| Bakuman. | |
The cover of the first tankōbon, released in Japan by Shueisha on January 5, 2009, featuring Moritaka Mashiro. |
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| バクマン。 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Slice-of-life, Comedy-drama, Romance |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Tsugumi Ohba |
| Illustrated by | Takeshi Obata |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| English publisher |
Shueisha (Limited online manga) |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Original run | August 11, 2008 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 16 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Kenichi Kasai, Noriaki Akitaya |
| Written by | Reiko Yoshida |
| Studio | J.C.Staff |
| Licensed by | Media Blasters (North America) |
| Network | NHK |
| Original run | October 2, 2010 – April 2, 2011 |
| Episodes | 25 |
| TV anime | |
| Bakuman 2 | |
| Directed by | Kenichi Kasai, Noriaki Akitaya |
| Written by | Reiko Yoshida |
| Studio | J.C.Staff |
| Licensed by | Media Blasters (North America) |
| Network | NHK |
| Original run | October 1, 2011 – ongoing |
| Episodes | 12 |
Bakuman. (バクマン。) is a shōnen manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for Death Note. The series follows talented artist Moritaka Mashiro and aspiring writer Akito Takagi, two ninth grade boys who wish to become manga artists.
The first chapter of Bakuman. was released in Japan on August 11, 2008, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. The first volume was released on January 5, 2009, and sixteen volumes have been released as of August 4, 2011[update]. During the first two weeks of its release, the first volume placed fourth and ninth in manga sales in Japan. It is also the first manga released online by Shueisha in multiple languages before becoming available in print outside of Japan. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2009, Viz Media announced they had licensed the series for their Shonen Jump imprint.
Contents |
The plot begins when Moritaka Mashiro, a junior high student, forgets his notebook in class. His classmate, Akito Takagi, notes Mashiro's drawings in it and asks him to become a manga artist to his stories. Mashiro declines, citing his late uncle, a mangaka, who died from overwork. Takagi incites Mashiro to meet with Miho Azuki, Mashiro's crush, and tells her the two plan to become mangaka. In response, Azuki reveals her plans to be a voice actress. Mashiro proposes to her that they should both marry when Azuki becomes a voice actress for the anime adaptation of their manga. The two then start creating their manga, under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, in hopes of getting serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
After submitting many one-shots to Shueisha, Ashirogi begin with their first published series in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Detective Trap, which is eventually canceled due to its declining popularity. Their next series is the gag manga Run, Daihatsu Tanto!, which they gave up on realizing it would never be popular. Their current series, Perfect Crime Party, has been met with considerable popularity but due to its theme, is unfit for an anime series. When their rival, Eiji Nizuma, submits a one-shot for serialization, Ashirogi competes by submitting Reversi which replaces Perfect Crime Party while the latter is moved to Shueisha's fictional monthly magazine, Hisshou Jump.
Written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata, the chapters of the Bakuman. series have been in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Since its premiere on August 11, 2008,[1] over one hundred chapters have been released in Japan. The first volume of Bakuman. was released on January 5, 2009,[2] and as of August 4, 2011[update], fourteen volumes have been released.[3] Several chapters of the series have been released on Jumpland's official website in Japanese, English, French, and German; the first chapter was released on August 19, 2008. It is the first manga released online by Shueisha in multiple languages before becoming available in print outside of Japan.[4]
In addition to the success of Bakuman. in Japan, the series has also been licensed in Korea by Daiwon C.I. and serialized in their Comic Champ manhwa magazine,[5] by Tong Li Publishing in Taiwan, Kana in France, Norma in Spain, Tokyopop in Germany, Comics House in Malaysia and Kim Dong Publishing House in Vietnam. It has been licensed by Viz Media for English release in the US and Canada[6] with the first volume being released on 3 August 2010, so far eight volumes have been released.[7][8] [9]
A 25-episode anime television series based on the manga began broadcasting on NHK on October 2, 2010.[10] In December 2010, Weekly Shonen Jump announced that a second season will air in October 2011.[11] Media Blasters has licensed the first season and will be released on DVD in November 2011.[12] A day later, Media Blasters confirmed license to the upcoming second season.[13]
Carlo Santos of Anime News Network praises the conflicting viewpoints of the protagonists and is surprised that the series succeeds, not only as a manga about manga, but as slice-of-life series about the dreams of youth. However, Santos comments that this series could learn from Ohba and Obata's previous series Death Note; the beginning is not as gripping and the plot twists are "pretty weak" and "seem like petty contrivances". Despite this, he believes that the series is "another hit".[14]
Christopher Butcher gave the first volume 3 out of 5 stars and complimented that he "really liked Bakuman" but felt he would find it hard to recommend. He states that the series is "horribly sexist" and that "the characters inhabit a world of Men; women's concerns are dismissed, their motives reduced to cliché, their very beings judged solely on how attractive—physically and personality-wise—they make themselves to males". Regardless of this he praises the series of being "extremely polished, consistent, and gorgeously illustrated" and that "the trials and tribulations of [the characters] are compelling".[15]
The first volume of the series placed fourth out of thirty in manga sales in Japan for the week of January 6–12, 2009, selling 154,675 copies during that time.[16] The week after, January 13–19, the volume fell to ninth place selling 38,176 copies.[17] The second volume followed suit placing second during the week of March 2–9, selling 228,056 copies, and falling to seventh during the following week of March 10–16, selling an additional 62,947 copies.[18][19] The third volume continued the trend and placed fourth during the week of June 1–7, 2009, selling 200,369 copies and placed sixth during the next week of June 8–14, selling 67,541 copies.[20][21] During the first half of 2009, the first volume placed twenty-eighth and the second volume placed twenty-seventh of fifty top-selling manga in Japan, selling 381,633 and 394,567 copies respectively.[22]
In the United States, volume one debuted at number 6 on the New York Times Manga Graphic Books list for the week of August 12[23] and remained on the list for eight weeks straight.[24]
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