Today, I want to try something out with anyone who reads this post and has read the official English-translated Genshiken manga from Del Rey. It’s a simple question whose answer from a great many I would like to see.
What do you think of the way Ogiue talks in the English version of the manga?
I don’t want to reveal the entirety of my intentions quite yet (though they may be somewhat obvious), but do know that I plan on doing a follow-up post once I have gathered responses.
If you were to pinpoint an event in Ogiue’s life that began her path of self-acceptance, you would not be incorrect in saying that the catalyst was her arrival in Genshiken. The story makes that much clear. However, what I would like to remind people about, even if no one’s arguing for or against it, is that the signs are clear that Ogiue changed because she had a deeper desire to change. If she were truly resistant to the idea of changing herself, it would not have happened.
While Ogiue’s preference for clothes changed throughout the series, in the very same conversation where Saki convinces her to start wearing better clothes you learn that Ogiue had already undergone a small makeover in the transition from high school to college. Her signature paintbrush hairstyle was something new, and she switched out her eyeglasses for contacts. The message is, “I don’t want to be the person I was,” though it’s marred by the fact that she isn’t sure at first what person she wants to be. Does she want to be more of an otaku or less?
This also comes out in her apparent interactions with the school’s Manga Society, where she antagonized the girls in the club. It’s clear looking back that all she really wanted was friends, but she projected her own shame onto them. Still, as poor a reaction as she had towards them, this was also a sign of change.
There’s that saying, “help comes to those who help themselves.” In this case, I think it happened on a subconscious level.
A few days ago while doing my routine “Ogiue” keyword check on Twitter, I noticed that someone had created an Ogiue Bot on Twitter which sends Ogiue catch phrases every so often into the wild.
The creator of the Ogiue Bot also has a Twitter account of his own, and unlike me and my shameful Avatar-based betrayal, he sports an Ogiue icon.
When I saw it, my first reaction was, “Ooh, that’s a nice Ogiue.” My second and more important reaction, however, was, “This looks oddly familiar.” After a bit of memory-jogging and browsing old sites, I realized just how familiar it really was. That Ogiue drawing up there is one of mine.
You may remember a few months back when Anime News Network got their current Answerman that I sent in an Answerfans response where I talked about my communications and befriending of Ogiue fans in Japan. The above oekaki is from that period.
I have to thank Soramugi, as I had all but forgotten that image, and I’m especially grateful to him for liking my drawing so much. It was kind of an unreal experience just seeing a drawing of mine being used like that, and I know Soramugi is just as surprised that he got to meet the artist behind his icon. He even posted about it! You can also see our correspondence, albeit in Japanese.
I’ve got a good feeling, the kind of feeling you get when you know you’ve earned a comrade.
As an aside, I thought it was pretty cool that I was actually able to recognize my own drawing style.
There are characters out there who are accused of being overly bland. They’re decried as dragging the quality of a series down below where it should be, and not contributing as much to their respective series as other characters. More recently, this accusation has been leveled at the new girl Nazuna in Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu.
While I believe it is possible for characters’ blandness to hurt a series (see a large number of harem shows), and I also understand the desire for characters that aren’t wishy-washy, I feel that in many cases, particularly with Nazuna, these criticisms do not do these characters justice.
By comparison with the other girls in Hidamari Sketch, Nazuna can definitely seem more “bland,” especially because of her passive personality, but I think that passive personality goes a very long way in making her a good character. While the entire rest of the girls in Hidamari Apartments are artists and creative types of all varieties, ranging from a computer graphics specialist to a published writer of short stories, Nazuna is not. Already meek and soft-spoken, this deals a subtle blow to her already wobbly confidence levels. Because she worries about not being “good enough” or “smart enough,” Nazuna is sometimes afraid to speak her mind. The other girls don’t really think any less of her, but in her mind there is a wide chasm separating her from the others. She worries that she might not truly “belong” with the others.
Personally, I think this quality of Nazuna’s makes her a fine character, though I can see why others dislike her. I’m somewhat hesitant to bring out the “moe” argument in all this, but I think it really applies here. Nazuna is a very strong example of a character with a lot of “moe” to her, in that those who like her enjoy the fact that she has such a complex, while those who think she makes the show worse probably think that such “blandness” is the last trait any character should have, especially in a comedy like Hidamari Sketch.
