Tag Archives: genshiken second generation

The Confrontation: Spotted Flower Reaches a Crucial Point

Posted on by

The moment has come in Kio Shimoku’s Spotted Flower: In the most recent chapter first published in June, the Wife (aka Not-Saki) confronts the Husband (Not-Madarame) about his adulterous actions with Asaka-sensei (Not-Hato). With a rather sparse publication schedule consisting of printer chapters and digital-only supplementals, getting to this point has taken many years. Now that we’re here, though, the confrontation really emphasizes the essence of this thinly disguised Genshiken alternate universe.

The Story Thus Far

A lot has happened since I last posted about Spotted Flower, so I think some brief catchup is in order. Note that I might not remember all details correctly because of how convoluted things have become: 

Spotted Flower is about an otaku husband and his normie wife, both of whom were members of the same otaku club in college. At first, the story is about their very different tastes and behaviors, as well as the challenge of having a sex life while she’s pregnant and he suffers from low blood pressure that makes even morning wood difficult to come by. They occasionally meet with and talk with old friends, who are all suspiciously similar to other characters from Genshiken (though they’re not the same).

The Wife eventually gives birth to their daughter, Saki, and one consequence is that the Husband feels inadequate as a partner. Seeing his beautiful wife chatting with her Ex-Boyfriend (Not-Kohsaka), he panics and secretly solicits Asaka-sensei, their old college club junior who once regarded themselves as a crossdressing mane but has since gotten some feminization surgery and whose gender is less clear-cut. The Husband tries to start something, but can’t get it up. No problem, Asaka-sensei declares, and puts their penis up Not-Madarame’s butt.

The Husband is plagued with guilt and shame for cheating on his wife, and Asaka-sensei tries to keep the tryst a secret from everyone they’re close to, including their own partner and manga assistant (aka Not-Yajima). While the two have an open relationship, it’s still big news that Asaka-sensei banged their old senpai. But the truth slowly leaks out little by little, with different people learning at different points from different people. Eventually, the rumor reaches Not-Kohsaka, who decides to look into it on his own.

Of course, the Wife is a sharp and perceptive person, and had naturally suspected that something weird was going on. Eventually, in a moment of weakness, the Wife propositions her ex-boyfriend, but he refuses, despite the fact that he’s actually a serial philanderer. It’s not clear at this point what he’s planning, but we also learn a few things about him as well—namely, that he seems to have hidden feelings for Not-Sasahara, and at one point even kisses Not-Sasahara when he thinks the latter is asleep (He isn’t).  

Speaking of Not-Sasahara, his relationship with Ogino-sensei (Not-Ogiue) takes an unexpected turn as she proposes a polygamous marriage between the two of them and her manga assistant (Not-Sue), with whom she already sleeps with. However, this is unlikely to turn into a threesome situation because Not-Sue hates Not-Sasahara for not letting her monopolize Ogino-sensei. 

Most recently, the old club members have gathered together for a group getaway. And then, two chapters ago, as the guys and girls are hanging out in gendered groups, Not-Kohsaka casually tells all the boys about what happened between the Husband and Asaka-sensei. Not-Kuchiki, shocked by the news, rushes over to the Wife and blurts it out, asking if it’s true. Here, the Wife herself gets a weighty grin on her face and says, “So it’s finally public knowledge, huh?”

And Now…

That’s where things stand before this latest chapter, which starts with everyone in the same room. The Wife asks if being with her was really that awful, the Husband tries to explain that it’s been great, but that he thinks she’s a goddess residing in a realm on high, and he lives crawling in the mud in the world below. She doesn’t understand what this means, so the Ex-Boyfriend explains that this is an otaku self-consciousness thing. The Ex also explains that he couldn’t possibly be with the Wife because she actually hates his guts—a fact that Not-Saki herself didn’t even remember herself.

The Wife grills the Husband about the whole situation with everyone else (especially the fujoshi) listening intently. As the Wife explains, the guy tends to hide his feelings, so she wants him to be honest. From this, they learn that he couldn’t get hard, but that it actually felt kind of good to be on the receiving end (to the thrill of the fujoshi crew). Not-Saki then goes on about what a weird little otaku club they are: Otaku are supposed to be these innocent and naive people who don’t really know what sex is like, but the people here have sex while cosplaying, engage in threesomes (which Sue adamantly denies), and her own husband got it from behind by a crossdresser. They’ve all had the wrong idea about otaku.

The chapter ends with an ultimatum from the Wife to the Husband: He must get an erection for her, or their marriage is over.

What Does This Mean?

We won’t know what happens with the two of them for another few months, but regardless of how it pans out, there’s a lot to ruminate on already.

I think the biggest revelation from this is the fact that the Wife actually hates her Ex. What has previously come across as a fairly cordial “let’s just be friends” might have been something more serious and dramatic. We know that Not-Kohsaka sleeps around more than everyone else in Spotted Flower, but that a part of him feels empty inside. I had wondered if this was him still taking the break-up poorly, but maybe this behavior from the Ex was already a problem. Or perhaps his unrequited feelings for the Editor were there all along, and he wasn’t honest with himself. Whatever the case may be, I really think it changes the assumed dynamics of the characters, and by extension the story as a whole 

I know Spotted Flower is controversial, and that some English-speaking fans of Genshiken have viewed it with derision. While I approach it as a kind of strange alternate universe, the fact that this is the only “new” material is understandably confusing and maybe even frustrating. But the way this latest chapter has played out, I have to wonder if there actually is light at the end of this tunnel for the readers who wanted something a little more wholesome. Granted, the tunnel is still of twists and jagged rocks, and a rock slide might close off the exit, but we’ll just have to see what awaits us.

