げんしけん 2 Episode 12

SPOILER Summary: Kuchiki is going on and on about the “training camp” and an irritated Sasahara decides to leave the Genshiken club room. He continues to fail to land a job working in the publishing industry and thinks back on how his joining Genshiken led him to where he is now. He falls asleep and dreams of looking at the work of someone trying to break into the business as a mangaka. He is critical of the work, only to discover that the person submitting the work is Ogiue along with Kugayama. At that, he wakes up.

In desperation, Sasahara starts looking for jobs outside of the publishing industry and finds he has no success there either. With all his failures, he stops shaving and decides to be a jobless rounin and try again next year, which he states to Genshiken. Saki gets pissed and tells him off for this attitude. That night he gets a call from Kugayama where he learns that Kugayama is starting to draw again. Deciding Saki is right, Sasahara redoubles his efforts to get into the publishing field. While checking in a newspaper, he finds an ad where they are looking for a manga editor.

Sasahara interviews with the company and learns that they are a contract company who send out editors to work at the various publishing houses. Even the interviewer is contracted out and is working on Sasahara’s favorite manga, “Kujibiki Unbalance.” Sometime later after the interview, Sasahara gets a package from the company and he has a job. The first thing he does is call Ogiue, who had to run out of the shower to answer the phone. She asks him to check over her latest storyboards which he’s happy to do. Then later in the Genshiken club room, he makes the announcement there as well. He has Ohno send a copy of the Genshiken doujinshi they published to her American friends, after which there is discussions with the previous members as well about things, including the fact that while Sasahara is working in the publishing field like he wanted, he only answers phones and doesn’t do any editorial work.

Thoughts: Hmmmm, a somewhat disappointing end because the series didn’t even get into Ogiue and Sasahara actually becoming a couple and beyond (Sasahara and Saki’s graduation). I suppose we could have another 3+ episode OVA series (I hope we do to wrap things up) .

I didn’t like how this episode specifically made Sasahara a loser for a short time to fill time. I did like how Sasahara, in desperation, started looking for other work. However, it was weak that after he gets a job with the manga editor contract company, he is sent to be the taker of phone calls only. In the manga, this isn’t stated and one is left with the impression that Sasahara gets to start working his dream job, not be a phone jockey. Bah.

Otherwise I didn’t have any problems with the episode.