Bakuman is a shonen series which articulately redefines the genre of shonen manga. It is a unification of several meaningful ideologies that taught me the following things:

- Nobody achieves great work with little efforts. Even the gifted ones slog through blood and sweat to get to where they are today.

- Work hard in silence and let success make the noise.

- Everyone needs a friend who is brutally honest, even if the truth may hurt.

- Your loudest competitors are your greatest source of learning.

Storyline:

Following the adventures of two protagonists towards achieving their dream of being successful mangakas, the manga provides insightful information about the process of manga making without boring you to every detail. From the conceptualization of an idea to the actual implementation of the works, the story provides perceptive information on the process of manga making.

Thanks to Bakuman, I am now able to better appreciate the efforts behind every manga and anime I watched.

The flow of the story is appropriately set out, with 20 volumes spanning a story of over 10 years. It is very unlike your typical shonen manga where a day spent by the characters can span over several volumes. Pages are often filled with details and extensive dialogues, which gives readers a lot to digest. Hence, if you are looking a Bleach / Naruto / One Piece equivalent, then Bakuman is definitely not for you, since it is very story based and less expressive in terms of graphics.


Characters:

The interaction among the characters are kept at a practical, sense making level, with them straying between the lines of competitors and friends. The character development is gradual and it is only towards the end when you back-tracked to the much earlier volumes that one would realise how much they have grown.

However, I personally do not feel a personal sense of attachment to the characters and the only one that attracted me and cracked me up is Niizuma Eiji, the prodigy who happens to be portrayed as the main good-natured antagonist.

Art:

The art, though clean and easily discernable, is somewhat lacking in terms of expression. Due to the intensive blurbs of dialogues, it appears like more attention was paid to the words than the drawings. However, for an unusual manga which is substantially story-based with lesser focus on the graphics, I do not see this as a major problem.


Overall, Bakuman is not a manga which will keep you at the edge of your seat. It is something that takes time to digest and better read in a slower, leisurely pace.