「2人と1人」 (Futari to Hitori)
“Together and Alone”

I’m so overcome with emotion right now. I never expected that a single episode of Bakuman could turn out so amazing. You expect me to believe something that was able to wring out my emotions and throw me through loops is a mere shounen anime?

I was pretty furious to watch our dymanic duo fall apart — something about watching them misunderstand each other over and over just started to really bother me. Mashiro obviously thinking Takagi wasted his summer with Kaya and Takagi stubbornly believing that missing his September 1st deadline angered Mashiro enough to break their partnership, it just started eating away at me as I watched our duo start working on their own individual projects. To make matters worse, after getting hit with scenes of all the memories of our duo becoming best friends, I wasn’t just how much it would take to bring our duo back together. How can you have a show about a duo who want to write manga when that duo doesn’t even exist anymore?

After making it halfway through the episode, I was sick of watching Takagi and Mashiro not working together. What marked the turning point was a short conversation between Hattori and Mashiro. Just watching Hattori clearly understand just how stupid our duo were acting seemed to ease my heart a little. But then to watch him think of a plan to bring them back together — I was smiling a little. While I didn’t catch it at first while I was watching, Hattori just happened to be the one who started to roll the rock down the snowy mountain of friendship.

After fearing that our duo would take more than one episode to get back together, I was so happy to watch them make up and become Ashirogi Muto again. That feeling of watching them slowly understand just how perfect of a team they make put the biggest smile on my face. For a shounen anime, I know that things like friendship and dreams are supposed to be the main genres, but something once again makes Bakuman feels different. While arguments between friends are common place and friendships are broken over the most trivial matters, I think the way that Bakuman managed to wrap the whole thing up in such a great way makes it special. It almost feels like that the whole ordeal could actually happen — something which only helps increase its impact.

Now that our duo are finally moving at their own pace and have all their loose ends settled, I’m extra curious about where things could be headed now. Will our duo finally have a hit? And was it me or did Hattori give off some Ryuk-esque vibes?

 

Preview

20 Comments

  1. “It almost feels like that the whole ordeal could actually happen — something which only helps increase its impact.”

    Even though me and my best friend weren’t trying to get published, we did work on a story together and this exact thing happened to us. Though unlike our duo here, when me and my friend finished our story, he couldn’t partner up with me anymore since he had school problems to deal with and I had colleges to think about. But that was a few years ago so watching this episode brought me to tears and I called him once the preview was done.

    I just love how real this show is. It may not be the best show on right now (Madoka anyone?) but it’s definitely a show that captures the spirit of our generation.

    Solarguardian
  2. They skipped out on the Kaya fan service, but aside that I love how this series brings out so many supportive characters. I wish Azuki would have played a part after hearing the news, even if it was a short time.

    Bluance
  3. Yeah, despite what Fukuda said about series that start slow not doing well in Jump/Jack, I think that this is a perfect example of one doing exactly that. I thought that the manga was really average until it introduced the huge cast of side characters, and the unusual amount of focus and time spent on other mangaka and their assistants is really what makes Bakuman shine. I just hope they find a decent amount of time for my favorite mangaka, whom they managed to give a big spot in the ending to and have cast a seiyuu for, but hasn’t appeared yet!

    On a side note, did anybody else notice the oddly angelic Gyan that crept its way into Crow?

  4. I felt the exact same way you did. I was getting legitimately annoyed by their silly dispute. This kind of thing really sets this apart from other slice-of-life stories and is what makes me like it so much.

    Bossun
  5. When it was first mentioned that both were thinking about making a mystery manga about a detective who tricks criminals into revealing themselves, I immediately thought about L… Bakuman. having been created by the same mangaka-duo that created Death Note, one would almost be inclined to think that Ashirogi Muto would end up making Death Note. xD

    HenDarou
  6. I’ve never seen such intensity! I couldn’t help but laugh aloud as I saw what Hattori was actively scheming. He’s so friggin’ SLICK!!

    Mashiro and Takagi’s laughter was so contagious. I literally had the same reaction with tears in my eyes. Their smirks totally made it all the more amusing. I haven’t enjoyed such a laugh like that in a long time. (*coughlastweekcough*)

    I wonder if they’ll include the Battle Manga with the bundle they plan to submit? I was pretty excited about that one. :]

    Shirt

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