げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 102 Manga Review
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 102 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

At Kugayama’s suggestion, Madarame reluctantly accompanies him to the hostess club where Keiko works. She’s surprised to see Madarame, but she recovers her professionalism and introduces herself to him by her working name, Kyouko, before sitting beside him, something that surprises him. Madarame notes the smile on Kugayama’s face as he talks with his hostess while Keiko pours Madarame a drink, telling him she’s really happy he actually came to see her. As she talks with him, Kugayama remarks on how much Madarame is grinning.

Thanks to Kugayama’s further remarks, Keiko realizes something’s up, thus she encourages him to tell her the whole story of why they are there. With that, Keiko drops her hostess club girl act and speaks to Madarame as she normally does, even calling him Watanabe again. Keiko says that her problem isn’t that others like Madarame, but it is Hato, whom she finds to be a terrible, manipulative person. Further, Keiko isn’t happy with Madarame for not taking Saki’s feelings into consideration, something Madarame objects to since Saki turned him down, but which Keiko says is important since Saki does care about Madarame.

Kugayama’s girl leaves and another comes in to replace her. Keiko offers to do the same for Madarame, but he doesn’t want that, especially since she’s talking to him normally. She’s surprised that he prefers her brutally honest and even disdainful attitude toward him rather than her fake, sweet and wholesome act. At her suggestion of staying if he bought her drinks, Madarame does so after being further encouraged to do so by Kugayama.

The already drunk Madarame drinks more, then passes out for a bit. When he comes to, Keiko is dressed in her winter coat, telling him it is time to go as the hostess club is closing. Going outside, Madarame is surprised that it is three in the morning. Keiko tells him that Kugayama paid for the whole bill at the club. Since the trains are down for the night, Madarame says he’ll have to find a net cafe or something. Keiko, addressing Madarame by his proper name, invites him to her place.

Thoughts/Review:

Bwah!ha!ha!ha!ha!  Leave it to Kio-sensei. He actually gave a good reason for people to start shipping Madarame x Keiko after this chapter. ^_~

I’m still not sure why Keiko would be interested in Madarame at all. However, when she said she was happy to see Madarame, I do believe that, even though she was still in her hostess mode.

That being said, while Keiko was mad after learning the whole situation with Hato, her attitude changed when she learned that Madarame preferred her more abrasive, blunt way of treating him rather than her hostess club persona. In other words, Madarame likes Keiko for whom she is, not for some fantasy role. Ultimately, I think this is why she invited him to her place.

I really hope the next chapter has them at Keiko’s place rather than skip ahead to the next day or worse. I’m not saying I want anything to happen sexually, but I would just like to see Keiko’s place and have her elaborate more on her feelings for Hato.

Speaking of which, Keiko had come to despise Hato even before learning Hato was a guy. Keiko mentioned Hato as being rotten inside and absolutely no good, but she didn’t cite examples of what Hato does that makes him rotten inside. That’s what I’m hoping to learn in the next chapter while at Keiko’s apartment. After that, anything else is icing on the cake. ^_^

I do find it interesting that Keiko brings up Saki during her chat with Madarame. It makes me wonder if Kio-sensei is still working on a means of somehow getting Saki and Madarame together. At the moment, that doesn’t seem likely, but we know that’s his preferred shipping option, so much so, he created Spotted Flower to give a vision of their married life together.  As such, I’m going to keep an eye open for any signs that we might see a shift in this direction.

With Kugayama having an important role again in this chapter, it feels like he’s gotten more face time in the more recent two chapters of Genshiken Nidaime than he did in all of the original Genshiken. *lol*

Finally, Kio-sensei mentioned creating the dakimakura of Sue, remarking the “stripping Sue” part of it. I did find that image.

I just can’t see Sue in an erotic way, even though I like her. ^_^;

As an aside, I do hope that before this whole harem arc stuff is wrapped up, Kio-sensei gives Sue some proper time with Madarame, including a look into her past.

In the end, I found this to be a most excellent chapter, mainly because it showed a reason for Madarame to end up with Keiko. I can’t wait to see what happens next. ^_^