diff --git a/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py b/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
index 2d502e076..7937db277 100644
--- a/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
+++ b/beetsplug/lastgenre/__init__.py
@@ -135,7 +135,6 @@ class LastGenrePlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
             'force': True,
             'auto': True,
             'separator': u', ',
-            'asciify': False,
         })
 
         self.setup()
@@ -247,15 +246,16 @@ class LastGenrePlugin(plugins.BeetsPlugin):
         if any(not s for s in args):
             return None
 
-        if self.config['asciify']:
-            args = [unidecode(arg) for arg in args]
-
         key = u'{0}.{1}'.format(entity, u'-'.join(unicode(a) for a in args))
         if key in self._genre_cache:
             return self._genre_cache[key]
         else:
-            genre = self.fetch_genre(method(*args))
-            self._genre_cache[key] = genre
+            args_ascii = [unidecode(arg) for arg in args]
+            for arglist in [args, args_ascii]:
+                genre = self.fetch_genre(method(*arglist))
+                self._genre_cache[key] = genre
+                if genre:
+                    break
             return genre
 
     def fetch_album_genre(self, obj):
diff --git a/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst b/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
index d874a4a72..9d3242467 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/lastgenre.rst
@@ -108,9 +108,6 @@ configuration file. The available options are:
 - **whitelist**: The filename of a custom genre list, ``yes`` to use
   the internal whitelist, or ``no`` to consider all genres valid.
   Default: ``yes``.
-- **asciify**: Convert all non-ASCII characters to ASCII equivalents
-  when performing lookups.
-  Default: ``no``.
 
 Running Manually
 ----------------