Bakuman vol. 10
If it seems that I write about this particular manga more than others, that’s because it usually winds up bringing something new to the table with each volume. Case in point: Creators Moritaka and Akito finally deliver their manga masterwork here. This a watershed moment for the series as the title was pretty much founded on the creation of such. Tt also threatens to throw a metafictional wrench into the pseudo-reality writer Tsugumi Ohba has built up around this version of Shonen Jump.
“Muto Ashrogi’s” magnum opus is a series called “Perfect Crime Club” which revolves around kids engaging in harmless pranks in a fairly realistic school setting. It doesn’t sound like much, but Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata nail the build-up pretty well in the first two-thirds of the volume. We get to see them wracking their brains and challenging their skillsets to come up with two new titles that don’t make the cut, but teach them valuable ideas. Then, the entire premise is devised after Moritaka and Akito spend an entire volume trailing their former editor to good comedic effect.
This being said, it’s usually a very bad idea for any story about the creation of a “great work of art” to show anything of the work itself in the narrative. Better to just leave it to the reader’s imagination lest they see it for themselves and go, “That’s utter crap! I could’ve written something better.” “Bakuman” has been able to get around this problem so far by only giving us glimpses of the other works from the protagonists and the other creators, but not having them be breakout successes. It’s not hard to look at stuff like “Dectective Trap” and “Otter No. 11” and see only a Jump B-title. All they need to do with those is just think up a concept that fits the Jump mold and the audience won’t find it hard to believe that it could be a sufficiently popular second-tier title. Granted real Jump otaku may think differently, but as someone who at least knows what titles come from the magazine it works for me.
Smartly, the creators also give even less info on Eiji Nizuma’s titles “Crow” and “+Natural” since they are meant to be breakout successes on the level of “One Piece,” “Bleach” and “Naruto.” This brings us to another problem that has hovered over the series since the very beginning: How to account for the popularity of the series created by the characters in “Bakuman” versus the ones currently running in Jump. We know they exist since the above-mentioned titles, and more, have been name-checked in the course of “Bakuman’s” run but it has never been stated how their popularity compares to the likes of the ones created here. However, as all of the titles created here are strictly B-list it doesn’t invite the, “So they’re saying something like ‘Kiyoshi Knight’ is more popular than ‘Bleach?’ NUH-UH!” contradiction that you’d expect it would. However, with “Perfect Crime Club” set to vault into the A-list, it would seem that Ohba and Obata are inviting such a response from their readers.
At least, that’s what I initially thought. Then I realized that the protagonists stated goal isn’t to become more popular than Eichiro Oda, but Eiji Nizuma. By setting up the young genius as the bar for success in this series, it diverts attention from the fact that this series is set to be more popular than most of the other titles in Jump. So if the series does become more popular than “One Pice,” we’ll never know about it, and it won’t matter since a worthy fictional competitor already exists and fulfills the same role.
The only issue left is “Perfect Crime Club” itself. As we’re given a behind-the-scenes look into its creation, it’s not hard to think that this is Ohba’s own commentary on the creative process and his thoughts on what would make a successful title. Remember what I said earlier about not showing anything of the “great work?” This is where I have a specific issue with this title. It practically begs the question, “If he’s so sure that something like ‘Perfect Crime Club’ would be an A-list Jump title in ‘Bakuman,’ why hasn’t he tried to make it a series himself?” It’s not a deal-breaking issue, but it does constantly nag at the back of my head while I’m reading this. Why are we reading “Bakuman” if “Perfect Crime Club” is his idea of the ultimate Jump title? If Ohba does wind up making a convention appearance over here in the future I’d love to get the chance to ask him about this.
Despite that issue, the series continues to offer up a fascinating meta-commentary on the creation of manga for Shonen Jump. You’ll notice I haven’t talked about the characters or their arcs at all this time… and that’s because they continue to not be as interesting as their creative processes or the behind-the-scenes drama. The editorial debate as to whether or not to serialize “Perfect Crime Club” was great in the way that some of the editors eventually rebelled against the idea that it had to be better than “Crow” or “+Natural” because it wouldn’t be in the magazine’s best interests. It also ends on an interesting note as Iwase, now twice burned in her romantic efforts, declares her intent to become the best writer in the industry in a striking panel of cartoonish rage. While I’m looking forward to see where that goes, I’m more interested in seeing how it’ll affect Moritaka and Akito’s creative process that whether or not it produces any kind of character development.