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I’ve done a review of the Genshiken manga already. I was happy to see that the anime is pretty much the same. There aren’t any major changes in the first volume anyway. So for a review of the story, check out the manga review.

Here’s a little something I didn’t notice till I started writing the review. With all the special, limited and economy editions of anime being released I thought I’d check to see which edition I have. I have the “Nerd Grade Heavy Edition”. That’s just awesome. These folks know their audience.

Story time.

The first Genshiken anime DVD covers roughly the same amount of the story as the manga does. I think that’s great. That means I can read the manga then watch the anime and there aren’t a lot of spoilers for the next one. Might not be that big of a deal, but I thought it was cool. I haven’t seen that happen very often.

Art style.

The art in the anime is also very faithful to the manga. The only thing different is movement and the addition of color. It’s as if the manga came to life. Personally, I like animes that try to match the manga. I know it isn’t always possible. What looks good in print doesn’t always work well on the TV or movie screen. I think that’s a clue how good the Genshiken manga is.

Hearing voices.

I thought the English voice cast was dead on. All the characters sounded “right”, at least to me. The personality of the characters really came through. Madarame sounds confident, Sasahara sounds hesitant, and Kausaka sounds clueless. I’ve yet to watch it with subtitles, so I can’t comment on the Japanese cast.

DVD Extras.

The extra stuff on this DVD is kind of sparse. Sure, you get a few trailers and clean opening an closing. That’s kind of expected on an anime DVD isn’t it?

There is one cool extra. There is an episode of Kujibiki Unbalance included. It gets even better. When you select that extra the DVD menu changes. It’s like you have a Kujibiki Unbalance DVD too. The extras on that menu are for Kujibiki Unbalance, not Genshiken. Well, the anime specific ones, like clean opening and closing, are. They both have the same trailers for other anime. That’s the only way I can think of that the hidden DVD could have been cooler. Have trailers for stuff like Genshiken on the Genshiken extras, but have stuff like Kujibiki Unbalance on it’s trailers.

The bonus episode itself is ok. Kujibiki Unbalance may even be a good show, after you get to know the characters. One episode just isn’t enough to do that, so it’s not that impressive on it’s own.

Is it worth it?

Oh yeah, and then some. This is one anime worth checking out. If you liked the manga, you’ll like the anime. If you’re not into manga, it’s still worth it. This is one show that every otaku should see.

Anime, Review, DVD Review, Genshiken, The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Genshiken Volume 1, Nerd Grade Heavy Edition, DVD Extras, Extra Features