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. ^^
