Bakuman. / First Impressions

「団結と決裂」 (Tanketsu to Ketsuretsu)
“Solidarity and Breakdown”

Running off of the adrenaline built up from last week, I was ready for Team Fukuda to raise hell inside of Shounen Jump Jack’s editing department. Unfortunately, it became a battle of who could yell the loudest. But can you imagine how cool it would have been if there was a manga styled argument or something instead of just regular yelling?! Ignoring how stupid Team Fukuda ended up looking, I thought it was pretty cool how a level headed Mashiro managed to calm everyone down. If I were to think about how much Mashiro has changed since episode one, I think it’s pretty amazing how much more confident he’s become in himself. Plus, his uncanny ability to have inspiring flashbacks just at the right time makes him dangerously smart. By inspiring, I mean his ability to draw knowledge from episodes ago and change the feeling inside a room instantly.

After Mashiro’s moment of awesomeness, there wasn’t too much happening plot wise this episode. While I could go on and on about how much I think Koogy’s tactics are underhanded or how much I love Aoki because of who voices her, or how cute she looks with reading glasses, I thought that having all the mangakas sitting in one room reading each other’s works was fairly interesting. While I would have loved to watch all the mangakas criticize each other’s works, I suppose it was good enough to hear their inner thoughts.

On the love front, I’m glad that Azuki hasn’t been forgotten. Her short, random appearances were nice, but watching her perform as her Saint Viz. Academy character again was pretty entertaining. I still don’t understand why everyone thinks Azuki’s singing is bad — I’m pretty good with music and her voice sounds pretty darn good to me. Her dancing on the other hand can get pretty hard to watch, but I still think she’s doing a good job!

Seeing how the season is coming to a close, I wasn’t sure how this show would be able to keep things interesting for the last three episodes — until every single participant in the competition decided to redraw their respective name. While I don’t know how re-writing a name will make for an interesting episode, I’m thinking a combination of internal struggles and general tomfoolery will make for some fun episodes.

I hope.

 

Preview

30 Comments

  1. I’m with you on Azuki’s singing. I’m always so confused when they complain about it.

    I also happened to like her dancing too, so maybe I just have low standards. 😛

    Revenant
    Reply

    1. The only thing I can see bad about her singing is that her voice seems to fade away, as if she’s too shy and her voice becomes a whisper briefly. The dancing is hard to watch though. Maybe it’s because this is Azuki we’re watching. Sweet Azuki that silently teared up from reading Mashiro’s text. Feels discomforting to watch her gyrate like she does in that dance.

      On another note, anyone else notice just how many different face Fukuda had in this one episode? So many expressions O.O.

      I wish Aoki would get more development, right now she’s coming off too full of herself. Her arrogance coupled with how she has Nakai twirled around her finger and how she refuses to give anyone more than a quick insult and glance makes her seem, well, like a bitch. Doesn’t help that her manga screams “shoujo” not shounen (Eiji’s face with the fairies around him adds to this), seems Fukuda is getting the same feel since he’s more “old school” as far as shounen manga goes.

      Seithecs
      Reply

      1. Her singing voice has very little variation in pitch.

        It’s possible you may have needed to hear Hayami Saori sing properly before, to understand what she’s doing to intentionally make her singing ‘bad’.

        runedot
        Reply

  4. ya i just wanted to know, Takaii where do you watch your anime? like what website ? because these screen caps are beautiful lol, i always find crappy quality online. Or do you download it? if so which group subs it ?

    hidiie
    Reply

  7. For a moment there i thought that azuki miho would do something ballsy as ask support for ashirogi. Than i remembered young seiyu don’t have personalities. They just listen to what they are told.

    outcast
    Reply

  12. it is still on the watch list along with mahou shoujo madoka. i might just marathon the whole thing one day, even if it’s just to listen to the OP.

    and lol at Nakai, forgot how skinny he was. and he was pretty fat already back then…

    i wonder if they’re making a season 2, i might marathon that too if they do make it.

    thenewhorde
    Reply

    2. Madoka is not what you think it is. The first 2 episodes just rick you into thinking its normal. But Bakuman really has gone far development wise I think. As for season 2, it’s starting in fall I think.

      PeepQ
      Reply

  13. While I’ve never worked as a mangaka, I’ve worked in a similar artistic role before as an architect. I think the portrayal in Bakuman is rather unrealistic. For one thing, you really have very little time to make changes to your design concept (‘name’ in their case) after your advisor already okayed it. The dateline looms and production takes a shitload of time. Cutting those background transfers and sticking them, this job alone is no joke. Even with no changes to the concept, some people can barely make the dateline. Because of the nature of production, accidents happen. A printer could break down, or a much needed item could run out, so additional time may get wasted. I really don’t see how our hero could freaking afford to redo names like its nobody’s business.

    Not to mention the eagerness both of them display in front of Hattori-san. Let me just say this, art is subjective not like maths or science. No artist, designer, or whatever, likes to go for a critique session. Every piece of work is a labor of pain, like your own baby. It hurts real bad when someone says its worthless. I don’t know, maybe our anime heroes are super humans and can take rejection and criticism especially well. I just find their level of productivity and enthusiasm unreal. It is too “positive”.

    silentvoice
    Reply

    1. While the mangakas of course changed some things to make it a viable story, I’m sure they kept a vast majority realistic because they actually know what it’s like to go through it. And I’m sure mangaka is very different from architecture….

      Bossun
      Reply

      1. Well then let’s look at it from the perspective of a high-schooler. I’m sure all of us remember our own experiences. Assuming they sleep for 8 hours, school is short and take only 6 hours, transportation is short and take only 1 hour, lunch, dinner plus breakfast takes 1 hour, bathroom/shower takes 1 hour, homework and revision takes 2 hours (remember homework?!), miscellaneous activities takes 1 hour, they are left with 4 hours to work on their manga each day. Hardly enough time. Yet Mashiro can afford to REDO or change stuff just before a competition dateline? Not even full-time, professional mangaka with assistants can do that.

        silentvoice
        Reply

      2. Some mistakes in your schedule. Mashiro doesn’t sleep 8 hours, more like 3 plus napping in school. He also doesn’t do homework. That adds 7 hours to the time he puts into drawing manga each day!

        znail
        Reply

    2. Actually, they don’t sleep for 8 hours. They frequently pull all-nighters. And Takagi does both their homework for them since he’s not needed past the first name. I agree that it is a little unrealistic though.

      Poiira
      Reply

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