Genshiken: Complete Collection
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DVD details
Artist: Artist Not ProvidedBrand: Media Blasters
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language); English (Original Language); English (Dubbed)
Format: Animated, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 300 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Anime Works
DVD Reviews of Genshiken: Complete Collection
DVD Review: Love what you love
Summary: 4 Stars
Otaku: a Japanese term referring to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, and video games.
Let's get that definition out of the way since Genshiken is all about otaku. There are Star Wars freaks, Star Trek freaks, and then there are otaku. They're all geeks and otaku can be some of the most fervent. Society looks down on these creatures, but the one thing society can't take away from them is their passion.
Genshiken is an anime about anime, a good natured look into the lives of the socially inept who find solace in cute cartoon characters with big eyes. Genshiken (short for "Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyûkai", or "The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture") is a college club consisting of otaku that do little more than watch anime, read manga (Japanese comics), and play video games. As a club thay do nothing of any note and are essentially worthless. But in the clubroom they find friendship and a common enthusiasm for interests that others can't understand.
The story begins with a decision that freshman Kanji Sasahara must make: he loves anime, and he'd like to join the club, but that would mean being labeled an otaku. Does he want to be included in such a shameful social category? He tests the waters by attending several meetings, and what he finds are a group of people who feel no shame about their interests whatsover. Sasahara slowly realizes that this is where he belongs. He accepts himself for who he is.
Self-acceptance in the face of society's negative opinion is the central theme of Genshiken. We all have our guilty pleasures. Why should they be guilty? Is what the majority thinks so daunting that we should deny ourselves those things we love or be ashamed to love them? Should we be ashamed to live in the way that we want to live?
I don't mean to give the impression that Genshiken is dripping with philosophy. It's a comic examination of otaku culture, and it can be very funny. The conflict between those who love anime and those who hate it is what fuels the plot. The main character isn't Sasahara, who serves only as a gateway into the story, and the club members mostly serve as a supporting cast. The heart of the story rests in Saki Kasukabe, a young woman smitten with Makoto Kousaka, a member of Genshiken. Unlike most otaku, Kousaka is attractive and pleasantly self-confident, and it's these qualities that draw Saki to him. There's a problem, though: she loathes anime and finds his clubmates repulsive. She wants nothing more than to cure Kousaka of his otaku tendencies and remake him into her ideal boyfriend. To be near him she must endure spending time in the otaku clubroom, which elicits from her boredom, irritation, and occasional fits of rage. Not only does she consistently fail to cure her boyfriend, she becomes sucked into the club's activities.
She is the show's funniest and, in some ways, most sympathetic character. Her frustration and disbelief at the sheer nerdiness of these guys is understandable, and her boyfriend's blithe treatment of her drives her to distraction. She reacts violently to any suggestion that she shares their anime love, yet she has a righteous sense of justice that saves the club when it's threatened with closure by the school administration. She's a good person, but she's also representative of the general attitude towards geek passion.
Really, geek passion is no different than any other passion. Society has deemed some passions acceptable and others not, yet there's little rationale behind this. There's an interesting sequence in Genshiken in which the the club members shopping for dojinshi (amateur manga) is contrasted with Saki shopping for clothes. Both the otaku and Saki display an equal knowledge and intensity of interest in their chosen products, and both rack up massive bills. Clothes are obviously more essential than comics, but a love of fashion isn't. To love fashion and to love anime are both personal choices, yet one is more socially acceptable than the other.
Social acceptability is a numbers game, really. The majority taste wins out, and I've never been a fan of the majority. For something to appeal to the majority, and thus be socially acceptable, it must be bland and predictable enough to attract a wide swath of people. It mustn't be challenging and it mustn't contradict people's expectations. I, personally, would be embarrassed to rave about noisome garbage like American Idol, but this is a perfectly guilt free enthusiasm for many. Why? Because it has the blessing of the majority. The problem isn't enjoying the occasional piece of trash. There's a humorous charm in a person that loves James Joyce and also has a thing for Gossip Girl. The problem is a public whose diet consists of nothing but trash. And otaku should feel bad about liking anime? Otaku have a consistent passion for their hobby, a true passion wholly lacking in the lazy, fickle consumers of mass entertainment.
There's a wonderful bit in Genshiken involving Kanako Ohno, the sole female otaku in the club. Ohno, Saki, and another club member, Tanaka, meet at Ohno's apartment, but before she lets them in she asks them to wait outside so that she can "clean up." Saki barges in out of impatience to see what a girl otaku's apartment looks like. She finds Ohno hiding posters depicting a particular anime fetish of hers: middle-aged bald guys. Ohno is deeply embarrassed because she knows it's strange, and she frantically tries to silence Saki's shouts to Tanaka to come in and check it out. "Am I weird? You think that I'm weird, don't you?" Ohno cries.
You're not weird, Ohno. You're an individual with a mind of your own.
Description of Genshiken: Complete Collection
It is Sasahara's first day of college and a fateful choice awaits him ? which college clubs will he chose to join? But Sasahara is no ordinary young man; a dark secret lurks within his soul. For one thing, he knows what "Cosplay" is, and he'd like to know more. He knows how to unlock all the secret characters in "Guilty Gear X", and he'd like to know more. He knows what the plot twist is in episode twenty-five of "Kujibiki Unbalance" because he's read the manga, and he'd like to know more. He's heard of Doujinshi, and he needs to know more. Enter Genshiken, the barely legitimized Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, home to all subspecies of Otaku!Bestsellers in DVD
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