Genshiken 2, Episode 11- Sign This Porn Please

He stuck it in his what? Oh, Ogiue is a very dirty girl.

While Comic Fest has been done in a few other episodes, this one provides plenty of laughs and amusement as the two Aryan-looking otaku’s come and stir things up. Unfortunately, there is only one more episode left in the season for this show, but don’t despair, I’m sure it will be good as always.

Sasahara and Ogiue meet up outside of Comic Fest and prepare to spend the day selling her doujin, and she recalls the odd way Suzy stared her down yesterday. Meanwhile, Tanaka, Ohno, Angela, and Suzy are waiting outside in a different location amongst a mass of people. Of course, to Angela’s amusement, Suzy yells out an appropriate line from her catchphrase library and gets stares from everyone around. Inside, Ogiue takes a look at the final printed version of her work and tells Sasahara not to look at it or he will be cursed. When the first couple of customers come, Ogiue is expectedly frozen, leaving Sasahara to deal with the vendor work. Outside, Ohno and Angela cosplay as Yoko (I think) and some other character I can’t identify in some quite revealing outfits. Back inside, after the first sale Ogiue looks up with a lovestruck expression at Sasahara who looks genuinely happy for her. She panics and excuses herself to use the restroom. Other characters in attendance include some Manga Club members and Kousaka (he needs to go away already). Later, a couple of Ogiue’s friends from middle school find her and are quite surprised that she still draws manga.

She gives them a free copy and then has a mini-breakdown when they leave, although I really have little clue as to why aside from more embarrassment problems, maybe we will find out next week. Suzy also shows up to the booth and wants a copy of the doujin, and after some communication problems she understands Ogiue wants to give it to her for a gift and thanks her for it. Next to pay a visit is Madarame, who ditched the second half of work to come and check it out, but Ogiue also refuses to let him look at it. Suzy comes back and asks Ogiue to sign the doujin, opening to the hot mansecks part of it in front of everyone. After the even, they all get together and head to an onsen, when Suzy comes up to Ogiue in the bath and recites a line in the best tradition of Konata and Mayumi, afterwards following her around the bath and flashing her. They all meet outside and the girls discuss Ogiue’s book, and Angela’s favorite part is obviously the part when “Mugio splashes sperm onto Chihiro’s glasses.” Note- it looks like the word sperm was censored out in the Japanese subtitles, but she definitely said sperm in English, I guess it’s not as offensive in a foreign language? After it all, Angela and Suzy unfortunately have to go back to America, and in the epilogue Ohno and Yabusake spend some quality time getting hot and bothered reading Ogiue’s work.

Next Episode:

The next episode is the last, but aside from some shots of Sasahara doing some interviews I really have no idea what it’s going to be about. I am sad that it won’t be on after the next episode, and from what people have told me, there isn’t enough manga material left to make another season. C’est la vie…

Impressions:

Once again the girls from America certainly spice things up this episode. Suzy certainly grew on me this episode, as she was less annoying and a lot more endearing. She seemed to really appreciate being given the doujin for free and grew quite attached to Ogiue. I think the flat chest as a status symbol line was her way of trying to show camaraderie with Ogiue and to help her feel good about herself in the best way she knew how to. She seems to try her best to be friendly to the Genshiken members and especially Ogiue, despite the language barrier. She is also not ashamed of her hobbies and does not shy from anything graphic, I mean opening the doujin up right to the porn and asking Ogiue to sign it like that showed that she doesn’t really care if other people think she is odd. I like that type of character, as most characters in anime (for cultural reasons it seems) are always so concerned about what everyone thinks of them. It’s probably a stereotypical trait to assign to foreign (read American) characters, but it’s a trait that I don’t mind at all being associated with.

Angela had significantly less lines this episode than last, as the focus was more on Suzy and Ogiue x Sasa. However, she did manage the best line of the episode, the whole sperm on the glasses bit. I was pretty floored by that comment, and how it was censored out in the Japanese text but not in speech. Good stuff though.

A bit of Ogiue x Sasa development, especially with that lovestruck stare she gave him when they sold the first copy of her doujin. She’s apparently got some issues, I assume traumatic past situation after watching her middle school friends show up. Sasahara and Ogiue seem to get along well through their conversations, it’s not like they sit there uncomfortably with nothing to talk about. I could use a bit less of the self-pity stuff Sasahara throws out there, but maybe it scores him points. I know their hookup is coming eventually, but I’m not sure how they are going to handle it in the last episode. I mean there has obviously been hints and discussion of it before, but a sudden hookup and happily ever after in one episode may feel kind of rushed. Perhaps a good way to handle it would be to at least give it a start with something dramatic or forceful and then follow up with a couple of OVAs like the first season. I’m looking forward to it either way, this season has been amazing so far, and I don’t expect them to do anything below those expectations to finish it off.