“Kio Shimoku Art Collection: See You Tomorrow in the Clubroom” Review and Interview Notes

Posted on by
The cover of an artbook featuring various characters from Kio Shimoku's manga career all mingling with one another in a clubroom.

Today is the birthday of Ogiue Chika, the namesake of this blog and my favorite character from my favorite manga, Genshiken. In celebration of this, I have decided to finally write something about the author’s recent 30th anniversary artbook titled Kio Shimoku Gashuu: Mata Ashita, Bushitsu de (Kio Shimoku Art Collection: See You Tomorrow in the Clubroom).

First, this artbook is almost everything I hoped for: large illustrations from throughout my favorite manga creator’s career. Second, there’s an extensive interview at the end, and I’ve jotted down all the notes from it that I could. It’s actually the vast majority of this post!

Whether it’s his old analog paintings to his digital work, you get to see how his style has changed. This is especially the case with his Genshiken pieces, and a part of me does miss the look of those early works. Nevertheless, it all looks great, with high-quality reproductions of even things like DVD box sets. A lot of merch I never got, I can at least have their art. Kio actually re-scanned a lot of it!

The illustrations also include guest art for anthologies and such: 

  • Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere
  • Gundam: The Origin
  • Ashita no Kyouko-san
  • Yuruyuri
  • FotoKura
  • Night on the Galactic Railroad Musical

Only thing that’s missing is Spotted Flower, though I’m sure Kio would have included it if he could. 

So this is naturally highly recommended for Kio Shimoku fans.

And now, here are all my notes from the interview. It even includes comments about Kio’s wife, whom he pretty much never talks about!

Early Life and Family

Kio Shimoku was born in Shizuoka in 1974, and moved to Tokyo when he was two years old. He attended kindergarten in Kokubunji, Tokyo. In elementary school, he moved to Chiba Prefecture and spent a large chunk of his life there, to the extent that he strongly identifies with Chiba. He was in Chiba through high school and went to Tokyo after college, but then returned to Chiba.

Two of his manga, The Fourth-Year (Yonensei) and The Fifth-Year (Gonensei), are set in Kisarazu, Chiba because Kio went to college there and thought it’d make for easy reference material.

Kio’s dad worked for an insurance company, and didn’t really oppose him becoming a manga artist. His mom was a housewife but used to be an office worker. He has a brother who’s six years older, so there’s kind of a generation gap between them. A lot of the manga Kio read as a kid was his brother’s: Jump titles like Black Angels, Cat’s Eye, Ring ni Kakero. The manga that he bought himself were Captain Tsubasa, Dr. Slump, Hokuto no Ken, JoJo. The biggest title for him was Doraemon, and he remembers drawing doodles of Perman’s helmet. 

Against expectations, he actually more of an outdoors kid. His dad did judo, and he lived in a rural area in Chiba. Kio’s activities included bug-catching and going to the beach. He also practiced judo himself in middle school, which has made it easy to depict characters that do the same (like Hato from Genshiken Nidaime).

But as active a kid as he was, Kio still liked to read and draw. He was there for the Famicom boom, and his #1 indoor hobby was Gunpla. His brother bought Gundam and Guncannon kits and gave the Guncannon to him. He played with the kits before he ever saw Gundam, which he eventually did when he saw the original movie trilogy. Kio wanted Gunpla so badly that he drew his own imaginary modeling store—not the model themselves but the store in which he’d buy them.

Some other titles he liked: Esper Mami (he was influenced by its SF flavor), Fujiko Fujio’s Land (he liked all the nude scenes), Bouken Gabotenjima, Scramble Egg (it was one of his brother’s books). 

Another big one was Plamo-Kyoshiros, which was his “Bible,” especially with all the customized Gundam model kits it showed. He used all the tech he had available to him at the time on a Qubeley, and then stopped after just the one. Master Grades came out when he was in college. 

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was also a huge influence from elementary to high school. He would trace over Miyazaki’s art and tried to draw just like him, but found it difficult as a kid to the point of being discouraged, thinking, “I have no talent!” In middle school, though, Kiki came out and he found he could draw like Miyazaki a little better. Drawing and painting using watercolors, he thought he might have what it takes.

A friend of his asked if he wanted to make a manga together, and Kio agreed. That same friend is the one who taught him about manga tools, like nib pens. Kio volunteered to do backgrounds, and was inspired by Oga Kazuo and Yamomoto Nizou. He had an interest in fine arts, but it’s not like he never drew characters. There was a particular drawing of Elpeo Ple from Gundam ZZ next to a bicycle, with a seiso expression and wearing a beret, that he really liked. He’d focus especially on Ple’s face when trying to replicate it. He learned to do eyes from copying the artist who drew it, Kitazume Hiroyuki. 

In his third year of middle school, Animage started releasing Roman Albums and Art of books, and it made him want to become an animator. However, he was sad to discover that you had to be at least 18, and gave up.

