Genshiken Second Season - Episode 11

The on-going Spring Fair certainly didn't need any more livening up for the Genshiken crew, but regardless of this is seems that Kasukabe's appearance is going to give it yet another shot in the arm.

Aside from her glee at getting to call Madarame a lolicon at every available opportunity having spied him with Sue, Saki is also more than happy to be able to catch up with old friends and be introduced to new ones, while Hato looks on and picks up on every single being given off by Madarame as though he's the only one to notice.  In fact, it's Hato's instinct to defend Madarame at every turn that actually gets the latter into trouble, as Kasukabe's jibes about the kind of material he keeps in his apartment leads to Hato inadvertently revealing that he has something far worse there... Saki's cosplay photos, that is.

Hato's refusal to reveal what thought he'd just reacted, coupled with Madarame leaving immediately after, only makes things worse, and eventually Keiko press-gangs Hato into revealing all.  Needless to say, she finds the whole thing hilarious, but nonetheless spies a perfect opportunity to square the circle for Madarame, and thus a plan is hatched to get him and Kasukabe in a room together so that he can finally explain all.  Cue the most touching scenes ever to come out of Genshiken, and me finishing the episode as a blubbing wreck because the whole thing is far too emotionally resonant for me.

Having gushed about Genshiken Second Season so often already, I haven't left myself much space to ramp up my use of superlatives when it gets even better as this episode did.  This week's instalment really hits at the core of everything that is so wonderful about the show - its humour springs forth naturally from conversations and frequently proves to be laugh out loud, it has a surprisingly sincere soft centre when it chooses to dig down into it, and the viewer is so deeply invested in the characters and situations that the series has created that... well, see the end of the previous paragraph for details.  In a season of strong series, it isn't over-egging the pudding for me to state that Genshiken Second Season continues to punch above its weight as both my favourite and certainly the summer's most consistent show in terms of delivering the goods.  I might just cry again when the series finishes, because boy am I going to miss it.