現視研～現代視覺研究會～ 9

Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture #9

by Shimoku Kio, 木尾士目, 方郁仁 (Translator)

現視研的成員們即將畢業，大家也紛紛往新的人生邁進。笹原成為漫畫編輯，荻上也開始為了投稿漫畫做準備。大野與小咲則是舉辦了畢業紀念的cosplay攝影會，為最後的大學生活留下紀念。4年來快樂的大學生活，在此畫下句點。

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fiction, Seinen, Graphic Novels, Japanese Literature, Humor

191 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2006

About the author

Shimoku Kio (木尾士目) is a Japanese manga artist best known for his manga Genshiken, which was originally serialized in the Afternoon Magazine. It was later published in Japan by Kodansha, which produces Afternoon Magazine, and by Del Rey in the United States. Genshiken is an anime, manga, and light novel series about a college otaku club and its members.

Reviews

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Vol. 9 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the last six chapters (50–55) of the on-going manga series with a bonus story.

This final tankōbon goes out with a high with all the major characters returning. Angela Burton and Susanna Hopkins return to Japan to attend Winter Comic-Fest and spend New Years with Genshiken. Furthermore, the previous members of Genshiken Sōichirō Tanaka and Mitsunori Kugayama also return to spend New Years with the current members of Genshiken (Harunobu Madarame never really truly left). It all cumulates with the graduation of Kanji Sasahara, Makoto Kōsaka, and Saki Kasukabe with Kanako Ōno leaving the presidency to Chika Ogiue.

The secondary story – mostly told through the back-up story with a chapter centering on it has Chika Ogiue trying to get her original work into a manga magazine – Afternoon. She uses Kanji Sasahara as a surprising competent sounding board and occasional assistant. They get into a fight, but as an artist she takes the critiques and improves on her work – she is eventually successful in become a pro manga artist.

This tankōbon is written and illustrated by Shimoku Kio. For the most part, it is written and illustrated rather well. Readers gets to see the entire Genshiken again with a dedicated chapter between Harunobu Madarame and Saki Kasukabe as they tell each other how much they value their friendship with each other with Harunobu Madarame dealing with his unspoken and unrequited love for Saki Kasukabe. The wordless penultimate chapter was wonderful done depicting the last days of Genshiken for the senior class.

Overall, Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture is written and constructed rather well. It follows the lives of a group of college students drawn together by their shared hobbies, and the trials and adventures associated with being otaku. It is a coming of age story of Kanji Sasahara, a shy, confidence-lacking freshman who on club day at university, decides to join a club he would actually enjoy, Genshiken. Over his four years at Shiiou University, Sasahara comes to accept himself for who he is and loses the inhibitions and guilt he once felt and associated with otaku culture, becoming an enthusiastic club member, a capable club president, and eventual graduate to work as a manga editor.

All in all, Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Vol. 9 is a wonderful conclusion to an equally wonderful series.

[Ken Yuen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though it was a fast revisit, it still feels like you're saying goodbye to old friends when you read the last volume. It's just sad and familiar. These guys aren't going to be in college forever, they've got to become adults and go out into the world.

Between the mix and drama, you really get to know these characters. You learn their flaws, things become overly private, and you learn to care for them and hope for their success. Yes, even Madarame's unrequited love, which ends up being very mature despite presenting himself as just surface-level pervyness.

Farewell, Genshiken! It's been a fun ride with you guys again.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, this series is questionable at best. It is so steeped in the mid-2000s otaku culture that I cannot even passively recommend it to anyone under a certain age.

However, this final volume completely captures the melancholy of college graduation and recognizing that the time with your friends and your youth is limited. I did not expect to enjoy this series nearly as much as I did but it was great.

I hear Part 2 of this series isn't great or good but I'll try it anyway.

[Galatea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to a worthwhile slice of life series. Looking back on the 9 volumes I've just binge-read, it's amazing how much I'm able to remember about the characters and plot points, given how mundane its slice-of-life premise is.

I'll miss these characters. Really hoping to get Nidaime sometime, if I can ever find it in my country.

A couple of technical gripes about the actual layouting of the manga that never seem to have been resolved though. First, the speech bubbles aren't resized to fit the English text, so sometimes fonts are shrunk by as small as half the size of the usual size this book uses. This happens in dialogue, narration, sound effects, and even the occasional label, and it really detracts from the readability and flow of the manga.

A second is that lettering and font choice was also inconsistent throughout the series. It gradually got better over time, with the first volume having left-aligned text and dialogue that sometimes got close enough to touching the art to hamper readability, but thankfully the lettering picks up, with a significant improvement from Vol 3 onwards.

That being said, the translation is phenomenal, so thankfully the entire series is still a joy to breeze through.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew this was gonna happen, but I'm not mad about it.

The chapters in this volume are so powerful. Especially chapter 54. Ah. It was my first time reading a chapter without any dialogues, but I was still teary-eyed. I didn't know I will be emotional over the characters in Genshiken.

In addition to that, I never realized that I would get THIS attached to the characters. Searching for the Genshiken anime, I already stumbled upon the idea that there will be a new set of Genshiken members, but reading about Madarame and Sasahara's graduation really got to me. I don't know where I got these emotions. I was not sure why I was sad, but I'm sure that I got sad over those panels.

Ah. Also. There were also heartbreaking panels. I think it was more on Madarame's POV. Madarame is my favorite character so... I really got sad. And he didn't do IT... ugh. :(

I never knew I would reach this part. No lie, I think I'm really going to hesitate reading the succeeding chapters but... let's see. Let's see.

