Bakuman

[Kraco]

Lol Kraco, you'd rather live in ignorance that have the magic of manga be taken away from you? :P

Yes, 100 times out of 100. I mean, this is entertainment. If I was absurdly planning to make a career out of it, my view would be different, but as it is and I'm only a consumer, it would have been nicer to live in self-induced oblivion of ignorance. Not that I really was there to begin with, since this isn't really that different from, say, the calculations behind Harry Potter, but it's different from having it pictured before you in a manner impossible to ignore.

[MFauli]

Seems nobody is watching this anymore, so I didn´t notice that new episodes were out already. Just got done watching ep 6. While iz certainly adds an element of surprise, the way Saiko´s illness is handled is really poorly done. It just clashes too much with the otherwise pseudo-realistic tone of the show. On one hand, drawing manga at the hospital would by fine...by itself. However, the anime puts that much focus on how heavily sick Mashiro really is, that I cannot accept him continuing with his work. Azuki putting the pen back in his hand, when he´s having a near-break down wasn´t dramatic, romantic, or whatever else. It was overly stupid, reckless and non-sensical.

Of course, by cursing Mashiro with a 3-month-hiatus sickness, the author put himself in a corner, so Mashiro continuing to draw was the only available option. Though I expected some sort of "TRAP goes on hiatus -> Mashiro and Takagi are worried to death about their manga´s future success -> chapter 21 is released in Jack, and comes with massive fan-hype, due to fans having found out about the reason of the hiatus". Would have been the better plot choice in my opinion.

Edit: And whoah! What´s up with Takagi looking at Azuki and thinking how she got more mature and prettier?! It didn´t add anything to the scene, so I fear we might see some reeeeeally unnecessary relationship-drama in the near future. sigh

[Marik]

3rd Bakuman Anime Series to Be 25 Episodes Long

[Ryllharu]

[SFW-Whine] Bakuman S2 - 12 [Hi10P]
[SFW-Whine] Bakuman S2 - 12 [720p]



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When I read this Miura arc in the manga, I felt that Mashiro and Takagi were being too harsh on Miura. Acting like brats. It felt like they throwing a fit only because Hattori wasn't their editor, and were taking it out on Miura. Indeed, when the boxes came, they were grasping at straws and making up reason why Hattori was better ("well he sent SIX boxes!"). Really?

That said, the portrayal in the anime was a bit different. It was a lot harder to sympathize with Miura when he keeps going off like that. It wasn't different in any way, it's just the voicework changed my interpretations of those scenes. He was definitely forcing the two of them into doing what he wanted. It took those boxes loaded to the brim with notes to see how much thought Miura had actually put into it. He's still a little misguided because it's only his opinion on what humor works where, but he's got the right idea.

That behavior showed why the editor in chief would have been right about putting them on hiatus until college. The two of them aren't really mature. They don't have the work ethic that some of their mangaka friends do. The kind that makes the desperate to get published no matter what. Motivation is an ongoing topic throughout bakuman, and it's a good one to focus on. Aoki is starting to have her worries, Hiramaru is always trying to get out of working despite how good he is at it (Otters11 is a big hit in the bakuman universe), Niizuma can't help doing it, Fukuda will do whatever it takes to get published.

Saiko and Shujin waver back and forth. Part of the problem is the two of them are poisoned by a secondary motivation, the promise with Azuki. She's making good strides on her own to satisfy her end of the promise, but the two of them are burdened by both needing a hit, having it be something that can be made into an anime (by being in the appropriate demographic), and it needs to have a heroine role that Azuki can be cast in. In a way, that really limits their creativity.

So Miura had the right idea, just went about it the wrong way. As an editor, he's got good ideas, but he's too new to understand how he should implement them. He should be encouraging the two of them to try new genres. They are good a serious, high-minded series. But they can't really grow without trying other things, particularly Mashiro. Takagi can always try to write different things in his free time, but Mashiro needs to practice with different art styles to strengthen his core skills. He can't develop by only doing the same thing over and over. To be great at their strong point, they need to branch out.

The best mangaka play with the medium to its full extent. Serious, drama, romance, battle, comedy, action, even sports. Then they take those components back to their strong suit and make really great series. Miura is right, Saiko and Shujin needed to leave their comfort zone, and comedy is a safe play to play around in.


Lastly, this episode marked the opening volleys to one of my favorite arcs. Iwase is back, challenging authors she knows of to why they write manga instead of writing novels.

[MFauli]

Just finished watching ep 14.

