Bakuman

My relationship with Bakuman is one full of love and hate. Bakuman shows exactly how the manga world works but... in the process it... we are being put through the dumb relationship between Mashiro and Azuki. It's plain obvious that Ouba sensei is no good at writing romance and I hate most of the female characters he come up (both in Bakuman and in Death Note).

Anyway, a second season has been confirmed and it will start at the end of this year.

Plot: (8/10) – Good
Bakuman is about Mashiro Moritaka (Saikou), an average 9th grade student but talented artist, and Takagi Akito (Shuujin), an elite 9th grader and aspiring writer. Takagi is the one who convinces Mashiro to join him in becoming the greatest mangaka Japan has ever seen. Mashiro agrees because he wants to become a successful mangaka and then marry the girl of his dreams, Azuki Miho.

Bakuman is very educational as it shows us exactly how Shueisha Jump editorial department works. It also depicts quite realistically the struggles and problems face by mangaka. I especially like how the last 2 episodes depict the stress face by the editors and mangaka while waiting for the serialization results.

One of the bad things about Bakuman is the romance. Though it's not exactly the main focus and probably only took up less than 20% of the air time, it's more than enough to irritate me.

Characters: (6/10) – Fair
There are more characters I hate than like in Bakuman. The only characters I like are Eiji, Fukuda and Hiramaru (appeared in the last 2 episodes and will appear more in season 2). I hate ALL the female characters in Bakuman and I don't really like the 2 main characters too.

Here are some characters I like:

Eiji - I love his passion for manga and his eccentric personality.

Fukuda - Though he's arrogant, he's really cool, kind and charismatic! He's my favorite character in Bakuman!

Hiramaru - He's not properly introduced in the anime yet. He's eccentric too and I find most of his actions very funny.

Here are some characters I don't like or hate: (I don't usually do this but I need to rant it out!)

Mashiro - His motivation of becoming a mangaka turns me off.

Takagi - I'm ok with him but I remember how he explicitly talked about how smart girls are actually stupid because they forget how everyone hates smart girls, and that if they were really smart they’d purposely act stupid so that boys would like them more. Hmm... Should I hate Takagi or the guy who came out with this line!?

Nakai - I hate him!! You will know why in season 2.

Miyoshi - She has the talent for Karate but decides to give it up so that she can become more girly and likable, and also have more time to bother Takagi and Mashiro. WTH!? As a girl, I can't agree with this! =.=

Azuki - She's the "smart" girl Takagi was talking about. =.=

Aoki - She's probably the worst female character. In the anime, except for being a snob, she hasn't done anything that makes her very hateful. You will see more of her hateful acts in season 2.

Art/Animation: (9/10) – Very Good
As expected, the art is good. It's pretty cool that Obata sensei can draw in different art styles for the different manga inside Bakuman.


Music: (9/10) – Very Good
I like all the theme songs, in particular the Opening Theme "Blue Bird" by Kobukuro and the 2nd Ending Theme "Genjitsu to iu Na no Kaibutsu to Tatakau Mono Tachi " by Takahashi Yuu.

Enjoyment: (7/10) – Fairly Good
There are moments (manga making related) where I truly enjoy Bakuman. There are also moments (romance related) that I simply can't bear to watch.

Overall: (7/10) – Fairly Good
In my opinion, Bakuman is an over-rated series. There's a lot of hype over the manga and I can sort of understand why as this is the first manga that talks about manga making. Though I think the concept behind Bakuman is good, the execution of the story and most of the characters are not very good.