Bakuman vol. 2

I appreciated the first volume of “Bakuman” more for what it represented than what it actually did.  The last thing I’d expect a “Shonen Jump” title to be is a character-driven story set in the real world about two kids trying to make it as manga creators.  That was enough to hold my interest despite the fact that the two main characters were pretty vanilla protagonists.  Vol. 2 steps things up a notch by narrowing its focus:  We’re not learning about what it takes to create great manga in general — we’re learning about what it takes to create great Shonen Jump manga.

To be honest, I was expecting young creators Moritaka (the artist) and Akito (the writer) to get a cold slap of realism when they showed up at Shueisha’s offices at the beginning of this volume.  That doesn’t happen as the young editor who interviews them states that he likes their work and encourages them to submit more to the magazine.  What makes the scene work is that Akira, the editor, is honest in his appraisal of their work as he points out that Moritaka’s art isn’t very manga-esque and that Akito’s text is too novel-like.  He also only gives them his cellphone e-mail as opposed to his cell number — the “bronze medal” in first encounters as Akira puts it.

This underscores the central point of this volume which is that these two kids do have the talent to make it as manga creators, but they’re going to have to really work at it.  We see this in action as they continue to work with Akira to create a story good enough to be in the Jump spinoff magazine Akamaru.  There’s also lots of intersting tidbits about what goes into creating manga for Jump in terms of the ratings from other creators, the popularity ballots, and creating a mega-smash versus a cult hit.  

It’s the last bit that determines the manga which Moritaka and Akito decide to create for Akamaru, “The World is All About Money And Intelligence.”  To the credit of writer Tsugumi Ohba, he came up with a clever premise for the two to work with as I’d like to know more about this particular story (which involves the buying and selling of people’s thoughts).  By creating something that isn’t quite mainstream, Akira feels that the two of them have a shot at being more popular than manga wunderkind Eiji Nizuma.  Though they’ve never met, he’s set up to be their main rival and a poster child for the socially off-putting eccentricities that usually accompany genius.

So by specifically focusing on what goes into the creation of Shonen Jump manga, Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata deliver a more entertaining second volume of this manga.  The series isn’t without its problems, though they’re the kind that are endemic to just about every series set in junior high/high school.  You’ve got scenes of the kids trying to balance creating manga with schoolwork, dealing with the lunkheads who think that creating manga is stupid, and shenanigans centered around the current holiday.

None of this stuff is particularly bad, or grates on my nerves as much as the “romance” between Akito and Miho does.  Sworn to never date until they fulfill their dreams, they spend most of the volume making googly eyes at each other and tentative baby steps towards being an actual couple.  I’d hoped that their promise in the first volume was made to PREVENT stuff like this was happening, but it seems that this wasn’t the case.  At least we get an alternative as Akito winds up with Miho’s very forthright friend Kaya.  Their relationship is as energetic as Moritaka/Miho’s is soporific.

As the volume ends with our heroes deciding that a change in direction is needed if they’re going to create truly great manga, I’m encouraged by it.  This means that we’ll see another side to creating Shonen Jump manga and hopefully an elaboration on the strengths of the series so far.