Genshiken

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tl;dr: A manga with a broad story of a club that is mostly a lot of amusing light hearted small fast paced stories that build up, but flubs a bit with a final story that’s much longer, heavier, and messier. 

Genshiken is a manga that changes tremendously as it goes on. It cycles through multiple years of a college club, and thus members graduate while others join. However, members that have already graduated still maintain connections with the club and pop up sometimes, with one such graduate becoming incredibly important. Still, for the most part it is the characters that are active members of the club ... that are the focus, and for the most part the complete stories of characters are told while they are still in college. This is done primarily through decently small and amusing story lines with quick character and relationship development that works very well in making characters likable and establishing bonds that the reader can get invested in, followed by the character and relationship development that occurred continuing to be shown off in the background as the manga begins focusing on other characters. That the development that occurred continues to be shown off even when not in the focus surprisingly adds a lot of value to the manga, in that it feels like most each of these stories get an extended epilogue that hits the right notes in just showing characters having grown and being happy.  

The exception to this is the last storyline, or rather set of storylines. A common theme for the various stories in this manga is coming to accept yourself for who you are and trying to connect with others as your true self. This starts off with a character coming to accept themselves as an otaku and making friends as such. It progresses to a fujoshi hating herself for her interests but finding love that would accept her even with them. And then it progresses to a character struggling with their gender identity and sexual orientation. This last jump is pretty major and results in the manga getting considerably heavier than before. As such, the manga spends more on this portion than all the stories before it. This story has some good moments, however, this story is also wrapped up in another story that is somewhat related but not entirely, centered around what is essentially a bizarre and maybe somewhat realistic look at how a harem story could play out. Now this story too is really interesting, and considering the character at it's center is easily the most likable one in the manga and one the reader just wants to find happiness one that feels easy to get invested in. However, both of these stories are occurring at once, resulting in each feeling like they have really slow pacing, which is the opposite of how the manga is outside of this, and furthermore that each isn’t allowing room for the other to breath. As a result, despite the slow pacing for most of these storylines, the endings to them, and the ending to the manga overall seems kind of rushed and a bit arbitrary. The actual ending itself I found pretty satisfying simply in terms of where things are when it ends, but because of how rushed some aspects were, here more than with any of the stories before it I simply wanted the manga to continue so I could see where things lead as was the case with the various other stories that had reached a conclusion but continued in the background, so I can’t say I’m complete satisfied with the ending.  

It is really important to note that while there is a good amount of plot and things can get pretty heavy towards the end, this is ultimately a comedy manga, and it does quite well in this regard. There is a lot of variety to the comedy due to how the subjects and characters in focus change quite a bit. A lot of it is centered around otaku culture with a crazy number of references, but even within that it felt like there was a good amount of variety so it didn't feel like it was getting repetitive. The art is solid enough at telling the story in a clear manner, but for the most part it doesn’t try to look all that unique or visually pleasing, though it is pretty good at that too when it feels like it's clearly trying to. 

Genshiken is a slice of life comedy about a college otaku club.

To start, I'll first state that I like to split Genshiken into three parts, based on the generation of the members of the club. There is the first part, with Sasahara, Saki, and Kousaka. Then, there is the second part, after Ogiue and Kuchi join, and then finally the third part with Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima. While it's hard to choose a favorite, I think that the second part is the strongest, followed by the third, and then the first. If I were to rate them, I'd give the first part a solid 8, ... the second part a 10, and the third part a 9, which rounds to an overall 9/10 rating.

Where the story really starts to shine is through its characters. Every character is very different, and they all have great personalities. The author also manages to draw all of them with pretty discerning features, so I didn't get confused as I often do with some other manga. The story starts out by making you think that Sasahara will be a main character, but in reality the manga has no main character. Instead, it's about all the members in the club and what they go through, and I love this because you start to see all the tiny details about every character.

Something that the manga does very well is the old characters keep appearing, even if they have already graduated. It's great to see what they are up to, and see them interact with the newer generation. (That being said, I still wanted Saki and Kousaka to appear a lot more than they did after they graduated, but I guess that couldn't be helped.) Often, a lot of characters are just forgotten in other manga, but it feels like no one is left out in here.