College Life and Becoming a Manga Artist

In high school, he seriously pursued trying to become a manga artist because by that time, he found that he could handle all aspects of manga making himself. He got so into making manga that he basically missed out on the entirety of the Super Famicom/Game Boy boom. 

At 17, Kio got a newcomer award in Sunday magazine. As for why he submitted to Sunday instead of Jump, It was around middle to high school that he became more of a fan of the former. The first Sunday manga that caught his attention was Kyuukyoku Choujin R. Then there was Obi wo Gyutto ne by Kawai Katsutoshi, which actually showed fanart at the end of the collected volumes. His art was published three times, but he never managed to win an autographed signboard. But when he contributed to Kawai’s mook, he actually got the autograph, which made him really happy. Other big titles he read at the time were Ranma ½, Spriggan, Patlabor, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, and Ushi and Tora.

His first submission to Sunday was about a boy who worked at a secondhand bookstore, except the “secondhand books” were actually stolen goods. Kio thinks it was a pretty plain and unspectacular idea. He liked secondhand bookstores, and would go into them whenever he saw one. He also tried to draw manga of the adventurous kind in the vein of Studio Ghibli. There was one that got to 50 pages of the manuscript, but he never finished it. The thing really just consisted of whatever came to mind as he was making it.

When asked why he prefers to make more everyday life works than dramatic stuff, Kio says that while his artistic path began with Miyazaki anime, it’s the portrayals of everyday life in Miyazaki’s works that he built on. 

Kio had worked with Sunday, but he never debuted with them. This is because he couldn’t keep working with his editor there. Kio was asked to do things like come up with 10 new ideas before their next meeting, and he just found it impossible.

If he had debuted with Sunday back then, he wouldn’t have gone to college. But he did while majoring in Nihonga (Japanese painting) at University of Tsukuba. At the interview to get into the university, he lied and said that he really wanted to become a Nihonga artist. He chose Nihonga because he thought he could transfer the brush skills he learns to making manga. Western painting tools like charcoal aren’t really used in manga. He worked on manga while also doing his college work. 

He was in the dorms his first year but lived on his own in an apartment for years 2 through 4. He and his friends would go over to each other’s places and hang out and eat. There was really nothing to do at Tsukuba in the 90s. The Tsukuba Express didn’t even exist back then. Students would hear noises and swear other students were having sex. (Not much else to do otherwise, in terms of gossip.)

Kio had lots of good friends but not a group of otaku he was close with, like in Genshiken. However, he had one senpai he looked up to, who had a lot of esoteric otaku knowledge and was really mature. Tanaka is partly influenced by him. 

There was a University of Tsukuba Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture which is the name basis for Genshiken, but Kio only was a member for half a year. He did draw a sign for them as a first-year for a culture festival in autumn, but he doesn’t remember exactly what he drew. 

He’s not a fan of huge gatherings and so what he mostly did was hang out with 3 to 4 people and play fighting games. Later, his editor at Afternoon said to Kio that it sure seems like Kio had a fun college life, to which Kio agreed that maybe he did. 

Kio’s Early Manga

Kio is asked if the darkness in his early works from Ten no Ryouiki (his debut title) to The Fifth-Year was a reflection of his school experience, to which he replies that he’s not really sure. At that time, he would put everything he was thinking about into his manga, and his work reflected that. He is the type to dwell and ruminate on things to the point of self-loathing, and he thinks the way he approached the subject of romance came from that. He combined his own experiences with stories he heard from others, though he says he did not have a very active love life personally. 

Kio did not originally plan to be a manga author who focuses on romance and relationships, and Kio Shimoku was meant to be a one-off throwaway pen name. He wanted to do action instead. Ten no Ryouiki was meant to be practice. Looking back, it actually turned out to be just that. 

He wanted to do an entertainment-focused Eastern culture action series next in the vein of Shirow Masamune’s Orion or Fujisaki Ryu’s Hoshin Engi. But when he looked at his old rough manuscript for it, he’s glad he didn’t.

Genshiken was born out of wanting to make something with more entertainment value, and both Kio and his editor at the time felt like Genshiken could work. However, he didn’t feel particularly enthusiastic about it because he thought he’d end up getting bashed for it. In fact, up until serialization, he was trying to avoid it. He even drew the short manga Krakatit no Machi during that time.

The Town of Krakatit (a dark and obtuse work) is named after the novel Krakatit by Karel Čapel, and Kio thinks the book might have really struck a chord with him back then, or perhaps he heard that the novel was similar to his idea. He does remember being asked by another manga creator at an end-of-year party why in the world he decided to make a story like that. It was right before Genshiken’s serialization and Kio wanted to forget everything. He’s still not sure what he was feeling, but maybe it was a desire for total ruin.

Both The Town of Krakatit and The Fifth-Year have violent climaxes. Kio didn’t intend or want for The Fifth-Year to involve an attempted stabbing, but he felt that it had to go there based on how the story developed. For Krakatit no Machi, it was because he wanted to draw a more heavy-set character. The interviewer points out that Kio has drawn a lot of fatter characters over the years.

Genshiken and a Stylistic Change

In regard to his changing style, especially from the early works to Genshiken, Kio says it was a conscious choice to improve the entertainment factor of his manga. However, you can tell that it’s still in a transition period in Volume 1 of Genshiken based on the art. As for how exactly he tried to change his art style, Kio worked towards a more semiotic way of drawing, where the designs convey who the characters are. Kugayama was the earliest design. 

