Genshiken ep.4

November 8, 2004 | 1 Comments

I wonder if the animators created some kind of a rule where the even-numbered episodes have to be funnier than the odd-numbered episodes or something? Because this episode and the second one are definitely funnier than the third and the first one. In this episode, the series decides to focus more on cosplaying and video-gaming. I'm not big on cosplaying so I can understand Saki's reaction here. On the other hand, I'm crazy about video games although I admit that I suck badly at beat-them-up games like the Guilty Gear and Street Fighter series. I normally tend to go for the survival horror and the RPG games because they are more entertaining and less frustrating to play. The only exception to this is that last boss on Silent Hill 4. What a nasty piece of work that guy turns out to be even in the normal mode >_<.

Anyway, in this episode Tanaka asks Saki and Kousaka if they'd be interested in cosplaying together. Saki, of course, rejects the idea immediately although she briefly entertains the thought of being an elf because it reminds her of Lord of the Rings. Judging from her excited impression, however, I'm quite sure she's referring to the movie version with Orlando Bloom in it and not the animated version. Anyway, in the middle of their conversation, a girl called Ohno Kanako comes in and tells them that she's wants to join the group. The gang is surprised about this especially Saki who can't believe that the girl is an otaku as well. Tanaka, on the other hand, is excited because Kanako reveals that she likes cosplaying and is willing to cosplay at the school festival. Tanaka asks Saki to help him taking Kanako's measurement so he can design a costume for the new girl. Strangely, Saki doesn't seem to mind much.

When they arrive at Kanako's place, however, Saki finds out that Kanako likes bald and older-looking anime characters. Kanako is embarrassed about this but Saki pretends as if it's nothing to be ashamed of. Fast forward to the school festival day, Kanako is seen wearing CloudBerry Jam (of Guilty Gear X series) costume while Tanaka is taking her photograph. Meanwhile, Saki gets a phone call from an ex-boyfriend who wants to catch up with her. Because of this, she meets the guy to tell him that she's not interested in him anymore. When she returns to Genshiken, however, Madarame puts a Neko-mimi headpiece on her head against her wish. So she violently chases him around with a broom and unfortunately, bumps into her ex-boyfriend again. Despite Kousaka's assurance that she looks cute, Saki can't take the embarrassment and ends up going berserk on the gang.

Impression:

I often not sure if I should sympathise or dislike Saki as a character. If you look at some of the things that she does, she's not a really nice character. She whacks the Otaku around just because she doesn't like what they say, without even realising that she's doing it at their club. At the same time, I realised that she doesn't have that much choice since her boyfriend seems to spend the majority of his time at the club. So I guess being considerate to others, especially to Otaku, is the last thing she wants to do. Oh wait, why do I care? Her annoyance in having to deal with the Otaku and vice versa is actually my source of entertainment. :P That scene where Saki chases Madarame with the broom all over the school is comedy gold. Now that's entertainment, people! So I will say that I'm actually looking forward to more scenes of Saki and Madarame trying to annoy and throttle one another in the future.

© memento 2003