Now you might think that Nazuna is getting a free pass because she’s a girl and that she’s cute, but the idea of having trouble finding some place to belong is a common trait among people both male and female, and this extends to characters as well. To find one, we need go no further than my favorite series, Genshiken, and its main character, Sasahara Kanji.
Sasahara is a somewhat closeted anime fan who in the beginning hasn’t developed his taste in anime anywhere in particular. To some extent he is a reader surrogate, being a newbie to the wild world of PVC figures and doujinshi, but over time his experiences with Genshiken enable him to mature as both a person and as an otaku. Overall, he is a well-written character.
Moe is not really a factor in real life and when dealing with real people, but it is an abstraction of reality. And so it’s a very real worry to have, to think that you’re just not good enough to hang with your friends and that they might just be humoring you. I once talked to a friend from high school who told me that while hanging out with our group of friends, they were always concerned about not being interesting or quirky enough. I don’t think any of us thought of that friend in that manner, but there it is.
Long before Tokyopop started pushing the concept of “Original English Language Manga,” or “OEL” for short, something about western attempts at creating “manga” really bothered me, and not for any philosophical reasons. Something always felt off about the artwork, and I just couldn’t pinpoint why. Initially, I thought that it might be because the artists had no idea how to draw “manga characters,” but I realized that couldn’t be the case, because 100 people drawing big eyes and small mouths “incorrectly,” so to speak, should result in 100 different ways to look not-quite-right. No, the thing that bothered me was something more consistent across the idea of “OEL” before it was called OEL. It had to be a shared trait.
Then last year while looking at OEL, something hit me: for some reason I was being bothered by the screentones. Again however, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. I just knew it was something having to do with screentones. In fact, the initial draft of this post is from May of 2009, where the only contents of it was the title of the post, which read “BAD SCREENTONES.”
Finally though, through the keen of eye of the Reverse Thief Narutaki, my suspicions have been confirmed, and I now fully understand why OEL screentones had been bothering me so. I really recommend you read the article, but for the sake of summary: According to Narutaki, in manga, screentone is generally used for patterns or to pull elements into the background of a panel with shading primarily done in ink, but in OEL screentone is more often used for shading and used to excess, which ends up flattening the image.
I feel so relieved!
But this information brought with it a new question: Why is it, if OEL is trying to be like manga (which we all know it is), that it does something that manga almost never does, i.e. use screentone to shade to excess? There are very few examples from manga that would fuel this mass assumption on the part of these artists, after all.
That lead to another revelation: maybe the source of this trend wasn’t “manga” at all, but something closely related. Anime!
Anime is where you will find manga-style characters with some degree of shading, even if it’s a single tone to show a simple fold in their clothing. I can only conclude that the reason OEL shading looks the way it does is because the artists were influenced by the shading methods seen in animation, and then applied these methods to manga where they are in actuality quite foreign despite the fact that anime and manga are so closely related.
Ogiue Chika RANDOM STRANGER AT A DOUJIN EVENT
This is no surprise to me, as anime and manga are often spoken of in the same breath. Heck, I’m no exception, and you will often see me choosing one word or the other when referring to both, as after a while it gets irritating to write “anime and manga” every time instead of just “anime.” Still, it is a very good reminder that as similar as anime and manga are, they also possess a number of unique differences beyond the fact that one is animated and the other is not.
More often than not, whenever voice actress Mizuhashi Kaori appears in an anime I am amazed by her talent. Not only is she a very good actress capable of playing a variety of roles and personalities, but despite her being the seiyuu of Ogiue Chika it often takes me quite a while to realize that it’s Mizuhashi behind the role.
Ogiue Chika (Genshiken), Miyako (Hidamari Sketch), Rosetta Passel (Kaleido Star), Shimada Minami (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu)
It’s usually when her voice deepens just slightly that I’m able to recognize her. Then when I go back and listen to the character again, I’m astonished that I wasn’t able to catch on. Mizuhashi’s like the best of both worlds when it comes to voice acting; her voice has distinct features to be sure, but she also has a capacity for variation between roles.
