As you probably know by now, Bakuman will be serialized in Shonen Jump Usa for three months as a preview for the series. The first chapter ran in the May issue and it managed to entertain me, even though I was cynical going in. The Ohba/Obata duo’s previous work, Death Note, left me somewhat cold and even resentful even after I had finished watching every episode on the edge of my seat. The appeal of quick-thinking mind games, long explanations and good dose of melodrama that was tactfully added by the director began to wear off as I mulled over the storyline. I came around to thinking of it as an honest exercise in glorifying the absurd while being morally repugnant at the same time. The way human beings were treated and how Ohba decide to justify Light’s actions were things that I just couldn’t ignore. As of right now, I’m trying to get back into Death Note because of the solid production values. If I don’t take it seriously, then maybe I can come around to enjoying it again.
What I hoped to convey in the previous paragraph is to show that I have a love-hate-love(?) relationship with this duo, so I had a reason for being skeptical of their next work. However, Bakuman managed to allow me to get past that. The story revolves around a middle-schooler, Moritaka Mashiro, who has a talent for drawing. He gets recruited by another student, Akito Takagi, into teaming up to be a manga-creating duo.
Every shonen story seems to start out with the hero find out that he has some power hidden deep within him or he stumbles upon it and we’re supposed to care as to how he ends up using it. Bakuman starts at a slight different, though still familiar, angle. While the protagonist knows he can draw, he’s resigned himself to the inevitable fate of becoming a Japanese salaryman. Once he starts getting recruited by Akito, the comic seems like Ohba is actively trying to stop people from entering into the comic business. The fist conversation between the protagonists is rife with detailing the volatile world of being a mangaka. For example, the order of a series in the index of Shonen Jump indicates the popularity of a given comic and if a series stays too long at the bottom, it gets cut. And even if a mangaka has had a highly successful comic, he still has to continue to work after finishing said comic because if not he’ll go broke.
While all of this seems like evidence that Ohba wants to disenchant the dream of becoming a mangaka, it actually turns out to be the opposite. Ohba wants to romanticize this job and the process of achieving it. The reminiscing of Moritaka’s uncle, the absurd promises that are made, and the way that Ohba makes you look forward to these two kids making it to their goal gives the story an uplifting message for other kids with the same dream. It’s nice to see that after Death Note Ohba has decided to do a 180° turn when it comes to the atmosphere of this comic.
The art work is typical Obata, so you know what to expect. I’m thankful that there’s yet another one of his characters that has thick, pasta-like hair (Akito).
The first volume of Bakuman drops in August and I’m looking forward to reading the rest.