corbin.kutch - 2014-04-05 08:57:00

Note: This is the THIRD season of Genshiken. This review assumes you've watched the first TWO seasons.

Genshiken Second Generation is a slice of life comedy series that once again follows The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture now led by Chika Ogiue. Now a female dominated club focuses in BL and what people attribute to the female otaku versus the male cast before.

The cast dynamic is vastly different from the first season. The main reason is obvious in that it's now almost fully female. It's also very fujoshi driven. For the most part the cast is actually enjoyable but not spectacular. Among them Hato, Madarame, and Oguie continue to get more development, but the others and returning cast get left behind. Now, that's not awful considering that the three do get a lot of development.

Members from the previous seasons make appearances and Sue even joins the club! However, none of them are really a major factor in the anime as a whole. There is little development for them and they are really only there as one of those check ins you get in reality shows. Again, this is not a bad thing and in all honesty the side characters (who were main characters before) go further with their characters compared to side characters in other anime. However, keep in mind they've had two previous seasons to build this up.

Despite a good balance in handling the cast overall the show does suffer issues. The first is with Hato. His circumstance goes from something that should be either fun or a good opportunity for social commentary to an attempt on comedy that is overused and ultimately grating. This leads us to the next issue, the comedy just isn't there. Besides when Sue does anything a lot of the comedy is overused and overplayed. There is an issue when the fantasies of the characters start to cross over into real life just for force some development or comedy.

The animation has seen an "upgrade" and it now lacks the hand-drawn look the previous seasons offered. However, there seems to be some more fluidity. The soundtrack and some sound for that matter is almost completely non-existent.

Genshiken SG delves into the other gender's take on Otaku culture and while it's not eye opening it has some interesting moments. It has some well fleshed out characters but they are not always used or even developed in ways that are entertaining for a viewer. It's a comedy show where the really good parts happen when it's not being a comedy.