げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 112 Manga Review
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 112 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Rika, excited by their trip to visit the temples in Nikko, spouts off tons of information. She notes Yajima doesn’t seem as enthused or excited as her. Yajima reminds her that it was because of Rika, Yajima got little sleep the previous night.

During the previous night, Hato came home later than Keiko thought was right. Hato explains there were issues, so Keiko lets him off. Hato takes a shower as Yajima sees Mimasaka off. Ohno tells her roommates, Keiko and Angela, that she’s going to sleep, so if Angela and Keiko want to communicate, they can use a translation app. Sue decides she’s sleeping in the same futon with Ogiue.

Hato goes into the room with Yajima and Rika, the two girls sharing her to bunk bed. Rika wants to know what happened, but Yajima points out the thin walls of the house. This causes Rika to pause for a moment, but she really wants to know what happened. Hato gives a vague denial, making it worse by saying nothing physical happened between him and Madarame. Rika gets frustrated that Yajima isn’t helping her and that Yajima wants to go to bed. In the end, Rika goes to sleep and snores loudly.

Back in the present, Rika gives an embarrassed laugh about her snoring, but blows it off by announcing to the group that they are going to do kujibiki, whereby everyone draws lots to see whom they will pair up with. Then to get more pairings, later on, the group will redraw lots. Ogiue ends up paired with Sue, Angela ends up paired with Ohno, Yajima ends up paired with Kuchiki, Keiko ends up paired with Hato, and Rika ends up paired with Madarame. Things did not work out as Rika hoped, but as she angrily tells Yajima, they’ll do more drawings.

Thoughts/Review:

Rika is still an ultra annoying character even though she’s the vehicle by which Kio-sensei pushes the harem plot forward.  That’s why it was awesome to me that her scheme at the end failed because it was like her being punched in the face.

The pairings are not that surprising though. When Rika announced her plans to pair folks off, I had a hunch that Keiko would end up with Hato. Keiko has never liked Hato, but I can imagine her getting Hato to open up more.  This could be the vehicle that gets Hato to bow out of the harem even if he never truly gives up on Madarame.

I had thought Yajima would be paired up with Madarame and that would put her story with Hato forward. So I was a little surprised that Rika ended up getting paired up with Madarame. However, once this pairing came to be, I figured this is where Rika, who’s not given a damn about Madarame’s feelings in her agenda to put Hato with Madarame, will get an understanding that Madarame is ultimately a butter-side-up kind of guy.

Of course, as annoying as Rika is, in the end, she likely won’t care and will still push her selfish agenda because that’s what entertains her. Rika’s actions don’t come across to me as the actions of someone who cares for their friend and is trying to help them. Instead, it all comes across to me as Rika hiding behind good intentions as she seeks things to entertain herself. This whole thing with Hato has been highly entertaining to her, so stirring the pot keeps things highly entertaining.

Regardless, we’ll see what happens with Hato and Keiko as well as Rika and Madarame.

In the end, the chapter is OK as it sets up things for the next chapter. Rika is the element that while pushing things forward, makes my enjoyment of the chapter much less.