Bakuman – 10

They’re gonna take the backdoor route; no pun intended~.

~Another doodle for all of you who keep complimenting my doodles even though I’m not worthy ;A; I promise one day I’ll actually not be lazy and color a doodle for once! Anyways, can you all believe we’re already at episode 10?! It seems like that hilarious first episode was just last week, -sigh-. Of course, we still have 15 more episodes of manga-making Shuujin goodness! Bakuman is going to be my first 24 episode episodic series, and I’m glad. There are times when I feel like it was meant to be because I’m learning about the manga industry of which I’m so very fond of x’D I’m probably going to cry when it does end, because really, this anime is just so freaking fun to blog about. I cried when I finished my last episodic of Kuroshitsuji II (and of course because it was the end of my favorite series ever). Yeah, I’m the sort of person who takes it hard when it comes to goodbyes and endings…

ANYWAYS, ENOUGH WITH MY DEPRESSING THOUGHTS, it’s Bakuman time! Time to take your Bakuman Enthusiasm Injections people! After being suspended from a week, Shujin is back and the two are already trying to come up with a new storyline. They even have a meeting with Mr. Hattori after school to discuss their evaluation sheets for the Tezuka Award.

At the meeting, Mr. Hattori leads them to the Editorial Department of Jack after accidentally forgetting their evaluation sheets. The boys are of course in awe at the plain office, but do go right into their meeting with Mr. Hattori.

He tells them that while they did get good scores by other manga artists, they didn’t get good scores by the Editors of Jack. The reasoning? That it wouldn’t get published in Jack because of their main character was weak, and typically Jack main characters have special abilities and such (TRUE DAT).

Hattori also tells them about how Eiji Niizuma is already getting ready for serialization, which leads Saikou to get a bit…jealous? He asks if they could bring in a manuscript with the purpose to get serialized, would they be able to? Hattori beings telling them that they could, but it’d have to be about three chapters drawn our as manuscript, not a name. Even then, it might not be able to make it in the serialization meeting. Suddenly though, Hattori is cut off by the Editor-in-Chief.

The Editor tells them that manga just needs to be good, that good works will get serialized. Theirs is not however, and says serialization is impossible for them at this point. He also mentions that the saying “Manga just needs to be good” was Saikou’s Uncle’s last words to him when he had to announce his termination from the company to him. The Editor further explains to the boys about the salary of a serialized author in the company, and how if once an author’s series ends and they can’t come up with anything else that’s good, their contract is terminated (which is what happened to his uncle).

Afterwards, Saikou asks about Eiji and how he is different from them. The Editor in Chief replies with “how much they love manga”. While they do love it, Eiji practically can’t live without it as he never puts down his pen and stops drawing. Eiji is good, he contines, but he could never be ‘number one’ since he has no depth in his manga. This suddenly sparks an idea inside Hattori as he says that considering their age, they do create very complex and deep manga. He asks them to focus on creating that Jack-like character and just bring in names so they can decide together on what story to work on.

The next day, Saikou arrives at the apartment where he finds out Shuujin accidently let Kaya in.

She tells Saikou that Azuki told her everything, and begins her pestering of them not dating at all until they’ve both succeed with their dreams. Kaya even tries to get Azuki to come over but, to Saikou’s relief, doesn’t.

You’ve been…REEEEJECTED.

Their weird arrangement sparks a hilarious argument between Kaya and Shuujin, which annoys Saikou a bit but, being the good friend that he is, even allows Kaya to come in to the apartment on holidays and such. She then tells them of Azuki’s plans to go to a all-girls private school in Hachiouji since its close to her voice acting lessons and the production company she’s going into. Saikou looks to be worried, but, hides it and tells Shuujin they have to go to work, sending us into one of those music montages once again.

As they bring their names to Hattori however, he tells them that their names are terrible (he actually said they sucked in the manga, which I liked better xD)! He says that they aren’t cut for mainstream manga, and the next day calls them out for another meeting to tell them about the reader’s surveys…

He says that if 2 out of 10 people vote for someone’s work, then it is considered a hit. He asks them to instead create something that about 50% or more people would read which is also known as the “Backdoor route” (Again, no pun intended if you know what I mean). The episode closes as they discuss one of Shuujin’s story ideas, called ‘Money and Intelligence Makes the World Go Round’~.

MINI PIC SPAM 8D~:

Shuujin: GURL, I told you I was with Saikou!
Saikou: Bitch better back off…

Kaya is an awesome girl character; why? Because she can go from a sweet girl…

…to a bad-ass girl who can whip-kick her boyfriend xD GIRL POWER.

Damnit Takagi, why do you look so sexy in pinstripes?!

End thoughts: I think they need to put Shuujin in pinstripes, like…ALL THE TIME. So hot–err, sorry! I’m a sucker for megane guys in pinstripes, heh. Anyways, I swear the animation for Bakuman gets better and better each episode. It’s so nice and clean and realistic-ish *A* Also, the face expressions put in are as hilarious and nicely done as ever. There’s always some episode that comes along reminding that the animation is just great, and this was one of those episodes.

Now, move out of the way Saikou and Azuki, here comes the hilarious couple of Shuujin and Kaya! I absolutely LOOOOVE this couple; I ship this all the way, all the time, forever and ever. They’re so cute and hilarious together! My favorite part was when Kaya asked him what if she said she wouldn’t see him till he became a manga artist, and he was like, “……I can’t answer that” XD I busted up laughing, so hard actually I woke my sister up. It was so much funnier animated than in the manga because you had to create your own pause in the manga, hahaha. The Saikou and Azuki couple is forever cute though, a bit annoying, but cute nonetheless, especially with what’s coming up (mwuahahaha, I shall not spoil it).

I’m a little surprised they didn’t put this, or explain this as much as they did in the manga but, Hattori mentions that 20% of readers thing and says that there are always people who like something not mainstream, and tells them the boys they are more suited for a cult-hit type of manga. When I read that, I instantly thought, “THAT’S SO TRUE!” |’D I’m one of the 20% that goes for more original types of manga, the cult-hit ones as he said, heh. Ah, I feel like I got off track! This episode didn’t have much for me to really rant/fangirl about, other than Shuujin in pinstripes and the Shuujin/Kaya couple. Not saying it was a bad episode though; I loved it, especially the second half ;D Also, is it just me, or is Bakuman finally picking up the pace?~

Preview:

EIJI IS COMING OUT NEXT EPISODE AGAIN, BABY! Probably for only a few seconds as usual, but hey, at least we get some Eiji! Plus, what’s Kaya crying about?? I have a feeling it’s one of those ‘You really don’t have to cry about that’ kind of crying from the boys’ faces x’D (It’s okay Kaya, I cry over stupid things too). Until next time then~!!

About Hoshi

A tired, over-dramatic 20 year old college student who likes manga and cheesy Korean boy bands. Prone to succumb to laziness and refuse to work for hours on end.