In short, she’s a pleasant surprise whenever she appears.
Now I don’t have the vocabulary or familiarity with voice acting to actually explain to you what I think makes her a good voice actor, so I recommend you check out any of her roles, or listen to her voice acting sample on her official profile.
Make Way for the New Generations
Introduction
Anime and manga continue to change and develop, becoming at times almost unrecognizable from what they once were in the past. Having first taken a broad (but also detailed) look at the significant parts of the decade of anime and manga from 2000-2009, I think it is only appropriate that we also look ahead. As such, I have written out a number of topics pertaining to where I think anime and manga will go in the coming years. They’re half-predictions, half-observations, and all things that I think people should watch out for.
The First Digital Generation
In the previous part, I discussed how the advent of digital animation is one of the biggest markers of the current decade of anime and that anime is affected by this switch. One vital point to consider is the likelihood of a generational shift. In about 20 years or so we are going to see an entire generation of adults in Japan (and around the world) who have grown up primarily on digital animation. When you consider the level to which nearly all people in and out of the industry still look fondly back towards the anime of their youth (or from the time they discovered anime), the style that has begun to grow out of digital animation is likely going to have a profound impact on where anime goes, especially as that first digital generation grows older and the cel generations die off.
Over time, I think that the peculiarities of digital animation, such as the computer-based shortcuts, will become part of the style itself, but less direct about it than, say, Studio SHAFT’s current output, and not necessarily influenced by Shinbo’s work either. But if there are any, they will be making in-jokes and references about the early, nostalgic days of digital animation and not light boxes and such.
SHAFT’s Bakemonogatari is a hint of where anime may go in 20 years.
For better or worse, as a new range of ideas and techniques emerge, parts of animation technique and philosophy born out of cel-based anime will fade away, perhaps forever. After all, Miyazaki can’t live forever.
Flash Animation
In this decade the US animation industry has embraced Flash Animation as a way to reduce cost, particularly by eliminating the need for animation teams in South Korea and other places to do everything for you, as well as being able to create works domestically without incurring the exorbitant costs required to animate things traditionally in the US. The results have been mixed, as Flash as a program lends itself to “flat” animation.
In light of the anime industry’s history of low budgets, I think that more companies, be they animation studios, broadcasters, or otherwise, will start to look at Flash as a viable method to keep things low-cost and at-home. Now I don’t think it will eliminate today’s more “traditional” animation, especially when it comes to bigger-name, bigger-budget works, but it will be an appealing tool for those middle-of-the-road shows, and shows for kids. We’re already kind of seeing it with something like Shugo Chara Party!, where one of the segments feels very much like a flash animation.
There are two key points here. First, is that I do not think, if Japan starts to use Flash more regularly, that they will utilize the same methods the US does, particularly because US animation is generally characterized by lots of movement and Japanese animation is not. Also, I think that animators will be trying to apply their existing principles to flash, rather than trying to master the “science” of it. Second, this will create another bridge between the industry and the internet, where flash animations come out of 2channel periodically and some achieve terrific success. The main challenge from there will be pushing the limits of flash animation in terms of how successfully the visuals can be used to convey a story, as well as the breadth and depth of the subjects explored.
“How effectively can stories be told in this format?”
Changing Views on Hikikomori and NEETs
The chronic shut-in known as the “hikikomori” is a topic that Japan for the past decade has been in debate over, and as with the “NEETs” and the “Freeters” and so on, the focus has been on the future and fate of Japan, especially when factoring in the shrinking Japanese population and the fear that arises from that scenario. “Why aren’t these people going out and making something of themselves? Why aren’t they growing up?” Essays and news reports and even anime, manga, and light novels have been made of the topic, with Welcome to the NHK providing prominent examples of the last three.
But the reality of the economy is such that not having a good job (or a job at all), living at home, and having your parents’ support will be an increasingly common sight. Some will become hikikomori and try to close themselves off from the world, but there may be a sizable group that is only partially hikikomori, who will not completely lose their ability to interact with others or to engage in meaningful activity, and they will have a cultural and social “pulling” effect on the full-blown hikikomori. In turn, those “full hikikomori” may drag some down with them.
