Bakuman Volume 1

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By Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

I should note right off the bat that I’ve never read Death Note, the previous series by these two creators. The premise struck me as ‘random sympathetic people get killed’, a genre that has never appealed to me unless they come back (hi, Higurashi). However, Bakuman is supposed to be something completely different, a look into the art of making and selling manga, with lots of Shueisha in jokes and the like. So I gave it a shot two years ago when it debuted and the scans first appeared.

I dropped it during Chapter 2, for reasons I will get into later. This time I powered through and read to the end of the volume, and I’m mostly glad I did, as there’s a lot to like here. It’s very much a geek title, where you don’t have to know all the obscure references they’re making but it serves as an added bonus joke for those who do. One of the two heroes, Moritaka, interests me as I originally thought he would be the standard reluctant wussy shonen hero, but that was subverted almost immediately. I like his fire. And the manga information contained herein really is a fascinating look at the Japanese publishing industry.

There is, however, Chapter 2. The setup for this is that the other hero, Akito, is trying to convince Moritaka to create a manga story with him, and talking about why he noticed him. He notes the 3 smartest people in the class are the two of them and Azuki, the girl Moritaka has a crush on. Moritaka notes that her grades are merely average, and Akito notes that Azumi instinctually knows the best way to look cute is to be earnest and get average grades, in preparation for becoming a docile Japanese wife (this despite her dreams of being a voice actress). What’s more, he disparages the girl with the best grades in class, Iwase, as prideful and unlikeable because she acts smart.

Now, one can argue that Akito is not necessarily an author mouthpiece, and he could just be set up to look like a jerk later on. But not only is it hard not to take two male leads as mouthpieces for the authors when it’s a series about two male authors making a manga, but the entire ‘revelation’ about Azuki is set up to sound like some sort of dramatic shonen truth, analyzing Azuki’s bloodline and upbringing to show how they created what she is today. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. There’s also a swipe at shoujo manga in a later chapter that also reads poorly, but that reads more like ‘guys are guys’, so I’ll give it an easier pass. If guys continue to be guys through the whole manga, though, this will be rough going.

It doesn’t help that Azumi is presented very much as a prize to be won by the hero. I’m hoping that her character gets fleshed out later and we have more to her beyond ‘has a secret crush on Moritaka and wants to be a voice actress’. We do meet her grumpy karate friend here, which leads me to hope they might do a few chapters from the female perspective as the time goes on. Most of the manga, though, is devoted to its dynamic male leads. Who are very dynamic, and easy to like when they aren’t talking about women.

I do note that Viz seems to have an editorial decision that shonen manga can’t have endnotes detailing the more obscure references or Japanese cultural habits. We’ve seen them at the end of some shoujo GNs and the like, but Bakuman, like Hayate the Combat Butler, has nothing whatsoever. Which is a shame, as the manga is adrift with Shonen Jump references going back to manga from the 1960s. Ashita no Joe in particular is the favorite manga of Moritaka, which likely means nothing to a great deal of today’s casual manga readership, especially Death Note fans who haven’t read much else. Some history would be appreciated.

Ambivalent as I was about some elements of Bakuman, I will be getting the next volume. It’s actually managing to make manga writing fairly shonen, and its two leads bounce off each other well. I do hope the ‘smart girl’ in class kicks Akito’s ass at some point, though.

Gin Tama Volume 19

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By Hideaki Sorachi. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

The last volume of Gin Tama took a situation that appeared to be very serious – Hasegawa’s marriage troubles and his arrest and trial – and played it completely for laughs. So it’s no surprise that this volume takes the utterly stupid premise of Hijikata getting a possessed sword that turns him into a raging otaku and taking it deadly serious. So serious that the plot takes up the entirely of the volume, and won’t be finished till 20 comes out.

The reason for this, of course, is that Hijikata going on about 2D versus 3D and taping old sentai anime is funny, but Hijikata being terrified of violence and crawling on the ground pleading for his life is grounds for treason, especially in the Shinsengumi. As you may expect, he was completely set up, but that doesn’t make the scenes of him when he’s under the sword’s control any easier to read about.

As for the others, things happen exactly as you’d expect. There’s a new Shinsengumi returned from negotiating with the government for more money in the budget, and he’s exactly as suspicious as you’d expect. There’s Yamazaki, finding out the truth long before anyone else and them getting murdered, in the best ninja tradition. (If Yamazaki is genuinely dead, I’ll show more sorrow next review, but I seriously doubt that he is.) Okita is acting like a giant jerk and convincing the enemy he’s on their side… when of course he’s entirely on his own side. And Kondo once again appears to be blissfully ignorant of everything, but reminds us once more why he’s Captain.

Into all of this is added our three heroes, who are used more as a spice than anything else. Gin’s reaction to Hijikata being possessed by the sword is really underplayed, as you can almost feel the disgust at the sword’s possession roiling through him. Shinpachi and Kagura don’t do much except panic (him) and become a giant blunt instrument of violence (her), but their reaction are fun to see, and prevent this from being too serious.

As for our villains, turns out they’re both affiliated with Takasugi, who we hadn’t seen in a while. The main villain I found rather dull (the one weak point of the book), as his was a very standard shonen (if I get power, I will gain acceptance and stop being so lonely) plot. The assassin, however, is another too cool for his own good character (that’s him on the cover), and you knew he’d be the one to fight Gin the moment you saw him.

All of this ends in a giant melee battle, the results of which we will not see for another volume. But Gin Tama remains one of the most perfect shonen titles out there, balancing truly stupid comedic hijinx with a serious look at friendship, community, and what it means to carry a sword. Highly recommended.

Skip Beat! Volume 21

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By Yoshiki Nakamura. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

In a long-running series such as this, you’re going to run into those volumes that are predominately setup for a payoff coming later on. And that’s exactly what this is, as we mostly get to see a somewhat beaten down Kyoko struggling with her new job and how to create her new character, but have to wait for the next volume to get the payoff.

It is nice to see Kyoko, who is a bit of an acting savant, having to once again deal with the fact that she has to connect with a role in order to make it hers. We saw this a bit with Mio in earlier Dark Moon volumes, but here it’s even more pronounced, as Kyoko realizes, despite what everyone hired her for, that Natsu is NOT a Mio – she’s an entirely different breed of villain.

Likewise, Kyoko’s depression in this volume seems more realistic and less comedic than her usual (with the exception of the first chapter, which stands as a nice little example of how the artist usually handles her dark moods). This isn’t really something that Ren can fix with just a few well-chosen words, though given the end of the volume it would appear I might be wrong. She has to get her head into the mind of someone who is, at heart, nothing like her. This can be difficult. I admit I found a lot of the book hard to read, not as it wasn’t good but as I was squirming watching her flail about.

Ren’s big failing in this series continues to be how he’s a little too perfect, and that doesn’t change here, as his big scenes show him knowing exactly the right way to handle Kyoko. I’ll admit that his fairy tale about the rose was my favorite part of the entire book. From his overdone narration, to Kyoko’s emotional highs and lows, to Yashiro boggling at how easy Ren can deal out a pile of crap this high, the scene is a marvelous microcosm of the relationship the three of them have.

And we also meet Chiaki, who seems to have a Death Note. She would appear to be the next minor ‘villain’ in the series, but we don’t really get a chance to see much of her at work here. That’ll have to wait for the next volume, where we will also no doubt see Kyoko triumph over her demons and create a Natsu of her own that will be truly frightening! (glances ahead to Volume 23) Really, REALLY frightening.