Ranked #110

Bakuman (Manga)

Bakuman is a pretty unique story. I've never read or heard of any other story like it.

Story: The story starts out in a weird way. It gives you the feeling that it's going to end up like another typical Shounen series (lame main character who mysteriously gets an interesting life with all kinds of fantasy and supernatural aspects), but that will change quickly. After a quick reference to the author's previous work (Death Note, ever heard of it? :P), we begin to learn the basis. Mashiro is just your average 9th grader, but when he accidentally leaves his notebook in school, he ends up running into another classmate that would pretty much change his future. This other classmate, Takagi, basically says that he likes how Mashiro can draw and wants to know if he would draw manga for him, while Takagi writes the stories. There is also a bit of romance involved, since the girl Mashiro likes wants to become a voice actor in the future. Anyway, from here on in, we see the struggle it takes to become a mangaka.

Art: I think the art is pretty good. It is straight-forward for the most part, but the detail involved with the manga companies are very well drawn IMO.

Character - More development is needed on the characters, but it is still early when writing this so I'm not worried. The characters are pretty likable and can be quite amusing as well. It fits with the story.

Enjoyment - I think the main reason why I enjoy this manga is because it is so realistic. I'm so used to reading things that are so far fetched that it can sometimes be annoying. However, Bakuman is so real and you even get references to many other manga series out there (Bleach, Naruto, Gintama, Death Note, and other old time manga that I wasn't so familar with). Plus, you almost feel as if you want the characters to succeed. Also, I think it is really cool that the reader gets to be informed about how hard it is to become a mangaka. Overall, I enjoy this series. ^_^

Overall, Bakuman is a really real series that can be pretty entertaining. It's definitely a good read. ^^ read more

It looks like Obata and Ohba struck gold again. After the phenomenal success of Death Note, the duo came up with Bakuman, a manga about making manga. While this series is a whole lot different than Death Note, it still maintains Ohba's style of intelligent writing coupled with Obata's masterful artwork(Come on, the guy's gotta move to seinen already). Bakuman's plot isn't really groundbreaking, but the storytelling is one of the best in current shonen manga nowadays. The manga shows us how writing manga for Jump works, how hard it is to even get published, how it is even harder to stay serialized in Japan's most popular shonen magazine. The characters also have their own appeal; Niizuma Eiji with his L-ish mannerisms and quirks, and Miho and Mashiro's strange approach to their pseudo-engagement.However, as good as Ohba's writing is, sometimes his characterizations fall flat. Aside from their unique quirks, they aren't that well fleshed-out and we can't really form a bond with any of them. Takagi, for instance, is perhaps the blandest character in the whole manga while his girlfriend, Miyoshi can sometimes be very grating. Having great characters is very important in this kind of story, since it's not action-y. That aside, the plot moves forward in a straightforward and concise manner as is the style of Ohba. All in all, if you want some intelligence in your shonen manga and a bit of insight as to how the whole industry works, read Bakuman. You won't regret it. read more