The reality of Bakuman, Possible Spoilers.

Bakuman is heavily contrived to be a hit or miss among the community that has viewed it, while many people seem to heavily enjoy it there is an equal number that tend to disagree. As for me I was someone who once I first started watching Bakuman, I felt as though I was chasing the same dream as the main characters; to become a mangaku. Of course I wasn’t personally aiming for a goal such as becoming a mangaku, but with every chapter read and every episode watched I felt as though I came closer to this un-related dream. I don’t believe that the story is all that fantastic, in fact I believe that in a way the idea of pursuing your goal in hopes of accomplishing your dreams is a little played out. However there’s something about Bakuman that underlies throughout the entirety of the series. There’s something more to the tale being told, the dream that had been created and accomplished as well as the ride to obtaining that goal. I couldn’t figure this out for quite some time, maybe because I was too caught up in what was lying right in front of me and that was explicit enjoyment. However what I had figured out after I had completed reading the manga was that behind this story, there was a sense of realism (as there should be in every slice of life anime/manga.) Yet this wasn’t an ordinary sense of realism, this was the kind of realism you notice when you realize that it’s being portrayed through experience. This is telling the tale from the perspective of the past and the journey that you had created to obtain your final goal, this is what lies behind the eyes of the authors’ past; this is reality. You’re telling me that this is reality? What exactly do you mean by ‘Reality’? I mean exactly that. Bakuman tells the tale of two teenage ‘friends’ Mashiro, Moritaka (The artist) and Takagi Akito (The writer.) I use the word ‘friends’ lightly because at the origin of it all, they weren’t so much friends as co-workers. This relationship hypothetically could be related to the relationship between Obata, Takeshi (The artist) and ‘Ohba, Tsugumi’ (the writer) who had worked together on Death Note and Bakuman. However there’s something quite fishy here and I’ll explain to you what that is. Ohba, Tsugumi is a pseudonym who’s real identity is well hidden; this is our first relationship with reality and the fictional world within Bakuman, as our lead characters both accompany one another under the name Ashirogi Muto. Our second distinctive reality is simply just theory however you must stick with me through this. A main inspiration for our main character Mashiro, Moritaka is his deceased uncle Mashiro, Nobuhiro another mangaku who had ‘worked himself to death.’ Now the important thing here is the type of manga that Moritaka’s uncle authored. It was a poorly styled, yet highly valued (for its time) gag manga, under the title “Super Hero Legend”. The story revolves around a main character ‘Masculine Fantasy’ who like the title says, is a Super hero; that’s the funny thing as Masculine Fantasy is often conceived to be a weak man with only the dream of becoming the best hero in the universe. This all changes when the Masculine Fantasy falls in love with a young princess. As the hero still weak, the princess approaches him and confesses her love towards him. He declines and admits that he can’t be with her until he becomes a true hero within the universe (Much like the relations between Moritaka and Azuki, Miho as well as his uncle Nubohiro and Azuki, Miyuki (The mother of Azuki, Miho.) The reason that this is so important is because of who many people believe to be the face behind Ohba, Tsugumi; Gamou, Hiroshi. Gamou has a short history within the Manga field, as his only work that had gone noticed was ‘Tottemo! Luckyman”, “a Gag comedy series focused on the adventures of a bizarre super hero on his fights against various aliens and other enemies threatening the planet earth. (Source: MyAnimeList).” Much like Nobuhiro; Gamou quickly drifted from the scene after what one could consider a “one hit wonder”. Side note: The publication times of both Super Hero Legend and Tottem! Luckyman are relatively close 1995 and 1993 respectively, the anime as well 1994 to 1997 respectively. Another thing to remember is the styles of which the manga of the series and the similarities with the manga made by both Obata, Takeshi and Ohba, Tsugumi is frightening when you’re able to compare similarities. This of course is referring to Reversi, Perfect Crime Party and Detective Trap! (Bakuman) in comparison with Death Note. The reason I mention this for a multitude of reasons and I’ll use a short list to explain Death Note vs Reversi: The similarity here is the contrast in characters, Reversi revolves a character “Schwarz” who once contacting a demon gains the power to communicate with people through telepathy. He uses this purpose to spread his beliefs believing that it would make the world a better place. Relate this to Yagamin, Light’s use of the Death note and you’re able to see where I’m going from here. However a secondary character comes in “Weiss” who is looking to reverse the effect of what Schwarz had implemented on the people. Creating an Anti-Hero, as Weiss does not believe in Schwarz ideologies (Think Yagami, Light vs. L, two of the same person completely contradicting the personality of the other.) Death Note vs Detective Trap: Detective Trap revolves around the idea that a single detective is able to trick criminals into revealing the truth through elaborate planning and execution. The character of this Manga is a simple resemblance to L. Death Note vs Perfect Crime Party: PCP is about a group of kids who wish to go about their school creating and executing ‘perfect crimes’ without the idea of ever being caught because of their intelligence. However one day they are told that they have been caught on to be an unknown third party. Once again this relation can be made between Yagami, Light and L. Finally the finale of this short novel, however I feel as though it’s the most important. As I’ve heard more about the dislike in character development (most importantly the women of the series.) I will come to terms with as to why the women, and even a majority of the larger played characters are so dull. The entirety of this blog was to serve one purpose: “Bakuman is a reality, not fiction.” Bakuman is played out in its entirety as a realistic series, our main characters do not become the most popular mangaku after only being part of the process for a year, in fact it takes our characters many years to obtain their goal. The importance that this time span plays is that it shows just what kind of dedication is needed for one to become an accomplished mangaku, our main character (arguably) Mashiro, rarely talks; never mind sees the girl that he loves. Communication between the both of them is rare and it only occurs on ‘special’ occasions, such as events worthy of congratulations. This of course will leave you with a poor idea of who this girl is, however did Mashiro really ever communicate with her? Or better yet have a reason that he had loved her? It was love at first sight, there’s nothing more to that. The love interest of Akito, Miyoshi, Kaya is a different story, as she is constantly seen as means of communication between Mashiro and Miho in tough times. She also has a part to play in the manga making process, as her dream becomes one and the same as the main characters; which is for them to be successful. Without explaining the importance of every character I’ll end my blog with this: Every character within Bakuman servers a purpose, and the reasoning that so many of them come off as dull and un-interesting is for the simple fact that if Bakuman does indeed relate to reality as much as it hints too, Life isn’t full of fascinating characters, in fact you’ll find more boring than exciting. As well the lack of depth that characters receive goes to show you that not everything going on, and not everyone that you know will always be a part of your daily life as much as they may effect it. If you were to ask me about an acquaintance, or someone within the same profession as me, I could give you very little information in comparison to the people I worked with daily, as the people I talked to daily. Bakuman is in more ways than one, one of the most realistic formats to an anime/manga that has been released within the past few years.