Bakuman

[Spark Of Spirit]

Only in the anime world can being in love with someone be considered a bad thing. See, this is why I'm so opposed to that type of culture that's being allowed to grow over there. Only someone truly sick can actually believe that being in love is a bad thing.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That was a pretty good chapter and easily the best one focused on Azuki. She was needlessly harassed a lot over this, and I'm glad to see here and Mashiro take a stand against this sick behavior towards their relationship. Really, all this over the fact that she has a boyfriend? I'm certain this didn't used to be an issue in Japan even six/seven years ago.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, this chapter was nice, but now I just really want to see how things turn out for Ashirogi after they manage to get an anime. I mean, by that point, I don't know how much further they can take this story since Mashiro will have achieved his main goal. All that's left after that is for them to officially beat Eiji with their own series.

[Spark Of Spirit]

So with the new chapter, the voice actress plotline comes to a close.

Haha, she totally cleaned up in the polls and took in nearly half of the votes! Awesome! Now I'm really curious to see the fallout of this and to hopefully see Ashirogi's next challenge. Though I think we must be nearing the end, as I'm not really sure what else will happen. It's pretty clear that they're getting an anime and she's going to be the lead, so what's next? I'm wagering on something to beat Eiji decisively.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This was a really satisfying chapter. After 180 chapters of the 2 of them working towards this goal, its really satisfying to see them finally achieve it. I find it interesting that even though Mashiro was the main character, this final step wasn't really for him to step up and achieve something, but for Miho instead (since he and Takagi had already fulfilled their part of the goal by creating a series popular enough to get an anime adaptation). Its really refreshing to see things finally got really good for them on all fronts for once, after the shit-load of work that they've been doing over the course of nearly a decade (going by the manga's timeline, that is).

Honestly, Bakuman seems pretty close to over, which might not be a bad thing, since unlike Death Note it will have a chance to end without having lost any of its steam over its long run. The only thing that's really left for them to do is to surpass Eiji in popularity, but really haven't they already technically done that with Reversi? I mean, they did finally directly beat him out by getting the anime adaptation when the decision came between that and Zombie Gun. At any rate, I wouldn't mind seeing some more competitive rivalry between Ashirogi and Eiji, but I really do believe that there isn't much left to go in the story. I could see the manga wrapping up for good in another couple of short arcs (possibly 20-30 more chapters in all).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

"The Editorial department says they want you to keep your story running for as long as possible even if it becomes terrible."

And suddenly I have a lot more insight into the problem that plagues most shonen manga: They don't know when to end. Or, rather, I think many of their authors would be glad to end a series of their's when its in its prime, but if its popular the higher-ups want to make sure they can milk it out for as much money as its worth, and thus we get shonen series that drag on for a long time, even past when their authors intended for them to originally end. Somehow I have a feeling that this notion was taken to the extreme with One Piece, given how Oda claims that he had originally only intended for the story to last for 5 years.

[Daxdiv]

Some how I had a feeling that keeping the series alive would be the next trial of a series in Shonen Jump. This kind of reminds me of the stories involving Akira Toriyama and how Dragon Ball kept on going and going and going.

[Spark Of Spirit]

There seems to be a lot of commentary on Jump in the newest chapter. Like in how long should the story be Vs. commerce of the product. I'm glad to see they came to an understanding that sometimes it's better that way. Not everything needs to last hundreds of chapters and run for well over a decade if it's popular. Sometimes that can hurt more than hinder.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I... think we're coming to the end here. It seems like next chapter might be the last chapter. While that wouldn't bother me, I do hope they close up a few other issues before then like seeing Nanamine finally learn his lesson, Nakai finally grow up, and maybe even see what happened to that rock star wannabe from way back. Other than that, I wouldn't really have anything to complain about it ending here except that I would no longer have a manga to look forward to every week. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think we'll get a few more chapters to give some of the side characters a fair bit of closure to some of their unresolved development, but aside from that, I do clearly see that this series is close to ending. Personally I'm fine with that. Now seems like a perfect spot to end the series since Mashiro and Takagi have more or less finally achieved their main goals as mangaka. Keeping the series running any longer than this would just seem like it doesn't have much purpose, since I think that the pair have learned all of the main lessons that apply to being a mangaka, and have pretty much reached their peak in terms of story-telling and artistic skill. Maybe we'll get an epilogue chapter at some point down the line, since a lot of slice of life/coming of age sort of manga get something like that, but other than that I can very much see this series closing out for good in another 3-4 chapters.

Its true that it'll be the end of a great series and we won't have it to look forward to each week anymore, but in a way this also makes me excited if it really is ending. I want to see what story Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata tackle next. These guys made Death Note and now Bakuman, and in my book both are great and memorable series, so this pair is definitely very talented. Personally I would love to see them actually explore one of the many great story ideas that they brought up in this series as their next major work whenever they decide to make it. Bakuman is full of rich potential in terms of the great story pitches the characters make in it, and it makes me wish we even had just a few of the clearly great series that are being written in the fictional world of Bakuman. I'd love to see an actual version of something like Money and Intelligence, Detective Trap, Perfect Crime Party, or Reversi, or something based on the likeness of those series to be able to physically read on a day to day basis.

At any rate, I say this with the assumption that the series IS about to end. If it doesn't I'll be kind of perplexed given how much closure we've been getting in the most recent chapters.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The common theory is that there is 6 chapters left (due to what Takagi said a few chapters ago about 8 chapters being left of Reversi) and if true, that would be a decent amount to end it off.

I think the ideal way of ending it would be having the pair going to see Hattori with a new idea.

[Foggle]

The common theory is that there is 6 chapters left

Manga 'Bakuman' To End Next Week

[Daxdiv]

I wonder what series they'll replace it with in Alpha?

[Spark Of Spirit]

 

Oh well, it had a good run.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just hope that the last chapter is longer than usual to give the series a proper sense of closure rather than just an abrupt one.

Personally I think its great that its ending on a high note rather than having been dragged through the mud. It was a great manga and I'm really excited to see what the author of this series comes up with next.