Writings on hikikomori will evolve.
The result may be that Japan’s view on the hikikomori and the NEET, especially in the face of having these groups increase in size, will be a mixture of greater panic and greater relief as they will fret once again that this is potentially very dangerous for Japan, while the internet will provide this larger hikikomori population with the group setting in line with Japanese ideas of “group,” where the interactions between partial hikikomori and full hikikomori will take place.
Thematic Responses to the Economy
The anime industry, much like every other industry, is feeling the sting of the poor economy but also has the sting of disappointment and high expectations from the US and other markets. The result is that production of anime is feeling the squeeze, with reduced budget and staff and less wiggle room for creativity. All in all, anime is being affected on a technical level by the world economy. In a certain sense however, this is only the beginning.
In about three to five years, I predict that we will begin to see both anime and manga which address the idea of global recession itself and incorporate it into the themes and settings in these works, to have it become a concept that is to be explored, whether directly or indirectly. Evangelion and other shows were responses to the recession that befell Japan starting in the early 90s, and I don’t think it would be unusual for an international economic downturn to have a similar effect.
Money will matter on more than a practical level.
Some works will be more explicit about the topic, and probably mention governments and businessmen who played roulette with the world’s economy, or businesses which had too much hubris, while others will be Silent Service-style “what ifs” but for the economy. There will also be shows which are more subtle about these elements or will have them as part of the background.
The New Escapes
Fiction, even realistic fiction, is often an escape, and over the course of anime and manga’s histories we have seen the idea of the “escape” take on many forms. More recently, escape has been manifested through the idea of “moe” and all that it entails. Moe however, like every other genre of anime, cannot last at the forefront forever, and in time new escapes will appear. Some of them may resemble older trends, but they will all ultimately still be ways to not approach reality head-on.
There are two basic forms to “escapism.” The first is a type of introverted escapism, that is, to become increasingly insular. The second is an extroverted escapism, where you want to project outwards, to go beyond yourself. Almost all genres have both to some extent in different ratios. Moe for example is very insular in the sense that it seems to want to keep characters and emotions isolated in time, but is also somewhat extroverted in that these shows are generally trying to portray the strong emotions of other characters and the ideal of being able to see these qualities at the forefront.
In that sense, I think that in the near future the escapism for anime and manga will be increasingly introverted, but will soon give way to a more extroverted form as a response to the desires of more and more fans who want to be released into other worlds. Though I don’t think that anime and manga will be reaching that early period where stories tended to feel very “epic,” I think we will see a lot of stories about worlds with wide scope focused through the lens of personal characterization, and in a way in which the former affects the latter significantly and vice versa.
Many series will try to balance daily life with a greater world.
Increased International Integration in Collaborative Efforts
Like all companies, manga publishers want to increase profit every year, and at some point a decade or three ago, Japan began to realize that one direction they had not gone was to appeal to people outside of their fanbase and readership. The classic example at this point is Shounen Jump, which noticed that it had developed a sizable female audience, and so made the move to start releasing series that are designed for female readers (without driving the boys away, of course). The result is Jump‘s approximately 50% female readership.
But then I recalled something Ed Chavez, currently of Vertical Inc. and formally of Kodansha, has said on multiple occasions: The “problem” with the Japanese manga industry today is that it has no room to grow in the nation itself. For all intents and purposes, the Japanese market has been saturated, as manga selling a million copies is completely normal and the fact that there’s pretty much something for everyone.
The only way to go then is outside of Japan, but the problem facing the industry there is that it’s difficult to pinpoint the manga-reading audience for different cultures and nationalities around the world. The same thing applies to the anime industry, which has been trying to really grow outwards for a while but lost its footing along the way. The tricky part in all this is that anime and manga have to achieve a certain level of distinctness, but still have to be familiar enough that people are comfortable with the material, and this is something that is even more of a challenge to achieve when the people making the work are unfamiliar with the culture they’re trying to attract. Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z are pretty much the most popular things out there for boys in the US, and when you think about it they’re not that different from American superheroes.
