Anime review: "Bakuman", third season

Few days ago I finished watching third and last season of "Bakuman", adapted from manga about drawing manga.

This season continues "Bakuman" plot where it left in previous season. Mashiro and Takagi have finally made a manga they are satisfied with (PCP - Perfect Crime Party) and they struggle to make it better not to lose their place in Shounen Jack. They have not lost their dream of getting an anime adaptation, so Mashiro can marry his love Miho (a condition set in middle school). Takagi is supported by his wife Kaya (also met in middle school), while two of them compete against other manga-artist present in Shounen Jack, most of them familiar from previous seasons, but with some additions.

This season if a bit different from previous two (if I remember correctly) by being more episodic - there are several arcs that are almost independent between them (especially Nanaime's). But by and large, there are no much changes from first and second seasons, so if you are a fan of "Bakuman", you will be more that satisfied with it.

I cannot be sure because I haven't read manga, but it feels a bit rushed in places, like they had to squeeze too much material in it. But at least the pace is good and there is no dragging... Ending is as expected, but very solid. And I like how it is clearly showed that Mashiro and Takagi won't lose their motivation, even though they fulfilled their dreams. It is interesting how the author succeeded in having an shounen battle-anime feel when the story couldn't be less apart from such.

Characters stay the best part of "Bakuman". As I said, there are no many new additions, but we got to know older ones much more, and there are some changes in their relationships. Niizuma, who is on one hand very funny, improbable and exaggerated character, is shown to be very dedicated and consistent. I like how Hiramaru gets more serious, even though he is still hilarious - and Joshida makes him a great pairing. Also, we got a bit of romance, spread throughout the anime. Rest of the characters are also solid (Fukuda, Aoki, etc.).

It was very nice to see some modern mobile phones, and android references, too. But that can be expected since this anime was finished a year ago and is set in present.

The worst part of "Bakuman" is really bad and old-looking style of characters and drawings. Thankfully, this is character- and story-driven anime, so it doesn't matter much. Interesting how we have very poor art, but it becomes good (or at least more detailed) when it comes to manga they are drawing. Voice acting and music is solid, but nothing to praise much. There are 25 episodes in total.

In short, "Bakuman" continues with style and spirit of previous seasons, so if you liked it before, you will like it here also. I would recommend this series to everybody who likes otaku-stuff and daily-life anime, and fans of "Genshiken".

Anime review: "Bakuman", second season

So, quite fast after fighting against and then succumbing to the first season, I watched the second season of "Bakuman". The good news is that third season (last one, I think) is following this fall. I am looking forward to it. Only thing I can object about it is that is was so good that I watched 20 episodes in one day (Sunday), which resulted in 4 hours of sleep that night and a very sleepy morning at work next day.

As I wrote in my review of the first season, "Bakuman" is a shounen anime flirting with seinen. This is even more notable than in first season. Mashiro "Saiko" Moritaka and Takagi Akito continue struggling to fulfill their dream of becoming the first-rate manga-ka for Shounen Jack, so Saiko can marry Miho (whom he had seen one or twice since their middle school). I know: a typical senseless shounen plot. But for some reason, it works great. In this season even their relationship become a bit more realistic (but still a far away from normal).

In the first season the duo succeeded in getting a serialization of their manga. This made their goal seem quite reachable, but it also brought one shortfall - instead their genius editor Hattori, they are now transferred to a junior editor Miura. Will the new editor be show good enough to support them? And more important, will they first manga prove to be enough to get an anime adaptation?

This biggest plot starts at the beginning, and is resolved toward the end, but there are few side-roads taken around the middle. This is a good thing, because this side plots are used to evolve the characters (I almost used the word setting, but this is a character-centered anime, setting is irrelevant), the new one and the old one. Cast is widened so much that it would be a trouble to remember everybody, if they were not so unique and unforgettable. I didn't expect such evolution of what I thought to be side-characters - there is much character development in this anime. Characters are also more mature. I think that focus of this season is removed from creation of manga toward relationship between them, although manga stay the center that everything revolves. All in all, I think that this season was composed nicely - nice pace, not too slow, but neither too fast; and always interesting.

I read some comments that anime adaptation rushes through the manga, which means that there is probably more material there. This series is completed, so I would like to read the manga original, although after the fiasco with "Black Lagoon", I am somewhat weary. I will keep this one on mind, but not for the close future. Anyway, this season takes around three or four years (in anime time)!

The humor is simply great. There are lots of gags, and it kept me smiling most of the time. But the funniest character of the series so far was Hiaimaru. And to believe that he was introduced so sinister in the first season... I think that I laughed in every scene featuring him. Otters...

There is not much to say about audio or visual side - they are mostly mediocre. I wanted to said that unique design of characters follows more from authors' (Obha Tsugumi  and Obata Takeshi) weak skill that from intention. But I then checked Wikipedia and saw that they are responsible for "Death Note", which was drawn much better, so maybe I am wrong. There are 25 episodes, again.

