Musings of a Sad Bi Guy

Possible SPOILERS for the Bakuman manga ahead: 

Last week I finally finished the Bakuman manga. The series has a total of 20 volumes. I purchased the boxset back in 2019 and started reading it in late 2019/early 2020. I am a huge Death Note fan, so naturally I wanted to read more titles by the Takeshi Obata/Tsugumi Oba duo. Platinum End started being released in 2016-2017ish, and I kinda felt lukewarm on the direction of the story, although the art is absolutely stunning. Feeling like I could give them another chance, I decided to switch gears to another one of their titles: Bakuman. I heard a few people raving about it and figured that, despite the deviation from the dark/cult-hit/fantastical story-telling, that maybe we'd get a riveting look at the real lives of manga artists. And well, it was good - but definitely not as great as I expected. 

The manga is a comedy/slice-of-life/coming-of-age story about the life of a Shonen Jump manga artist duo from their middle school years to early adulthood. One of the duo, artist Moritaka Mashiro, wants to create a manga that will one day be animated so that his crush, Miho Azuki, can be the voice actress of the lead female character. When both of these goals are accomplished, the pair plan to marry one another. However, until that time, they make a vow to have limited contact with one another, only communicating over text message and voice calls.  Even though we do get some snippets here and there of Azuki's rise to success in her field of choice, most of the story's focus is on Mashiro, his writing partner, Akito Takagi, and the myriad of rival mangaka, assistants, and editors they encounter along the way. 

There is a wealth of information about the Japanese weekly manga publishing industry, and since manga publishing has been somewhat elusive to me, it was intriguing to see the progression of our two protagonists from making their first one-shot to getting one of their series animated. There is also a big cast of characters with strong designs and personalities that leave an impression, as expected from Ohba and Obata. Despite the ending being predictable and cliché, it was a bit emotional seeing some of the characters grow alongside their careers. 

I suppose the first of the major issues I had with the series was the overwhelming amount of sexism. Examples range from blatant "bold hot takes" about gender differences coming from the mouths of the main characters, to a bizarre, extremely overt fixation on women's sexual purity. Combined with the occasional smug and self-congratulatory light the main characters (and other male mangaka) are held in, there's a certain "glorified self-insert" vibe that permeates Bakuman's very awkward romantic side plots. 

Don't get me wrong - the art is fantastic and the story does have its moments. I think the "Nanamine arc" was one of my favorites of the series, mostly because we are introduced to an actual twisted and unpredictable antagonist, the type of which plays more to the strengths of Obha's writing.

Unfortunately, I'm still debating if this manga will become a permanent resident of my collection to be re-read at some point, or if I'm going to sell my copies and free up the shelf space. Maybe when it gets closer to the time I move out of my current place, I'll make a firm decision. 

Because I don't have enough manga, right? My huge Ikea bookshelf is already overflowing with books and I'm stacking books on top of books and it looks like an absolute trainwreck. I'm kinda regretting doing this since I'm moving this year, so that means I'm gonna need a LOT more boxes to carry all my shit in. Great. 

Spoiler warning, just in case - though nothing super major: 

Thus far, I have been reading a lot of series simultaneous on a "rotation" of sorts so that I get through more series and have some variety. I am just about to wrap up Bakuman - I am on Volume 20, which I will definitely write about more at some point. I am also in the middle of Dr. Stone, which is entertaining and has some great art and character designs. The story is hit or miss - sometimes the comedic elements undermine the more touching and serious moments, and it suffers from some typical Shonen story-telling problems re: weird fan service, pacing issues, etc. However, I've hit chapter 139 and it looks like we're going to get a shocking/major reveal after a very bizarre side arc where we learn about the technology that causes the petrification on a smaller level. 