This is why I predict that over the next decade and beyond, we will be seeing collaborations on animation and comics where the staff producing these works will be much more closely integrated. International collaboration isn’t new to manga and especially not to anime, but the work is usually cleanly divided between the countries involved. So it’ll be less Gurihiru drawing for Marvel’s Power Pack and more Oban Star Racers. This way they have a better chance of hitting that cultural sweet spot, though nothing is guaranteed and there’s going to be some serious misses as a result of trying to mix two cultures together at the base level of production.
French and Japanese Collaboration Oban Star Racers
Incidentally, by necessity translators will have to be more closely involved in the process as well.
Age Demographics in Japan vs Age Demographics Abroad
Anime and manga in the US has had a contradictory reputation for the longest time, being viewed both as “cartoons for children” and “raunchy pornography.” These days however, if we were to look at the fandom we would know the truth: In the US, anime and manga are primarily for teenagers with both childish and adult elements in different proportions, and it’s been this way for a number of years now. One concern I’ve seen from people is that they fear that a lot of these works, particularly in manga, will never get brought over here because they will simply never have an audience. And to an extent they’re right, but I believe that in time the manga audience in the US will slowly mature and eventually reach a point where they want something that is more in-line with how they feel about entertainment, their lives, and the world at large.
The key however will be whether or not Japan realizes that age demographics do not map one-to-one between Japan and the US. Not all “seinen” works will appeal to an older audience, and they will have to somehow find a way to understand just what this slightly more matured manga-seeking audience is looking for, possibly through the greater international collaboration I mentioned earlier.
Seinen may become more “shounen-friendly.”
Josei in Japan went through a similar growing pain in that it tried to be more “adult” in certain ways until creators and editors realized that older women still want the shoujo series trappings of their youth, but with more mature concerns and characterizations. In time, I think Japan and the US will get a better handle on it, but it won’t come without some serious bumps in the road capable of taking a company or three under.
Multimedia Customization
When it comes to streaming anime, you can’t please everyone, and methods of distribution and how to turn those view counts into sales is a mystery which eludes even big sites like Hulu, let alone smaller players like Funimation or Crunchyroll. While streaming anime is a step in the right direction, anime finds itself to some extent in the same bind as scanlations: sometimes people want to actually own a hard copy for themselves. However, the cost of printing DVDs for a series that won’t sell can be prohibitively expensive, meaning even if you really like Saki, unless someone decides to pick up the license to produce a box set you’re not going to have it sitting pretty on your bookshelf.
People outside of Japan will be able to own Saki however they want.
I think that starting in the next few years this is all going to start changing until we reach a point of personal customization in our anime and manga: You will be able to make exactly the purchase you want with exactly the things that you want, on-demand. As an example, let’s say it’s 2015 and you’re watching a streaming video of the latest series New Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Second Generation. Sadly the show has no box set you can buy in stores, but you still really want to own it. What you’ll be able to do is specify just how you want to have it in your possession, and you will get that package. Do you want it on blu-ray or DVD? Do you want to shove all the episodes onto fewer discs, cutting out the extras and possibility some of the quality? Do you want to just download the episodes so you can watch them without relying on internet access? Do you want to also purchase merchandise for Neo-Japan’s “Typhoon Gundam?” You will be able to get what you want, weighing cost versus extras, and in a way that doesn’t just limit you to “Normal,” “Super Deluxe,” and “Bare Bones” packs.
Choice is the future.
New Paths for New Talent to Appear
Shinkai Makoto made a big splash on the anime industry when he released Voices of a Distant Star, a science fiction-themed OVA which he wrote, directed, and animated all by himself on his Macintosh back in 2002. More recently, Aniplex has introduced the world to Cencoroll, by another independent writer/director/animator named Uki Atsuya. The idea of the Anime Renaissance Man is appealing, but it’s something that people cannot expect all the time. Skilled creators can be born independently, but it’s clear from Shinkai’s example that, given proper resources and experience, even a genius has room to improve.
Works like Cencoroll will continue to be rare, but lessons can be learned.
I think anime is heading in a direction where people won’t have to be skilled at every aspect of animation production to be considered a Big Deal. One possibiliy I’ve thought of is “anime festivals” for amateur creators, be they industry-sponsored or independent, with competitions and awards for categories such as storyboarding and writing in addition to full-on animations. More importantly however, these anime festivals could take place entirely online.
