Recommended
After the hugely disappointing "Genshiken OVA", I was honestly quite worried about "Genshiken 2". The original "Genshiken" was brilliant, but everything went off track in the OVA's, possibly due to the franchise being passed to a different studio. After watching the first few minutes of "Genshiken 2", I breathed a sigh of relief - it's is well and truly back on track! The charm and likability of the first season that's sorely missing from the OVA's thankfully makes a return in the second season. In some ways, "Genshiken 2" is less realistic than the original series, but in other ways it's more so. As the members ofGenshiken enter their final years, issues such as graduation and job hunting starts to weigh heavily on their minds whereas previously, they never seemed to have worried about exams and the other things that you would expect most university students would be worried about. The bonus is that these aspects happen to be the strongest parts of "Genshiken 2".
My personal highlight of "Genshiken 2" is probably the graduation episode. I consider the years I spent as an undergraduate at university to be some of the best years of my life, and that graduation episode, in which the chemistry between the members of Genshiken are there for all to see, really struck a chord with me. The elation of completing your course; the sense of sadness and nostalgia as you part ways with your friends and bid farewell to university life; the excitement mingled with fear of the unknown future... all these conflicting, bitter sweet emotions are captured to perfection in that episode.
In contrast, a friend of mine who was sitting at home, unemployed after graduating at the time he watched "Genshiken 2" found his personal highlight to be the job hunting part, where he really empathised with the characters' troubles in that area. And this speak volumes about the fantastic ability of this show to connect with viewers who've experienced similar situations. For a slice of life, there can be few higher praise.
In the otaku aspect of the story though, "Genshiken 2" is quite a distance off the standard set by the first series. The first series is a superb demonstration of uncomfortable humour done right, as we watched a very honest portrayal of the members in "Genshiken" flounder awkwardly in social situations. Part of the discomfort comes from sympathy for the characters, and part of it comes from perhaps seeing a part of our geeky selves within the characters. Unfortunately "Genhiken 2" is a demonstration of uncomfortable humour missing the mark. In-jokes about the otaku culture is all well and good, but the cringeworthy jokes involving topics such as yaoi are simply taken a bit too far. The American otaku's behaviour and their Engrish are also too cringeworthy.
And this is the main problem with "Genshiken 2" - it comes off as overly self indulgent to the extent that it's slightly guilty of pandering, with parts of it feeling like it's moved from the first season's viewing of the otaku culture from an often external stand point straight into the heart of otaku fantasy land itself in the second season. This shows especially when you see the anime trying to to shoe-horn most of the socially inept members of Genshiken into romantic relationships, only one of which comes across as an expected and natural development.
In addition to the excessive pandering that goes on, part of the reason for the significant shift of perspective is probably due to the fact that Kasukabe is no longer a major focal point of the series. Kasukabe played a pivotal role in the first season. Her biting comments directed at the otaku culture tempered the geekiness of the series with a cold dose of reality, and ensured that it didn't get bogged down by its explorations of otakudom. But her gradual, grudging acceptance of the subculture meant that her main role was done by the end of season 1, so it made sense for her to step into the background a bit and. As a result, the reality check that she provides are no longer there in "Genshiken 2", and this makes a significant impact on the feel of the series.
"Genshiken 2" attempts to fill up the void left by Kasukabe with two characters. Firstly, Sasahara, (who everyone thought was the main character after the opening episode of the original series but who turned out to have a more minor role in that season) actually steps up to become the main character for "Genshiken 2", making up for the reduction in Kasukabe's screen time. Then there's the character newly introduced in the OVA's - Chika Ogiue, who takes over Kasukabe's role as the otaku hater. But to be honest, Ogiue's reason for disliking otakus doesn't sit well with me, and neither does she seem to express her dislike as convincingly as Kasukabe did.
Sasahara is probably the best character in "Genshiken 2". There's a deliberate sense about the way his character is developed as he goes through the stern trials of being president of Genshiken, and even sterner trials of job hunting after graduation. Despite his bland personality, or perhaps because of it, he's probably the character that the majority of us can identify with the most. Despite the conceptual weaknesses with Oguie's character, she's interesting in her own right, and makes for a strong addition to the cast, adding a different kind of personality into the mix.
Although Sasahara and Ogiue both make very positive contributions to the show, they're not nearly as interesting to watch as Kasukabe's interactions with the group in the first season. In addition to this, Madarame's crazy antics are also not what they used to be. With Sasahara and Ogiue not able to make up for the reduced impact of Kasukabe (the representative of "normal" people) and Madarame (the representative of extreme otaku), "Genshiken 2" doesn't have that special spark that the original series had. Also, I still have issues with Kasukabe's character apparently passing on a hefty portion of her aggressive personality onto Ohno, though this character inconsistency isn't nearly as glaring as it was in the OVAs.
On the art style side, the second season is closer to the OAV's than the original. Even though it looks more crisp, I preferred the more down to earth plain-ness of the style of the first season.
Overall, "Genshiken 2" has redeemed the franchise in my eyes. As good as the first season it is not, but it's recovered most of the charming qualities that made me enjoy the first season so much, and after the shambles that was the OVA's, I gladly welcome this new addition to the franchise with open arms.
