This is a list of characters that appear in the manga and anime series Genshiken.
Main characters Note: the Genshiken members' favourite manga, anime, and games are non-existent parodies of actual manga, anime and games. For instance, Sasahara is a fan of the game The Champ of Fighters (CoF), a parody of The King of Fighters (KoF). Occasionally a real series is mentioned in the manga that is fictionalized in the anime, and vice versa. (Biographical information is from Volume One of the Genshiken manga and the Genshiken Official Data Book.)
Voiced by: Takanori Ōyama (Season 1 and 2), Tatsuya Kobashi (Second Generation) (Japanese); Michael Perreca (English); Thomas Guitard (French) The third president of Genshiken. At first in denial about his otaku nature, Sasahara eventually accepts and embraces it. He loves hentai PC games despite not owning a computer until volume 3. When Sasahara assumes the title of Genshiken president from Madarame, his first decision is to push the club's initiative, and establish their own booth at Comic-Fest. While Sasahara is pretty much the "normal" otaku, his unwavering loyalty to a single character (Kujibiki Unbalance character Ritsuko Kübel Kettenkrad a.k.a. "The Chairman") makes him stand out from the others. Even the dōjinshi created by Genshiken under his leadership is a Ritsuko-themed one. Sasahara gives up being president during his senior year in order to focus on studying and finding a job, and passes the title on to Ohno. While Sasahara starts off as a quiet, reserved member of Genshiken, he transforms into a somewhat stronger-willed individual, especially during his presidency. While not completely confident in himself, he is able to find a job as a manga editor and even fight back his own doubts in order to confess his feelings for Ogiue. Sasahara also helps Ogiue by providing criticism and being an unofficial editor for her work in general, despite the possible risk to their relationship.
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Season 1 and 2), Momoko Ohara (Second Generation) (Japanese); Kenneth Miller (English, as Kenneth Robert Marlo); Remi Caillebot (French); Sebastian Schulz (German) Unusually handsome and cute, Kousaka is actually one of the most hardcore otaku in Genshiken. He loves hentai games and is undefeatable when it comes to video games, particularly the fighting genre. As Saki's boyfriend, Kousaka is largely responsible for Saki learning to be patient when it comes to dating an otaku. Kousaka can be considered the exception to the rules of stereotypical otaku, as he is able to juggle fashion with an otaku lifestyle, though after getting a job programming for a porn game company, even Kousaka cannot completely keep up with such a hectic schedule. Kousaka is easy-going and never loses his temper, a trait portrayed by the constant smile on his face. However, he can be rather forceful when the need arises, particularly when it comes to keeping Saki from avoiding her promises. Kousaka, while fashionable, is not afraid to try new things. In order to help sell Genshiken's dōjinshi, he dresses up as Izumi from Kujibiki Unbalance, a female character with a very short skirt (Tokino in the Genshiken 2 anime).
Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Season 1 and 2), Rina Satou (Second Generation) (Japanese); Carol Jacobanis (English); Genevieve Doang (French); Esra Vural (German); Ariadna Jimenez (Spanish) Kousaka's girlfriend. Fashionable, violent, confident, occasionally smokes, and not at all attracted by the sexual charms of anime characters, Saki is not an otaku in any sense of the word. She follows Kousaka into Genshiken, and is eventually blackmailed by the first Genshiken chairman into joining the club. Surprisingly, Saki actually saves Genshiken from being shut down on two separate occasions, though her motives have more to do with revenge and guilt than becoming more of an otaku. Despite being vehemently against otaku activities such as wearing nekomimi (cat-ears) at the start of the series, Saki eventually becomes comfortable with the other club members to the point that eventually she is considered their close friend (aside from the possible exception of Kuchiki). Saki has a tendency to use nicknames. She calls Sasahara "Sasayan", Kugayama "Kugapii", and Ogiue "Ogichin" by nicknames, and even though she at first refuses to call Kuchiki by his self-appointed nickname ("Kuchii"), Saki starts using that nickname as well. She later becomes an entrepreneur in developing her own fashion line.
Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Season 1 and 2), Kazuyuki Okitsu (Second Generation) (Japanese); Bill Timoney (English, as Billy Regan); Bruno Meyere (French) The second president of Genshiken, Madarame is personally chosen by the first Genshiken president to be his successor, though Madarame shows the most leadership and initiative even ally appointed as president. He is a Gundam fan and arguably the most hardcore otaku out of all of Genshiken. Madarame buys dōjinshi without even looking at the price tags, something that occasionally leaves him with very little spending money on basic necessities such as food (his sushi of choice is bacon sushi mayonnaise, cheap at 50 yen a piece). Madarame takes pride in everything that he purchases. The Official Genshiken Data Book's otaku quiz section calls the highest level of otaku "Madarame". Madarame's loud and adamant support of his own otaku lifestyle initially makes him Saki's nemesis in Genshiken, but as Madarame develops a crush on Saki it heavily influences his interactions with her. However, even after graduating and getting a job at Sakura Pipe Repair thanks to his "computer literacy" (i.e. experience with porn games) Madarame never admits his feelings to Saki as he does not want to risk ruining their friendship. In the relaunch of the manga, Madarame still drops by the Genshiken clubroom for lunch. In order to help the crossdressing Hato be able to come to the clubroom as a girl while attending classes as a male, Madarame agrees to allow Hato use his apartment to change since it is very close to the school. Hato invites Madarame to their upcoming school festival, but soon finds out that his crush Saki will be there with her boyfriend Kousaka. When Madarame arrives at Genshiken's cosplay event he talks to Hato who is internally debating on whether to tell him that Saki is visiting. Soon Saki does show up and brings up a memory about Genshiken finding S&M in one of his drawers while they were at his home. He then claims that 2D girls are the only type of girls for him, but then remembers about the cosplay photos of Saki he has hidden. Here he falters a bit to everyones surprise, Hato then lets out a "oh" because he saw them when they fell from behind the table. Keiko then hatches a plan to get Madarame to confess to Saki. With a little help from Hato they succeed in getting them alone together in Genshiken's clubroom. There Madarame confesses to Saki rather weirdly, but she understands him and politely refuses his feelings. Later he quits his job to "try out being a loser." Keiko confronts him in the clubroom claiming that the only reason why he got a job close by was because Saki was still a student at the university. She speculates that he first wanted a job close to the uni so he could drop by Genshiken now and then and potentially cross paths with Saki, but now that Saki has moved on he has no need for such a job. In the manga, he eventually gains popularity and develops a harem of girls that seek his affection (Angela, Sue, and Keiko), but at the end he confesses and pursues a relationship with Sue.
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki, (Season 1 and 2), Takayuki Kondou (Second Generation) (Japanese); Bill Rogers (English); Damien Da Silva (French); Dennis Schmidt-Foss (German) Of the three original upperclassmen, Tanaka's personality is more neutral than the others. He is generally not as eager to rant as Madarame, but is more comfortable with himself than Kugayama. A hardcore cosplayer and costume designer, Tanaka is able to bring what should be impractical or even impossible costumes to life. Tanaka is also an expert and veteran plamo (plastic model) and Gunpla builder and is not afraid to teach anyone who is willing to learn. While well-versed in many areas of model and figure culture, Tanaka is personally not experienced with figure-modeling, but attempts to learn by sculpting a model of Shinobu from Kujibiki Unbalance. Tanaka finds his dream girl in Ohno, who becomes not only the ideal model for his costumes, but also his girlfriend. He also makes costumes for Saki and Ogiue, though this can be attributed to his love of costume design, and not any sort of romantic feelings towards either of them. His cosplay skills helps him get into a fashion design school. Tanaka believes that models and cosplay are two separate worlds, and treats those two worlds somewhat differently. "Figures are figures. Cosplay is cosplay."
Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (Season 1 and 2), Hiroki Yasumoto (Second Generation) (Japanese); Jim J. Ward (English, as Rome Elliot); Alexandre Coadour (French); Tilo Schmitz (German) The stuttering, heavyset Kugayama is Genshiken's only artist until Ogiue's arrival. He generally lacks the motivation and commitment to create a full-fledged dōjinshi. In volume 5, Sasahara asks Kugayama to draw a dōjinshi for Comic-Fest, which he fails to do until Saki forces him, Ogiue, and Sasahara to make one under a very tight schedule. He is given the nickname 'Kugapii' by Saki. In volume 6, he graduates and begins work at a medical device manufacturing company in Iidabashi as a salesman. Kugayama, though at first a seemingly mediocre artist, is actually quite talented. However, his talent only appears when he is properly motivated, i.e. when drawing more erotic imagery, particularly that of Yamada from Kujibiki Unbalance.
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Season 1 and 2), Yukana Nogami (Second Generation) (Japanese); Rachael Lillis (English); Jessica Barrier (French); Susanne Kaps (German) Ohno is the fourth president of Genshiken. Raised in the United States since the third grade, she graduated from an American high school, joining the Genshiken at the beginning of the Fall term. Normally soft-spoken and easily embarrassed, Ohno is surprisingly upfront when it comes to one of her two main passions: cosplay. With a nice figure and large bosom, Ohno and her cosplaying (using costumes sewn personally by Tanaka, whom she begins dating) quickly become Genshiken's main attraction at student fairs. Ohno's other main passion is yaoi involving muscular, middle-aged, exceedingly bald men. One of the reasons Ohno joins Genshiken in the first place is because only they would accept her fetish. She is also close to Saki, as Saki was the first one to find out about Ohno's preference for older men. Because of her tastes and her Fujoshi preferences, she is also unusually attracted to Bara, a genre aimed towards gay men. Ohno is against cosplay sex, claiming that doing so betray the characters, but when asked if it's okay to have sex while cosplaying as a porn character, she becomes very embarrassed and indicates she has already used that loophole. Her decision to become the next president of Genshiken comes from Saki's suggestion that she could turn it into a cosplay club (literally "Society for the Study of Cosplay" or Cosken in the original Japanese). Ohno later passes the presidency on to Ogiue. In the relaunch of the manga, it is revealed that she is not job hunting as she is waiting for Tanaka to finish his additional schooling, implying that she may be planning to be a housewife or to help him.
Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (Season 1 and 2), Nozomi Yamamoto (Second Generation) (Japanese); Michele Knotz (English)