My Girlfriend's a Geek, Vol. 5
written by Pentabu
illustrated by Rize Shinba
Paperback
ISBN: 978-0316178259
The fifth and final volume of the My Girlfriend’s a Geek manga continues to dish out geeky-related humor, especially fujoshi-related humor. Yuiko is the kind of geek who’s into B.L., moe and doujinshi, and she’s forcing her boyfriend Taiga to share her interests.
Most people don’t realize that Yuiko is a fujoshi, but she’s a pretty extreme one when Taiga is around. She has him write B.L. stuff for her, and after getting his (grudging) permission, she starts uploading his writing on the internet. Taiga doesn’t think very much of his B.L. writing, but it might be a hit online!
One of the funniest parts in this manga actually happens thanks to a friend of Yuiko. The friend is also a fujoshi, but she’s even more dedicated to her geekdom because she makes doujinshi as well. Her boyfriend flips to learn her interests, and this leads to an amusing part of the story.
And while Yuiko and Taiga are the main characters, part of this volume veers away from them to two men putting together a B.L. drama CD. One is totally into the idea of the CD, and the other is being dragged kicking and screaming into it. Oftentimes the funniest parts of Geek are the responses of the nongeeks to being dragged into the geek world.
Then we get back to Yuiko and Taiga, and Yuiko’s birthday is coming up. Taiga offers to make whatever wish she has come true (danger, danger!). He should have thought through his offer before saying it out loud. Yuiko’s answer isn’t as outrageous as it could have been (alas), but it stays with the fujoshi flavor.
My Girlfriend’s a Geek keeps using the same type of humor throughout the series. Because of that, I don’t think it would work as a very long series. As it is, this last volume just ends in the midst of its usual humor, without any resolution or deep insight. But it’s good at what it does and the series has been a fun ride. Fans of the manga ought to check out the My Girlfriend’s a Geek novels, which are also published by Yen Press. They’re not exactly the same as the manga, so readers will get more story with the novels.
Oh my goodness, this is a great synopsis. Thank you so much for sharing it with us and taking the time to really put your thoughts on it down on here. I sounds like it could go either way depending upon what people like.
There are things about graphic novels that many people don't realize in a modern way because they just read them but that is the whole point after all.