What do I say about this manga ? Honestly going to into this, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I feel like I've been involved enough in the otaku culture in my own limited ways, so this manga didn't break ground with any fascinating insights into otaku culture.
As for the characters, I'll will say they were entertaining if not super interesting. They all get things to do and none of them feel very superfluous. I will say though, the peak of this manga for me was definitely the latter half of the first generation. Ogiue x Sasahara wasn't something I was super interested in but it was surprisingly wholesome and I loved it.
As for Second Season, I'll be honest, it just wasn't very interesting. Madarame gets sooo much of a bigger role and while I didn't mind that, I genuinely did not enjoy how members of the Genshiken felt entitled to interfere in his love life. It applies to the way they forced him to basically confess to Saki and how they forced the whole "harem" issue.
Speaking of the "harem", it is genuinely amazing how the author manage to wring like 6 volumes worth of chapters from basically nothing. The only character that legitimately had some kind of romantic interest in Madarame was Hato. Angela, Keiko and Sue have literally no reason to like him but they just do and go along with the charade of being in his harem because... bad writing ? I mean for fuck's sake, the manga thinks its sooooooooo clever for pointing out that this is a "harem" arc.
The whole Hato x Mada thing could've been interesting but of course, it wimps out at the very end and gives the "win" to Sue who is a nothing character. That's right, I said it. She serves literally the same purpose in the manga as Kuchiki, i.e, being a gag character. She has zero character development, she has the personality of a tissue paper and the number of interactions she and Madarame have can be counted on one fucking hand. But somehow she is the right choice because she's a loli. Fantastic.
Reading the above, you may gain the impression that I hate this manga but I don't. It's just that the longer I think about how this manga ended, the more it aggravates me. Overall, the first Season was good and while the ending of Season 2 is disappointing, there's still some enjoyment to be had.
