can't help herself when she gets an idea.
Portmanteau Series Nickname: "Genshiken" and "Kujiun".
Post Modernism
Progressively Prettier: Happens to everyone, Madarame in particular benefits.
Proud to Be a Geek: Kuchiki, who is shameless about it and to a MUCH more appropriate degree, Madarame, who is may even be MORE shameless about it.
- Yoshitake too, except without most of that shamelessness.
Rapunzel Hair: Ohno has hair down to her hips. It's useful for all her cosplay. Sue has hair of similar length.
Reference Overdosed
School Clubs Are Serious Business: The people who decide which clubs are official are cracking down on those that don't do anything, because there are so many clubs that even the Genshiken's remote space is coveted.
Scenery Censor: The second series inserts a Furo Scene where, possibly in the interests of fanservice, Sue flashes Ogiue.
Secret Keeper: It's implied that Ohno is this for Madarame.
Serious Business: Each character is completely devoted to his/her hobbies. Best exemplified in Madarame's expense management and his rant about 2D vs. 3D. See the quote atop this page.
- Nidaime reflects a sea change in fandom - a slackening of the seriousness of hobbies. The new members do take them seriously, but it's no longer their identity.
Sequential Artist: 2 specific arcs are built around attempting to be in this trope. Ougi creates the Yaoi variety.
Sexy Discretion Shot: Sasahara and Ogiue get one of these after they start kissing when she shows him her Yaoi Doujinshi of him and Madarame.
Scare Chord: Prez's appearances are often accompanied by one in the anime, just to underline how creepy he is.
Scary Shiny Glasses: Kitagawa, and sometimes Madarame.
Scenery Porn
School Festival
Ship Sinking: As of Chapter 80, Madarame x Saki is torpedoed.
- Instead of being torpedoed, the ship was given a solemn, teary-eyed viking funeral. Think Going Merry.
Ship Tease: The novel has some pretty blatant Ship Tease for Madarame X Kasukabe.
- Spotted Flower is all about a suspiciously familiar otaku and his pregnant non-otaku wife. It's possible this was a bone thrown to all the Mada x Saki shippers.
Show Within a Show: Kujibiki Unbalance
Shout Out: So, so many, often under fake names - Code Geass, for instant, is "Code Bleed" or something. Lucky Star can be briefly seen as a very popular Doujin at Comifes. And there was a hell of a lot of Guilty Gear in the first season. This gets switched to King of Fighters XI during the three special episodes in between seasons 1 and 2.
- In the very first episode, Tanaka's ringtone is shown to be an 8-bit version of 'Hurry' from the Final Fantasy X OST.
- Good thing the fansubs offer footnotes about the fake names in the manga and anime.
  - While sadly, the official translations of both, do not.
- Also, the anime has the beeping clock from 24 during the third day of the 2004 Comiket/Comifest, when the Genshiken first enters as a vendor.
- Obviously, all instances of Ohno and the others cosplaying count too. Like KOS-MOS and Yoko.
  - Or Panty and Stocking in this more recent chapter.
- Sasahara notices a man with v-cut blonde hair who looks "too cool" to be an otaku at his first ComiFest. In the adult doujinshi section. Now, how many other blonde, v-haircut pervert otaku do we know?...
- One episode had Sasahara and Madarame playing DS. You can't actually SEE what they are playing, but the BGM of the game is the regular battle theme from Etrian Odyssey I.
- Pretty much everything Sue says is a reference to other manga/anime. One time she recited several lines of dialogue between Kagura and Chiyo from Azumanga Daioh (from the "Osaka's Half Day" special), culminating in her punching Sasahara in the stomach (at the point in the dialogue where Kagura punched Osaka, in an attempt to cure Osaka's hiccups). It's stated that he caught the reference and therefore "knew what was coming", and let it happen anyway.
- When Hato's inner maiden fantasizes about Madarame, he responds with a "Shut up, 801-chan!" which is a reference to fujoshi-to-perfect-girl-evolution manga Tonari no 801-chan which itself had references to the original Genshiken. It's like a full circle of referencing.
- Chapter 56 has Sue channeling Senjougahara Hitagi and Hachikuji Mayoi.
Shrines and Temples: The club members visit the Narita Temple during New Year's Eve)
Skinship Grope: Lampshaded and then played straight, when Ohno fails to get Ogiue interested in her breasts, but Sasahara's sister proves all too willing to get a feel of them.
Special Edition Title: The series opens with the Kujibiki Unbalance opening credits.
Spin-Off: Kujibiki Unbalance
Spoiler Opening: Kasukabe's cosplay.
Stealth Hi/Bye: Prez.
Stock Footage: That Sol vs. Jam match? Expect to see the exact same footage a lot, even when different people are playing. Fortunately, the final episode of the first season mixes it up with different footage, as well as the OP.
Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Referenced by Katou of the rival Manga Club, who wears her hair over her face; but subverted when she brushes it away and reveals that her eyes and facial features are actually quite pretty.
Stupid Sexy Flanders: In the manga, the rest of the guys comment on how Kousaka's legs look when he crossplays. Oguie just asks "Is he really a guy?". It's hammed up even more in the anime.
Surprisingly Good English: Rather realistically, Ohno and Kasukabe speak rather correct English with one hell of a rough Japanese accent, while Angela actually sounds convincingly American even when played by a Japanese seiyuu.
- Although Angela's choice of words (lack of slang and all) make it harder to swallow.
Take That: Not too prevalent, given that it's a series about enjoying being an Otaku, but in one episode preview the club members mention that you really shouldn't sing "Motteke! Sailor Fuku!" and "Hare Hare Yukai" in public.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Kasukabe saves the club for precisely this reason.
