げんしけん: 二代目
Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 81

Madarame and Saki emerge from the club room where Sue, Kenji, and Keiko are waiting. Sue leaves after hearing that Madarame confessed and was turned down. Madarame asks Saki if he should get rid of the cosplay pictures he has of her, which she leaves up to him. Madarame decides he’s going home, causing Kenji to wonder if Madarame will ever come back. Keiko is annoyed and tells him that he can’t leave until he’s talked with the rest of Genshiken. After discovering that everyone knew about his crush on Saki, he tells them how it went. Kousaka tells Madarame that had Saki said yes, he would have asked Madarame to love him too. Madarame recognizes the line from the ero trap game he’d played from Kousaka’s company.

With that, Kousaka has Tanaka break out the costumes from that game. Ogiue, Kenji, Ohno, and Saki then cosplay the various trap characters to go along with Kousaka’s character. Madarame realizes that everyone is trying to cheer him up. As such, Madarame launches a monologue about traps and the game, causing Saki to point out that this was just like the Madarame of old, whom she thought was gross, however, she assures Madarame that she is just teasing him.

The new members, sans Sue, pop in for a bit, but leave that evening before the after party, disappointing Saki since she’d wanted to speak with them.  She speaks with Madarame about his job, and encourages him not to quit. Further, she encourages him to come to more campus events. Her reason is that though he failed with her, Madarame might just end up with a harem if he doesn’t give up. Madarame scoffs at this, so Tanaka and Kugayama leave with Madarame with plans to stop by his place for old times sake.  Keiko and Kenji take off, Keiko giving him a look of disgust in the process.

I noticed how quickly Sue bailed once she learned of what happened between Madarame and Saki. I understand her befriending some girls in the manga club, but I’m disappointed she wasn’t around more. Then again, the way she is, she would have stolen the scene.  However, I’m just curious to see if she has feelings for Madarame, as I suspect she does, or if she has other motives.

I’m still not thrilled with Kenji being lumped in with Saki’s harem thoughts for Madarame. While I am a Sue shipper, I’d be interested in following a Madarame x Keiko pairing as well. We’ll see if Keiko gets to show up more or not.

Funny how Saki wasn’t bothered by the thought of Madarame having cosplay pictures of her.  More than that, I was amazed at how quickly she cosplayed for Madarame’s sake. I really didn’t expect that, but it shows how Saki has matured as a person.  It was a nice moment for the aftermath of her having to turn him down last chapter.

I figure that Kousaka wasn’t serious when he stated that he would have been cool with a 3-way relationship between himself, Saki, and Madarame. However, considering Kousaka’s nature, I could see him being cool with butter-side up, down, to the side, or wherever else it might be. No doubt, yaoi ero artists are already hard at work with such a scenario between Madarame and Kousaka. ^_^;

I liked how Kugayama and Tanaka went with Madarame to his place. Considering how they were friends before Sasahara joined the club, I understand why Sasahara didn’t go with them, nor Kousaka. While I would enjoy seeing a chapter where Madarame, Tanaka, and Kugayama chat, I doubt we’ll see that.

Overall, this chapter was a nice wrap-up for the emotional previous chapter. I can’t say where Hata-sensei is going to go with things because frankly, I can’t see any clear paths. As best as I can tell, other than Saki and Madarame not being a couple, things are pretty open as far as were things might go. So, I’ll just strap in and enjoy the ride.