Spotted Flower Chapter 17 (Manga)
Spotted Flower manga chapter 17 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

NOTE: For the purposes of this and future reviews, until the characters are given names, since these characters are obviously from Genshiken (or Genshiken Nidaime), I will call the “not-Saki” character !Saki, the “not Madarame” character !Madarame, and so forth for all other unnamed Genshiken characters.

!Madarame visits !Hato at the mangaka’s place of work. !Hato says that all of the assistants have been sent home, and that !Hato’s manager has been sent to a meeting with the editor. !Hato believes !Madarame is there because of issues with his wife. !Madarame says he thinks she’s hiding something from him, but when he asks her if she’s troubled, she brushes him off. As such, !Madarame figures he came to !Hato to vent.

!Hato rightly figures !Madarame hasn’t had sex with his wife and that she’s probably getting nervous because her due date is coming. As such, !Hato thinks !Madarame should show his wife he loves her.

!Hato remarks on !Madarame being impotent (due to his pregnant wife, then heads to the fridge to get a beer for !Madarame. !Hato remarks on how !Madarame is so much better when he’s drunk, citing the time that !Madarame tripped and pushed !Hato onto a bed. !Madarame can’t stop looking at !Hato’s cleavage as !Hato tells !Madarame to not trip his wife since she has a child in her womb.

With that, !Madarame leaves and a very irritated !Yajima (the “manager”) emerges, displeased with !Madarame’s long visit. !Hato says it wasn’t much of a visit as !Yajima calls the editor regarding the manga. !Yajima is also annoyed that !Hato sent all the assistants home, then got dressed up in a revealing outfit, complete with makeup. !Hato didn’t want to be seen in the normal, “before the deadline” frazzled way, but !Yajima thinks that !Madarame wouldn’t care. !Yajima says she’ll do tones and orders !Hato do to the manga backgrounds as they have an all-nighter. !Hato comes up behind !Yajima and embraces her, which !Yajima allows for a bit before punching !Hato to get back to work.

Thoughts/Review:

Heh! Well, Spotted Flower chapter 17 is directly linking to Genshiken Nidaime chapter 110 and chapter 111. I’ve long been thinking that Spotted Flower is in fact where Genshiken Nidaime is going to end up. Indeed, I’ve actually been hoping for that because I love the idea of seeing what happens to these Genshiken characters years after they leave school. How often does that happen in Manga? Almost never, if at all.

This chapter struck me at how odd all of these relationships are in the universe of Kio-sensei’s. For starters, I still want to know how in the heck !Saki hooked up with !Madarame because even though I approve of the pairing, on the surface, it makes no sense (which is why I think it will be a very interesting tale). If Spotted Flower is truly where Genshiken Nidaime ends up at, then I’m guessing we’ll get that story there, not here.

Then we have the !Madarame relationship with !Hato.  He knows quite well that !Hato is still attracted to him, but he still goes to meet with !Hato, even if it means he has to beat a hasty retreat when !Hato starts coming onto him. It makes no sense to me.

I’ve never understood !Madarame’s not wanting to have sex with his pregnant wife, even thought that isn’t an uncommon hentai fetish. And yet he gets flustered at seeing !Hato’s fake breasts. It makes no sense to me.

Then there’s !Hato’s relationship with !Yajima. I’ve no doubt that !Hato cares deeply for !Yajima, so why keep pursuing !Madarame? !Hato is clearly still attracted to !Madarame despite being in a relationship with !Yajima. Otherwise, there’s no reason to dress up in the fashion !Hato did.

On the flip side of that relationship, I’ve no doubt that !Yajima knows that !Hato isn’t over !Madarame. She gets angry with !Hato, but still tolerates it. And yeah, !Yajima cares deeply for !Hato as well, so maybe that’s why she tolerates it, knowing the entire history there.

In the end, this was a good chapter for Genshiken fans with its direct ties to that manga.