The primary advantage of having festivals be online would be low overhead costs, and in this age of streaming video (which will only get more efficient over time) people will be able to see each others’ works and comment on them, possibly through chat rooms or Nico-style scrolling text. This will also encourage people to send in works from abroad, as they would be on an equal footing of sorts with those living in Japan, and would be able to enjoy seeing the results all the same. Of course this is not to say that online animation festivals would replace actual ones, but the ease of setting one up would make it an attractive prospect, and it would give amateurs opportunities to be noticed.
Manga too will start to have online festivals. There is already the International Manga Competition, but these will be a little more like Comic Market on the Internet, and will have a lot less pornography. The same idea applies however, in that people will be able to enter in a variety of categories and not just “Overall Excellent Manga Creator.” It’s not so much specialization as it is realizing again that not everyone talented is multi-talented.
Conclusion
Although I have written all of these ideas of the future of anime and manga, I of course do not pretend to be a soothsayer and cannot guarantee that any of my predictions will come true. I’ve always been better at observing the past than predicting the future, and I know my views on anime and manga are tinged by a certain degree of optimism, so in time we will all see just what I was able to sense correctly and what was just my wishful thinking.
Still, I think that even if I get everything concrete wrong, every single item I’ve written about is something to consider and analyze further as anime and manga reach into the next decade.The main themes I’ve discussed are the ways in which the industry and the fans will handle the significant changes to the economy that have occurred, shifts in philosophy on the creation of anime itself, and new steps towards customizing and tailoring for audiences. Taken all together along with the advancement of technology in society, and even if I’m wrong I think that my ideas all have more than a few kernels of relevance to them.
So let’s approach 2010 with open arms, not so much to simply accept whatever anime and manga may come, but to give the same consideration of the past that we do the future, and to know that no matter how it might change they are still capable of inspiring.
Now that a good number of you have received my Christmas present, I think it’s time we take a closer look at this Chapter 56 of Genshiken. Warning, spoilers follow for the original Genshiken series as well as Chapter 56. You might also want to check out my review of Genshiken.
Ever since Genshiken ended back in 2006 or so, I, being rather fond of Ogiue, wanted to see what the club would be like with her as chairman. If you were lucky enough to pick up the two volumes of Kujibiki♡Unbalance, then you got a glimpse into this future. Ogiue changed hairstyles, using the straight-down style from the final chapter of the manga as her default and only switching to her signature brush head when working on manga. Sue started studying in Japan, and her Japanese has improved by leaps and bounds. Ohno is delaying graduation in order to fend off the real world for just a little longer. And now with this new special, we get to see the next generation of Genshiken members.
From left to right: Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima
While Ogiue is of course always wonderful and Sue pretty much steals the show with her penchant for references and her skillful impersonation of an American Character in Anime probably the most fascinating part of Chapter 56 is the long-awaited arrival of new blood in the circle. Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima’s biggest impact on Genshiken is that they make you realize the fact that characters like them were missing from the series all along.
“Well yeah, it’s not like Genshiken ever had a crossdresser aside from that one time with Kohsaka,” you might be saying, but we’ve also not seen a guy who’s on the other side of the doujin fence, so to speak. Yoshitake meanwhile is a super enthusiastic fujoshi unlike any we’ve seen before, even among Yabusaki’s friends or Ohno’s American pals. Yoshitake’s the kind of character who would probably fit in best at an American con. Yajima is kind of similar to Ogiue in personality, except that where Ogiue is often like a blazing inferno kept in check by a thick insulated coating, Yajima is actually just a woman of few words. She also seems to have the most “normal” stance on yaoi, asking Yoshitake to restrain her enthusiasm in public. Her weight also can’t be overlooked, as it gives her an interesting quality in that she feels a bit overwhelmed by the previous generation of gorgeous Genshiken girls.
Much like how Ogiue’s first glimpse of Sasahara as a leader colored her perceptions of him, the three new members of the Modern Culture Society are viewing Ohno entirely as that motherly figure she eventually became, and Ogiue as an authority figure. . It’s all summed up in the scene where Ohno starts to “brag” at the new members about Ogiue’s accomplishments, and it just goes to show how different things can be when the person on the bottom of the totem pole has suddenly reached the top.