Azuki earned herself the bitch-title phenomenally. Wow. She *knows* that Takagi is his best friend, and his best friend asked Mashiro not to tell Azuki about Aoki, yet she cannot accept that? yeah, bitch.

Also, I didn´t like the scene with Nizuma, because from previous episodes, we know that whatever he thinks of Ashirogi turns out true. So, I´d be very surprised if Tanto ended up a hit.

To end this posting, I´d like to mention that Hiramaru is the best character at the moment. Like, super funny, haha.

[Ryllharu]

Indeed. Hiramaru and his editor are comedy gold.

But I disagree with the rest of your post.

Niizuma is smart, and he loves manga, but he's not an oracle. He said that Saiko and Shujin do serious series best. And that's true. Mashiro's art isn't geared well toward comedy like his uncle, nor is it geared toward action, which is why they keep losing to Niizuma. Takagi is a smart guy, and he knows what works for him too. But at the same time, they need to experiment with their style and grow. If they succeed with Tanto, they will broaden their scope and be able to write more well-rounded manga in the future. Also, Niizuma has his own specific tastes. He likes their serious work the best, but he enjoyed TEN as well for its own merits. Tanto may in fact be a big hit with kids, which according to the editors is an under served demographic for JUMP JACK right now.


Don't forget that Kaya is Azuki's best friend. The Kaya who right now believes that her boyfriend (whom she loves a lot and has been going out with for a long time) is cheating on her with her rival from middle school, who she always felt inadequate toward. Azuki is just backing her up the best way she can...telling Saiko she can't trust him after all.

It all comes down to misunderstanding and improper communication. The two guys didn't know about the heartfelt tsundere letter, and the girls didn't know that the two guys were hiding the ambush meeting because they didn't want Kaya to get hurt.

Azuki is trying to resolve the problem, and feels that she needs to know the whole story to do so, but Saiko is backing up their original intention to not make things worse by not mentioning Aoki. Azuki knows that Saiko is lying by omission to her because he's really bad at lying, and they have that whole connection thing going on between the two of them. The one where they sit together in nervous, absolute silence, but still know what the other is thinking.

[MFauli]

That´s correct and all, but still, when your best friends asks you not to tell something, then your gf should accept it. Especially when you´re making it clear that it´s nothing terrible that he´s omitting. Well, I hope this gets cleared up soon.

[Ryllharu]

That´s correct and all, but still, when your best friends asks you not to tell something, then your gf should accept it.

Yeah...tell your girlfriend something to that effect and see how well it goes for you...

Just saying.

[MFauli]

Will do when I ever have one

lol, but still ... even if we go by the notion that you should be able to tell your gf anything, Azuki is unfair, because she know´s how close friends Mashiro and Takagi are. Guess she doesn´t realize that in her crusade for Kaya.

EDIT:

Watched episode 15. Really hope that any drama between Takagi - Miyoshi - Aoki has come to an end now.

Nakai was an ass in the restaurant scene, BUT Aoki is also a bitch. She´s completely disregarding Nakai´s feelings by trying to work with him again. And Nakai wasn´t just short-term horny or whatever, but actually gave it his everything to convince Aoki of his love for her. Made me upset how she couldn´t understand that.

[MFauli]

ep 18 watched.

The Ashirogi-side of things is kinda frustrating to watch at the moment, because they´re clearly better at serious manga. They somehow managed to get their comedy manga serialized, but I´d bet a lot on the fact that it won´t get them the desired long term-success. So, it´s all a waiting-game for when they return to a serious story, before they can even dream of competing with Niizuma.

Speaking of which, Niizuma is now almost too good-hearted of a character. Yes, you can try to apply personal motives to his reasoning, buuut it´s also obvious that he intends to help Ashirogi.

Best character remains Hiramaru. Omg, his desperate near-date rape-plan. And his "Don´t do two manga", rofl. Looking forward to the next couple of episodes.

[MFauli]

Am I really the only one who´s still watching this anime? Weird.

Anyway, ep 19 painfully strengthened my belief that Ashirogi have to scrap their gag-manga and get back to a serious story. Nothing about Tanto so far implies that it´ll be able to be any competition to Niizuma´s two manga series. Guess we´ll have to wait till Tanto drops some more. Though the anime imo hinted that Tanto would remain a "kinda successful manga", which would put Ashirogi in a difficult, annoying position: Continue doing the mildly successful series, or risking it all for something they truly like creating.

[neflight86]

The thing is, just about anything we would want to discuss they already do or have discussed in the show itself. It's tough to create meaningful, or at least insightful conversation from Bakuman because the characters are almost overly thoughtful. All that's really left to talk about is speculation...