That One Player: Kousaka.
Took a Level in Badass: A mild example, but the novel features Madarame leading the charge against some people who have taken over the university club system by throwing molotov cocktails to break down a barricade. Saki and Kugayama also get in on the action, with Kugayama tearing down some of the barricade with his bare hands and bodily strength.
The Rival: Yabusaki, artist for the Manga club.
Tsundere: Ogiue, so adorable but so mean too. Poor Sasahara.
- Lampshaded in the bonus chapter of the final volume.
- As their friendship develops, Saki becomes quite a bit nicer to Madarame.
Tohoku Regional Accent: Ogiue usually speaks in formal Standard Japanese, but reverts to her native Tohoku dialect when she gets nervous or embarrassed, which only serves to throw her further into panic-mode.
Time Skip: A slight one in Chapter 56, which was created and released as a bonus together with the Japanese "Genshiken 2" box-set. The chapter told us what the characters had become, and what's going on the Genshiken club right now.
True Companions: The Genshiken members, with the exception of Kugayama, are very close friends. Even after they have graduated from College and are no longer official members of the club, they still like to keep in touch and help each other out.
Twelve Episode Anime: Two seasons' worth, plus the three OVA episodes.
Unintentional Period Piece: The series is a snapshot of the Japanese otaku subculture as it was at the time it was first published / aired. The references are contemporary, and it notably deals with the Moe boom and (to an extent) the "mainstreaming" of otakudom around the middle of the Turn of the Millennium. The gap between the old guard and the new generation is increasingly evident in Nidaime, where the idea of "otaku" has gone from something of an internalized, somewhat shameful identity to a (relatively) unstigmatized descriptor of someone who enjoys his or her hobbies with a shameless, fiery passion.
Unlucky Childhood Friend: Kasukabe, much to the surprise of the others, seemed to be like this with Kousaka until he agreed to date her.
Unsettling Gender Reveal: Usually happens to people when they're told about Hato, like in chapters 56 and 78.
Unstoppable Rage: Early in the series when Madarame placed cat ears on Kasukabe.
- Kasukabe in general. About ninety percent of the violence inflicted in the club has had something to do with her.
Vague Age: Ohno refuses to elaborate on Sue's age.
- And with good reason, given that she was the one that introduced Sue to yaoi, most possibly at a rather young age.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Kasukabe claims to hate the otakus at Genshiken, but she still hangs around the clubroom without Kousaka there, and is more than willing to stand up for them.
- Keiko eventually tolerates Genshiken's members to the point where she can casually talk to them, although it's mostly her trying to advertise the bar she works for.
Wall of Text: If given a good enough reason, Yoshitake will go off on her own tangent.
Webcomic Time: A one-off form of it, when the series got Uncancelled after about four and a half years, but events in-series had only moved on a couple months at most. Suddenly characters move from making references to series current to early and mid 2006, to referencing series that wouldn't even have existed yet if a strict chronology was followed on with the continuation. Angela's references to the Bakemonogatari series get only the narrowest pass if she's quoting the original light novel which came out within the rough time of Nidaime thus far, but the Puella Magi Madoka Magica cosplay doesn't fit anywhere.
Wholesome Crossdresser: Kousaka, who crossplays to help sell doujinshi. He doesn't expect Kasukabe to show up when she does.
- Also, Hato in chapter 56.
Will They or Won't They?: Stretched out a bit in the anime with Ohno and Tanaka. In the manga, they hook up offscreen and reveal that they are already a couple when Kasukabe teases them about their relationship, catching her off-guard (she's actually the last to know). In the anime, they are much more timid about things and need Kasukabe to play matchmaker, helping them overcome their mutual fear of rejection.
- This is much truer of Sasahara and Oguie's false starts at their relationship, with lots of matchmaking going on behind the scenes by Ohno, Kasukabi, and Madarame to get them together. While the anime never reached far enough along in the manga's storyline to see the Genshiken vacation where Sasahara and Oguie finally express their feelings, the anime shoehorned those emotional elements into Tanaka and Ohno's relationship. It still works, but seems a bit strange after reading the manga first.
Yamato Nadeshiko: Oddly enough, Hato the crossdresser in chapter 56. Though it makes sense: to actually pass as the opposite sex, one has to not only look it, but also speak and act in a way that epitomizes that gender, down to body-language. This hyper-femininity is presumably what Saki picks up on when she meets him.
Yaoi Fangirl: Ohno and Ogiue.
- Season two, episode five. Not content with hinting, they animate Ogiue's fantasies. Be afraid, or not, or collapse from laughter.
- Incidentally, all the girls who joined Genshiken under Ogiue's tenure of presidency.
Yaoi Guys: Well, sort of. Resident yaoi-fangirl-in-denial Ogiue sees one of the other club members pulling another's tie, and gets inspired to draw some very hardcore yaoi of the two of them. To make things stranger, one of them is actually her love interest. And just to top it off, he didn't mind all that much, even giving her tips on how to make the story better.
- "Mind all that much"? After finishing with the Ogiue-drawn yaoi, Sasahara admits that "it got hard".
- There's a reason though. Basically she drew her ideal version of the two characters as Bishōnen that don't really resemble the real Sasahara and Madarame so he didn't recognize the two characters as himself and Madarame and since he is in love with her he wanted to help her and spend time with her.
- One of Hato's many explanations for crossdressing is his fantasies of an eventual Hato x Mada event.
Zombie Apocalypse: Discussed a bit by Ohno and Tanaka in the novel Genshiken: Return of the Otaku.