げんしけん: 二代目
Genshiken Chapter 56 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Genshiken president Ogiue calls a meeting of club members Ohno and Kuchiki to discuss the failures of the last membership drive and to avoid those same mistakes, she orders no cosplay during the forthcoming. Sue walks in, in cosplay, and Ogiue’s plan is pretty much flushed as Ohno dresses up as well. Ogiue wants more male members in the club causing Ohno to tease her on what Sasahara would think. Yabusaki from the Manga Club calls Ogiue to inquire how they are doing but doesn’t want to stop by because of Sue.

Ogiue has a large sheet of paper on a large whiteboard and proceeds to draw manga/anime poster in real time. This does attract a lot of attention. Kuchiki, who’s secretly dressed up in cosplay, attempts to leap out of the spot where he’s hiding but Sue manages to thwart his antics before they can even get started.  Two girls decide to join based on Ogiue’s drawings.  The heavy-set Yajima was impressed with what Ogiue drew and the petite Yoshitake immediately saw the yaoi elements of Ogiue’s drawing even though Ogiue wasn’t drawing anything purposefully yaoi.

Ogiue accepts the fact of why the two new members join as Kuchiki is happy for a larger harem. Ohno starts talking about Ogiue, telling of her acceptance as a pro manga-ka and how she not only has a boyfriend but he’s a manga editor as well.  As this goes on, another girl named Hato comes in and asks to sit in. Ogiue notices that Kuchiki recoils from her.  The introductions begin with Yoshitake bringing out her favorite doujinshi titles.  This leads Ogiue to fear that the group will go from a normal circle to a fujoshi one.

Kuchiki grabs some of Hato’s hair and reveals that this is a wig. In a panic, Hato has a male voice before switching back to female. Hato is still panicked as Ohno examines him but makes Hato feel welcome before revealing her massive cosplay plans for the entire group. Hato tries to explain that he isn’t cosplaying while Kuchiki seems happy that the group has a “boy-girl” potential member. Ogiue mutters about the group being a bunch of wierdos when Sue stands up and loudly repeats Ogiue’s introduction to the group years earlier.

Sometime later, Sue stops by Madarame’s apartment and starts reenacting a scene from an anime/manga when her cell phone rings and she hands it, unanswered, to Madarame. It is Ogiue, inviting him to a new member’s party.  He attends and is asked to pick which of the three new members is actually male. As Tanaka and others look on, Madarame cannot decide but seeing Madarame causes Yoshitake and Yajima to discuss him in a yaoi sense. With Kugayama and Sasahara not there, Ogiue is using Tanaka and Madarame to help balance the male-female ratio.

Ohno decides the party is to be held at Ogiue’s apartment and she’s pressured into accepting. Sasahara arrives with snacks.  He too is challenged to “find the boy” but cannot.  Saki and Makoto arrive and without even being asked, Saki spots that Hato is in fact a boy in drag.

Thoughts/Review:

Egad! I’d forgotten all about this until Lady D pinged me the other day and asked me if I’d blog this.  Well, considering how much I loved the original Genshiken manga series, there was no doubt I’d start blogging this immediately and so sought out the published chapters to date.  I’ve read that the first volume of this new Genshiken series will still be called “Genshiken” rather than Genshiken Nidaime and will be classified as “volume 10,” so hopefully, Kodansha Comics will BRING THIS TO THE U.S!

And now, allow me to express my feelings about reading this “one shot” (which then turned into a limited edition run, followed by a full series run) in a true, manga style.  KYAAAAAAAA! >_< ♥

Whew!  I feel better now. ^_^

I have to say that Kio-sensei made a really good chapter.  On one hand, he made sure to get all of the Genshiken members (sans the first president, who just disappeared from the manga early on and never returned save for a mention by Saki much, much later) at least a cameo.  It was really great seeing Sasahara, Madarame, Tanaka, Kugayama, Saki, and Makoto.  ^_^  It was nice seeing Madarame’s attraction to Saki still touched on.  It was nice seeing Saki and Makoto are still a couple as well as Ohno and Tanaka, and Sasahara and Ogiue.  Even Sasahara’s little sister got a small cameo.

As to the new members, having a cross-dressing member is a little freaky, especially since every time I see Hato looking like a normal, attractive manga girl, I hear Admiral Ackbar scream, “IT’S A TRAP!” *lol* However, with Ogiue, Ohno, Sue, and even Kuchiki, I think I could be down with this new Genshiken crew.

Still, returning to Genshiken for a new story after so long is like returning to your old neighborhood after many years.  Sure, there are things that are still familiar but there are changes all around.  There might be new stores up that didn’t exist before.  Your old home may have a different color scheme or may be covered in ivy.  It may not be the same place I left at the end of volume 9 of the manga but it is still “home” (in a manga sense, of course).  ^_^

Speaking of Sue, I can’t say that I remember being very excited about her when she was introduced but I found that her spouting lines from anime/manga, even if I had no clue what she was referencing, was actually amusing.  I guess she’s grown on me as a character.  Of course, Kio-sensei having her quote his own manga with Ogiue’s introduction to Genshiken was pure gold as far as I was concerned.  ^_^

When the story discussed Sasahara being the editor boyfriend of Ogiue, I couldn’t help but remember the chat between Akamatsu-sensei and Takekuma-san on the current state of manga in Japan, including the future of manga editors.

Finally, Ogiue Maniax blogged this chapter back when it came out in late 2009 (yeah, that’s how far I’m behind) and have notes on the various stuff Sue spewed. ^_^

There are several more chapters of the new Genshiken manga series, so I’m off to read and blog them.  ^_^