Kio chose their characteristics by drawing random lots (kujibiki) and building from there—something he only rediscovered recently after finding an old memo. For example, with Madarame, he got “bowl cut” and “glasses,” and decided what he’d be like based on that. Of course, when finalizing the character, he didn’t leave it to chance. He feels that Madarame, Tanaka, and Kugayama are the most successful designs in terms of semiotics, but with Sasahara, he actually forgot to design him until the last moment. Sasahara ended up being made with no strong features because he was supposed to be the character who first enters the club. 

The premise of Genshiken actually began with the love triangle of Madarame, Saki, and Kohsaka. Kio realizes that they’re basically Maeno, Takeda, and Kyouko from Ping Pong Club. It wasn’t intentional, but looking back, it was a dynamic he loved. Ohno was originally designed to be more cringey, but based on the trajectory Genshiken took, he decided to go for someone who would be more popular with readers. Now, he realizes she’s essentially just Kamiya from Ping Pong Club.

Kio is glad that people say his portrayals of otaku reflect the times. His starting concept was wanting to draw otaku as normal people. Genshiken is a work from the period after the one where otaku were getting bashed the hardest. Kio didn’t want to have messy relationship stuff in Genshiken, but couples ended up happening anyway. He thinks this makes things feel more real. 

He didn’t do any research for Genshiken’s first generation, but for the second gen, he attended Comiket and interviewed circles that were aimed towards female audiences and even sat in circle spaces all day. He got to hear conversations between creators and customers as a result. 

However, he has participated in Comiket as a creator before. This was because Ogiue was tabling at ComiFes in the manga, and Kio felt he needed to experience it firsthand. He considers himself an otaku, but he actually hasn’t gone to Comiket much. The reason is that he winds up buying too much other porn because he loves horny art. In fact, he originally bought a Mac instead of a Windows PC so he wouldn’t end up buying so much eroge.

In response to the unanticipated developments that came with Ogiue’s character, Kio says he never thought the story would go in the direction it did. He did create Kugayama as someone who draws, but he’s not supposed to be particularly good at it. Ogiue was created because the story had plenty of otaku-as-consumer characters but not otaku as creators. She was a challenge to work with, but it was incredibly fun.

Genshiken was planned to be a manga that ran in real time, so with a new chapter every month, a month would have passed in the series. However, with Ogiue’s arc, the timeline kind of went out the window and time had to pass at an accelerated rate in chapters 50 through 54 so that the series could end during graduation season. Some of the stories during that time ended up in the extras of the volume releases.

Into Kio’s Psyche

The interviewer points out that Kio has a lot of scenes of characters expressing fear at the prospect of revealing their true selves to others: Ogiue and Hato in Genshiken, but also in The Fifth-Year. Kio didn’t remember that he had a scene like that in The Fifth Year, but he believes this is something connected to his fundamental way of thinking. Even his erotic doujinshi Zenbu Sensei no Sei (and its sequel) feature a girl (and later her mom) learning about who they “really are.”

The interviewer also describes Genshiken as a story that began with entertainment in mind only to dig deep into people’s very beings, which seems to be a real Kio Shimoku–ism. Kio says that Genshiken is a work that even when trying to summarize it offers resistance. It’s also the work he’s re-read the most out of his own creations, first for Genshiken Nidaime and now occasionally for Spotted Flower. Kio believes that Genshiken was such a good thing for him that the rest of his life is just extra change.

In terms of the portrayal and exploration of sexuality, Kio didn’t intend for it to be indicative of the time. The belly band on the Japanese Volume 8 originally said “The Love of Otaku,” but Kio asked to change it because he wasn’t trying to show a normal portrayal of love. Rather, it was about exploring all the various characters’ individual ways of love. This idea later applied to Hato as well.

As for how the character of Hato came to be, he knew early on that he wanted Nidaime to focus on a mainly female cast, but that he wanted one male character. Kio had in mind two possibilities: a guy who looked like a girl (i.e. Hato) or a big but gentle-feeling dude, like Yamada’s dad in The Dangers in my Heart. He made two rough manuscripts, one for each character, with the former ending up going ridiculous places and the latter being pretty normal.  But then, Kio learned that there are ways for men to change their voices to be more feminine, and it all clicked. Kio has at times kind of wanted to become a girl himself, so he put that in there too. 

The interviewer thought Madarame would actually start dating Hato. Kio drew the Madarame romantic prospects thing to just see where it would end up, and he originally thought it would be that the guy gets with no one. 

Kio and His Wife

Sex and love have always been a part of Kio’s work. His wife, Kami-san, described Genshiken as low-energy horny. Kio starts from the fundamental idea of “I myself am horny.” He actually was seen drawing porn in middle school by his family, and he thinks this trauma may have made him unable to draw erotic art for a long time. This repression may be what undergirds his work. His work might not be about sex but rather about masturbation in the sense of knowing what you individually desire. This is where the notion that “drawing manga is a form of masturbation” enters his thoughts. Masturbation comes up in multiple works of his, and Kio thinks it has to do with wanting to hide your real self. 

Kio got married in 2000, and it’s a year he can recall with ease. It was a time when his manga wasn’t really selling, and he decided to get married without putting any thought into it. 

