Genshiken 7/10
I watch alot of anime but the guys in this show really crank it up a notch. BLAM!
From 2004 this 12 episode TV series has all the current technical refinements. Detailed backgrounds that are reused since the cast doesn't go too far from their club room. Good character designs that suffer at times from inconsistent quality (which is funny because the guys in the show complain about this regarding anime they watch). Some good VAs and music and a pretty catchy opening theme.
The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture. In Japanese it's shortened to Genshiken. Where your average Japanese university has a manga club and an anime club the particular school in this show has Genshiken as well. Basically it's a club where the members watch anime instead of making it, read manga instead of drawing it, play videogames, cosplay, attend comic shows and make models. All the otaku pastimes without any creativity.
The story starts as a new student discovers Genshiken and joins up. We quickly meet the various otaku members and the show basically follows their lives outside of class time. Since they are major otakus this means that they don't have much in the way of lives outside of going to class but the show is better than the premise indicates.
Enter Saki. She's no otaku but a sucker for a pretty face so she joins Genshiken in order to be close to Makoto the club pretty boy she's taken a fancy to. The show mainly focuses on her hilarious reactions to the various otaku activities and we're treated to some pretty funny attempts on her part to get Makoto to notice her more though she REFUSES to do cosplay (the one thing that WOULD get his attention).
The show is pretty entertaining overall. We learn a bit about each of the club members and their otaku areas of expertise but Saki is the only one who shows any type of character growth here. She doesn't suddenly become an otaku or anything but does eventually sotra become friends with the club members and begins to understand how their minds work. She's pretty nasty to most of them but shows flashes of kindness and tolerance nearer the end of the series. She ALSO gets roped into some otaku activities and it's pretty damned funny how mad she gets.
There's apparently a second season on the way with at least one new female character so I'm looking forward to more. Recommended if you like watching fish-out-of-water type shows or want to feel better about your own level of geekiness.
posted by Zenith27 @ 8:41 PM
3 Comments:
Sounds interesting.
What's great about Genshiken is that despite a lot of over the top situations, it is very much rooted in reality. It is very refreshing to see an anime really tackle an issue like this in such a realistic fashion. The characters react in the way you expect them to, (except Kohsaka, but he's a little wierd) and it really brings together the varying perspectives on otaku-dom. The writers also don't force an opinion down your throat and actually let you decide who is truly the normal one. For me, #2 release of 2004 (behind Elfen Lied).
-Js2756
"it is very much rooted in reality"
It's pretty scary how some of the characters act like people you actually know. Even scarier if they act like yourself.
I would like to say I've been in a situation almost the same as the whole period, slap in the face thing. Begging for forgiveness is the best way to resolve that situation.
Post a Comment
<< Home