Bakuman vol. 19

Everyone who has read my reviews of this series so far should know by know that while I enjoy it a great deal, there’s always been one thing holding it back.  The “romance” between Moritaka and his “girlfriend” Miho; or rather, the complete lack thereof due to their idiot promise at the start of the series to not see each other (but texting’s fine) until they had realized their dreams.  Well, now that we’ve reached the penultimate volume there’s finally some traction on that front as the prospect of Moritaka and Akito getting an anime for their series “Reversi” looms.  Much to my surprise, I found the couple’s “romance” to be less irritating in this volume.  That’s mainly down to how writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata pit it against something I find even MORE irritating:  the feelings of entitlement from Japanese otaku.

If you ever want to get the worst picture of Japanese otaku possible, then go read Sankaku Complex (Warning:  Link is not worksafe.  EVER.) for any length of time.  You’ll get plenty of stories about their crazy actions of devotion followed by translated message-board postings which will crush your spirit even more.  One thing that I’ve never quite understood is how these otaku, particularly the ones who follow voice actresses like Miho, lose their minds when they find out that the object of their devotion has a boyfriend.

Now it’s one thing if they’re trading on their sexuality and presenting themselves as an ideal “virtual” girlfriend for their fans, but that rarely seems to be the case.  It’s certainly not with Miho, as she has remained irritatingly pure and generally personality-free throughout most of the series.  In fact, the whole scandal erupts through an unfortunate bit of synchronicity after one of Moritaka, Akito, and Miho’s classmates makes the connection from a message-board post by another voice actress.  Ohba and Obata make sure that this individual has maximum hateability because not only is he that arrogant wannabe mangaka from the very first volume (who I think has popped up once or twice since then) he has also descended into becoming a terrible otaku stereotype.  You know, the kind of otaku who don’t have a job, spend all day as shut-ins watching anime, and having their parents bring them meals.  That’s the face of the enemy for this particular storyline.

So with that established, things quickly spiral out of control as the internet grows increasingly hostile to Moritaka and Miho’s “romance,” to the point where it looks like it might prevent the former from getting the heroine role in the anime made from the latter’s manga.  Their precious dream is in danger of being destroyed!  Will they be able to triumph over adversity before the series’ conclusion!?  Ask yourself if most Shonen Jump series are too long for their own good and you’ll likely have your answer.

While I’ll admit that the couple has my sympathy, writing about all this has only served to stir my cynicism about how little actual tension there is for this particular storyline.  We know that they’re going to finally be together, get married and live happily ever after because love, passion and dedication always triumph in the end with a Shonen Jump title.  There’s no way that we’ll see Moritaka and Miho realize that they have nothing in common and grow to slowly hate each other over the years as their personalities slowly clash.  Which is what would almost surely happen between two people who didn’t get to know each other before committing to a serious relationship.

At least we do get some decent material with the build-up to the creators getting their anime.  Even if the conclusion was a foregone one, they still sell the drama with the fact that their rival Eiji may get it for his latest series.  That this scenario actually feels believable is a credit to their storytelling abilities.  More interesting is the ongoing debate about the length of “Reversi” as it has been established that it’s not going to be a series that will be running indefinitely for Jump and may even conclude before the anime starts.  Points are made for how having the manga run concurrently with the anime will be good for both of them, but you have to admire their guts to not try to extend the story for this reason.  After all, having the manga completed first worked out pretty well for the “Monster” anime.

Though the “romance” will likely take up most of the last volume, I’m still hopeful that we’ll get enough about Moritaka and Takagi’s manga — the real heart of the series — to make it worthwhile.  Plus, if this series is defined by any relationship, it’s the bromance that these two have maintained since the first volume.  (Even if I’ve found their ongoing rivalry with Eiji to be more interesting and entertaining.)  As long as the focus is on that, we should be set for a satisfying conclusion.  We’ll see if that happens in August…