He met his wife in college. She’s actually the first person he showed his rough manuscript of Genshiken, before even his editor. At the time, it was because he wanted to make a manga about otaku that appealed to normal folk, and she was the test case. Her impressions ended up in Saki to a degree as well, like the way Saki pronounces the word “anime.” 

Kio showed his wife Nidaime early on, but can’t quite remember when it comes to Hashikko Ensemble. He did not show her Spotted Flower, but Kami-san did remark that it was probably just Kio and the Rakuen editor Iida-san doing whatever the hell they want. 

Jigopuri wasn’t well received, but Kio felt that baby-raising was the only thing he could make manga about at the time. 

Kio relates to characters like Madarame who feel like they never really grow up. He feels that even when he’s an elderly old man, he won’t feel like an adult. 

Kami-san is into classical music, and took Kio to watch a men’s choir. Afterwards, she said to him that this could be good subject matter for something, though she was thinking about it more like BL involving working adults. Kio was working on a different plan at the time, but when he brought up the men’s choir idea to his editor, it got the okay, with the technical high school at the backdrop. This makes it different from all his previous college-set works. 

Because he didn’t have much experience with the subject, Kio had to do a lot of research. To portray the singing, he employed various techniques like using different density of tones for high and low notes, employing gradients on lyrics, layering text when multiple people were singing, changing opacity levels, etc. He did all this with satisfaction. 

Right now, he doesn’t have any new ideas he really wants to draw, or at least things he thinks he has time for. On a personal level, he did do Sister Wars lately. The idea for it actually came from his wife, who misspoke slightly and said “Si…Star Wars.” From there, they joked about how Sister Wars sounds like an eroge, that the Jedi would all be girls, and the Padawans would go, “Onee-samaaa!” Though it’s not as if Kio is a super-huge Star Wars fan. 

The release of the art book makes him feel the full extent of his 30-year career in manga, even if it doesn’t include Spotted Flower.

See Kio Shimoku Talk About His Career!

Posted on by

To celebrate the release of his new artbook, Mata Ashita, Bushitsu de (See You Tomorrow in the Clubroom), Genshiken author Kio Shimoku had a special 2+ hour talk session on September 16, 2024. The venue was Umeda Lateral, a talk and live music club in Osaka, and was title “Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuukai Umeda Bunshitsu, or “The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture Umeda Annex.” 

Fortunately, the entire event was streamed live, and there’s an archived video available on their official site for a limited time! A streaming ticket costs 2,800 yen and lasts until September 30 JST.

While I plan to write about the talk (and the artbook) in more detail, I have not had the chance to watch it in full yet. I did take a brief look, though, and Kio actually appears in person. This is probably going to be the first time many people get to see him. Also, he showed early concept notes about Genshiken!

Sharing screenshots is not allowed, so unfortunately I can’t post his mug or those cool sketches.

I’m happy to see us go from having the man be a complete mystery, to doing an interview with VTuber Luis Cammy, to having him start a Twitter, and now this. 

Kio Shimoku Is Releasing a 30th Anniversary Artbook!

Posted on by

Kio Shimoku, author of Genshiken, recently announced that he’s going to be releasing an artbook collecting his work from across his 30-year career! It will also include an interview with him.

The book is titled Kio Shimoku Gashuu: Mata Ashita, Bushitsu de—Kio Shimoku Art Collection: See You Tomorrow in the Clubroom. It’s being released by Fukkan, a Japanese publisher that specializes in niche specialty books and reviving out-of-print titles.

While the book is available for pre-order on other Japanese sites, pre-ordering on Fukkan’s site will get you a set of A4-sized replica illustrations of Kio’s work. And if you do it by July 16 (JST), then you can enter to win an autograph from the man himself!

Unfortunately, Fukkan will only ship domestically, so if you live outside of Japan, you’ll need to use a third party. Just keep in mind that with the pre-order bonus, shipping might be pretty killer!

I Almost Forgot the Power of Tsundere, or “Ogiue and Me”

Posted on by

It’s been many years since the late-2000s peak of the tsundere archetype, when the girls with prickly personalities all but captivated anime and its fandom. I was no exception to this—while I don’t consider myself a huge tsundere enthusiast, many such characters are included among my favorites. But as their novelty has aged into a well-worn trope, I’ve found myself almost forgetting how potent they can be in terms of the emotional force they exert upon fans. What‘s more, the reminder I needed was to realize how much has changed in my own life.

In certain ways, I’m not who I was 15 years ago. Mentally and emotionally, I’m in a different place, no longer constantly doubting whether my social awkwardness would ever keep me from connecting to others. However, I can recall what that felt like, and the crushing fear that it might never be overcome. And I can also recall the amazement and comfort I felt seeing characters who had similar struggles. This is essentially what led me to becoming so fond of Ogiue Chika from Genshiken and naming this blog after her. Her fight with herself felt so very real, even if it wasn’t exactly what I was going through.

It’s arguable whether Ogiue is a tsundere, but one can think of tsundere as characters who face a similar conflict between what they feel inside and how they wish to express themselves, but also boiled down to a powerful essence. There is a difference between the old-school and new-school tsundere (a distinction that’s quite long in the tooth these days), but either way, it is an easily digestible personal trait that can be eminently relatable. To see a tsundere lash out is to see a character fight within in a clear and distinct fashion.

