Token Asian’s Anime Blog

Mushroom Attack!

I picked up this series because I heard that Genshiken was about a college anime club similar to the one I attend. The first episode opens up with a scene that seems to have no relation to an anime club whatsoever. It then abruptly cuts to the opening from a series called Kujibiki Unbalance (actually a side story for this series. Despite having a very catchy song, this was a “WTF” moment. I came here for comedy and some anime club-related humor. This doesn’t look like anything to do with a college anime club.

Turns out it was just a weird opening with some random guy watching the show. Not bad, I thought I had been tricked! This unremarkable guy (with the unremarkable name of “Sasahara”) goes to the club fair at Shiiou University, where he attends classes. The plot then switches to a girl smoking, who ignores a guy trying to solicit her membership in their club. Her eye catches a cute guy who recognizes her as Saki-chan, who used to know her in elementary school. Saki is surprised to see her old friend, named Kohsaka, and she is even more surprised with his new hairstyle. She asks what music he’s listening to on his headphones and he says that it’s a CD by a seiyuu named Matsuzana Sumire. Now there’s a classic otaku. Songs sung by seiyuu generally aren’t part of mainstream culture (nor are they sung well).

And so we go back to the other guy from the opening. He tries to inquire about the anime and manga clubs but is always interrupted. We also see Saki trying to dissuade Kohsaka from joining the manga club (she’s definitely not an otaku). Sasahara takes a look at the table occupied by Genshiken, the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture (Genshiken is the abbreviation for Gendai Shikoku Bunka Kenkyuukai), whose members are arguing about cosplay (sound familiar?). He looks at their ad in the pamphlet and sees a Kujibiki Unbalance picture with the caption “I am here” (a Hoshi no Koe reference?).

He’s friendly but could use some more social skills. Poor Sasahara.

Does every anime club have a skinny guy with glasses (our club has two in the staff area alone)?

(Okay, they have a duo of skinny guys with glasses too… whew!)

Being a fan of that series, he goes to their club room (hey, our anime club doesn’t have a room…). The members all seem unsociable… or are they just socially inept like most otaku? They talk to themselves about how Kasukabe jabs them (both physically and verbally). They also talk about Kujibiki Unbalance and how it goes against the original story. Ah, more otakuness, lost in their own world…

I need a cell phone with anime ringtones too!

Looks like they’re fans of Armitage III and Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien too.

Then all the members receive phone calls (of note is one guy who has a Laputa ringtone) and leave all of a sudden. Sasahara, our protagonist, is left alone in the room and he looks around for ecchi stuff. He proceeds to look at some ecchi doujinshi but is caught by the rest of the club walking in on him. Apparently they had set him up (sort of like hazing the member on the first day, which they do to all new members). Saki comes in and punches Sasahara for asking if she was a club member. Losing his pride and his teeth in under a minute. Poor Sasahara.

Girls have been asking that question about guys for decades.

After that rather eventful introduction to Genshiken, Sasahara runs into Kohsaka at lunch. He mentions to Kohsaka how he feels like he doesn’t fit in. They head over to Kohsaka’s to play some video games (though there is an interlude where Saki comments about why guys play video games). Kohsaka invites the rest of the club over. Sasahara still vacillates about membership, though. Saki calls and says how she wants to come over but Kohsaka thinks she should come over to play games with the guys (moron… you don’t treat a girl like that). Sasahara comes to her rescue and says the guys are leaving.

Kohsaka is a very nice gentleman, though that frustrates our female protagonist.

And so the guys are all stuck outside. Sasahara asks if anyone has any anime “PC games.” Oddly, this is the one point on which all these guys can connect on (such a stereotype… bah). And so they go off to play their games… truly disturbing. After the credits roll, Saki is changing clothes in Kohsaka’s room. She asks him to turn around so she can change but he says it’s okay, stays turned away, and continues to play his video games, frustrating Saki. Now that’s funny!

So far, this has been a pretty funny excursion into the world of the stereotype of the otaku. If the humor keeps building, I’d have to recommend this to anyone who’s an anime fanatic.

Next time: Explaining some anime etymology. Especially the misuse of “otaku” and “yaoi.”