reading can do a lot....

[micalai]

They say a well written story (or song) can influence ones way of living, or something of the sort. I used to read a lot when i was younger (regardless of what justin says about me not being able to read. I guess what you would call a reflective reader, what i read i reflect upon what i did in my life or any instances I may have shared with the story. Well what i just spent about eight hours of my life reading hit really, really close to home. No its not some epic novel, or trilogy or anything like that. Its a 55 Chapter manga called Genshiken. Its about a bunch of otaku that join this club, The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, or more comonly known as Genshiken. and if you're wondering what the word otaku means, read genshiken or google it either or :P. Anyway I really connected with this story, whether it be because everyone is more or less around my age range in the story, or they're all just otaku like me and my friends i don't know. I mean its pretty crazy i can more or less put every character to one of my friends and i'm pretty sure everyone will agree that we fit. Its kind of funny, i found myself in the exact same spot as the main character on a number of instances whether it be running a club, to the rocky relationship he goes through, to the general otakuness. The thing i loved most about this series is the Genshiken room in general; i think the artist knew this as he planned it out. The opening and ending chapters are simply named "Genshiken" The beginning of the story to the end, everything was because of this one room, this one club, these 6-7 people that had something in common became the best of friends, simply because they liked something. And no not all the characters liked each other, but because of them just spending time in Genshiken they just grown to love each other. The progress of life really shines through, it goes through over a four year time period (college) and you really see the characters evolve as actual people from getting jobs to their love lives. Although I know its just a made up story, with a bunch of made up people it hit so close to home for me that i'll most likely never forget the story as a whole. Haha i guess its like those fans of a band that are like "HE WROTE THAT SONG FOR ME!!!" It really does feel like this artist indeed write this story for me; and although i will probably never meet him or anything I wish i could give him a hug and a handshake for what he's done. Makes me wish i had some kind of Genshiken to get to, somewhere to just show up to everyday and see familiar faces just to talk about shit that doesnt really matter, get to know them more; and who knows fall in love (or fix something i messed up for that matter)

Well, until that day I'm just gonna have to live life with what i'm dealt. Thanks for reading to the end, I appreciate it.

-EFG