Otakuism

Lord Genome (699) summarily decimates Kyon (145) and Nakajima Subaru (90). The only question here is: did full-body Genome win or did Head in a jar Genome win, and is one more GAR than the other?

Firo Prochainezo (365) beats Seto Gouzaburou (302) and Tybalt (141). Someone from Seto no Hanayome actually loses and Tybalt gets shafted again, but at least this time not by Romeo.

Anisawa Meito aka. Animate Tenchou aka. Captain Gaigerryu of Manly Battle Team Animate Force G (519) burns Higara Saito (467) and Takano Miyo (390) to smithereens with his manly passion. CONTINUE TO FIGHT WITH SPIRIT ANIMATE TENCHOU!

Kamina (1084) kills, buries, and pisses on the corpses of Aspergillus Niger (545) and Koichiro “Coach” Ohta (56). No surprise here, though the Niger sticky in /a/ probably helped that little bacteria some.

Hei (434) defeats Sanger Zomvolt (244) and Okazaki Tomoya (181). Once again it looks like Mr.Zomvolt doesn’t have the power to cleave victory, let alone cleave evil.

Cornelia li Britannia (562) wins against Ricardo (110) and Douglas Rosenberg (30) to become the second female victor in this tournament. If there is a GAR female, then it’s definitely Cornelia. Scarier than all the men on that show combined.

Looking on to Group E, we got the appearances of Kittan, moe Viral, fan favorite Raoh, and /a/ idol Giovanni. Don’t think there will be many surprises in this bracket, but we’ll see what happens.

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Alice-chan is dekkai awesome!

Watching ARIA is always like revisiting an old friend. The friends may be a little older and a little wiser, but always essentially the same. Which is never really a bad thing when talking about ARIA. How do you improve perfection? It’s amazing that ARIA has managed to maintain this same outstanding level of quality for so long. This mixture of quality nostalgia and wish to see old friends is really what makes me continue to watch ARIA.

So the Origination isn’t anything different. Same staff, same animation, same awesome music, save for new OP and ED songs. The only thing that’s really different is that it’s aired in widescreen now, which is pretty nice. This first episode is a simple story about the three girls envying their senpai’s, but it really hints at what will probably be the core themes of this final season: looking towards the future while remembering the past. ARIA has always included this theme somewhere, but it will probably really come into focus here. I’m not sure if this season is thirteen episodes or twenty-six, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy every minute of it.

Almost, maybe, kinda GAR? Not really.

Maebara Keiichi (607) beats his opponents, Aizawa Yuuichi (140) and Shades & Grenades (77), to death with a baseball bat to secure victory. Yuuichi’s sarcasm couldn’t save him this time.

Alleluja Haptism (355) beats Ikari Shinji (233) and Jean Valjean (227) only on the virtue of being the lesser of two evils. And no one watched Les Miserables: Shoujo Cosette, so it’s not like Jean had much of a chance anyways. Still got a surprisingly strong showing, though.

Huang (382) beats Uzumaki Naruto (124) and Madarame Harunobu (332). Madarame really should of won here. If the rest of Genshiken was animated he would of I bet. Thank god Naruto didn’t win at least.

Michishio Nagasumi (413) defeats Dante (331) and Imber (51). Still need to watch Seto no Hanayome. And out of curiosity, how many people actually watched the Devil May Cry anime? Ten?

Masa (349) barely scratches out a victory again Ikari Gendo (344) while Iwamoto Kogan (62) is left in the dust. Still needing to watch Seto no Hanayome.

Furukawa Akio (375) knees Mamoru Andou (219) and Matsubara Kaoru (108) in the stomach for his win. Kind of wish Andou would of won, just for the fun of still being able to yell ANDOOOUUU!!!

Looking ahead to Group D, we got the GAR appearances of Lord Genome, Anisawa Meito aka. Animate Tenchou aka. Captain Gaigerryu of Manly Battle Team Animate Force G, and Kamina vs. a bacteria. That’s sure to be one hell of a match.

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As demonstrated by the new Dragonaut ED. At least the song is a bit better than “Rain of Love.” Now that was one terrible ending song.

And I just got to say how much I love Kazuki this episode. He’s going beyond insane now. I think his hair is starting to grow in proportion to his insanity, too. That’s how crazy he is. I hope he comes back with a face scar so he can become even more of a cliche villain and have a face complex, too. Widow’s dragon form is also ugly as hell, even with the already bad CG. Doesn’t even look remotely like a dragon. Looks like Jin will be reunited with Toa AGAIN next week. Hopefully this will be the last time and we can get on to the more interesting plots of Thanatos and the evil little girl that keeps showing up. That’s one creepy little girl.