And though I said that the most fascinating part about Genshiken Chapter 56 is the new members, I still want to spend some time talking about Ogiue. It is wonderful to see how she handles her leadership role, using her talents and ideas to try and grow the club which she has grown to love over time. It’s great to see her relationship with Sasahara, even if it at times becomes awkward and semi-professional. She’s the Ogiue I remember, and yet still quite different from what she was. She’s matured in her time at college and become more comfortable in her own skin, and it’s just a reminder of why I consider her the best female character, period.
So that’s the next generation of Genshiken. To top it off, let’s go through the references Sue and others make, or at least the ones I was able to figure out. The tricky thing about Sue now is that because her Japanese has gotten better, sometimes she doesn’t make references and instead just speaks actual Japanese, and so everything she says you have to first figure out if she’s taking a line from something or just her own head.
Sue: “Oh no! What an awful room! It’s like a rabbit pen in here!“
This is from Kinnikuman Lady, a genderbent parody of the original Kinnikuman. Sue is dressed like Terryman’s female counterpart Terrygirl. Keep in mind that Sue actually says, “Oh no!” in English here.
Sue: “Ogiue Chika is mah wife!”
Again from Kinnikuman Lady. In the Japanese version, Sue is imitating the Terryman-style of Janglish by saying “Me no yome” instead of “My” or “Ore no.”
Ohno: “I really wanted to be Robin, though.”
Kinnikuman Lady once again, as well as her cosplay.
Kuchiki: “Ramen Angel P (etc.).”
Ramen Angel Pretty Menma is a made-up visual novel/ero game in Genshiken. Sasahara really likes the series.
Sue: “My harsh remarks are made by transmuting…”
A line by Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari.
Yuki x Shige
I’m not sure if this is just a made up series or not, but I suspect it’s Sengoku Basara-related.
Sue: “My name is Ogiue and I hate otaku!”
This and the followup is of course from Ogiue’s infamous introduction.
Sue: “Rararame.“
Again from Bakemonogatari, but this time Sue is referencing the character Hachikuji Mayoi. The entire gag following this is an extended Hachikuji reference.
Snapple Pricking Gheam
A parody of the Zan Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei OP “Apple Picking Beam.” In Japanese, the original song is “Ringo Mogire Beam” while Genshiken wrote it as “Bingo Mobire Geam.” According to the Genshiken timeline this show shouldn’t actually exist yet, but we’ll let it slide.
Sue: “Yahhh! Your house is haunted!”
This is a line from My Neighbor Totoro.
That’s all. To Genshiken. May it get another anime adaptation to finish its story. May Kio Shimoku feel the desire to revisit these characters again. May Angela and Sue get their own most excellent American spin-off.
Actually, one last question to you all: should Hato be considered for the fujoshi files?
Genshiken Chapter 56: Spring Has Come Again, Translated
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UPDATE: I made a few errors in my translation that I didn’t catch, but the translation is about 98% accurate. A version 2 will be on its way, and this post will be updated in kind.
I mentioned it a while ago, but I just wanted to remind everyone that Genshiken 2‘s compilation box set is being released tomorrow, December 22nd, 2009 in Japan. This box set will differ from the previous DVD release in that it will have special exclusive box art by Genshiken author Kio Shimoku featuring Ogiue, Sue, and Angela.
More importantly however, MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY in fact, is the news that Kio Shimoku has actually penned an ENTIRELY NEW CHAPTER OF GENSHIKEN. Much, much thanks to this anonymous commenter for making me aware of it. You can find a link to the chapter itself in there, and if you want an actual copy I believe it will be a part of the February 2010 issue of the magazine Monthly Afternoon, whose official release date is Christmas Eve (though apparently it’s been leaked!) Most likely it will be included as a special with volume 2 of Jigopuri, Kio Shimoku’s current series about a young mother.
The chapter focuses on Ogiue as chairman of Genshiken, and makes references to Kinnikuman. So in other words, pretty much everything I wanted.
BANZAI
OGIUE BANZAI
荻上よ、永遠に輝け！！
OGIUE MANIAX 