Genshiken

Genshiken is actually a really good show too, and not just a bountiful source of humorous .gifs. It is definitely the most accurate portrayal of anime/manga fandom I've ever seen in anime form. Granted, I still have yet to see Otaku no Video, but until then Genshiken takes the otaku cake in my book.

There are two major things that make Genshiken stand out from other anime of its type:

1) Dead-on understanding of otaku culture. The series does a great job of showing the various aspects of anime/manga fandom, from discussing the material with friends to playing video games (both of the regular and "adult" varieties) to cosplaying to building models to going to doujin conventions. If you're a part of this culture, you will definitely recognize elements of yourself and your community in this series. And that's great, because...

2) The show never stoops to stereotyping or putting down the characters or their interests. The cast is primarily made up of members of a college club that focuses on watching anime, reading manga, and playing video games. Yeah, most of the group is male. Yeah, they're not the most attractive bunch (on the whole, anyway). And yeah, most of the guys aren't exactly ladies men. But those traits are never exaggerated to the point of caricature. Even a character like Madarame (the guy who gave us the lesson below), who is more interested in hentai than real women, is perfectly capable of conversing with girls without becoming "comically" paralyzed or quietly lusting after them. I like that. These are real people with real interests and real personalities, and while I generally expect that from any anime I watch, it's especially good to see it in a show about otaku culture, which is so often misrepresented for the sake of comedy.

Overall, it's pretty great to see a show that is about actual fandom and not some absurd parody of it. The steady stream of references (both obvious and obscure) to anime, manga and games in the series make it all that much more enjoyable, and further prove that its creators understand the subject matter at hand.

I mean, seriously, nobody who was ignorant about otaku culture would make a joke about cosplaying as Bridget.

Ewwww, Bridget...

*shudder*

Umm, I guess that's all I need to say about Genshiken for now. I'll probably toss out a (pretty high) score when I'm done watching it.