But as amazing as this manga is, I wouldn't recommend this for everybody. To start, it's very obvious that the demographic is for slightly older readers, as the characters talk about things like doujinshi and porn very freely. The chapters are also very dialogue heavy, which means each chapter can feel very long (this might be a positive though!).

If you are the average person who isn't too much into manga and really just consumes basic shonen, you probably wouldn't like this as much as I did. But, if you consider yourself a fan of manga or anime, you are doing yourself a great disservice if you don't check this series out.

Extra note: The 4-Koma at the end of each chapter are hilarious and probably the best out of any manga I've read. They are all small additions to the story, or small clarifications to something that a character said, which I find very fun to read.

“Otaku” is a term that I’ve labeled myself with in the past, when I’d eagerly watch new episodes of seasonal anime that come out weekly as a getaway from hours of tedious class lectures. Fully professing as one at the peak of my teenage years, I rejected most of the reality around me and got absorbed at the 2D world in front of my laptop screen. I had friends who would identify as one and we’d chatter away during school breaks about the latest developments in the anime world. I’d start obsessing over the latest doujins and video games which caused me to neglect ... real life priorities. This hobby persisted up until college, where I slowly lost interest due to academic stress. I’d still come back to its comfort frequently but it’s often short-lived. Now that I’m at the end of my college days, Genshiken came at the right time and reminded me that the days I’ve spent living the otaku life wasn’t time wasted.

One striking aspect of the manga is that it holds well a sense of realism. The Genshiken members act like what an otaku would act like in real life. They are hopeless and degenerate, but the story shows the embracement of it rather than shaming it. It is self-aware about the negative perceptions about otakus, but it addresses them in a mature manner. The eccentricities are present, but they are not overbearing to the point of being annoying. Rather, the manga uses it to its advantage to present a healthy group dynamic among the cast which results to very enjoyable and hilarious moments. The manga is split into two generations: the old and the new generation.

The old Genshiken members include the enthusiastic Madarame, the timid Sasahara, the cosplay otaku Tanaka, the artist Kugayama, the normal Kasukabe, the BL-loving Ohno, the flawless Kousaka, and the otaku-hating Oguie. It’s worth noting that the manga doesn’t have an actual main character, even though we are fooled to believe that it’s Sasahara at the start of the story. What I really loved with this generation is that it manages to develop and flesh out almost all its characters. The narrative shows how the Genshiken members warm up to each other over time, even leading to romantic developments. Every activity that they bond over with builds up their friendship over time, leading to a fulfilling closure as they separate paths in the future.

The new cast for Genshiken Nidaime sees most of the old members graduating and some of the side characters in the previous generation gaining more relevance to the story. The new addition to the mix includes the crossdresser Hato and the fujoshis Yoshitaka and Yajima. There’s an observable shift in the tone of the series, as most of the gags revolve around BL. It’s also used to progress the plot as there are some immense romantic developments that are handled in a way that is not forced. It might alienate the fans of the old Genshiken gang but it’s a refreshing way to continue the story. What I also like about the reserialization of the manga is that the mangaka came back with a really improved artwork.

There are some issues I have with the manga but most of them are just nitpicks. One of which is that we didn’t see much of the campus life outside the clubroom. It could’ve help put that realism up a notch. Another one is that it derails to certain romance subplots, detours with no conclusion, and then the manga picks it up again later. There are also some characters that could’ve used more of the spotlight to make the readers more invested in them. But then again, it could complicate the plot that was already at the brink of collapsing near the end, only to be saved by a well-executed conclusion.

Overall, this is a must read for anyone who has the slightest idea what it means to be an “otaku”. It’s a well-written story that throws in typical otaku clichés and stereotypes and makes it an enjoyable and emotional reading experience. If Welcome to the NHK displays the dark side of being an otaku, Genshiken shows the fun side of it while not neglecting its drawbacks. Don’t miss out on this amazing manga.