![\"Genshiken1\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Genshiken1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAccept yourself for who you are.<\/h3>\n
I suppose there are really two parts to this one.\u00a0 The first involves acknowledging the things you\u2019re passionate about, even if you can\u2019t explain why you like them.\u00a0 It\u2019s a character arc that\u2019s repeated multiple times in Genshiken<\/i>: Sasahara, Ogiue, and Hato all struggle with their \u201cstrange\u201d interests.\u00a0 The thing is, you can\u2019t just stop yourself from liking something that most people think is weird.\u00a0 As several characters observe over the course of the series, people don\u2019t just wake up one day and decide to start or stop being otaku.\u00a0 It\u2019s just something they are.<\/p>\n
At a deeper level, Genshiken<\/i> also addresses the need to deal with aspects of your personality that you may prefer to ignore.\u00a0 Try though he might, Madarame is never able to completely bury his feelings for Kasukabe.\u00a0 By the same token, there\u2019s no magic switch that Ogiue can flip to get over her past emotional dramas.\u00a0 It takes a great deal of courage and support, but they both eventually acknowledge these parts of themselves and come to terms with them.<\/p>\n
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Not everyone likes the things you care about, and that\u2019s okay.<\/h3>\n
Genshiken<\/i> is never shy about challenging the things its characters are passionate about.\u00a0 One of Kasukabe\u2019s primary roles in the series is to act as the voice of the dreaded \u201cmainstream\u201d society.\u00a0 She shines a light on all that is strange and creepy about anime and manga fandom, and refuses to let the other characters (or the audience) off the hook without a fight.\u00a0 Her rants are Genshiken<\/i>\u2019s way of reminding us that there will always be people who don\u2019t understand how anyone could possibly become obsessed with making Gundam<\/i> models or cosplaying as video game characters.\u00a0 In the end, though, Kasukabe shows why seeing eye to eye isn\u2019t always a requirement, as she develops a grudging fondness for the Genshiken members.<\/p>\n
Less obvious but far worse in his treatment of our otaku heroes is Haraguchi, the \u201cphantom member\u201d of every geeky club on campus.\u00a0 He bosses the manga club around, and tries to force his way into taking charge of the Genshiken\u2019s first doujinshi.\u00a0 It\u2019s clear that he\u2019s just in it for the money, and we never once see him display any interest in the media that he seeks to profit from.\u00a0 Not only does he look down on otaku, he thinks that he can use their passions to make a quick buck (or yen, I suppose).\u00a0 Even the anti-geek Kasukabe hates his rotten guts.\u00a0 You can\u2019t let jerks like this get you down, however, because\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are people like you out there, and you\u2019ll meet them sooner or later.<\/h3>\n
Being a fan of manga and anime, especially outside of Japan, can be a lonely experience sometimes.\u00a0 Even if most folks are happy to accept your hobbies, it can be tough to find people who share your particular brand of geekiness.\u00a0 When new club members are introduced in Genshiken<\/i>, we often get the sense that these newcomers have gone through a similar experience.\u00a0 From Sasahara in volume one to the new freshmen of the Second Generation, just about everyone arrives in search of someone to talk to.<\/p>\n
Just as everyone finds a home in the Genshiken clubroom, there\u2019s a group of good friends out there waiting for every real-life otaku.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0 Go to a big convention, or show up to a meeting of a college anime club.\u00a0 Look around and try to count the mind-boggling number of people who share your passions. \u00a0It may not happen right away, and you may have to put in some effort, but it will always be possible to meet people who are just like you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I watched the simulcast of Genshiken Second Season<\/i> in 2013, it had been a while since I\u2019d interacted with the franchise.\u00a0 I had fond, if fuzzy, memories of the original cast, and expected the new show to be a case of \u201csecond verse, same as the first.\u201d\u00a0 But, between the original upperclassmen graduating and new members joining the cast, everything was just different enough to require some getting used to.<\/p>\n It reminded me of my first post-graduation visit to my college earlier that year.\u00a0 It had been just under two semesters since I left, but the world had continued to turn in my absence.\u00a0 It was a strange experience, and it wasn\u2019t until I went through the same thing with Genshiken<\/i> that it really sunk in.\u00a0 Things change when you\u2019re not paying attention, but you can\u2019t let the past stop you from enjoying the present.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now that I\u2019ve been out in the real world for a while, the job-hunting woes of characters like Sasahara and Madarame hit home more than they did back in the day.\u00a0 The same thing goes for the club\u2019s struggles to make and sell their doujinshi.\u00a0 Genshiken<\/i> is happy to heap all kinds of trouble onto its characters, and shows them failing when they aren\u2019t prepared to face reality head-on.\u00a0 Finding success anywhere is tough, and taking on a creative project can be especially daunting.\u00a0 If you\u2019re looking to experience failure, try making a half-hearted attempt at doing something.\u00a0 The world is more than happy to hand you a generous portion of defeat.<\/p>\n As the characters in Genshiken<\/i> learn, the best (and perhaps only) solution is to do what you care about, as best as you can, with as much care and attention as you can muster.\u00a0 You still might not get your dream editor job, or your manga might not be a big hit, but the only way to give yourself a chance is to go at it with everything you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The <\/em>Genshiken manga and anime are\u00a0available from Right Stuf<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nKawaii Overthink is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Genshiken holds an interesting and somewhat timeless position in the world of anime and manga.\u00a0 It follows the members of The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture (abbreviated as the Genshiken), a college club dedicated to geeking out over each and every aspect of otaku culture.\u00a0 The original manga series began over ten [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions\/841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\nThings always change, especially when you\u2019re not paying attention.<\/h3>\n
Failure is free.\u00a0 You have to earn success.<\/h3>\n