Genshiken Second Season - Episode 13 (Completed)

Madarame quitting his job was certainly something of a shock, but just how badly has his decision affected Hato?  With the club's resident cross-dresser not visiting Madarame or the Genshiken, or even answering his phone, something is clearly amiss.

Fortuitously however, it just so happens to be time for a club trip, making for a perfect excuse to all-but force Hato to participate, even if that does mean sending a telegram to tell him about it.  So it goes that an unusually sullen Hato turns up for a trip with the rest of the group, including a newly-unemployed Madarame.  With Rika in charge of the arrangements, it's inevitable that there's plenty of Warring States era history to take in (and lots of generals and their predilections to talk about) before heading to the traditional hot springs resort to relax.

As per what seems to be club tradition at this point, this outing also provides a perfect opportunity to resolve any troubles within the group and it's Ogiue who takes the lead here, proving her mettle as the club president by taking Hato to one side and giving him some advice to help him clear up any confusion in his mind.  Couple that with an opportunity for him to talk about things with Madarame, and the overwhelming support of his fellow club members when it comes to his cross-dressing, that come the end of the break Hato is back to his usual (or unusual, you could say), self.  With plans afoot for the next club magazine, we might even be perfectly placed for Genshiken Second Season Second Season....

So ends a fitting finale to a wonderful, wonderful series - no matter how much I enjoy all things Genshiken, even I wasn't expecting this anime adaptation to be quite so good, but as I've mentioned previously it's managed to surpass its source material quite handily.  Not only is this the one show that has made me laugh uncontrollably every week (thanks largely to an Attack on Titan parody this time around), it's also made me bawl my eyes out on one occasion and has generally made me care about its entire cast of characters.  Its slant on otaku and fandom may be very different from the original Genshiken, but it's no less accurate and amusing because of it, and I really can't express enough how much I hope we get more of Production I.G.'s efforts to bring this to the small screen, and it absolutely deserves it.