I am also still reading My Hero Academia. As far as English volumes published, I am caught up to volume 27. I know I could probably read ahead online, but it's annoying to me to have to keep up with scanlation sites, especially since most of them don't last very long before being shut down due to DMCA issues. (Also, I learned to hate scanlations back in the age of crappy WiFi and dial-up, where it would take almost 10 minutes for a single page to load). The only manga to date that I have read scanlations all the way through was Goodnight PunPun and Gantz - the latter mostly because a friend really wanted me to read it and Dark Horse had yet to re-publish the manga at that time.

Anyway, I honestly still enjoy MHA. It has some nicely written emotional moments, and I feel like the interactions between the characters feel like how real high schoolers would interact. I am around Chapter 225 at this point, and at this point we're getting a little more spotlight on the main villian characters, and hopefully another compelling arc where we see more growth with Deku and the others. I am kinda curious about Todoroki is going to deal with being trained again by his abusive father. Ideally, I would have liked to see him pick another mentor, but maybe there will be some resolution where Endeavor learns that forgiveness still isn't guaranteed even once "atonement" is reached. Honestly, the part where he's sending texts to Shoto kinda made me think of my own relationship with my own parents and shitty exes that I will not get into. 

The third series I've started is Persona 3. I don't have a PS2, so I can't play the original game (crossing my fingers for a port at some point for PS4 or Switch), so I figured the manga would be sufficient and as true to the plot as possible. So far, I enjoy the art and the premise, but I'm not going to lie that it is very difficult to follow the plot at times. I kinda wish the manga was written with people who had not played the game in mind, because it feels like it's more directed at the OG gamers than new comers to the Persona series. But just as an example, there was a new young boy character that popped up in the dormitory who was not named, but all the characters seem to know this person - like he was just brought out of the blue with no proper introduction. Maybe there's context for this, but I was super confused, even after backtracking and re-reading the segment. 

Finally, the newest series I've started are Bungou Stray Dogs and a new manga I spotted on the shelves called "Phantom Tales of the Night" - apparently by the same manga-ka who wrote Vampire Knight. Bungou is a weird one for me because I am attempting to read it again after not being too invested in the manga after the first volume confused the hell out of me. However, for some reason I felt compelled to give it another chance, so that's what's I'm currently doing. I still think it isn't a strong manga, but I do enjoy the art immensely. Dazai is definitely a character I have complicated thoughts on. The repeated "suicide" gag struck me as very insensitive at first, but as a very depressed person, I found it strangely cathartic on a second read? I mean it isn't a writing choice I would ever personally make, but I guess it makes sense considering it's an homage of sorts to the author he's based around. Would not recommend it to kids or anyone who feels uncomfortable with that subject though. 

Phantom Tales is kinda the same way - story is "alright" (so far) but the art is fantastic, breath-taking even. The premise definitely has very heavy xxxHolic inspiration: you have a typical high schooler protagonist who finds himself wandering into a mysterious inn run by an even more mysterious owner; the owner accepts secrets as currency instead of money. Obvious supernatural elements are involved that complicate the life of the aforementioned high schooler, along with a cast of other characters. Also like xxxHolic, there's a blending of very dark/sinister vibes with comedy that deepens the intrigue of the series. I wasn't floored by the first volume, but my interest is peaked enough to continue. 

I think the only one I didn't mention yet was Beastars, which I believe is ramping up to a close very soon. Volume 11 was definitely one of the most intense/weird/violent what I've read and not remotely where I was expecting the story to go. I always thought it was awkward whenever the manga veered into focusing on fighting and gang wars, etc. I think what was so compelling about the series - that sucked me in - wasn't the super high stakes drama that I've encountered in all the manga I previously mentioned, but the interpersonal drama between the characters. I was hoping the manga would stick to focusing on that, but we'll see where the rest of the story goes. I'm not saying it's "bad" from a writing standpoint, I just personally feel the shift is awkward. 

That about wraps everything up on my reading list - I'll definitely be spewing more in-depth takes as more and more chapters are released! Honestly, I'm excited. Manga has really come a long way in terms of art and story despite a lot of it still being mediocre and overly unoriginal/derivative, but I'm happy to continue this hobby I've had since middle school.