With less of a strict central event like Comic-Fest to lend structure to these chapters, Second Season's third volume generally assumes a format closer to the rambling slice of life of the first “season,” with a few notable changes based on the comic's evolving priorities. Obviously the fact that the Genshiken is now virtually all girls fundamentally changes the dynamic, but even beyond that, Second Season generally possesses both a more specific focus on gender identity and a heightened sense of everyday drama compared to the original. Characters like Sasahara and Kugayama weren't exactly the types to spark consistent personal drama, but with Hato and particularly Yoshitake in the mix, things are a bit more tense and dramatic these days.

Though she remains the least-explored from an internal perspective, Yoshitake's mere presence drives the drama for the majority of this volume. From the first scene with her “brother” (actually her younger sister) onward, Yoshitake is intent on pushing everyone's buttons, dragging Yajima out of her comfort zone and alternately interrogating or investigating Hato. It's actually kind of uncomfortable - Yoshitake's various pranks (having her sister pretend to be a cool older brother, guilting Hato into changing for her sister and then attempting to ransack Hato's room) go way beyond acceptable prodding of her friends' comfort zones, and the manga's handling of these actions is a bit hit or miss.

On the one hand, there very often is one friend in a group who just can't respect boundaries and social cues, especially in the context of fandom groups like the Genshiken. Additionally, the fact that her friends don't call her out on her behavior rings very true for a group that's as insecure and stuck in their own heads as these characters. On the other hand, the story's handling of its characters makes for a sometimes awkward disconnect between how much it wishes you'd take its cast seriously versus how much Yoshitake is allowed to get away due to the heightened, almost slapstick nature of her character. So far the characters have simply danced around Yoshitake's actions through narrative convenience and scene cuts (Kuchiki interrupting a particularly charged moment, for example), but I'm hoping the story eventually starts treating Yoshitake's character with the same sensitivity it treats its primary leads, and has someone challenge her on her behavior. Yoshitake isn't an actively malicious person, she just doesn't understand boundaries, and it'd be nice for the manga to directly engage with that. Until then, it'll remain somewhat weirdly out-of-step with the level of reality embraced by the rest of the manga.

On the far end of the treatment-sensitivity scale from the Yoshitake material, this volume's handling of Second Season's gender focus is more consistent and generally thoughtful than previous chapters. This begins right in the first chapter, with Yoshitake's sister Risa offering a very different take on ambiguous relationships with fan identity. Risa is a tall, athletic girl who regularly gets mistaken for a man, and she seems to feel hemmed in by her parents' expectations that she'll continue playing basketball in college. Risa's best moment here is when she admits that she sees Hato's choice to crossdress and associate with the Genshiken as a kind of bravery. Though Risa doesn't really conform to standard gender expectations, she's still limited by the expectations of the role she's been cast in, and that she can take strength in someone so different from herself is a nice articulation of the fundamentally welcoming and empowering nature of the Genshiken. “Whoever you are is an okay person to be” is a key theme of Genshiken, and shifting that idea from being purely about fan interests to broader issues of personal identity is a natural and welcome evolution.

Questions of identity aren't just limited to Risa's sister. With Hato now firmly established as a central character, his presence as near-protagonist is prompting shifts in all the people around him. Yajima has shifted from his greatest doubter to his self-assigned defender, demonstrating great loyalty to her friend while still maintaining her own web of insecurities. Ogiue is attempting to keep the Genshiken productive while fighting with her own writers' block and even a little uncertainty over whether Hato's artistic abilities are greater than her own (a conflict complicated to great effect by Hato's apparently crossdressing-based drawing skills). And Madarame's uncomfortable experiences at Comic-Fest are prompting him to reassess his own position, leading to a few more poignant reflections on whether he's too old for his own identity, as well as some great scenes discussing visual novels with Hato (Madarame on the visual novel Kousaka was modeling for: “At the end of the game, they're all pregnant. No explanation, just pregnant. Those boys are amazing!”). The dialogue is as sharp and funny as ever (another great one by Yajima: “If everyone who drew like this suddenly changed by putting on women's clothing, life would be a lot easier”), and the character relationships are diverse, warm, and absolutely natural. Genshiken might actually be at its best steeped in vignettes like these.

Kio Shimoku's art continues to impress in this volume, with the Second Season seemingly offering a greater diversity in both line density and shot framing from the original series. Shimoku's control of panel space is understated but stellar - wide open shots evoke the silence necessary for punchlines, while closeups or angled shots are often used to demonstrate power dynamics and comfort levels between various characters. The panels are often composed so as to draw the eye for dramatic effect (Hato turning on a light is followed by a long vertical panel where the eye surveys the condition of Madarame's room), and there's even one nearly wordless sequence in the middle of the volume where a small Hato vignette is told almost entirely through expressions, panel flow, and shot composition. Overall, this is a confident volume that demonstrates both that Second Season can evoke the strengths of the original and also that it is truly its own series, with new priorities and a somewhat heightened sense of actual drama. Genshiken is back in fine form.