As an aside, I had planned to keep the “What I’m Watching” entries to a paragraph summary and some thoughts. However, sometimes that’s easier said than done, so it will be a 2-3 paragraph summary with thoughts. Having said that…

Genshiken OAV 1 (Ep. 13)

Its the time of year for new kids to join college clubs and Sasahara and Madarame discuss whether Saki-san will allow new folks to join. Kuchiki arrives (having been rejected by Saki-san last year) and looks for a game rematch. When Saki arrives with Kohsaka, she calls him “Ku-chii,” something no one in the anime club will do but something he wants very much. After initially appearing to reject him becoming a member of Genshiken, she allows it much to Sasahara’s and Madarame’s great surprise. Things are interrupted when a commotion across the courtyard at the manga club where the group sees a girl leap backward from the club window and injure herself.

The next day, manga club member Takayanagi-kun comes with the girl. While Genshiken knows the manga club is pawning her off, they decide to giver her a look. The girl, Ogiue, introduces herself, states she hates otaku (especially female otaku), and asks why female otaku like homos so much (yes, she says “homos” in the Japanese). She attempts to pick a fight with Saki-san and then Kuchiki. Kuchiki hits her, provoking the wrath of Saki-san. The following day, Ohno sets a trap for Ogiue by leaving a vast amount of yaoi doujinshi on the table. While she and others spy on Ogiue, hoping to catch her enjoying said doujinshi, Saki-san comes into the club room and foils the plan. Ohno returns to the Genshiken room after a call from Saki-san and she and Ogiue get into an argument over yaoi doujinshi and getting off to it. The confrontation ends when Kuchiki comes and outs Ogiue, having taken pictures of her at a yaoi otaku event. This leads to another punch out of Kuchiki by Saki-san, after which she attempt so keep Ogiue from jumping out the window.

Thoughts:

I was reminded of how much I love the manga Genshiken as I watched this. The anime writers didn’t try to do anything fancy and as such did a good job of adapting the manga chapters into this OAV episode. It was interesting to see that the Japanese used the terms “homo” and “homos” which Del Rey made more politically correct by changing to “queer” and “queers.” The politically correct version is less funny IMO.

Genshiken OAV 2 (Ep. 14) 

Saki gets Ogiue to come with her and with Saki’s “normal” friends, they discuss fashion in the cafeteria. Madarame happens to be in the area and even though Saki waves at him, he ignores her. This leads to an argument in the Genshiken club room where Madarame tells her she’s from another planet and that dating Kohasaka (whom he also says is from another world) doesn’t change anything. Its then that Saki notices Madarame’s new rectangle glasses and finds them amusing. She then goes to lecture on fashion, which leads Madarame to a trip to buy some new clothes. He goes into a trendy shop but is quickly intimidated and flees to an arcade. After recovering a bit, he returns and notices the high prices for everything. Normally he only spends about ¥2000 on clothes, but here, that won’t buy him a sock. Eventually, he decides to approach this as he would purchasing otaku things — don’t worry about price, just buy what you want.

Returning home, he runs into Saki with more of her normal friends. Learning from his previous error, he goes out of his way to speak to her. She seems offended at first, but introduces him as her boyfriend’s friend. They recognize him as otaku and since they were parting company anyway, Saki decides to return home with Madarame. Before going to the train station, they stop as a sushi bar and have a lengthy talk about things including the fact that Saki has been playing more games at Kohsaka’s place. On the train ride home, Madarame offers an empty seat to Saki, but she turns it down, telling him to offer her the seat is just like an otaku. He takes the seat. When the get to the train station, Kohsaka is waiting for them and wishes he could have partaken in the sushi feast. At school the next day, Madarame wears his new digs and gets approval from Saki over his choices. Ogiue also arrives with new clothes, which do not meet Saki’s approval.

Thoughts:

This was a bit boring since the anime writers put in a lot of filler into this episode. They changed things up to give Saki’s “normal” friends some airtime, something they haven’t had in the manga that I’ve read thus far. And the anime writers changed the sushi bar scene a bit so that Madarame isn’t shown to be worrying about getting the cheap sushi. We see him just pick stuff from the conveyor belt and Saki order expensive stuff, but the conversation and Madarame’s thoughts never broach the subject of sushi. Still, I enjoyed the episode just the same.

Pumpkin Scissors 13

In the country of Loderia, young Princess Septième is made aware of a smuggler (from Loderia) that the Imperial Army S.S. III captured and that this is “Alice-chan’s” unit. So she and her elderly butler decide to pop into the Imperial capital to pay a visit. Section III is notified of this and Alice tells what she knows of the princess. At the train station, Princess Septième looks for a hot dog stand she remembered from her last visit but sadly it is no longer there. At the same time, Ored and Machs (having a day off) have been looking for the same hot dog stand with no success. Ored has other plans and takes off with a girl “Rosana-chan” on the motorbike with sidecar leaving Machs’ to fend for himself.

Machs is in the restroom when Septième comes in through the window. She is haughty and arrogant as she talks about Machs being a commoner. She introduces herself but Machs doesn’t believe her to be a real princess. As her butler looks for her, Septième gets hungry and Machs suggests a hot dog. Septième really wants the hot dog from the same vendor as Machs, so off to the tax records office they go to find out what happened. Machs doesn’t try to pull rank but Septième does. They get the information because the head of the office knows Machs and approves. The search leads them to a bad part of town where Septième tells of the hardships of the competition between her siblings and herself over who will rule Loderia next, which includes attempted assassinations. They find the vendor and because of the costs, Septième tries to use the vendors lack of paying taxes to get a free meal. She’s chastised by Machs and flees to an even worse part of town.

Meanwhile, Septième’s butler is at the Section III office and with the threat of a diplomatic incident, Alice, Stekkin, and the butler get into the Section III armored car and take off, having learned where Septième is. Septième is assaulted by residents of this bad part of town and Machs comes to the rescue. He uses his military training to get her free just as Alice and company arrive. Back at HQ, Machs is stunned that Septième is really a princess and as her butler attempts to get the smuggler free, Septième decides to leave him in Section III’s hands. She then kisses Machs passionately on the lips and demands that Machs be made available to her every time she visits the city in exchange for Section III being allowed to keep the smuggler. On the train ride back to their home, Septième and her butler have a talk where he comes to realize that Septième has come a long way beyond the petty using of others.

Thoughts:

I rather enjoyed this episode for some reason. Yeah, it is somewhat clichéd, but I liked Machs using his military training and how Septième fell for this commoner. It was just a fun episode.