I said Hato was the uke in the relationship, but I was totally wrong. Madarame’s the uke in every girl’s fantasy.
What They Say:
Angela is interested in Madarame, but Hato thinks she’s being too aggressive. Hato meets Kousaka for the first time, and is forced to reveal his true feelings about Madarame.
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ah, the dangers of growing up. I fear myself whether anime will still have the same impact on me five or 10 years from now, and Madarame’s going through that right now. In his own words, he used to be hyped up over Comiket like a moron, but now he drinks his despairs (or maybe something else) away the night before and show up late hungover.
Hato decides to help Madarame buy doujinshi and they become a little closer as a result. Hato continually tries to push the issue of Madarame’s unrequited love for Kasukabe, but Madarame won’t reveal anything. When they go upstairs to see the company booths, they run into a crossdressing (or a trap) Kousaka. Hato learns a little bit more about Kousaka and Kasukabe’s relationship and a little bit more about crossdressing.
The focal point of this Comiket is Madarame. Ohno’s American friend Angela is pressuring Madarame to literally have a one-night stand with her, while Hato is protecting Madarame’s unrequited love to Kasukabe by…saying he’s an uke. But when Angela presses the issue more, Sue steps in and…kicks her in the butt. Sue continues kicking Angela while saying, “Yankee go home” as she’s leaving. It hits Madarame a little later that he’s being called an uke.
In Summary:
Genshiken continues to be one of the standouts of the season with episodes like this. The character interactions are certainly different from the first season, but they’re still just as good. The introduction of Madarame as a central character in two episodes now really helps the girls (and Hato and Kuchiki) along in terms of development of character and plot. I’d like to see more focus on Yoshitake and Yajima, but we’re only five episodes in right now and there’s so much more to go.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
