Spotted Flower Chapter 09 (Manga)
Spotted Flower manga chapter 09 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

NOTE: For the purposes of this and future reviews, until the characters are given names, I will call the “not Saki” woman “Oku-san” (a term for a wife) and I’ll refer to the “not Madarame” guy as “Danna–san” (a term for a husband).

Oku-san sees a thing on TV about the Sapporo Snow Festival and suddenly decides she wants to go to this. She immediately begins searching the web for hotels and finds one, but Danna-san stops her, citing her pregnant condition and how she has to think of the baby and the icy conditions. Oku-san is highly annoyed by this, which Danna-san believes is latent anger from seeing his trap ero-game.

The next morning, he tells her not to make any reservations and goes to work. Oku-san thinks that by going on a vacation, her husband won’t be able to bring any porn games or manga and so might make a move on her despite her pregnant condition. If he doesn’t, she hopes he slips and falls on the ice, the image of which causes her to laugh.

The snow starts falling outside and when Danna-san comes home, he has a swollen hand, citing the weather conditions as preventing him from getting to a hospital, so he’ll go have it checked out on the following day. He explains that he slipped and fell outside the station, further telling her that this very thing is why he doesn’t want her getting out on the ice. She apologizes for her earlier anger and says they’ll put his hand on ice.

Thoughts/Review:

So, Kio-sensei is running with the busted hand gag here and on Genshiken Nidaime.

I realize the whole schtick of this manga is the otaku husband not wanting to have marital relations with his pregnant wife and her subsequent frustrations about this. However, it is getting to be old to me at this point, even though there are only nine short chapters in the books. The wife wouldn’t be wanting to do foolish things like attending a snow festival while pregnant if the husband would just do the do.  But, as long as he can selfishly “meditate” to games and doujinshi manga, then what’s the point of even being married?

Seriously, what got these two characters together in the first place? It is no wonder that Kio-sensei couldn’t figure out a way for Madarame and Saki to get together in the Genshiken universe.  They don’t fit together at all.

Well, it is what it is, eh? That whole, silly premise is what sets up the gag for the “not Madarame” husband to stop his “not Saki” wife from doing something foolish, then breaking his hand, as his counterpart just did, by slipping on the ice and proving why he’s right to stop his wife.

I really would rather this little manga move on from the “not having sex with my pregnant wife” thing and move onto other aspects of married life of a “normal” girl and her otaku husband. But, I can’t deny that I do enjoy seeing new chapters when they come out, even if it is on the same premise.