From the Guys who Brought You Death Note...

Bakuman is a relatively new manga by Tsugumi Ooba and Takeshi Obata, the creators of Death Note. It came out last August, and it's still being serialized in the Japanese magazine, Shonen Jump.

Basically, it's a manga about two guys who make a manga.

Moritaka "Saiko" Mashiro is an average 9th grader. He is a good artist, but he doesn't think anything of it. His uncle, a mangaka, worked himself to death (literally) making manga. So, when Akito "Shujin" Takagi sees Saiko's drawings and asks Saiko to collaborate with him on a manga, Saiko isn't exactly eager. But, eventually, Saiko agrees, realizing that he would rather be a mangaka than a bland office worker. Saiko also has a dream of marrying his classmate, Miho Azuki, and they decide that when Saiko and Shujin become famous mangaka, Azuki will become a voice actress in the anime adaptation of their manga and Saiko and Azuki will get married. Until then, Saiko and Azuki will communicate only by letters, as Saiko's uncle did throughout his life with his love interest.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of this manga. Although it does provide an interesting behind the scenes look into Jump Magazine, the rest of it is a little boring. The romance feels a bit contrived, especially the relationship between Shujin and Miyoshi, one of Azuki's friends. It just doesn't flow naturally.

Perhaps I'm reading a bit too far into it, but I have also found some mildly sexist messages in this manga. For example, in chapter 2, Shujin decides that Azuki, by pretending not to be smart to make herself look cute, is actually a genius, while Iwase, a girl who's proud of her good grades, is a stuck-up idiot. Saiko agrees with him. Later on, when Saiko tells his parents about his plans to make a manga, his mom, remembering what happened to his uncle, says that she doesn't think it's a good idea. Saiko's dad? Well, he tells the mother to be quiet, because according to him, "men have dreams that women can't understand!" One wonders, then, what can be said of all the female mangaka out there.

Although the manga can be a little boring, and, at times, facepalm-worthy, it's not really all that bad. Saiko and Shujin's overzealous enthusiasm is amusing, and I'd say it's worth a read just for the inside look at Jump magazine and the process by which manga is published and serialized.

- Johnson