Genshiken (Manga): A Review (8/6/2020)

A review of Genshiken (the manga) that I left on MAL:

Genshiken is a slice of life comedy about a college otaku club.

To start, I'll first state that I like to split Genshiken into three parts, based on the generation of the members of the club. There is the first part, with Sasahara, Saki, and Kousaka. Then, there is the second part, after Ogiue and Kuchi join, and then finally the third part with Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima. While it's hard to choose a favorite, I think that the second part is the strongest, followed by the third, and then the first. If I were to rate them, I'd give the first part a solid 8, the second part a 10, and the third part a 9, which rounds to an overall 9/10 rating.

Where the story really starts to shine is through its characters. Every character is very different, and they all have great personalities. The author also manages to draw all of them with pretty discerning features, so I didn't get confused as I often do with some other manga. The story starts out by making you think that Sasahara will be a main character, but in reality the manga has no main character. Instead, it's about all the members in the club and what they go through, and I love this because you start to see all the tiny details about every character.

Something that the manga does very well is the old characters keep appearing, even if they have already graduated. It's great to see what they are up to, and see them interact with the newer generation. (That being said, I still wanted Saki and Kousaka to appear a lot more than they did after they graduated, but I guess that couldn't be helped.) Often, a lot of characters are just forgotten in other manga, but it feels like no one is left out in here.

But as amazing as this manga is, I wouldn't recommend this for everybody. To start, it's very obvious that the demographic is for slightly older readers, as the characters talk about things like doujinshi and porn very freely. The chapters are also very dialogue heavy, which means each chapter can feel very long (this might be a positive though!).

If you are the average person who isn't too much into manga and really just consumes basic shonen, you probably wouldn't like this as much as I did. But, if you consider yourself a fan of manga or anime, you are doing yourself a great disservice if you don't check this series out.

Extra note: The 4-Koma at the end of each chapter are hilarious and probably the best out of any manga I've read. They are all small additions to the story, or small clarifications to something that a character said, which I find very fun to read.

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