Genshiken

Title:  Genshiken
Mangaka:  Shimoku Kio
Length:  9 Volumes (Completed) Second Season, 2 Volumes (Ongoing)
English Translation? Yep.  All released by Del Rey.  Kodansha USA will release the Second Season.
Demo/Genre:  Seinen/Slice-of-Life/Comedy

How did I hear about it?  The recommendation came from my trusted otaku buddy from college.

Kanji Sasahara has just begun his first semester at Shiiou University.  Being an otaku, he investigates the Uni's manga and anime clubs, but ultimately finds his way to the Genshiken (The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture), a small club of extreme otaku.  At first he's unsure if he'll fit in, but he soon finds that he is just as bad as any of the other members.  This manga follows the misadventures of the members of the Genshiken as they attend comic conventions, publish their own doujinshi, and form relationships with one another.

I hope that premise doesn't sound too terribly boring.  There may be no over-arching plot at hand, but the adventures of the Genshiken are hilarious, and the characters are superb.  This manga had me laughing (sometimes nearly to the point of falling out of my chair) on numerous occasions and, being a seinen, its sense of humor is allowed to venture into more risque territory than its shounen brethren.  I wasn't too wild about the artwork at first, but as most long series tend to do, the art evolves over time, and it soon reached a point where I absolutely loved the art.

At first, the more-or-less main protagonist Sasahara just didn't grab me.  Not that I disliked him, he just didn't show enough personality to really stand out.  However, as the series progressed, he became a pretty cool guy who would stand his ground when the club was arguing and make a move on the girl he likes.  It was fun to watch his personality develop, and by the end, I really liked him.  Saki was another favorite of mine.  She is the only "normal" member of the Genshiken, who is dating a super-otaku.  She endlessly antagonizes the other members for their nerdiness, though she ultimately develops real friendships with all of them.  The other female members of the cast also ranked pretty highly with me:  Ohno, a fujoshi (fan of yaoi) and cosplay nut, and Ogiue, a self-loathing otaku with a talent for drawing who serves as the love interest for Sasahara.  The character who really takes the cake though, was Madarame.  His character design is about as stereotypically nerdy as it can get, but he's simply fantastic.  He's hilarious (usually unintentionally on his part) and over-the-top.  I loved his nerdy appearance and his shameless display of otaku-ness.  His interactions with the other characters were always fun to watch, especially his scenes with Saki.  He's the one she gives the roughest time, and despite that, they develop a good friendship, even leading to an unrequited love on Madarame's part.  The rest of the cast was still quite good, as well.  The characters simply made this series great.

Some four years after the end of the series, Kio-sensei kicked up Genshiken Nidaime (the Second Season) which picks up where the series left off.  The original members of the Genshiken have all graduated and play a lesser role in this series, which follows the Genshiken during Ogiue's presidency.  The original cast members still make appearances, especially Madarame, much to my delight.  Some new characters are introduced as the freshman members of the Genshiken.  So far, they're all decent, though not especially memorable, with the exception being Hato, a heterosexual cross-dressing fudanshi (male version of fujoshi).  I love Hato!  The second season is still in the fairly early stages, so I'm very eager to see where it's going to go!

If you consider yourself to be an otaku, you simply have to read Genshiken.  It's hilarious, and there will surely be moments where the characters will remind you of yourself.  Del Rey released all nine volumes of the original series before the shutdown of its manga division.  Kodansha has since taken over the licensing and will be re-releasing the original series in omnibus format, then begin releasing the second season for the first time in NA.  I plan on collecting this series as it's released.