| Title: | Genshiken |
| Episode: | 9: The Existence and Nonexistence of Explanatory Duties Under Special Isolated Situations |
| Synopsis | |
| Madarame arrives at the Genshiken clubroom, but finds the only other member there is Saki. He realizes this is the first time he's been alone with her, which makes him uneasy. Should he strike up a conversation about the latest episode of Kujian? Or comment on the manga she's reading? Is Saki intentionally ignoring him, or is she really caught up in a good part of the story? Madarame concludes that he must do something, and asks if he can turn on the TV--she doesn't mind. Otherwise, she says nothing. Searching for something he dropped puts Madarame in an embarassing situation, and he beats a hasty retreat from the room. After calming down, he pretends he went for a drink. He offers Saki a can, but she makes it quite clear she doesn't want it, and grows annoyed at his casual questions. Madarame cannot for the life of him understand this girl. "Does she dislike me that much?" he asks himself. "Am I the Andromeda Strain"? Then, by chance he notices something shocking about her... | |
| Comments | |
I had a feeling this was building to something hilarious--good thing I had forgotten about references to this particular episode which I'd read in reviews. If Saki's "shocking" secret would have caused her to become embarassed, I would surely be ridden out of this town on a rail! The way Madarame tries to decide what he should do by drawing upon his experiences with dating sim games was amusing. Sometimes I wonder if my view of life hasn't been distorted somehow by all the anime I watch--like the time I found myself in a Taco Bell and wondered why every girl in the building wasn't cute as a button like they would inevitably be on a high school show. Hey, the Kujian manga that Madarame mentioned back in the first episode really does exist (at least one page of it, that is). I think I'm better off for having watched Kujibiki Unbalance in it's entirety before I saw all the little snippets of it in the Genshiken episodes. I was surprised at the turn this episode took near the end--I feel sorry for Madarame, whose stunted social skills may preclude him from ever having a girlfriend or a wife. Then again, the preview of the next episode suggests he won't give up without a fight! From AstroNerdBoy: In the original <b>Genshiken,/b> manga, this story was only a single chapter. However, the anime writers managed to effectively add to that chapter to make an entire episode, and with good effect. I rather enjoyed seeing Madarame back in high school, which was something that wasn't in the manga. Kudos to the anime writers! | |
