Genshiken OVA

Genshiken

Episode 13

In about two years, I feel like I have learned more about all this otaku stuff. I just replayed the first [Genshiken->] series in sheer anticipation of the new OVA, and now I get most of the things that they say. I would say that this anime helped me understand the whole subculture from various viewpoints, because each character has his/her different interests. Madarame and Sasahara lead the doujinshi life, Kohsaka is the hardcore otaku, Tanaka is master of plamos and cosplay designs, Kugayama is the talented manga artist, Ohno is the ever-loved cosplayer, and Saki is the ever-loved outsider who just happened to have an otaku boyfriend.

The new OVA adds two more characters to the wild mix. Kuchiki is the loud and totally obnoxious otaku, and now I found my new wuv… Ogiue Chika! Ogiue is the tsundere in terms of her love for yaoi fandom. She pretends to hate otaku (especially female ones) despite being one herself. I feel like she is going to be the most complex-layered character of them all, having read parts of the manga not yet animated. OVA Episode 13 introduces Ogiue, how she came about to join Genshiken, and the riot yaoi fangirl war between her and Ohno.

One very enjoyable thing I noticed is that the voice acting is “very” top-notch this time around. Particularly, Ohno’s seiyuu (Kawasumi Ayako) really shines. Everytime Ohno utters a line I seem to get goosebumps. Almost the same way with the other casting, everyone’s very smooth in their portrayals.

Aside from the excellent voice acting, the animation really rides almost exactly like the manga. While it will be a bit of disappointment to some due to lack of consistent quality, I feel like it captured the original manga art pretty well. I think this is one of the best OVA episodes I have watched.