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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Genshiken: Second Season GN 9
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Parsifal24
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I found out how the series ended on 4chan people where really mad I quit reading it after seven volumes I liked the original series but Second Season simply felt too drawn out by the time I quit reading it.
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Madarame's shift from nerd to harem king was one of the weaker parts of the TV series, too. I think the problem the author created for themselves is that Madarame was too popular a character with the audience to be written out of the story like the other original club members, but he being an older graduate who can't move on from the club makes him an otherwise rather pitiable character - something Genshiken wasn't serious enough to explore. How do you keep him in the story while not making him (& the audience who identify with him) look like a total loser? Get the girls to fall for him.
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12skippy21
 Posts: 785 Location: York, England |
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I loved the original but I have made this series my first unfinished manga collection. It peaked at Madarame and Saki's heart to heart. It was downhill from there unfortunately so I stopped buying it.
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1327 |
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I'm as tired of the harem storyline as everyone else--having said that, I'm genuinely anticipating Nick Creamer's review for Volume 10. Despite the continuing harem arc, a few actual interesting things take place, making me cautiously excited for Volume 11! That's all I'm saying!
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4089 |
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It's "Keiko", she's been a character since the first series. I don't know the name of any of the new characters beyond Hato... As for the "harem problem", Sue and Keiko's feelings for Madarame are leftovers from the main series, just as Madrame's feelings for Saki were. That's not the problem... nor is it Hato and his storyline though I do take issue with his own uncertainty about his identity use as a plot device to drag everything out. Still, that's not the problem. The problem is that the old, returning characters show how really uninteresting the new characters are. It's like how the first series dropped, one way or another, all the characters who were only ever defined by their hobby. And considering one of the ones who made the grade is Sue Hopkins.. "Well, she's just there for the comedy"... Everybody used to be there for the comedy. It was a comedy, they were funny. Even Sashara had his moments but these new characters? They all have the same BL interest so there's no conflict there. They're so earnest about their feelings that the series has to walk around on its tiptoes with them when Madarame... aside his feelings for Saki... always spoke his mind. And Sasahara. And Oguie. And Ohno... And Kukichi... It seems to me that the author thought that just having otakudom represented by the newly emerging female demographic was enough for a series but then realized that he couldn't think of anything to do with them that he hadn't already done with Oguie and Ohno. |
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ced1106
Posts: 5 Location: SF Bay Area |
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Thanks for the review. I was wondering, exactly, why I didn't like S2 compared to S1, and the review wrote down a few things I was thinking of. S1 was cohesive, in that, much of the time, it was an outsider's view (Saki) of a subculture that still put characters first, and well-meshed the individual "who am I" questions young adults face as they grow up. S2 did this as well, with Hato's sexual identity, and Yajima's conflict between herself and Hato. But, to agree with the review, I also thought Madarame's harem was completely unnecessary. Madarame himself has his own personal issue of not being able to move forward that could have been explored within the series. While I've read gag manga about an office lady or salaryman hiding their otaku hobbies, I haven't seen one look at it in a more serious light.
It's definitely a risk when a franchise replaces its older characters with new ones -- which is odd, considering that Oguie and Ohno are still members. Aside from Ohno's anxiety with her boyfriend (which I thought was too short), Oguie and Ohno receive, again imo, too little time in S2. In contrast, Sasahara at least stayed as a central character all the others revolved around. Yet again IMO (: while Oguie becomes as bland as Sasahara, she sits on the sidelines rather than becoming the character around which the others revolve. (She even releases her own doujinshi separate from the Genshiken, for gosh's sakes.) It's hardly unique to Genshiken, of course, as anyone who picked up K-ON high can tell you. Unfortunately, Genshiken is on my "buy on autopilot" list, rather than my "must read" one. Hope to find out it becomes as enjoyable as it used to be. |
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2912 |
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Same. I tried to stick it out but I was so dissatisfied by the whole harem arc, after its initial setup seemed like it could be handled with more thought and care. I'm sad that I'll never want to own Second Season because it offered some likeable new characters and fun humor, but it took a nosedive at the ending arc and I just can't look past that. 
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Spike Terra
 Subscriber Posts: 359 Location: Maryland |
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I actually really like Second Season even with all of it's harem shenanigans. While I prefer the original season by far, there are still plenty of things I find likable about the newer manga. I think Yajima and Hato are really good leads and while it took a while for me to get used to her: Yoshitake is a really good supporting character. I love watching her try to destroy Madarame's harem. Even Keiko of all characters, finally is getting some well needed character development. Sue and Angelica have always been fun for me. I love most of the returning cast as well with the exception of Kugiyama (granted his last scene in the manga was great) and like Kousaka (who doesn't really do anything).
For this volume, the stand out scenes for me were the manga collaboration with Hato and Yajima as well any scene with Yajima's family (Comedy Gold). Looking forward to the review of the next volume, it will give me something to remind me that the last volume is coming out soon. By the way anyone else think that we should have gotten a third season of the original instead of just jumping into Nidaime. It sucks they essentially cut out most of the meat of Ogiue's arc and they had enough material for at least 10 episodes. |
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melmouth
Posts: 167 |
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Great analysis! All I can add is that "the worm turns" is always a theme that's available when a character becomes pitiable. I was waiting for M. to wake up and hook up with Angela. |
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