Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Volume 7

by Shimoku Kio

OTAKU FROM ANOTHER PLANET On a lunch break at the Genshiken, Madarame is minding his own business when in walks Angela, a blond, blue-eyed otaku unlike anyone he has ever seen. However, Angela seems to know all about him! It turns out that Angela and her pal Susie, old friends of Ohno's, are visiting from the United States. Angela has a taste for hardcore doujinshi, and Sue can't seem to stop quoting offensive lines from her favorite anime. In just...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345491556
• ISBN13: 9780345491558
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Del Rey
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.6" x 5.0"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

PREPARING FOR COMIC FEST

Genshiken is trying to get new blood into its club but Kuchiki makes sure nobody wants to join because he's such a weirdo, ogling any potential female members and having some very strange fetishistic reactions to Ohno's costumes. So it's on to the real business of Genshiken, and of Ogiue in particular as she's been steadily laboring at producing a yaoi doujinshi for this year's Comic Fest, even as most of the Genshiken members are too busy to help her out. Her and Ohno finally have a chance to talk otaku girl to otaku girl in denial but it's Ogiue's relations with Sasahara that are really beginning to change. Ohno believes that they like each other, even though neither has the guts to say anything. Ohno takes it upon herself to play cupid even as some friends from America arrive in town to visit the Comic Fest. If you've read this many volumes of Genshiken, there's really no point in giving my opinion of Volume 7, I guess. If you've gotten this far, like me, the Genshiken characters seem like old friends who live and breath in the real world. I'm sure there are plenty of people in Japan just like them, and if I had been born there, perhaps I too would be in such a club. The writer and artist, Kio Shimoku, does such a good job with these characters that I suspect they are based on real people that he knows or has heard about. They are more real than fiction. Something that strikes me as sad about this series is that I feel it's pretty much played out at this point. Not that the quality of the stories are suffering, but just that a lot of the characters are all graduating and have to find real jobs and will have to leave Genshiken forever. You can't stay in college till infinity and beyond. If they're lucky, they'll be able to get jobs that have to do with their hobbies. For instance, Kousaka has gotten a job with a videogame company and Sasahara is trying to get hired as a manga editor. Ogiue wants to eventually become a professional manga creator. Madarame seems to be the only one that is adrift at this point and I kinda feel sorry for the guy, especially because he's carrying a subtle torch for Saki. Enjoy this series while it lasts.

Is love finally in the air for Sasahara and Ogiue?

In this, the seventh volume of Genshiken, Sasahara is rapidly running out of options in finding a job before he graduates. He's handed the presidency off to Ohno, who is doing her best to spend all their budget (and make a little back) on CosPlay, but despite all his extra time, he still can't find a job. Comicfest is on the way and Ogiue's acceptance letter has come in. True to type, though, she's very reluctant to even get started and CERTAINLY doesn't want anyone she knows to read it... especially Sasahara. Eventually, though, through the unwitting help of their friends, both old and new (Ohno has some gals from America visit just in time for the Comicfest), the question comes out into the open... Are Sasahara and Ogiue and item?! ... I really like the way Kio-sensei has developed Sasahara over the years of comic time in that you can really see him mature from a hesitant otaku to a kind and subtle ally to all those in the society. This is especially true when it comes to Ogiue and his patient acceptance of her steadfast aversion to sharing anything with him. I think, from several panels in this volume alone, it's obvious that the both of them are thinking about each other... and it's not just in the imaginations of the rest of the crew, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes (Genshiken being one of the few titles I don't read the Japanese release of). The art is par excellance which varies between minimal and busy frames. Pacing and flow is decent, with just the right amount of tension that makes me want to shout at the characters "oh, just SNOG already." Just about every character still with the society gets a chance to shine. I heartily recommend a buy on this one, as I'm a sucker for otaku titles (even the painful ones like Welcome to the NHK), but consider it to be a valuable slice of life title for the mainstream as well.