Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

The Society for Modern Visual Culture meets Chika Ogiue!

Summary:

The Genshiken is still running strong which is the first thing you realize from the opening and the beginning scenes. Not to mention with the title “I’m Ogiue, I hate Otaku”. Everyone’s busy doing something of course. Sasahara and Madarame are lounging around in the club room while Kuga is job hunting and Ohno and Tanaka are looking for cosplay materials. Kuchiki (heh, Kucchi…) comes over to “practice” playing some fight games. So they pop in King of Fighters (which by the way is King of Fighters XI) and go at it. Sasahara wants to feel a bit better by beating someone weaker than Kohsaka but is surprised by Kuchiki whose skill is quite high but is still defeated. He then reveals that he lied about coming to “practice”. Next, enter Kohsaka and Saki and everything goes to hell after that.

Later, while the Genshiken goes along doing absolutely nothing as usual, Saki notices something going on over at the Manga Society’s room. To their surprise a girl appears in the Manga Society’s window and jumps out (remember this is two stories high). The head of the Manga Society then comes over and explains the situation to the entire Genshiken. He’s basically trying to get rid of the girl in the earlier incident by throwing her on the Genshiken. Enter, Ogiue. The cutie who hates otaku and in particular, female otaku at that. A conflict quickly starts up between Ogiue and Saki, who quickly tells Ogiue that she isn’t a female otaku. Ohno then stands and shouts “There is no such thing as a girl that hates gays/homos!”. Kuchiki then steps up to welcome Ogiue and is instantly called a weirdo by her. He tries to frighten her but she stops him with one glare. He does a chop on her head and is promptly (and viciously) knocked out by Saki.

The next day, Ogiue comes to the club room and meets a ton of yaoi doujinshi spread over the table. This is of course a plan devised by Ohno (to get Ogiue to reveal her true self) who is watching from the Children’s Literature Society that is directly across from the Genshiken (Sasahara, Tanaka, and Madarame are also with her). Ogiue tidies up the magazines and while sitting, she begins to become curious and reaches out to grab one but her curiosity is quickly extinguished when Saki suddenly walks into the room. They begin to discuss various topics, including why Ogiue hates yaoi so much. She apparently has a reason but it doesn’t seem to be too clear (she was shown a yaoi magazine in fifth grade). Ohno returns to the room and the mood instantly goes bad with Ogiue’s and Ohno’s rivalry kicking in. The guys notice this but decide not to interfere. Meanwhile, Ohno continues to comment (read: intentionally piss off Ogiue) on yaoi and the reason why Ogiue hates it.

Kuchiki comes in and reveals that he saw Ohno at a “yaoi-only fans” convention on the previous day. He even has hidden camera footage. Saki promptly beats him into submission. Ogiue tries to explain the situation, mentioning that her little brother plays basketball but is too choked up to finish. Ohno then shows her the yaoi magazine with two basketball players on the cover which results in Ogiue trying to jump from the third floor. Saki holds her back and the guys walk in on the madness (with Kuga walking in at the very last moment of the episode).

Impressions/Thoughts:

I’m glad to see the Genshiken is back! It brings back so many memories of the original series that the nostaligia was almost to much the bear (and because of that I’m also re-reading all the Genshiken manga that I have). This episode served as an introduction to Ogiue’s character, who is in my opinion one of the best and most complex characters in the Genshiken anime/manga. Also, I’ll try to avoid manga spoilers. First off, I’d like to comment on the opening. It’s a great parody of the Kuji-Un OP (the TV series). The song (sung by Manzo yet again) is good but personally I like My Pace Daioh much more as its upbeat tunes suit the mood of Genshiken much better.

The overall animation hasn’t changed much since the original TV series which is a bit strange since it is an OVA after all. However, it’s not really a complaint from me but rather an observation (in Genshiken’s case I don’t care if the animation isn’t top-line stuff). Also, Genshiken fans who’ve seen the original series will be glad to know that the ending theme (Biidama by Atsumi Saori) and animation are still intact. It’s a really beautifully song to fill your ears with.

On to the characters, pretty much everyone else has remained the same. Saki is as hot and “girl next door” as ever, Ohno still infatuated over bald men, and Madarame still the same old 2-D complex guy, among others. Although I must say that I find Kuchiki very annoying at times. He’s too energetic at all the wrong times. However, Saki is the perfect person to neutralize (read: kick his ass) his antics. Ogiue…brings some much needed cuteness to the Genshiken. Some might not find her as attractive as Saki or Ohno (she does have huge breasts after all) but she has her own charms that attracts certain Genshiken fans to her character (her ’strong’ resolve, way of speech, cute hairstyle, etc.). Overall, everyone is as great as ever.

All in all, this first episode of the OVA did great in presenting the material from the manga. As it does almost literally follow the manga word for word, manga purists can’t really fault it for not being faithful to the source material. I also loved the way they used the *bleep*ing in the episode. It made the episode even more hilarious. Watching this has made me realize how most series, current or past, can’t really match up to the kind of entertainment and comedy (slap-stick and referential) that Genshiken provides. It’s one of those series that you’ll either love or hate depending on whether or not you’re familiar (or rather very familiar) with the otaku and anime/manga worlds. Personally, it’s one of the best series you’ll watch/read in your journey on the road to all that is anime/manga. With that said, I eagerly await episode 14 that is not too far away!

My Verdict: 9.8/10 – Note: This score is not influenced by the fact that the King of Fighters was used in place of Guilty Gear or that Saki would probably be pissed at a low score. ^_^