Bakuman was the slice of life series of this season. It shows the struggles of two guys as they aim to get their own manga published in Shounen Jump (or Jack, as it’s called here). It’s slow-paced and really not much happens for the standrds of a 25-episode series, but if you like the kind of series that take their time to tell a story the nit has nice things to offer.
Bakuman is slow, but never stagnates. It is a shounen jump adaptation itself, and in the same veins it’s constantly pushing its own story forward, albeit with tiny steps at a time. Moritaka and Akito grow into solid main characters, and also the side-characters all have their charms. The show also offers a nice look into the process of making a manga, along with the process of getting such a thing actually published.
Nothing really stands out for this show aside from a few select episodes, but it’s a perfect series to just sit back, watch and relax to. Its content and plot are definitely interesting to keep your attention, though it is a hard show to get into. It takes quite a while for the characters to get some signfiicant development to the point where they’re actually interesting enough, and this show is full of shounen cliches until that point. Becuase of that, I can’t fully recommend this series yet before having gotten the chance to judge its second season (because yes, that ending does leave you hanging a bit without resolving much or making much come together).
Overall Bakuman should have used its time a bit more efficiently. I know that the screenshots above make it seem like really exciting, but that’s just because the manga it’s based on is fast-paced. The anime isn’t. There are really few series that can claim to have as much time as Bakuman to tell their stories, and with that in mind the pacing does move rather slow and overall, too little happens for a 25 episode series. It does a lot of thing sirght, though.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Slow, but solid. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – The cast of this show is dynamic and interesting to watch… as soon as they’ve received some development. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – Neither impressive nor flawed, the animation is simple but does what it needs to do. |
| Setting: | 8/10 – The analysis on the manga making process isn’t anything deep, but interesting nonetheless. |
Suggestions:
Touch
Glass Mask 2005
Hikaru no Go
I think I would at least knock storytelling down to 7 due to extra slow storytelling pace.
1) Too much focus on MashiroXAzuki romance. On a show about making manga (Ok I understand the animators got their hand tied on this one).
2) The recap at the beginning of each episode. If we count all the time in the recaps, I think we get a least one more episode.
3) Various filler scene to build up Koogy, not really a significant character.
I understand the studio hands are tied because of Bakuman authors said they wanted the anime to attract a different audience to buy their manga, but I simply cannot comprehend why they must do it so slow. Unless thats request from the authors.
Looks like it’s getting another season in October! It really starts to pick up in the later chapters and I’m hoping they keep making this as they have been for when they get to those parts. I didn’t have high hopes for this adaptation, but it’s really surprised me.
Having bought the first volume of manga and then let if drift on by without me, I’d be willing to give this a shot based on your “slice-of-life” label, as this is a genre I really enjoy.
I tend to have a knack for slice of life. You’re completely right about it being a relaxing show you just pop out and watch every week. And yet it still had pretty damn good moments too.
I thought the adaptation was excellent, it truly impressed me. And no complaint about the pace, it always kept my attention and never felt slow despite how painfully slow it is compared to how quickly the manga progresses.
Of all the shows this past season, Bakuman has been a constant anime, every episode has been pleasant to watch although only a few stood out.
I’ll be looking forward to the next season. Converting Bakuman from Shounen to slice-of-life was a brilliant move (probably annoyed a lot of fans too).