Today I reviewed Genshiken Second Season’s latest volume, which was… acceptable? I no longer expect genius from what I once considered my favorite manga series, but this volume definitely had some of the awkwardly true-to-life conflicts and conversations that once made this series so great. Flashes of greatness are okay by me!
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Genshiken continues its questionable adventure into harem territory, making the most of it but still being fundamentally much worse than what the manga used to be. There are certainly plenty of effective moments here, and the story still has better dialogue than most manga and solid art all around, but Second Season is still an inescapable disappointment. We are in the lean times of Genshiken now.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Yep, Genshiken has somehow shifted into full harem mode. I don’t know how we got here, I don’t know why this happened, but this is where we are and I guess I gotta make the most of it. Genshiken is still very acute in its small character moments, but the overall movements of this plot have basically shifted the series into a fundamentally different genre/world space than it previously occupied. We’re in anime-land now – there are things characters do because they’ve learned all their social cues from anime, and there are things characters do because they are anime characters, and Genshiken has floated majestically from the first category into the second one. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but it is what it is.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
Genshiken reviews continue! The manga has largely regained its stride at this point, and seems fairly comfortable in its more romance-heavy New Normal. Hato and Madarame are working well as the dramatic centerpieces, the side characters are stepping it up, and everything’s getting more awkward and emotionally loaded by the second. We’re also finally into territory I haven’t read before, so I’m as interested in seeing where this goes as anyone.
Here’s my review of the volume. Notes below!
Kinda behind on linking these, but I’ve been busy with stuff! Anyway, I got a bit negative on this one, since we’re now right in the unsteadiness of Genshiken shifting towards a more full-drama style. The whole Madarame harem thing doesn’t kill the manga for me, but it certainly tends to make it lean into a more heightened reality than the story normally evokes. I guess we were all guilty of loving Madarame just a little too much.
My review is here. Notes below!
Back on the Genshiken train! I had a whole ton to say about this volume, since these chapters really dig into a lot of the nerd culture and identity stuff that makes Genshiken so interesting. Stuff about social cues, stuff about gender performance, basically just all sorts of interesting stuff. It’s nice to have a work to talk about that rewards these discussions!
Anyway, here’s my full review over at ANN. Lots of notes below!
Genshiken reviews continue! This volume felt a bit bumpier than the first, mainly because the Angela drama felt kind of artificial. Madarame’s harem is beginning to assemble, which… yeah, I don’t even know what to say about that. But the best elements here were the same stuff Genshiken’s always been good at (natural banter, brief, bracing moments of personal truth, graceful character work), and Genshiken remains good at that, so I can’t really complain. And who wouldn’t fall for Madarame, anyway?
My full ANN review is available here. Notes below the cut!
Aw shit what’s all this I’m reviewing manga now too. Genshiken is one of my favorites, which makes it a kinda funny thing to review – it’s weird to be giving something you consider one of your favorite works a bunch of A-minuses and B-pluses and whatnot. But yeah, Genshiken’s great, the sequel starts strong, and reviewing manga is a lot of fun.
My full ANN review is available here. I also took a bunch of notes, which you can check out below!