You might hear someone say “I wish I had a tsundere partner,” and they could mean that they want someone straight out of anime—a crystalization of a fetish. But they might instead mean “I want someone who understands me because they face similar challenges.” It’s in the ability to occupy both spaces that the tsundere is strongest.

I originally did not intend to bring up Ogiue, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Not only does she skirt the kind of tsundere, but she’s also been portrayed as growing out of the inner turmoil she carried when she was first introduced. She is no longer the same person, and it’s reflected in her personality and even her visual design, but I still love the heck out of her character. Even though the severity of anger and awkwardness she carries has waned, the struggle was undeniably there, and its marks are noticeable. The tsundere is powerful because of how succinctly they capture a variety of heavy feelings in a digestible fashion, and it would behoove me to keep that in mind.

Spotted Flower and Fusion Characters?

Posted on by

Spotted Flower is Kio Shimoku’s refracted-universe version of his hit manga Genshiken, but as the series goes on, more and more major differences crop up. Recently, I realized that one major change might be that a few characters are, in essence, fused together from different Genshiken characters.

Since her first appearances in Spotted Flower, there has been a certain character who looks and behaves much like Sue Hopkins from Genshiken. Outside of age—Spotted Flower characters are all far into adulthood as opposed to being roughly college age—the major difference between Sue and Not-Sue is that the latter has much wider hips and larger breasts. From the neck down, she’s much closer to Angela Burton, the other Genshiken American character.

I originally chalked up Not-Sue’s physical qualities to just being another way to slightly bend the details of Genshiken to make it “different enough,” but a recent side chapter of Spotted Flower, 35.5, makes me think that the merging of characters might be a recurring aspect of the series.

In it, Not-Sasahara racks his brain over trying to interpret Not-Sue’s signals, and the possibility of a threesome. As he’s trying to shake off the mental image of Ogino-sensei (aka Not-Ogiue) and Not-Sue together nude, he has an expression that is very uncharacteristic of Sasahara but makes him look just like Kuchiki, the annoying guy from Genshiken who has issues with boundaries. The resemblance to Kuchiki is further enhanced by the character’s hairstyle. This leads me to believe that Not-Sasahara might actually be better described as a kind of “Kuchihara,” though mostly dominated by the Sasahara side in terms of personality.

Endou, the “original character” who’s actually closer to Yoshitake than anyone else is probably not a fusion, but she feels like she belongs in a similar territory. In her case, it’s almost like she’s a mix of Yoshitake and a Genshiken character who never made it off the drawing board.

Not every character in Spotted Flower is a mash-up, as plenty map onto their Genshiken characters pretty comfortably. However, I’m keeping my eye out for any potential combos from now on.

Friends with Consequences: Spotted Flower, Volume 4

Posted on by

Spotted Flower has always been a difficult series to suss out what the story is trying to say, if anything at all. What once began as a thinly veiled what-if pairing of two Genshiken characters has morphed into a crazy tale of adultery, inadequacy, and a cast of characters where monogamy is rare and polyamory is chaotic and unpredictable. Volume 4 continues this trend, spotlighting all the unusual relationships that have arisen. And while I haven’t consistently reviewed Spotted Flower over the years, this one has a lot of Ogiue—er, Ogino-sensei—so I have an extra reason to write about it.

Last year, I presented a panel at Otakon about Kio Shimoku’s works, and during my research, I came to realize that Genshiken is actually somewhat of an outlier in terms of his catalogue. Most manga Kio makes, including his debut professional manga, involves extremely messy relationships and a whole lot of emotional betrayal—and not in a fetishy way, either. So Spotted Flower is actually a kind of return to the older Kio, and the fact that it hits so hard is because the characters are Genshiken analogues.

Volume 4 has the husband (Not-Madarame) and wife (Not-Kasukabe) returning home with their newborn daughter, Saki. It’s not long after the husband had a one-night stand with Asaka-sensei (Not-Hato), so he’s on-edge the whole time, and literally still feeling it in the ass. The wife doesn’t suspect anything at first, especially because Asaka was very thorough in cleaning up, but the slightest hint of perfume on just one of the husband’s sweaters—as well as some pointed questions later—have her suspecting foul play. The rest of the volume involves the husband and wife reaching out to different friends to express their worries while those friends, in turn, grapple with their own complicated situations. Also, Endou (Asaka’s editor) discovers that Hato has a penis, learns about Asaka sleeping with their beloved senpai, and inadvertently spills the beans to Ogino and Not-Sue.

I think it’s important to lay down just how convoluted the web of relations is in this series. The husband is married to the wife, who just recently had their kid, but the husband slept with Asaka out of a sense of inferiority over the wife’s ex, Not-Kousaka. Asaka is in a relationship with Not-Yajima, who knew well in advance what Asaka was planning and was generally okay with it. Not-Kousaka always really wants to have a threesome, but can’t get any, and it’s probably why he’s no longer with the wife. Ogino is living with Not-Sue and is in a physical relationship with her, but also has a real thing going on with Not-Sasahara, whom she adores. Not-Sue is extremely jealous of Not-Sasahara, and balks at the idea of them in a threesome. Not-Ohno and assumed Not-Tanaka seem to be the only ones exclusive to each other. Whew! What a situation.

