Madarame’s golden age of romance is coming to a head as the truth about his four suitors (or harem as Saki calls them) comes out! Wait, what planet is this?!
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Shimoku Kio
Translation/Adaptation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
TAKE IT OFF
Realizing he can no longer control his feelings towards Madarame, Hato decides to give up cross-dressing and BL, cold turkey! As the other Genshiken members watch over Hato with anxiety, Comic-Fest season rolls around again. And with Comic-Fest comes the appearance of Angela, throwing Madarame’s world into even greater disarray! As everyone’s feelings start to heat up, the unthinkable begins to seem possible…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The last couple volumes of this series have been a lot of fun now that Madarame hangs out at the Genshiken everyday. His presence has injected a lot of unintended strife into the current Genshiken members. Hato has become so enamored and confused by his feelings for Madarame, that he has quit cross-dressing and attempts to even quit reading BL. He has decided that is the only way he can keep from making advances towards Madarame and ruining their friendship. Plus, Hato insists that he isn’t gay but just likes reading BL.
Hato’s reappearance as a guy has stirred up confusing feelings for Yajima. She had come to accept the idea of Hato being just another fujoshi whenever he was cross-dressing, but when he dresses as a man, she wrestles with feelings of love, or maybe just desire. This sets up an interesting love triangle, the likes of which hasn’t been present in the 2nd Season.
Now throw in the odd actions of Sue towards Madarame and the appearance of Angela for Winter Comic-Fest, and we have an explosive situation. With everyone that has a crush on Madarame present, Kousaka lets the cat out of the bag. For the Genshiken alum and Madarame, Kousaka names the three girls that have a crush on Madarame, but leaves out that Hato is the fourth person to protect him. So when Madarame is ambushed by all four of his suitors on the last day of Winter Comic-Fest, will he man up and pick one of them to date or will he run away?
In Summary
While I have generally enjoyed the first Genshiken series more then the 2nd Season, these last couple volumes of the 2nd Season have been great! The old alum have been around the Genshiken, and now that Madarame has quit his job and been shot down in his love confession to Saki, he has been visiting the Genshiken everyday. Not surprisingly, this change has put an immense amount of stress on Hato as he wrestles with his feelings of affection for Madarame. Even to the point that Hato attempts to give up his love for BL and quit cross-dressing. But when three, yes three different women confess their love for Madarame, will Hato still be able to live as a “normal guy” or will he revert back to cross-dressing and proclaim his own love?!
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: March 24th, 2015
MSRP: $10.99
