げんしけん: 二代目/Genshiken Nidaime
Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 72

Madarame is relieved that he has a spare chair to offer Hato while he’s in drag (having a problem with Hato’s female side sitting on his bed, but not Hato’s regular male side), but when Hato sits down at Madarame’s desk, Madarame realizes that the trap hentai game is on the desktop. Hato says he’s not bothered by it, and even purposefully sets up a situation joke that one would find in an ero game.  Madarame thinks this is a pretty normal thing for a guy to do, then asks Hato if he plays these kinds of games. Hato says he doesn’t as most of his spare money goes into clothes and makeup, with the rest going to his BL (Boy’s Love/Shounen Ai) collection.

Initially, Madarame thinks Hato doesn’t know it is a trap game, but when Hato reveals he knows it is the game that Kousaka was marketing at ComiFest, Madarame offers to allow Hato to borrow it. Hato doesn’t want to, but is curious to know Madarame’s thoughts.  Madarame reveals that after clearing a few routes, all of the “heroine” traps somehow get pregnant with no explanation. Hato is kind of surprised by this, though he knows that even in the BL genre, impregnation is a part of stories. Hato asks about the Kousaka route, so Madarame says that Kousaka gets pregnant there. Madarame goes further, saying that the things the Kousaka character says in the game are what the real Kousaka would say.

Madarame wonders aloud if Kousaka’s girlfriend, Saki, knows about the game.  This causes Hato to interrupt his Madarama-Kousaka fantasy and switch it a bit to have Saki in it since he knows Madarame loves Saki.  However, Hato remembers how Saki saw right through “her” on their first meeting, and decides he can’t use Saki.  Since Hato is spacing out in this fujoshi realm, Madarame brings him back.

Hato apologizes for Kuchiki’s actions in the club room and says it should be safe for Madarame to return. Madarame says Hato doesn’t have to apologize since that’s how Kuchiki is, but he confesses that it is difficult for him to drop by a club room filled with women who’d all look at him as an “ultimate bottom” sou uke.  Further to that, he’s begun to think that it isn’t right for someone who’s graduated to continue to hang out at the university. As such, he’s considering his options, including taking a job somewhere away from the university, though he promised Hato that he’ll take Hato’s needs for a safe changing area into consideration.

Hato is surprised by this, wondering if his loud announcement to Angela at ComiFest that Madarame was a sou uke is the real cause, stemming from the fact that Hato has fantasies about Madarame in BL situations. Hato tells Madarame not to worry about Hato’s need for a place to change as he can find another. Hato then invites Madarame to the school festival, informing him that they club is very busy on their exhibit of cosplay and the issue of Mebaetame.  Hato confesses that he can only draw BL, but Madarame thinks that’s fine since Ogiue is there to reign Hato in if he goes to far. So, Hato again asks Madarame to come, and Madarame tentatively agrees.

Hato heads to the club and tells Ogiue that he’s going to attempt to draw a manga with no BL. Sue, Rika, and Yajima aren’t sure how to handle this news, but Ohno and Ogiue seem pleased. As such, Ogiue prepares to write the story and Hato promises not to say anything about the story. Ogiue decides she now has to ask the 1st-year students a question for research purposes — do any of them have any experience dating in high school. For some reason, this really shocks Rika, who loudly vocalizes it.

When I lived in Japan, I quickly learned that if you could imagine some sexual situation, no matter how whacked, someone in Japan had likely drawn it and put it out for public consumption. As such, even though I’ve no idea why some Japanese are into things like tentacle porn (which goes back to the feudal era), demon/monster rape-porn, general rape-porn, guro (puke-inducing, gory porn), or traps, I know they exist.  This next generation of Genshiken strongly suggests that boy’s love/shounen-ai and traps are very popular in Japan at the moment. Considering how heavily censored official Japanese porn is, no matter the type, its surprising it is as popular as it is.  Then again, massive censorship may allow all Japanese males to overlook traps having a block and tackle downstairs. *_*

Anyway, this chapter was about two guys with a weird friendship of sorts, whom are heterosexual, but thanks to Hato’s trap-persona and love of BL, they find some level of attraction to each other.  For Madarame, Hato looks and sounds like a beautiful girl, so even though Hato’s a guy and Madarame is a guy, sometimes it is hard to believe Hato IS a guy (as Yajima had to prove for herself when she got to see the proof up close).  So, his natural tendencies to attractive girls tend to come out when Hato is in his trap gear, forcing Madarame to constantly remind himself that Hato IS a guy, no matter how he looks.

On the other hand, Hato is like any of the other fujoshi girls in Genshiken, and so sees Hato in various homosexual situations, both hardcore and not.  Hato even seems to be willing to experiment with Madarame, should Madarame want to.

However, their chat brought to light a need to move forward and grow up somewhat.  For Madarame, this was first hinted at during ComiFest, when he discovered the fire he once held for the 3-day event just wasn’t there any more. Then, there’s the fact that his beloved Genshiken is no longer an otaku club, but a fujoshi club with some vestiges of cosplay and manga creation remaining.  None of his old friends are there (Sasahara, Tanaka, & Kugayama), so he’s now feeling uncomfortable.  By making a clean break, Madarame can try to make new friends in a new city, with a new job and new apartment. It happens to us all as we get older (or most of us).

If Kio-sensei has Madarame move, then I’d say that he’s comfortable that Genshiken can stand without the original characters.  However, he could keep Madarame around and actually explore the idea of him hooking up with a new girl, or even come to terms with Saki (say in a one-on-one meeting between Saki and Madarame).

For Hato, the events of this chapter have forced him to consider how his excessive BL fetish and its negative impact on Madarame. When faced with his own, immature attitude, Hato finds the strength to draw something normal.  I hope he succeeds.

I guess the next chapter will be about Hato and Ogiue collaborating on the manga.  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m looking forward to it.