One of the biggest gut punches of Volume 4 is when Not-Sasahara explains in clear detail that Madarame’s worries over not matching up to Not-Kousaka are totally unfounded. Specifically, it turns out that the wife’s ex just straight-up left after seeing the baby—which means that he basically gave up, and confirms that the husband fucked up 10,000%. What’s amazing to me is that it’s easy to see where the husband is coming from, but just as easy to acknowledge that he’s garbage.

This also makes me wonder if something like this could’ve happened to the real Madarame and Kasukabe in Genshiken. Fans loved the idea of opposites attracting, but it wouldn’t have been out of the question for Madarame to feel like he could never match up to Kousaka. Madarame and Sue are on similar wavelengths, after all. However, there’s also a lot that’s different about Spotted Flower, and it feels as if this is maybe a symptom of how their world is, instead of the cause. Another notable change is that Endou (who is jokingly implied to be the Yoshitake of this series) never went to the same college as the rest of the cast.

During this volume, Ogino initially tries to suss the truth out of her editor boyfriend, and when he refuses to budge, she lays one hell of a deal out: in exchange for telling her what the husband spoke to him about, she will agree to a threesome with her and her blond girlfriend. The look on his face is one of deep, soul- and libido-igniting conflict, and the fact that he apparently doesn’t give in is testament to this character. Ironically, it probably makes Ogino like him even more. 

It can be difficult to figure out Kio’s intent, but there’s perhaps a clue in the extra story provided in this volume. The wife is talking about how she read Ogino’s new manga, which is more out and out BL. The husband responds, “Isn’t it good that she’s doing what she wants?” The wife follows up and says, “But I think her previous work was better.” Maybe Spotted Flower is just unchecked Kio Shimoku, for better or worse.

Given that Spotted Flower chapters come out at a snail’s pace, it’s wild how far the story has come. It’s really impossible to tell how things will resolve, but the way it portrays the differences between willing unorthodox relationships and those built on deception means things are probably going to get worse before they get better. The fact that a child is involved makes the sting that much more severe.

PS: I managed to get both a general purchase bonus, as well as a Toranoana store-exclusive one featuring Ogino and her blonde, Sue-esque roommate. Does it count as Ogiue merchandise when it’s technically not Ogiue?

“Genshiken Nidaime” Ogiue Chika Voice, Yamamoto Nozomi, Gets Married

Posted on by

We don’t get much Genshiken news these days, but the Hashikko Ensemble official Twitter account recently tweeted about Yamamoto Nozomi, the voice actor for Ogiue Chika in Genshiken Nidaime, congratulating her on getting married. Accompanying the tweet is the drawing by Kio Shimoku of Ogiue in a wedding dress seen above.

Yamamoto is the second actor to play Ogiue, after Mizuhashi Kaori. Yamamoto’s other notable roles include Jogasaki Rika in The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls and Bouhatei Tetora in Joshiraku.

There’s also an interaction in the replies where Yamamoto thanks Kio, only for the account to mention that it’s not Kio but rather his manager (who she’s met before) handling social media. However, the Twitter account did have a message for Yamamoto from Kio:

“You did so, so much for the anime. When I found out you got married, I had to draw something. May you have many years of happiness!” (Kio)

2010–2019 Part 4: Best Anime Characters of the Decade

Posted on by

At the end of every year here at Ogiue Maniax, I pick my favorite characters of the year. Usually, it’s one male character and one female character, but exceptions have been made for, say, nonbinary characters or, well, personified abs. So now that I’ve picked characters from 2010 all the way through 2019, it’s time to decide the best characters of the decade!

Note that I’ve taken three important characters out of the running—Ogiue Chika from Genshiken Nidaime, Daidouji Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, and Yang Wen-Li (Legend of the Galactic Heroes: De Neue These). The reason is simple: They are three of my absolute favorite characters of all time, and I would easily pick them if they were available as options. Ogiue, Tomoyo, and Yang deserve their own hall of fame. so to keep this competition fair, they’ve been excluded.

THE FINALISTS

2010

Koibuchi Kuranosuke (Princess Jellyfish)

Kurumi Erika, aka Cure Marine (Heartcatch Precure!)

2011

Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, aka Wild Tiger (Tiger & Bunny)

Tsurugi Minko (Hanasaku Iroha)

2012

Nishimi Kaoru (Sakamichi no Apollon: Kids on the Slope)

Yanagin (Daily Lives of High School Boys)

2013

Armin Arlert (Attack on Titan)

Ichinose Hajime (Gatchaman Crowds)

2014

Sei Iori (Gundam Build Fighters)

Kiryuuin Satsuki (Kill la Kill)

Andy and Frank (Yowamushi Pedal)

2015

Sunakawa Makoto (My Love Story!!)

Koizumi Hanayo (Love Live! The School Idol Movie)

2016

Yurakutei Yakumo (Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju)

Shidare Hotaru (Dagashi Kashi)

2017

Kevin Anderson (right) (Tiger Mask W)

Mauve (ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Dept.)

2018

White Blood Cell 1146 (Cells at Work!)

Aisaki Emiru (Hugtto! Precure)

2019

Wataya Arata (Chihayafuru Season 3)

Emma (The Promised Neverland)

And the winners are…

Armin Arlert (Attack on Titan)

Kurumi Erika, aka Cure Marine (Heartcatch Precure!)

