Bakuman Page 83-85

And thus begins the countdown to Bakuman's end...

I hate running behind on a series, especially when it happens to be a series that I consider to be my top weekly JUMP manga. Sadly, this seems to be the case with Bakuman and the worse part of it all is, the current development is quite possibly the most exciting and fresh it’s been in quite some time. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been great in the past of course, it’s just that these past 3 chapters have been such a pleasure to read, more so than usual. With a fine-tuned balance between comedy and drama (well not much of the latter), it’s been a real joyride so in this catchup post, I’ll be taking a leave out of Vivi’s book and post up my thoughts of each chapter, bypassing the summary bit. It would take too long anyways if I do that and this is a good compromise between covering each chapter and not covering chapter 83 and 84. Besides, no one really reads my summaries anyways (they’re too long!). Anywho, scroll down for some epic explosive diarrhea manga!

Bakuman「 バクマン」

I'm not sure what I laughed more at, the awkwardness or the reactions

Page 83 – Spying and Next Time
Read Online @ MANGASTREAM

Thoughts: Wow, quite a while since I read this chapter so backlogging does have it’s perks huh? Anyway, right off the bat it seems like my theory of Hattori giving words on encouragement or tips was thrown straight out the window on the very first page. It was actually just an address so Takagi can conjure up an ingenious plan for Ashirogi to tail and investigate the enigma that is Hattori. What this leads to is some damn entertaining espionage where the duo try their best to understand Hattori’s daily rituals. Apparently by doing this, Shuujin will be able to find inspiration for his name. I quite like the lengths at which he goes to create a great story and while it may seem excessive, in the end it was all a success as they manage to end the day with Hattori none the wiser. It’s crazy to see two young adults waiting around outside an apartment for 5! hours waiting for their target to get out. If it were me, I would have given up like after half an hour (alas patience is not in my blood). What was also funny about this was how everyone was oblivious to the fact that there were two guys in full-collared coats, with beanies, sunglasses and face masks tightly wrapped around their faces. How can you not be suspicious? They were literally standing right beside Hattori at one point and he didn’t even notice. I guess this kind of attire is the norm in Japanese winter but still, I would at least be suspicious.

The best part of the chapter however is how Iwase showed up to her meeting all whored up, dressed to impress an uninterested Hattori. With such a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere, it managed to draw out the most laughs for me since I can totally relate to what the duo were feeling at that time. Here Iwase was trying her best to seduce Hattori but Hattori is having none of it. The banter between Shuujin and Mashiro during this exchange was priceless, as Shuujin was fully into the new Iwase, with Mashiro trying his best to keep the man faithful. The awkward dialogue between Iwase and Hattori didn’t help too, since the reactions that they drew out of Ashirogi were classic. In the end though, the lesson is learned and Shuujin finally gets the last pieces of the jigsaw. He now has experience in tailing and investigating, as well as discovering the key to serious comedy from the Iwase incident. Knowing Shuujin, he will definitely use this in his next manga, which leads me to believe…..

I'm guessing that Shuujin will want Mashiro to return the favor one day

Page 84 – One-Piece Dress and Surprise
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Thoughts: …..that the next manga that they will do will be private detective/crime related. And voila! I am totally right as proven on the first page! (although I had the benefit of reading beforehand….). Anyway, it is not really a detective manga since they’ve done that before with TRAP. This time however, they decide to explore the other side of the coin, as Shuujin attempts to create a story based around the concept of a “Perfect Crime”. A great idea I must say and something that I will definitely pick up when given the chance. Add to this Mashiro’s brilliant art and what we have here is a surefire hit (to me). As the premise sink in, the duo are now brimming with new ideas and Shuujin outlines his plan of having the story set in middle school. Since JUMP would probably not allow blatant crime in their manga (apparently), they had to compromise and make it smaller in scale at the start which probably makes sense since their target demographic are shounens after all.

With the story based around a young kid with an eye and interest for “perfect crimes”, the stage is set for a cult classic where the ideals of the manga are not universally accepted (much like how Kick Ass the movie made mums and dads cringe). With the two examples of both small and big scale crimes that Shuujin explained, the possibilities for this manga is endless as the manga will combine the thrill of Oceans 12 with the setting of say….K-on! Without the moe of course, this time replaced with the duo’s trademark broody and serious looking designs. With the school setting, this kid will start drawing interest from other enthusiasts, leading to the group to create their own “Perfect Crime Club”. This alone will be a hit with the kids and set the foundation for a series with the potential to defeat +Natural’s grown-up/dark pokemon setting. With the possibility of real life kids following the manga and the amount of potential craziness that may erupt from their actions, a popular yet cult manga will definitely be born.

