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ファイト／ステイナイト 
First of all, I'm really sorry for the downtime yesterday. I knew the site was going down due to excessive bandwidth use but since it was only for a couple of hours, I figure no one is going to lose sleep over it. Anyway, I finally managed to watch this episode in its entirety without falling asleep halfway through. I guess I'm not really big on doujinshi and therefore can't understand why anyone will want to line up with hundreds, if not thousands, other people on a rainy day just to buy doujinshi. There isn't as much humour here either in my opinion. Or at least not one that makes me laugh out loud. What is good, however, is the episode's observation on Sasahara's gradual change as he turns from an ordinary fellow to an Otaku.
The episode begins with Sasahara and the other Genshiken members inside a train. Apparently they're going to a 'comic festival' where they're planning to buy bucket loads of doujinshi. In the train, Sasahara thinks about how he's surrounded by a bunch of Otaku and how Kousaka still manages to look excited. Anyway, they eventually reach the place and Madarame, in his excitement, jumps around in the rain, trips over, and injures his right hand. However, just like a true Otaku, he perseveres and pretends as if nothing happens. Eventually, however, he can't stand it anymore and when a guy accidentally bumps into him, he passed out and has to be wheeled out to the hospital.
Once the whole incident is over, Sasahara begins his doujinshi-buying spree. He starts out a bit shy and hesitant but eventually, he becomes an enthusiastic doujinshi buyer. Meanwhile, Tanaka is seen outside taking photograph of cosplayer and giving some of the photograph that he'd taken before to the cosplayer. Back to Sasahara, he's been persuaded by a Manken member, Haraguchi, to join Manken. However, his condescending attitude towards other Genshiken members ticks Sasahara off so he tells the guy he's fine with Genshiken. Elsewhere, Saki is seen trying to penetrate the Otaku barrier from the train station but upon seeing them in numbers, she decides to give up and go home. The episode ends with Sasahara realising that maybe he does fit in with the other guys after all.
Impression:
As I said before, I think this is an okay episode. I obviously failed to understand the excitement of doujinshi-buying. I supposed I'm willing to do something similar if it's to buy a hard-to-get, limited edition official anime items but not for doujinshi. I was, however, amused to see Sasahara's transformation into doujinshi-buying monster. It's great to see him looking bashful and going back and forth a particular stall unable to make up his mind if he should buy a particular adult-only doujinshi. It reminds me of how some people behave when they're about to buy porn. Not that I ever done such a thing, mind you! Anyway, I wonder if there really is such massive line-up prior to the opening of a comic festival in Japan. But the series has portrayed the Otakudom in good accuracy thus far so I don't think this is that far off from reality.
Note:
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