[Oscar Camacho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un final agridulce ya que es el momento en el que sus caminos se separan definitivamente, seguirán siendo amigos, pero ya nada será como en esos cuatro años que compartieron juntos en el club, el tiempo pasará y la distancia entre ellos crecerá quedando solo los recuerdos. En general es un final bastante emotivo.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series that you back to your college years when you joined the anime club, found a bunch of others who were into the same things you, and you started to get a better sense of where you were going. If you enjoy series that look at anime and gamer culture you owe it to yourself to check out this series.

[David Doel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread this in preparation for Genshiken, The Second Season. This will be a tough act to follow; I had Pomp and Circumstance running through my head as I read the graduation chapters. Shimoku Kio has succeeded in creating some real people via his 2-dimensional pictures and dialogue. Each is unique and a person who can engender sympathy from the reader.

[V.S. Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Genshiken. Things are slowly coming to a head with Madarame’s hareem, but we’re not there just yet. However, with the group all together to celebrate Kuchiki’s graduation, everything has been set up for some kind of shock revelation of catastrophe in the next volume.

[Eressea · Rating 4 out of 5]

看完有點意猶未盡
現在看大學生活也是挺青春的
而且這些阿宅並不是台灣用法宅在家的宅
而是喜愛ACG的宅，在自己喜歡的領域動力是很強的
每年必排的冬夏comi買本，後期更進化到擺攤賣本
再加上兩對情侶的互動
比起我整天窩圖書館的大學生活燦爛多了

說起來我大學除了上課外
就只有泡在圖書館回家看動畫偶爾爬爬山
剩下都幹了啥?!
回想起來跟自己大學對照
除了台灣用法的宅之外
最令我震撼的就是性的開放了
這個就不知是否是日本大學生的日常了

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little confusing at times, but a nice wrap up to the series.

[Oscar Manga · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it ended 🤷 tbh more could have been done to end it, but at the end of the day it’s not one of those mangas where everything is super well thought out

[Jun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my

That senior trip. Things are getting spicy. Four way battle Royal. Who will get Madarama-kun's heart. How did this turn into the craziest harem and I am here for it.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall Rating: A+
Synopsis: Written by Kio Shimoku, the manga version of Genshiken is nine volumes long. It covers the lives of a college club of Otaku, but does it in a way that makes them seem real and interesting instead of the usual stereotypes.

One of the reasons I love this series so much is the remarkable number of similarities between the Genshiken club, and the club I helped found at Guilford College, the Yachting Club. Granted, we didn't really have a Saki (who hates geeks and is only in the club because her hot boyfriend, Kousaka, is an otaku), and we had secret rituals, but otherwise very similar. What really made me fall in love with the series though was how it focuses on the lives of the otaku, and their relationships. When I read volume 8, I started running around wildly clapping (a habit I have when I am excited) until Leah read it, so I could gush about what happened. When you're that devoted to the characters, you are either insane or the book is really fucking good. In this case, it's a little of both.

Another crazy/awesome thing about Genshiken is Kujibiki Unbalance, a manga/anime made up for the series. During the chapter breaks in the manga, you learn more about Kujibiki Unbalance and its characters. Genshiken was also made into an anime, that covers the first five volumes of the manga, and you get to watch episodes of Kujibiki Unbalance as a special feature. How fucking cool is that?

If you're a geek, and if you're not I have no idea why you're reading this, pick up Genshiken now! You'll thank me.

For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.

[Zombie_Phreak · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series really isn't what it used to be.

Genshiken used to be about a group of college age Otaku sitting around talking about their favorite anime, manga, video games, going to comic conventions, having discussions about characters and other random things that us nerds like to talk about when we get together. But now, now it's just a harem comedy where the girls in the club sit around fantasizing about who Madarame should be paired with romantically.

And toward the end of this book we have a bunch of fan service and pandering by showing the bustier girls of the group in their bras and then topless and talking about their breasts as they are taking showers. When I was a teenager I might have enjoyed that, but as an adult I just sighed and rolled my eyes. Pandering to your audience by showing them boobies isn't going to really make me want to keep reading.

All in all, this series just isn't what it used to be and it's just limping along until it finally ends. If you are a fan of the original series and how it actually explored Otaku culture, skip this and go find something else to read.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Genshiken" draws to a close as most of our protagonists leave university and enter the working world. It's a time of bittersweet goodbyes and personal revelations. The series closes on a positive note, full of hope and excited expectations about the future. A fitting closure to a series that was never horribly serious or high brow in its tone but managed to address some interesting topics daringly.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

And with this volume my re-read for the first Genshiken is now done! :)

It was a great trip, I loved seeing the characters develop, form relationships, and also loved to see the art just get better and better (especially if one compares the first volume to the last one).

This is one series that I would highly recommend. :D

[Arianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is interesting, especially because it depicts some aspects of daily japanese life from an "otaku" perspective. However, it is nothing more than something you want to read just for fun, without expecting anything special, from the drawings, to the characters

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very good end for a great series - But I still really enjoyed it. Yeah!

[Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly, even Genshiken has come to an end.. but luckily (and that cannot be said for anime), the last volume is as good as it was wished to be and every otaku can be satisfied.

[edel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big sigh of relief from me! It ended just the way I wanted it to. But I guess it could have had more omph to it. Still, a great series!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read

[Crystal (VanillaHearts62) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda weird spot to end the series.

[Elsje · Rating 4 out of 5]

1-9

[CountZeroOr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great ending to the series - and from here on to Genshiken Nidaime