げんしけん: 二代目
Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 57 Review

Ogiue arrives at the Genshiken club room to find Sue in cosplay thanks to Ohno’s desire to still tempt people to join even though it is past the official invitation period. Ohno sees this as a way to keep members and she especially wants Hato-kun to not leave the club. Two of the new member, Yoshitake and Yajima, arrive and discuss where their new, cross-dressing male member might be changing clothing. Kuchiki arrives and hears about this and takes off to go find him. Ohno pressures Ogiue into calling Hato-kun to warn him but learns that Hato-kun is actually changing at home.

The group ponders Kuchiki being a criminal for peeping and Yajima wonders if the group has gotten too used to Hato-kun dressing as a girl.  Ohno recounts how former member Kousaka cross-dressed for cosplay, then mentions how other previous members were all weirdos in their own way. Ogiue leaves the club room to go to the bathroom and as she ponders the club’s new members, including Sue, she runs into “Hato-chan” leaving the girl’s bathroom. Panicked at having been caught in a lie and being a boy using the girl’s restroom, Hato flees and Ogiue gives chase, knowing that Hato may never return to Genshiken if she doesn’t stop him.

Hato makes the mistake of running at Kuchiki who doesn’t need to be told to stop Hato as he leaps to stop him. Despite looking like a pretty girl in a dress, Hato proves quite skilled at quickly taking Kuchiki down with a judo move, having learned it in junior high school. After the trio return to the club room, Sue calls a “Hato-chan, That is a Crime” meeting.  Ohno states that changing in a restroom is against cosplaying rules but further to that, for Hato to change in a girl’s restroom, he could be charged with a crime. Hato explains his reasons for using the girl’s bathroom which leads Ohno to wonder why he can’t change at home.  Hato explains that it is the time factor since he leaves 30-minutes away.

Yoshitake tells Hato to just change in the club room as they can wait for him to do so outside if needed.  Hato explains that he doesn’t want them to see him as a man. Yajima tells Hato that he should just come dressed as a guy and while they may not be used to his fudanshi ways, it would be easier for him and them to accept this if he came as a guy.  Kuchiki disagrees and starts to say that there’s no way a girl this cute could possibly be a real girl but is cut off by Ogiue who finishes his statement, leaving him depressed.

It is Sue who comes up with the solution — have Hato change at Madarame’s apartment, which is in walking distance of the campus.  Madarame can’t believe what he’s being asked to do but agrees to give Hato a spare key just the same.

Bwah!ha!ha!ha!ha!  OK, I’m still creeped out by Hato-chan/Hato-kun because Kio-sensei has made Hato-chan the perfect trap by making him look so pretty as a girl. ^_^;;;  As a guy, Hato almost looks like a younger version of Sasahara or maybe even his little brother. Hato aside, I loved this chapter, which is still Genshiken at its heart but with changes to my beloved neighborhood.

That being said, I guess Kio-sensei will have Madarame as a regular character in the manga.  Even though Saki and Sasahara were the central characters that Genshiken were supposed to be about, Madarame did end up being the one character at the center of everything now that I think about it.  Thus, I wonder if Kio-sensei has placed himself into the manga in the form of Madarame.  It wasn’t something I even thought of before but now that he’s in the new Genshiken, I really do wonder.  Mind you, having Madarame around doesn’t bother me and does help keep a tie to Genshiken‘s beginnings.  I would have thought that with Ogiue dating Sasahara, we might see more of him.  Then again, Ogiue graduates in a couple of years and if Kio-sensei does like he did with Genshiken in terms of having the story move in “real time” (meaning that when it is winter 2011 in the world, it will be winter 2011 in the manga), then having Madarame around would be the most solid anchor to tie this with the beginning.

I’m finding Sue to be such a hoot.  Kio-sensei basically parodied himself again by having Sue act like Madarame in calling meetings, even doing his hand clap at one point. I have to say that I loved it. ^_^

As to Yoshitake and Yajima, I don’t have any feelings on those characters yet. I’ll give them time though.

Kuchiki is still as bad as ever.  I never did care much for him as a character.  Too bad when he graduates, Ohno graduates as well.

Back when this chapter was first published, it was slated to just be a limited run return.  I’ve learned that this has now changed and Genshiken is now a regular manga series again with the first volume of Genshiken Nidaime being simply labeled Genshiken and it will be numbered as volume 10.  As such, I sure hope Kodansha Comics brings this to the U.S. ’cause I’d buy it for sure. Until then, I’m going to continue to keep current with Japan as best as I can.