Dec 3, 2008
When you have a collaboration such as this, it's pretty hard to go wrong, no matter what you do. Enter Ohba and Obata's second collaboration, following the amazing, and my personal favorite manga ever, Death Note. Enter Bakuman.
Story: The concept's not the most original, I won't lie. I'm sure plenty of mangaka have toyed with this idea before. It's not too difficult to think up after all. Essentially, what it is is two people aspiring to publish a manga. This is not too interesting in of itself. However, what makes Bakuman interesting is all the subplots and
...
undertones running through it, driving forward the main plot, moving it to a constant climax. As the story begins, you get the feeling that the main character, Mashiro, is very, very normal. There's not too much interesting about him. But he can draw well. So well in fact, that he captures the interest of the other main character, Takagi. Top student in the class, and surprisingly enough, an aspiring mangaka. So, through a bit of coercion, Takagi gets Mashiro to team up with him to write a manga to be published. So, the story continues on from here, with tons of supporting characters such as a love interest, an uncle surrounded in tragedy, and a monkey faced editor. All of these characters, no matter how mysterious they may be, have a back story, and they're all spun together into quite an interesting read.
Art: The art is rather interesting this time around. I wasn't really expecting the style Obata decided to use for this manga. I was very much in love with the character design style he used in Death Note; extremely realistic and charming in a dark sort of way. This time around though, it all looks very shonen. This isn't a bad thing, but it takes some getting used to. It fits the manga's tone relatively well, barring some extremely serious scenes where it really doesn't seem to click well for some reason, but it is still a step down. I really don't like certain character designs introduced a little deeper into the manga. On the plus side, Obata's attention to fashion is clear. He is very clear on what looks good, and knows how to draw clothes that fit the character's persona and make you love them, no matter how the face may look.
Character: The characters in Bakuman are pretty typical. There hasn't been a character introduced at the time of writing this review (Chapter 16) that can't be stereotyped somehow. However, because of their backstories, they seem to have a far deeper appeal and reasons to why they are as they are than they really should in all honesty. As with Death Note, characters in Bakuman grow with time. Whether these changes are good or bad remain to be seen, but one thing is sure: the changes will be interesting.
Enjoyment: I honestly really like this series. No matter what flaws it may have, there really isn't anything that would turn me away from reading the newest chapter as soon as it can be found. What makes this series great is how deep it runs. Every time I read a chapter, I feel like there's always more to be told. There's no dry point in the manga, where life is really dull for these aspiring mangaka, even if they say it is. xD
Overall, I'm very excited as to where this series is going. An overall rating of 8 may seem a bit low for such a positive review, but I'm still a little hesitant about how this story will go as it progresses. I do have faith in Ohba and Obata though, and you definitely should start on this series as soon as possible!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
