げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 114 Manga Review
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 114 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The Genshiken group pairs up again with Madarame paired with Angela. Since Angela doesn’t speak Japanese, Madarame is worried about communication. Ohno tells him that Angela is just going to communicate via gestures, then she reminds Angela to behave since they are at a temple. Angela pulls Madarame’s hand out of his pocket, then interlocks her hand with his, giving him a look to make him not perform his standard attempt to flee.

The happy appearing Angela leads Madarame as he ponders how long it has been since a girl even touched his hand. Sue is not happy by what she sees. Kuchiki, who’s paired with Sue, senses she wants to take off and makes a remark accordingly. Sue takes off a mitten, steels herself up, and grabs his hand to lead Kuchiki off, pleasing him greatly.

Keiko is paired with Yajima, so she decides to use it as an opportunity to talk about Hato. This causes Yajima vent on the things about Hato that irritates her, including the fact that Hato has his own harem. Keiko seems to understand that Yajima has feeling for Hato and is jealous of the the situation Hato is in with not only Madarame, but also with the situation with the girls from Hato’s high school.

Meanwhile, Angela takes a look at her competition and laughs. She and Madarame walk and explore, hand in hand. Madarame finds that with Angela not saying anything, he’s actually able to relax. As he looks at her face, he notices that she’s always smiling. When the two stop at a rest area, Hato, Keiko, and Sue pass them, giving them dirty looks. Still gripping Madarame’s hand, Angela tells Sue not to move. She pulls his hand toward her breasts, then shifts it to her cheek, telling him he’s a sou-uke. Madarame panics, then looks over to where Hato is standing. Angela stops smiling and releases his hand, calling Rika over for a new pairing.

Angela says goodbye to Madarame and in the next pairing, she’s paired with the ecstatic Kuchiki. She smiles and zips up her jacket.

Thoughts/Review:

This chapter came off as bittersweet for me since Angela seems to have bailed out of the harem.

I didn’t like Angela’s vulgar dress here because it is inappropriate for the temple setting. However, I do understand her battle plan. On one hand, she was throwing down the gauntlet at her competition since they can’t compare with her in the chest area. Second, she was enticing Madarame.

Angela adds to this by taking Madarame’s hand and holding it in an interlocked fashion, knowing he’s likely to panic over this. While she enjoyed taunting her opponents, I do believe she was genuinely happy by walking hand-in-hand with Madarame around the temple/shrine grounds.

The bitter part of the story came when she tested Madarame in front of the other harem members, after making sure Sue wouldn’t move. (As an aside, the moment between Angela and Sue was nice because it addressed the fact that the two had been friends in America by having Angela talk to Sue in English.) When she called him a sou-uke and put his hand on her cheek, his eye darted to Hato, which deflated Angela. That was heartbreaking to me.

A lot of fans seem to think this is a Hato x Madarame flag that was set, but I disagree. By calling Madarame a sou-uke, she’s saying that he’s the catcher in a homosexual relationship, which basically is no different than saying, “You’re homosexual, Madarame!” Considering his flirtation with the idea of hooking up with Hato, combined with the fact that Hato was within earshot. I think it is only natural that Madarame look to Hato to see how Hato would react to what Angela was saying and doing.  I don’t think this means Madarame is hot for Hato.

Indeed, as Madarame walked with Angela, he started relaxing with her. He noticed how she was smiling and seemed happy with him. Even though he panicked when Angela put his hand on her cheek, I think that had she not just called him a sou-uke, I don’t think he would have looked Hato’s way. He might have looked at all of the other harem members, but not specifically at Hato.

Regardless, Angela seemed to take this as a sign that she had no chance with Madarame. Her specific farewell to Madarame seems to indicate that she’s taken herself out of consideration. Madarame didn’t seem to pick up on this.

The B story in this was the advancement of the Hato x Yajima storyline. Keiko getting Yajima to open up was amusing to me, but it also showed the depth of feelings Yajima had been keeping bottled up. Keiko is kind of irritated with Madarame right now, but I can also see her trying to do things to set Yajima up with Hato.

I was amused at how Angela zipped up her jacket when she was paired with Kuchiki, since the privilege of that enticing view of her chest was for Madarame only.

Sue’s, Keiko’s, and Hato’s jealousy of Angela amused me.

I was also amused at how Sue sucked it up to take Kuchiki’s hand during her time with him. I’m betting that Sue gets her turn with Madarame during this temple trip.

In the end, this was a good chapter, though Angela’s apparent bailout on the harem was a bummer to me. Next up is Keiko.