Genshiken Hentai

Genshiken (げんしけん) is a Japanese manga series by Shimoku Kio about a college club for otaku (extremely obsessed fans of various media) and the lifestyle its members pursue. The title is a shortening of the club's official name, Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyūkai (現代視覚文化研究会), or "The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture". The series has also been adapted into an anime directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. The manga originally ran in Kodansha's monthly manga anthology Afternoon from April 2002 to May 2006, and has been reprinted in nine bound volumes. The ninth and final volume was released in Japan in December 2006.

A two-part short bonus story was included across both volumes of the Kujibiki Unbalance manga, published 2006/7.

In December 2009, a new chapter was released in Afternoon to celebrate the release of the Japanese Genshiken 2 DVD box-set, and in October 2010, the series resumed serialization as Genshiken: Second Generation (げんしけん二代目, Genshiken Nidaime).

Genshiken follows the lives of a group of college students drawn together by their shared hobbies, and the trials and adventures associated with being otaku. The story begins with the introduction of Kanji Sasahara, a shy, confidence-lacking freshman who on club day at university, decides to join a club he would actually enjoy, Genshiken. Over his four years at Shiiou University, Sasahara comes to accept himself for who he is and loses the inhibitions and guilt he once felt and associated with otaku culture, becoming an enthusiastic club member, and for a time, a capable club president. As the story of Genshiken progresses, focus is also placed on Saki Kasukabe, a determined non-otaku who initially struggles to drag her boyfriend Kousaka out of the club, and Chika Ogiue, a self-professed otaku-hater who feels a deep-seated shame and self-loathing toward her own interests and hobbies.

During the course of the series, the reader bears witness as the group grows in its cohesiveness over time, and bonds form between the characters as they begin to see themselves as more than fellow club members, but friends as well. In this context, club activities such as group outings, the biannual pilgrimage to Comifes, and even simply hanging out in the clubroom, allow the characters' complex relationships to grow into friendship, infatuation, and at times, even love. While a few of them never quite see eye-to-eye about their interests or the lives they lead, they are held together by the bonds of friendship that they share.

After Sasahara, Kousaka and Kasukabe graduate, the series shifts focus to three new club members: The self-conscious Yajima, the energetic-yet-annoying Yoshitake, and Hato, a fudanshi who cross-dresses to fit in better and go unrecognized by his normal classmates. Emphasis is also put on the character of Madarame, a former president of the club who actually graduated a year before Sasahara, but remained in the club due to working and having an apartment nearby, hanging out in the clubroom in his time off as he struggles to grow up and move on from university.

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