For conclusion, I think that it is enough to say that second season of "Bakuman" is even better than the first. A nice catch for those who like slice-of-life or comedy anime. Special recommendation for the fans of "Genshiken".

Anime review: "Bakuman"

Today I finished watching "Bakuman". Most of the time I give myself a few days of rest before posting a review, but since I am still on vacation and have some free time on my hands, I decided to do it today.

"Bakuman" has been on my wish-list for some time now, based on its high marks, but only on moderate importance. I was feeling a kind of dread whenever I thought about watching it - just look at that image! Especially on the upper-left corner! Include to this words like "middle-school", "marriage", "becoming a mangaka" - how could this be a good anime? Well, it turned out that I was pretty much wrong and this is a great anime!

Mashiro Moritaka is a typical middle-school kid, moderately good student, but without any particular dream or purpose. One day he loses a notebook where has was secretly making drawings of Azuki Miho, a girl who he likes. After coming to school to retrieve it he is confronted by another kid from his class, Takagi Akito, who has found his notebook. On the basis of drawings from there, Takagi tries to force Mashiro to become his partner in drawing manga. Since Mashiro has some bad experience regarding manga (his uncle was an unsuccessful one and died from overexertion), he initially declines. But Takagi tries again, this time in front of Miho (who incidentally, aspires to become a voice-actor), and this time Mashiro accepts - but even more surprising, Mashiro proposes to Miho. Even more surprising, Miho accepts - to become married after they realize they dreams and she plays a role in anime made after his manga.

This anime combines some realistic approach and themes with ridiculous stuff typical for shounen anime - but in perfect combination. For example, the plot: basically, this is a show about two kids who aspire to become mangaka. I obviously can't know what really happens on a road to becoming one, and I presume there is much more than showed in here, but everything that was presented sounded logical and realistic. Our protagonists have troubles in coordinating school, working on manga and private lives; they have to fight prejudice for being too young for this enterprise; they have to deliver their mangas to editors, have to discuss it and remade it; these editors have their bosses to respond to, have to take care of things like pools, formats and schedules; and myriad other small things that make this (in my humble opinion) a realistic representation of young manga authors' life. On the other side, we have a such plot elements that can be found only in shounen anime: the reason why all this is happening is because a 15 year old kid wants to marry when he is 18 (!!); they have friendly rivals who will give everything they have to become mangaka; there is even a genius high-school mangaka who draws them like a machine... But even with all this simplifications and jokes, this anime's first and foremost subject is about what it takes to become a mangaka.

Characters are great, simply said. Mashiro and Takagi are obviously mostly developed, but most of other got a pretty good realization. Mashiro gets a bit more coverage, especially his inner thoughts, than Takagi, which is little unfair because they are both equally good characters. On the other hand, Takagi has an actual girlfriend, Miyoshi (Miho's best friend) - very normal and realistic relationship for a shounen anime. Mahsiro's and Miho's relationship is anything but normal and realistic - they exchange maybe three sentences in whole season - but this IS a shounen anime so there is no room for complaining - actually they move toward normal at the end. Niizuma Eiji (guy from the upper left part of the picture) is the before mentioned "high-school genius", but he is also very good characters - he grows, realizes mistakes, accept advice and so on. Hattori is another character that fooled me - considering his design I thought he will be one-shot character - is another good and fully-realized character - a grown-up editor in manga-magazine. There is another 10-15 named characters. Interesting and laudable is the fact that some characters come and go - for example Iwase has some importance in first part of the show when they are still in middle-school, but disappears later when they enter high-school.

All characters do a lot of growing up: they learn from their mistake, don't always act rashly, and think about past and future. This is to be expected, since show takes almost two years of their time. Another their property worth mentioning is that they are not frustrating, which is often occurring, especially in shounen romance anime.

Jokes are pretty good and I chuckled at loud at least once in every episode. Kudos for jokes where they make fun of themselves ("Doesn't anyone have a fiancée?")! Also there are lots of references to real-life manga and anime: "Dragon Ball", "Naruto", "Bleach", "One Piece"... Actually, a magazine where they are submitting their works is called "Weekly Shounen Jack", which is an obvious reference to "Weekly Shounen Jump".

One thing that got me confused was Miho's anime. If she works only as voice-actor, why does the character she gives voice to looks like her? I can't get it whether this is a mistake or only simplification...

From technical side, anime has 25 episodes, all original, no fillers or recaps. Animation and design is good, but nothing over-the-top. Characters wear different clothes (although restricted number of sets) - I always notice this and find it laudable where it is so. Music I didn't like much, but voice-acting was very good. I especially liked Takagi's voice (done by Hino Satoshi).

I am happy to say that "Bakuman" was a very pleasant surprise. It doesn't belong to the best anime ever, but it is very good and especially enjoyable. Recommendation too all, except to those who watch exclusively action anime. I just hope that next two seasons will be good as this one.