Genshiken

Thanks. Now I'll never see this franchise the same way again.

I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.

My favorite episode of the series is probably Episode 14(One of the OV As). It combines two of my favorite chapters(26 and 32).

I like any episodes/chapters that are Madarame centric.

Props to Jethro for his new avatar.

My friend was watching the show while in the military, he said that episode cracked his squad mates up.

It's sad how many dislike Kousaka because he's in the way of the Madarame/Kasukabe OTP. Poor guy.

Magus: Who says he is in the way? He might totally go for a threesome with Saki and Madarame.

Hehehe...

More seriously though, I like Kousaka, even if he does not do much later in the series.

edited 10th Jun '09 5:58:44 PM by Galeros

@Magus: The only reason anyone would see Kousaka as an obstacle between Sasahara and Madarame is if they had thought well enough of the guy to split him from Saki. They can't be thinking too badly of him if they did that.

Why bother, anyway? Leave fluffy cloud boy with his Clingy Jealous Girl and the OTP will be secure.

No, I don't think Kousaka's a barrier to Sasahara/Madarame at all.

Wait, what?

Finding out that Madarame's voice actor was Viral's VA meant that everytime Madarame got excited over something I collapsed in laughter.

I mean, I was doing that anyway, but...

Zelda: OOT just got a lot better.

I watched 11 episodes in one day yesterday. ... Whew.

It's interesting. Again I ask, how similar is this portrayal of otakus to the way Western nerds are? What do you think?

That said, I've been kinda bothered by the whole Kohsaka+Kasukabe thing. There's less chemistry between them than between me and my Science teacher, and yet she puts up with all that stuff for him? He can't be THAT pretty. And then the whole first season pretty much focuses on them. ... Also, why did they bring back Kucchi.

THAT said, I'm moe for Ohno. ..... And Madarame.

There's an enormous focus on sex that wasn't around when I was a geek at their age, and I was an enormous geek. Sure, there were T&A for selling us fantasy games and whatnot, but not the ouright porn that Genshiken focus on. And I say this not so much in a judgemental way, as I tend to consume a fair amount of smut myself, and I tend to think with my testicles, but this is too much for me, and would have been for my old gang.

Something I found funny was when Kasukabe comes to the club to share her worries than Kohsaka has this huge amount of outright cartoon porn. Any woman from *my* culture I know would either have gone "Ah, porn." (possibly with a "Loser!") added or been shocked that he had so much PORN! Kasukabe comes across as if she is only worried that the porn is of animated chicks... it's not like she comes out and say that it would have been OK to have that much live smut, but... I dunno.

Yeah. That was what I was thinking. Otherwise, I recognise a lot of myself at that age, being nerdy with nerdy companions who were actually fairly decent people if not perfect; neither catpiss men nor Hollywood Nerds. And while they have their sides I think it's the same with the main characters; some major cases of low self-esteem, but at the same time some of them pull off major projects connected to their interests.

Erik

@Faw, well, we don't see everything, so maybe they really do fit well together when we (and the Genshiken guys) aren't looking. Or maybe he has a huge dic-tionary at his apartment. Yeah.

I though Kucchi was funny in how unlikeable he is.

Kucchi is awesome! He is either my second or third favorite character.

I am Moe for Madarame too Fawriel.

Thanks for the detailed reply, Erik.

... *snort* I... guess that's a way to look at it. In fact, liking a character who is built entirely around being unlikeable is downright zen.

I guess we might not have seen all of what they do, but... not showing WHY two characters love each other is not a smart move. And even when they're on real dates, we just see them kinda staring at each other. ... Then again, maybe that's what "real" dates are like? ._.

PS: I love Ohno's face for some reason. She was probably drawn to be a tiny bit unattractive, or at least not according to the norm, what with her somewhat small eyes and moles and stuff, but that just gives her some personality.

I'm also a little cynical about Ogiue because it seems like she was put in the cast in order to fill a Tsundere quota, but... I actually like her, so I guess that's swell.

edited 15th Jun '09 10:24:01 AM by Fawriel

I was hoping, in the manga at least, that Kucchi would end up being useful in some regard, and thus Rescued from the Scrappy Heap. Nope.

He did stop that guy from stealing that Cosplay outfit. I do not think he is too bad. He may be a little odd, but he makes me laugh with his antics.

He did stop the thief... and then immediately put on the maid outfit himself.

^

Which was hilarious.

It most certainly was.

^

So what is the problem?

In series that aren't Eight Bit Theater, I prefer having the scrappy turn out to be a decent character after all

 ^*. Like Pryzbylewski from The Wire, though he kinda went back and forth on that.

I think that Kucchi is a decent person. I mean, nothing he does is really terrible. He just acts goofy all the time. He also helps out the other Genshiken members at Comi Fes by buying everything they want when they are selling their Doujinshi.

edited 15th Jun '09 4:56:40 PM by Galeros

Ohno changes a lot during the series (talking manga here). When we first meet her, she is like a blob of sweaty awkward ruled by a cosplay impulse. She seems to care about as much about herself (when not in an outfit) as her male peers, i.e. not very much. (BTW, Madarame's shopping for clothes and finding the Way of Shopping from how he shops for manga was hilarious and heartwarming. Jus' saying.)

Later on, despite being her otaku self, she appears not that different from any other gal. Her selfconsciousness outside costume gets gone and she seems to care more about herself, but she doesn't "go straight", she is not being cured of her geekiness. She is simply becoming more mature.

Erik

Funny that there's no mention of Sue anywhere. She's almost as flat as Kousaka in terms of her character development but she cracks me up every time she appears.

Especially with Ogiue.