Bakuman vol. 11

As with its previous volumes, this title again brings something new to the table.  Now that “Perfect Crime Club” — rechristened as “Perfect Crime Party” for its serialization debut — has made it into Weekly Shonen Jump the trick will be to keep it there.  In a move that keeps the protagonists and the story from resting on their laurels, we find out that Editor in Chief Sasaki is planning on holding Moritaka and Akito to their word.  If their title isn’t more popular than “Crow” or “+Natural” after 25 installments, it’s history.  So now they’re faced with finding a way to transcend their title’s initial popularity into something greater.

Trying to do so serves up a consistent stream of challenges for our protagonists and also gives the reader some insight into the growing pains that all series go through at their beginnings.  From seeing Moritaka tweak his art to Akito trying to plot out their first major arc, we get a picture of two creators straining against their limitations to create something that will leave their mark on the world.  The energy behind their creative desires and processes is infectious, especially in the way that the title continues to serve as a “with the serial numbers filed off” behind-the-scenes look at Jump.  It’s a good thing too because when the series stops to focus on their personal lives, then the energy flags.

However, this isn’t a problem whenever the focus is on Eiji or Iwase.  (I loved the cover to this volume — I’d buy the wall scroll of it in an instant.)  Still the most interesting characters in the book, their arcs here paint a divergent portrait of antagonism.  Eiji spends most of this volume displaying his skills as a manga oracle, predicting whether or not “PCP” will top his own work based on each chapter he reads.  This is as he continues his role as someone dedicated to bringing out the best in his rivals by upping his game at the same time.  Iwase takes more of a villainous turn at the beginning of the manga once she finds out that Moritaka’s girlfriend Miho is a finalist for the role of the “+Natural” anime and schemes to — in a nice inversion of the usual plot — make sure she gets the role.

It may be just me, but even though it was clearly a selfish ploy I actually felt some sympathy for her.  Here is someone driven to compete with Akito, and Moritaka by extension, who has also been burned more than a few times by this drive as a result.  It feels more like she’s acting out of genuine frustration than the mechanical needs of the plot.  She shifts back into a more conventionally Japanese antagonistic role as the volume goes on, though.  By that I mean her desire to defeat them manifests itself as a “I’m going to crush you utterly, but only while you’re at the height of your powers to make sure it’s fair” once she finds out the condition placed on the duo to remain in the magazine.  She’s not big on winning by default.  This leads to some of the more interesting exchanges of the volume between Iwase and Eiji as they work together to make sure their titles remain better and more popular than their competitors’.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the misdirection on the part of writer Tsugumi Ohba as the frequent late night meetings between the two turned out to be about something else entirely.

I’m rooting for the two to hook up at some point, and I can’t remember the last time I wanted that to happen in ANY comic.  So even if all of the actual romantic entanglements in this series suffer from terminal dullness, the potential here almost (but not quite) makes up for it.  It’s not perfect, but unless something goes drastically wrong with the next few volumes (Now on a monthly schedule!) “Bakuman’s” consistently surprising evolving nature has earned it a spot on my “best of the year” list.  Check it out if you haven’t already.