Of course, they can’t just start without having some fun of their own. This time, the victim for their own brand of perfect crime happens to be Shuujin’s young wife, Miyoshi. With Azuki’s birthday around the corner, they swap out Miyoshi’s gift with something identical so that when Azuki opens up the present, she instead finds Mashiro’s gift to her instead. And what a present it is. Being an artist has it’s perks and what’s a better present than drawing a masssiiveee self-potrait of your girlfriend? NOTHING. Poor Miyoshi never stood a chance with her one-piece dress and now it’s Ashirogi 2, victims 0. In all the ruckus, they also manage to finish chapter one of their new name, along the way hyping the series up to the clueless Murai by saying how much better it is compared to their last few projects. What they put Murai through these past few weeks by keeping him and the rest of the office in the dark was fully justified, since Murai deserves nothing less after what he did to TRAP. At least he gets to reap the benefits of their new name, once again parasiting his way to the top of JUMP (grrrrr…..).

The first barrier being the largest physically but smallest mentally (Oh snap!)

Page 85 – Perfect Crime and the First Barrier
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Thoughts: And now the latest chapter of the trio, page #85. What’s so great about this chapter? How about an inside glimpse on what the actual manga they’re creating looks like, as well as the character designs (the heroine is typically Azuki and typically hot. Also, as Traps highlighted to me, her description is very similar to a certain Iwase, scarily enough. I hope she’s not as stuck up though…) and info on everything in the series. With the working title “Kanzen Hanzai Club” (Perfect Crime Club for those of you who slept through the last few paragraphs), the duo show off their new property to Murai. The look on his face….he instantly agrees that the two have a winner on their hands. Hopefully though this isn’t the first nail in the coffin, since Murai did give the greenlight to the whole Tanto fiasco. Either way, his unrivaled ineptness as an editor won’t be enough to stop KHC, since the pieces are all assembled. With the dumbass barrier now cleared, nothing is in their way which leads us to the other storyline of the chapter.

Just like Ashirogi, Takahama is also hard at work on his next serialization project. With him being all confident on his latest stuff, Miura doesn’t share his enthusiasm since he is now spoiled by KHC (lol KFC). With him scrapping Takahama’s name, he challenges Takahama to try harder since he doesn’t think that he will even hold a candle to Ashirogi’s newest work. Not convinced that he is bested, he goes off to the duo’s studio and requests to read KHC. Needing all the opinions they can get, Ashirogi agrees and unsurprisingly, Takahama gives up to the kickassery of KHC. Tough cookies kid, better luck next time. As someone who came up with the ingenous idea of that business-kid manga, he will still have a chance at serialization in the future. Just not this time. So the chapter ends with the manuscripts being submitted in time for the new meeting and the cliffy hangs with the inevitable results.

Now it’s time for me to put my balls on the table and make my predictions (without the benefit of reading beforehand). I know that the two will get serialized so that is not an issue this time around. It’s not gonna play out like Tanto so there’s no suspense there at all. What I’d like to see however is the utter surprise and amazement plastered all over the staffs faces after they read KHC. I wanna see the look of defeat on the chief’s face, I wanna see him all depressed and shit for ever doubting Ashirogi. Of course that ain’t gonna happen since he’ll probably just shrug his shoulders and say “Keikaku Doori”. Still, I am really looking forward to the amount of praise KHC is gonna get. Not just from them, but from Team Fukuda as well. This time I’m sure Niizuma will not be disappointed and with this new manga, Iwase won’t be able to look down on Shuujin anymore, which is a nice change for once.

Of course, it might not go so smoothly though since there is still a chance that the chief will be all sore-losery and decide to test the manga out as a one-shot before serialization. This will throw a wrench into Ashirogi’s plans but the chief has done this before, so I can’t overrule this possibility. Either way though, I’m pretty sure this will be the ultimate manga from the duo, the one that will get them unprecedented popularity and finally get themselves an anime and doing Mashiro and Azuki a favor. Either way, this next chapter’s gonna be a hoot if only for the reactions the staff members will produce. Fingers crossed there’s no major potholes along the way.

/ 5 Commentsleave a comment /

• Mint says:

  May 19, 2010

  "orz I'm one of those people that don't read summaries, so it's all good, ha ha. Although yours are well done, now it's reminding me that I really should check out Bakuman! ;3 Then again, the anime is coming soon…

  Reply
  • Bass says:

    May 20, 2010

    Lol I don't read summaries too :P They're actually just there to help me recap on chapters when I forget, as well as to look up keywords of techniques and stuff.

    I don't think the Bakuman anime will be the exact same as the manga though, since the anime seems to be too short compared to the manga.

    Reply
• Vivi says:

  May 19, 2010

  LOL I love the mangaka's style, it's really nice & professional but she can draw goofy faces really well *3*

  Reply
  • tomodachi89 says:

    May 20, 2010

    Actually, Bakuman is drawn by a guy^^

    If you like his style, check out his other works (Hello Baby, Death Note, Hajime…) They are awesome, too.

    http://myanimelist.net/people/1888/Takeshi_Obata
    .-= tomodachi89´s last blog ..Naruto chapter 494: Killer Bee and Motoi =-.

    Reply
    • Vivi says:

      May 21, 2010

      Sorry sorry, it was a careless typo haha. I've read Death Note before, I haven't met many people who haven't before! LOL This is a nice break from the seriousness of DN, I missed the funnier stuff from him like Hikaru no Go.

      They talk a lot in Bakuman though, so I dropped it after a while :T

      Reply