You know any show that starts out with an eight minute parody of Kamen Rider has to be awesome, which Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is. If this episode is any indication than the second season will be even better than the first. The animation quality was excellent throughout and the episode was just plain hilarious. The minute Nami decided to commit suicide I knew Itoshiki would show up in all his suicidal glory, and he did and I laughed for five minutes after that. The new OP is also great and rivals BURE in musical excellence. Can’t wait for that single. I can’t wait to see what SZS comes up with next. Looks like a.f.k. will even sub in a timely manner this time!

They are My Noble Masters looks to be a surprisingly smart and sexy show. Despite the parallels that can be drawn between it and Hayate, it has a strong cast of funny characters and hot girls. I’m already in love with Shinra-sama. Miyu is also quite nice, despite being a loli and a freeter. But what I really have to comment on is the seiyuu cast. I’m rarely a man to notice seiyuu, but I was able to pick out a few favorites of mine here. Of course there’s Tomokazu Seki as Ren, but you also have Yousuke Akimoto as the Colonel, so it’s basically Domon vs. Master Asia all over again! I’m also glad Tomokazu Seki went for his insane Animate Tenchou voice. I’m just amazed by that guy’s range. Shizuka Itou is also great, with a mixture of Alice from Pumpkin Scissors and Eika from Sky Girls. I hope the show takes advantage of its strong characters and seiyuu to create a truly funny series.

We laughed, we cried (especially me when the first draft of this post was lost), Saigar continues.

L (403) deduces his way to victory against Ito Makoto (269) and Graham Acre (377). Personally, I’ve never seen L do anything remotely GAR. He lost to Light, the most obvious villain ever, while eating sugar and spinning around in chairs. At least Graham tries to defeat the gundams, albeit unsuccessfully.

Alucard (722) devours the competition of Clare (275) and Ellis (33). Surprise, surprise there. An uber-badass vampire beats two women in a tournament of manliness.

Bruce Ironstaunch (537) throws the rock of victory into his opponents’, Takamachi Nanoha (315) and Genjiro (165), faces. Gar is being able to stand up to the MAN, especially when the MAN is Rossiu. Best joke character in the tournament.

November 11 (450) defeats Shirashi Minoru (313) and Lockon Stratos (311). I kind of wish I finished Darker than Black to find out how GAR 11 becomes, but then I remember how boring the show was and don’t want to anymore.

Shark Fujishiro (438) beats Randel Oland (189) and Leeron (344). Seto no Hanayome is another show I want to watch someday, unlike DtB.

Kino (382) wins against Hlbari Kyouya (322) and Kururugi Suzaku (267), proving even a little girl is more of a man than Suzaku will ever be.

Looking towards Group C, we got the epic (not really) battle of the harem leads as K1 vs. Y1, the pathetic appearance of Shinji, and the return of ANDOOOOUUUU! Give him a good knee to the stomach, Akio!

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So the final volume of Genshiken came out in English a couple weeks ago and I finally got my hands on it to read recently. This final volume is a perfect send-off for the series, with the return of old characters and plots while providing just the right amount of closure.

The best part of this volume was probably the return of Sue and her hilarious antics. Angela forces Ogiue to stay with Sue for a night to see just how weird Sue can get, from speaking random Japanese to stealing Ogiue’s panties (the best running joke of the series). Aside from all the jokes there’s also a great emotional bond formed between Ogiue and Sue. The two together are definitely a double-moe knockout. Ogiue also takes her first step towards being an actual manga artist and it was nice to see her developing to be more passionate about her art.

This volume also featured the culmination of Madarame and Saki’s forbidden relationship, at least in Madarame’s eyes. He never gets up the nerve to confess to Saki, but instead chooses to appreciate the strong friendship he’s formed with her. I find something very admirable in Madarame’s stoic resignation of his love, and hope he’ll be able to hook up with someone someday. Angela would do him good.

The second to last chapter features no words at all, just scenes of the gang having fun and reflected. You really have to appreciate Genshiken’s powerful storytelling in that it doesn’t even need words to convey its powerful emotions. Kio Shimoku’s work here in these final chapters is truly beautiful. And now it’s time for the final chapter, where much tears are shed and goodbye’s are said. It’s very much a “life goes on” ending, which is the best you can get from a manga like Genshiken. The reappearance of the spying from the other room gag was a nice way to bring things full circle. Ogiue was also made President! Moe-est president ever.

Genshiken is definitely one of my favorite manga’s. Nothing else has come so close to accurately portraying the otaku lifestyle. While the relationships in the second half may have diluted this theme, it seems natural to me that as people grow older new relationships open up and become important. Hobbies become more a part of our life rather than consuming it. I really hope the final chapters of Genshiken are animated soon, as these really are some of the best parts of the show and I want to see how the studio would put their unique twist on them. Even more Ogiue fanservice please.