Of these two decisions, one was incredibly easy to make and one I mulled over for many hours leading up to this. Kurumi Erika was a no-brainer—her energy, ability to inspire action and positive change, her all-too-human behavior, and her legendary facial expressions all make her an unforgettable character in my eyes. She’s simply amazing in a way few characters are, and it’s clear that many anime fans agree with me, given her ranking as the third most popular Precure in the recent massive NHK poll.

As for Armin, it was a closer call, but what ultimately made me land on him is what he represents in Attack on Titan. The series’s world is one where fear reigns and unthinking violence is often born out of the frustration of not knowing if you’ll survive to the next day. But Armin Arlert shows the value of having a more considerate and broad-minded view of the world, and the way he complements Eren and Mikasa further highlights how important and necessary it is to have individuals like Armin in the world to subtly challenge assumptions. He’s brave without being brash and thoughtful without being hopelessly indecisive.

Erika and Armin are characters who I wish could inspire many more both in media and in people themselves, and I declare them my favorite anime characters of the 2010s.

Kio Shimoku and Genshiken Trivia, Courtesy of “Mou, Shimasen Kara”

Posted on by

Over the past year, the manga magazine Monthly Afternoon has featured interviews in comic form with its own serialized manga authors through the series Mou, Shimasen kara. Afternoon Gekiryuu-hen by Nishimoto Hideo. This past month’s issue puts the spotlight on Genshiken and now Hashikko Ensemble creator, Kio Shimoku, so I’ve taken the liberty of summarizing all of the Kio factoids in it.

-For the first time ever, Kio actually reveals his “face” (albeit in manga form). He’s known for being a private person, but he decided show himself through this manga. He reasons, “I’m over 40 now, so what does it matter if I show my face or not?”

-Kio used to work analog, but has been an all-digital artist ever since Jigopuri. He does everything, from thumbnails to color, all on his Wacom. He doesn’t customize his pen or brush settings much.

-He almost never uses assistants. Kio had one assistant on Genshiken Nidaime and none for Hashikko Ensemble, his new series. For those who don’t know, this is highly unusual.

-Kio got the inspiration for Hashikko Ensemble because his daughter joined a vocal ensemble, and he happened to listen to an all-male group.

-He was never a musician, but knew a local group, so he did do some singing for them about once a month, and even had a voice trainer. He’s a second tenor, which was the basis for Akira’s baritone in Hashikko Ensemble. Kio has a fairly deep voice himself, so he decided to exaggerate it for the manga.

-Once, in school, he saw two kids harmonizing on the way to class, providing further inspiration. “I want my manga to make readers want to sing.”

-Kio was in the softball club in elementary school, the judo club in junior high where he was the captain, and the art club in high school.

-He submitted his first manga in high school, for Shounen Sunday. It was about a high school student who works at a used bookstore and discovers an ancient text that he then tries to decipher.

He drew a lot when he was kid, and was an otaku in middle school, where he imitated Doraemon, Kinnikuman, and Captain Tsubasa.

-However, he stopped drawing between 4th grade of elementary and the start of middle school. This was because he was really into Miyazaki Hayao as a kid, and when he couldn’t copy Miyazaki successfully, he got depressed and stopped trying for those few years.

-In middle school, he helped a friend out by drawing backgrounds for his manga, only for Kio to realize he was also better at drawing the characters too. One day, when he tried to draw Miyazaki characters again, he noticed he had gotten way better.

-He wanted to be an animator, but Ghibli only wanted people 18 and up. Once, he created a manga based on the Laputa novel in a couple of notebooks.

-In college, he majored in Japanese art because he thought the pencil and brush skills would translate to manga.

-Kio’s dad worked at an insurance company, and while he wasn’t flat out against Kio’s aspirations, he would constantly ask him to consider the risk of being a manga creator. This made Kio want to quickly win a manga reward, to help his parents accept it.

-The school he went to had a club called the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, becoming the inspiration for Genshiken. Surprisingly, however, Kio was actually only a member for half a year. He didn’t quit because if anything in particular, he’s just not good with group activities.

-Despite what it might seem, the Genshiken characters are not based on any real life counterparts.

-In response to the realism of his characters, Kio says he tries to convey a sense of “presence” with them.

-Kio feels Genshiken came at the perfect time, matching the zeitgeist of the era. However, it makes him feel like a one-hit wonder. If Hashikko Ensemble fails, he’s going to feel enormous pressure.

-He didn’t attend a technical high school so he needs more research. One of he authors of Mou, Shimasen kara. did, and the other has a sister who attended one, so they try to help out.

Thoughts

Kio’s done a lot!! He sort of seems like a renaissance man.

That bit of surprise aside, it is fascinating finding out just how many aspects of his own personal life and career have made their way into his manga. The attending a Genshiken-like club is one thing, but it’s notable that he was in the judo club and then the art club—just like Hato. He also converted to using a tablet monitor for manga at some point—just like Ogiue. While his characters aren’t based on any real people in particular, he takes bits of himself and places them in his creations. While not stated outright, I think it’s pretty clear that Jigopuri (which is about raising a baby) is the product of firsthand experience.

—

Like this post? Feel free to check out my Patreon, or leave a tip at my Ko-fi.